Chapter 1

Looking at the Earth

The Five Themes of Geography

 Geography: the study

of the distribution
and interaction of
physical and human
features on the earth
Why Study Geography
The Five Themes of Geography
 Location
 Place

 Region

 Movement

 Human-Environment

Interaction
5 Themes
 Location
Where is it?
 Absolute Location
•Exact place on earth where a
geographic feature is found
•Hemispheres: North, South,
East, West
•Equator
•Prime Meridian
 Absolute Location
 Latitude Lines
•Run parallel to equator
•North latitude or South
latitude
 Longitude Lines

•Run perpendicular to equator

•Mark East or West
Longitude/Latitude
 Location
 Relative Location
•Describes how a
place is related to
its surrounding
environment
 Place
What is it like?
 Includes physical
features and cultural
characteristics
 Description of a place

may change over time

 Region
How are places similar or different?
 Formal Regions
•Defined by limited number
of related characteristics
U.S.A and Canada, Latin

America, South Asia

 Region
 Functional Regions
•Organized around set of
interactions and
connections between
places
City and its suburbs
 Region
How are places similar or different?
Perceptual Regions
•People perceive the
characteristics of
region in the same way
-American Midwest
 Human-Environment
Interaction
How do people relate to physical world?

 Learn to use what

environment offers
them
 Change environment to

meet their needs

Human-Environment Interaction
 Learn to live with certain
aspects of environment
 People respond to same

environment in different
ways
 Movement
How do people, goods and
ideas move from one
location to the other?
 Linear Distance

•How far across the earth

something travels
 Movement
 Time Distance
•Amount of time it takes
to travel
 Psychological Distance

•Way people view distance

The Geographer’s Tools
 Maps, globes, and data
 3 kinds of maps

•General reference map

•Thematic map
•Navigation map
Countries of the World