Chapter 1

The World of
Geography
Section 1
The Five Themes of Geography

What is Geography?
Geography is the study of the Earths
surface, the connection between places,
and the relationships between people and
their environment.
Geographers look at distances between
places, but also oceans, plant life,
landforms, and people.

Geographers Main Two

Questions

Good Geographers always ask two

questions:
Where are things located?
Why are they there?

To get answers, they use the five themes of

Geography. The themes help the
geographers to organize information.

The 5 Themes of
Geography

Location
Geograpers being to study a place by finding where it
is, or its location.
There are two types of location.
Absolute location: exact location on Earth (EX. 39.95N
75.17W - Philadelphia)
Determined by position of longitude and latitude lines and
measured in degrees.
Longitude Lines: (AKA meridians) series of imaginary lines
that run north and south through both North and South Poles
Latitude Lines: (AKA parallels) series of imaginary lines
that circle the Earth and are parallel to the Equator
Degrees: a unit of measure used to determine absolute
location

The 5 Themes of
Geography
Prime Meridian: the longitude line at 0 degrees,
runs through Greenwich, England.
Equator: the latitude line that circles the globe at
its widest point. Measured at 0 degrees.

The 5 Themes of
Geography

Location (Cont.)
Relative Location: location by describing what is near
EX. I live in Newtown Square. It is 13 miles west of
Philadelphia.

Place
Studying the physical and human features
Physical features include climate (hot, cold) and land
(hilly).
Human features include information like how many
people live there, and what kind of work do they do

The 5 Themes of
Geography

Human-Environment Interaction
Studies three things
How people affect their environment.
EX. People take out parts of the land to build roads and highways.

Physical characteristics of their surroundings

EX. Turkey receives little rainfall

How their environment affects them

EX. People must build irrigation systems in order to grow food in
Turkey

Movement
Movement is important because it helps explain how
people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another.
Ex. Immigrants bring their traditional food to a new way of life.

The 5 Themes of
Geography

Regions
Geographers use regions to make comparisons
between areas.
Regions have a unifying characteristic such as
climate, land, population, or history.
Example: The Mid-Atlantic Region

Plain: a flat piece of land

Chapter 1
The World of
Geography
Section 2
The Geographers Tools

Globes and Maps

Globes
Early maps only showed where people lived and
traveled. They often left off information.
As people explored the Earth, maps became more
accurate.
The best way to show a map is a globe.
Globe: a round model of the Earth
Map makers can show the shape of an area
according to scale on a globe.
Scale: the size or proportion of something on a map
as compared to its actual size.

Globes and Maps

Maps
Maps were invented because of two problems
with globes.
Tough to transport
Cant make one big enough to show great detail of a
small place.

Flat Maps solve those problems, but create their

own.
Distortion: in maps, a misrepresentation of the
original shape and size.
An area may look bigger or smaller
Example on Next Slide

Globes and Maps

In order to deal with distortion, we have to
look at projections.
Projection: a representation of the Earths
rounded surface on a flat piece of paper.
3 of the Best Know Projections

Mercator Projection
Correct shapes, but incorrect distances and sizes

Globes and Maps

Peters Projection
Correct sizes, incorrect shapes

Robinson Projection
Most shapes and sizes correct, most distance
accurate

Parts of a Map

Parts of a Map
Compass Rose: a map feature that usually shows the
four cardinal directions
Cardinal Direction: one of the four compass points:
north, south, east, and west
Intermediate Direction: one of the four secondary
compass points: northeast, northwest, southeast,
southwest
Scale: the size or proportion of something on a map as
compared to its actual size.
Key: the section of a map that explains the map symbols
Title: The name (usually at the top) of a map that
identifies what the map is picturing.
Grid: Lines drawn on a map to help identify specific
places on a map