Transcript 5 themes of geography

Why do we use the five themes?
Location, Human/Environmental
Interactions, Regions, Place, Movement




Geographers begins with knowing WHERE things are.
Next they ask WHY?
Finally, HOW places influence our lives?
Location: Position on the Earth’s Surface

Ways to indicate location (position):
–
–
–
–
–
–
Maps: probably the best
Place name (toponym): Chandler, Silver City, St.
Petersburg
Site: Physical characteristics
Absolute location: latitude and longitude
Relative location (situation): Chandler- 20 miles southeast
of Phoenix
Distribution: density (arithmetic), concentration, pattern
Where?
Why?
How?
Human/Environmental Interactions
(Cultural Ecology)
Cultural landscape- human-induced change
 Environmental Determinism- human behavior is
controlled by the environment
 Possibilism- environment limits the range of choices
a culture has, but doesn’t deter
 Environmental modification- both positive and
negative
THINK OF EXAMPLES OF EACH OF THESE!

Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics


Ways of organizing people geographically
Distinctive characteristics
–

Three types
–

Area, location, boundaries, OTHER
Formal, functional, perceptual
Regions seen in a hierarchy
–
Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona, Southwestern US
Place: Associations Among
Phenomena


Culture: Anything that is passed from
generation to generation
Components of culture
–
–
Culture region, culture trait, culture complex,
Physical processes
Climate, vegetation, soil, landforms
Movement


Culture Hearths
Cultural diffusion
– Expansion diffusion: an idea staying strong and spreading
 Contagious diffusion, Hierarchical diffusion, Stimulus diffusion
– Relocation diffusion
 Migrant diffusion, Acculturation, Transculturation
–
Forces against diffusion
 Time-distance decay, Cultural barriers