1. Section 1 The Five Themes of Geography

2.  Geography is the study of the Earth’s surface, the connection between places, and the relationships between people and their environment.  Geographers look at distances between places, but also oceans, plant life, landforms, and people.

3.  Good Geographers always ask two questions: ◦ Where are things located? ◦ Why are they there?  To get answers, they use the five themes of Geography. The themes help the geographers to organize information.

4.  Location ◦ Geograpers being to study a place by finding where it is, or its location. ◦ There are two types of location.  Absolute location: exact location on Earth (EX. 39.95°N 75.17°W - Philadelphia)  Determined by position of longitude and latitude lines and measured in degrees.  Longitude Lines: (AKA meridians) series of imaginary lines that run north and south through both North and South Poles  Latitude Lines: (AKA parallels) series of imaginary lines that circle the Earth and are parallel to the Equator  Degrees: a unit of measure used to determine absolute location

5. ◦ Prime Meridian: the longitude line at 0 degrees, runs through Greenwich, England. ◦ Equator: the latitude line that circles the globe at its widest point. Measured at 0 degrees.

6.  Location (Cont.)  Relative Location: location by describing what is near  EX. I live in Newtown Square. It is 13 miles west of Philadelphia.  Place ◦ Studying the physical and human features  Physical features include climate (hot, cold) and land (hilly).  Human features include information like how many people live there, and what kind of work do they do

7.  Human-Environment Interaction ◦ Studies three things  How people affect their environment.  EX. People take out parts of the land to build roads and highways.  Physical characteristics of their surroundings  EX. Turkey receives little rainfall  How their environment affects them  EX. People must build irrigation systems in order to grow food in Turkey  Movement ◦ Movement is important because it helps explain how people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another.  Ex. Immigrants bring their traditional food to a new way of life.

8.  Regions ◦ Geographers use regions to make comparisons between areas. ◦ Regions have a unifying characteristic such as climate, land, population, or history.  Example: The Mid-Atlantic Region ◦ Plain: a flat piece of land

9. Section 2 The Geographer’s Tools

10.  Globes ◦ Early maps only showed where people lived and traveled. They often left off information. ◦ As people explored the Earth, maps became more accurate. ◦ The best way to show a map is a globe.  Globe: a round model of the Earth  Map makers can show the shape of an area according to scale on a globe.  Scale: the size or proportion of something on a map as compared to its actual size.

11.  Maps ◦ Maps were invented because of two problems with globes.  Tough to transport  Can’t make one big enough to show great detail of a small place. ◦ Flat Maps solve those problems, but create their own.  Distortion: in maps, a misrepresentation of the original shape and size.  An area may look bigger or smaller  Example on Next Slide

13.  In order to deal with distortion, we have to look at projections.  Projection: a representation of the Earth’s rounded surface on a flat piece of paper.  3 of the Best Know Projections ◦ Mercator Projection  Correct shapes, but incorrect distances and sizes

14. ◦ Peters Projection  Correct sizes, incorrect shapes ◦ Robinson Projection  Most shapes and sizes correct, most distance accurate

16.  Compass Rose: a map feature that usually shows the four cardinal directions  Cardinal Direction: one of the four compass points: north, south, east, and west  Intermediate Direction: one of the four secondary compass points: northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest  Scale: the size or proportion of something on a map as compared to its actual size.  Key: the section of a map that explains the map symbols  Title: The name (usually at the top) of a map that identifies what the map is picturing.  Grid: Lines drawn on a map to help identify specific places on a map