The Five Themes of Geography

"The Five Themes of Geography"

By James Bowling

Geography's Five Themes

​These themes can help answer geography's two basic questions:

Where are things located?
Why are they there?

Geography's Five Themes

​Location
Place
Region
Movement
Human Environment Interaction

Location - Where is it?

​Location refers to Absolute Location and Relative Location.

Absolute Location is defined as Earth's exact location, using latitude and longitude. Example - 40 degrees north, 80 degrees west
Relative Location is defined as the location of a place relative to another. Example - Washington, D.C. is 200 miles south of New York

Place - What is it Like?

​Place refers to the mix of human and non-human features at a given location.

Place is divided into two different types of characteristics.
1. Physical Characteristics
2. Human Chracteristics

1. Population

2. Work

3. Diverse cultures

4. Language

​Human Examples

1. climate

2. weather patterns

3. hilly

4. flat

​Physical Examples

Physical and Human Characteristics

Region - What do these areas have in common?

​Region

A region is an area with at least one unifying physical or human feature such as climate, landforms, culture, or history. Example - The Great Plains, the Middle East, or the Southeastern U.S.

Movement - Why do goods and people move from one place to another?

​Movement

Movement can be something as simple as moving from the country to a city for a job, or it can be something as complex as the daily movement of trucks and trains supplying a city with food, fuel, and other basic goods. Example - Immigration, trade and commerce

Human Environment Interaction - This concept focuses on the environment and natural surroundings.

​Human Environment Interaction

How do people have an affect on the environment?
How do people have an affect on their natural surroundings?
How does the environment affect the people?
Examples - deforestation, habitat loss, urban sprawl, climate change

Classify and Categorize

​Which theme or themes does the Mississippi River Valley represent?

This is a region because it is an area with unifying physical features.