U N I T O N E

THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY

FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY

1. Location

2. Place

3. Human-Environment

Interaction

4. Movement

5. Region

LOCATION

LOCATION

• The position that something occupies Earth’s surface

• Absolute Location – a location that is determined by latitude and longitude

• Relative Location – where a location is relative to other “places” or things…such as other cities, landforms, or bodies of water

ABSOLUTE LOCATION

• The precise location of any place on Earth can be

found using parallels and meridians

• Two sets of imaginary arcs are drawn in a grid

pattern on Earth’s surface

ABSOLUTE LOCATION

• Parallels:

• AKA Latitude

• Runs east and west

• 0* = Equator

• Meridians:

• AKA Longitude

• Runs north and south

• 0* = Prime Meridian

• Passes through the Royal Observatory at

Greenwich, England

Latitude measures

north and south

Longitude measures

east and west

TIME ZONES

• Meridians calculate time; every 15*, time gains or loses an hour from Greenwich Mean Time

• International Date Line:

• About 180* Longitude

• Go east towards US…back a day

• Go west towards Europe…forward a day

PLACE

PLACE

• What makes a place unique?

• What is it like in terms of human

and physical characteristics?

• These things allow people to

form a strong sense and bond

to a specific location

SITE

• Site – the physical characteristics of a place

• Characteristics included:

• Climate

• Water sources

• Soil

• Vegetation

• Elevation

• Humans manipulate site in order to make it more suitable to their culture

SITUATION

• Situation – The location of a

place relative to other

places

• Helps us find an unfamiliar

place by comparing its

location with a familiar one

• Helps us understand the

importance of a location

because it may be

accessible to other places

DJIBOUTI, FOR EXAMPLE…

BUT ITS SITE AND SITUATION MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE…

SITUATION

SITE

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

• How humans change and adapt to their physical

environment

• Physical Geography + Human Geography

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

• Proposed in the 19th century

• The study of how the physical

environment caused human

activities and social

development

• Argued that climate was a

major determinant of

civilization; due to Europe’s

temperate climate, greater

human efficiency is produced

(better health, more wealth)

POSSIBILISM • Modern geographers reject

the idea of environmental determinism and focus on possibilism – the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment

• Examples:

• People can choose which crops are suitable to grow in their environment

• Population can be controlled by government policies, new technologies, migration, etc.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

• The relationship between

culture and the natural

environment

• Different cultural groups

modify the natural

environment in distinctive ways

to produce unique regions

POSITIVE ASPECTS

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

MOVEMENT

MOVEMENT

• Geographers think about the arrangement of

people and activities found on Earth and try to

understand why those people and activities are

distributed as they are

DIFFUSION

• Process by which a characteristic spreads across

space from one place to another over time

• Hearth – the place from which an innovation

originates

DIFFUSION OF CULTURE AND THE ECONOMY

• 3 Economic Hearth Regions (Core Areas):

• North America (New York City)

• Western Europe (London)

• Japan (Tokyo)

• What do these cities have that others may not?

GLOBALIZATION

A force or process that makes a local process become

a global phenomenon

GLOBALIZATION OF THE ECONOMY

• Most economic activities

undertaken in one region are

influenced by interaction with

decision makers located elsewhere

• For example: I-Phones

• Concept developed in CA (better

education labor)

• Parts processed all over the world

(depends on resources)

• Assembled in China (cheap labor)

WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE NUTELLA

OIL IMPORT AND EXPORT FLOWS

GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURE

• Uniform cultural preferences (wearing jeans, using cell phones, eating McDonalds) produce “global” landscapes of similar cultural values

• Threatens the survival of local traditions, especially language and religion

OPPOSING EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION

• Globalization can cause the following to occur in societies:

• Awareness and acceptance of cultural diversity

• Intolerance and hate between different cultures

What is the irony in this statement?

REGION

REGION

• Applies to any area

larger than a point and

smaller than the entire

planet

• Can refer to several

neighboring countries or

many localities within a

country

FORMAL REGIONS

• AKA Homogeneous Region

• An area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics

• Language

• Agriculture

• Climate

• Religion

• Etc.

FUNCTIONAL REGIONS

• AKA Nodal Regions

• An area organized around a node or focal point

• The region is tied to the central point by transportation

or communication systems

What could possibly be a

Functional Region at

NMBHS?

VERNACULAR REGIONS

• AKA Perceptual Region

• A place that people believe exists as part of their

cultural identity

How do y’all perceive the

different

Vernacular

Regions of the

United States?

yurop