The Five Themes of GeographyEdited by Joe Naumann, UMSL

•What is geography?

•Geography is the study of the earth and the ways people live and work

• Comes from the Greek word geographia “description of the earth”

What are the 5 themes?

• The five themes are what geographers examine when learning about a destination.• Location• Place• Movement• Human-Environment Interaction• Region

Where are we?

• LOCATION answers this question in geography.

• There are two types of LOCATION.• Absolute Location• Relative Location

Location

• Absolute Location:• The exact location of

a country.• This location can

never move or change.

• Uses latitude & longitude

• Can be an address including the zip code

Location

• Relative Location• The location of a

place in relation to another geographic feature.

• Where is Lake Mead in relation to Las Vegas?

What is it like?

• PLACE is what is described by people when they return from a destination.

• What do you imagine when you think of:• China• Russia• France• India

Place

• When looking at a place we need to examine two kinds of characteristics.

• Physical Characteristics• Human Characteristics

Place

• Physical Characteristics:• Describes the land forms, vegetation, and

climate of a location.• Las Vegas

• Valley-land surrounded by mountains & hills.• Shrubs and cactus• Dry, hot desert

• Miami, Florida• Lowlands, swamps, and beaches• Tropical flora and fauna• Humid and hot

Place

• Human Characteristics:• Examines the humans of the area.

• How many people live, work, and visit a place?• What are their languages, customs, and

beliefs?• How does their economy work?• What type of government do they have & how

does it work?

Human Characteristics of USA

• Commonalities • Languages?• Religions?• Economy?• Government?• Popular Locations?

Human Characteristics of USA

• Common languages: English & Spanish• Religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam,

and many other religions.• Economy: Mixed market• Government: Democratic federal

republic• Popular Locations: Disney World, NYC,

Las Vegas, LA, and Washington, D.C.

Human-Environment Interaction

• How do humans and the environment affect each other?• Alteration: we change the environment &

sometimes Mother Nature changes it back.• Panama Canal• Levies on floodplains (Earth City)

• Adaptation: when we cannot change the environment, we have to adjust to it.• Floods in Mid-west• Hurricane Andrew & Katrina• California mudslides

Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew

Mudslide

H.E.I - Continued• There are three (3) key concepts to HEI.

• Humans adapt on the environment• Mississippi River for transportation & water.• Wearing clothes that are suitable for the weather.

• Humans alter the environment• Heating & cooling buildings for comfort• Build pools which increase humidity levels

• Humans depend on the environment• Humans use the plants and animals as food and

as raw materials • Humans extract minerals from the earth’s crust to

use as raw materials for making products

H.E.I. - Continued

• Environment is not just nature, but it is also a feeling!

• What is the environment of a big city with Los Angeles or New York City?

Movement: the transfer of material and non-material entities from one location to another.

• Our world has been shaped by the movement of:1. Material entities

• People, resources, and Goods

2. Non-material entities• Mass Communication & energy

• We live in a global community and economy that depends on huge amounts of movement.

Movement-Continued

• Humans occupy places unevenly on Earth due to the environment.

• We interact through Movement: travel, trade, and information.

Regions

• Basic unit of study in geography.

• Display a unity in terms of a common characteristic.• Government• Language• Landforms

Regions-Continued

• There are three types of regions

• Formal• Functional• Vernacular

Formal Regions

• Defined by governmental or administrative boundaries.• States• Countries• Continents• Landforms• Cultures• Languages• Religions, etc.

Functional Regions

• Defined by a function.• Airline Service Area• Newspaper Areas

• If the function ceases, the region no longer exists.

Vernacular Regions

• Loosely defined by people’s perception.

• The U.S. South• The U.S. Midwest• The Middle East• The U.S. Northeast• The U.S. Bible Belt