Five Themes Geography

Where was your last
vacation?
TELL ME Describe the

WHAT….. environment and
weather?
How do the people

dress up there? Is it
different from other
places?
What food do they

serve?
Did you have a nice

time there?
Five Themes of Geography
Geography is
more than
names, dates,
capital cities
and remote
locations on
maps.
Geographers organize space on a map in ways like

historians organize time.
There are five themes of geography that help

geographers organize space. These themes answer
the questions: Where is it? Why is it there? and
What are the consequence of its being there?

Location
Place
Human/Environment Interaction
Movement
Regions
The first of the five themes is Location.

Just like it sounds, when you talk about location, you
mean a point or an area somewhere on the surface
of the Earth.
Absolute location can be a street
address or the latitude and longitude
of a place. It’s very specific.
The absolute location
of New York City is:
40° 42' 51" N longitude
74° 0' 23" W latitude.
The Relative location describes the

location of a place with respect to
other places and the environment.
New York City is on the eastern
seaboard of the United State.
The City was built where the Hudson
River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Big Apple is in the southeast
corner of New York State.
The second of the five themes is Place.

Place refers to the physical and human characteristics
in a location.
Physical characteristics refer to mountains, rivers,
animals, plants,
forests, beaches,
grasslands, bodies
of water, soil and
topography of a
spot.
Human characteristics refer to the cultural features that

people bring to an area. This includes the architecture,
religion, food, population density, language patterns,
politics, transportation and types of occupations.
One of the more unique locations in the United States
due to its cultural features is New Orleans.
The theme of Place helps to flesh out the information

you have from Location.
Your school may be located at 1426 Main Street.
That’s the Location. But, Place gives you the
personality of the school. You learn about the number
of classrooms, diversity of the
population, what’s in the
broom closet, the kind of
clothing students wear, the
smells in the back of the
kitchen, the football team’s
record and the test score you’d
rather forget.
The third of the five themes is Human/Environment

Interaction which includes three key concepts.
• Humans depend on the environment. Your
environment is made up of everything around
you. It includes both living and non-living
things. No matter where you live, you depend
on your environment for food, shelter and
clothing.
From the beginning of time, people
migrated to find places with enough
food, water and shelter for living.
• Humans modify the environment.

People learned a long time ago how to modify the
environment to better their lives. Tools from stone,
bone and later metal were used to plow fields and
irrigate crops.
People continue to this day
to build homes, construct
dams, farm with larger
tools, and interact with
the environment in
both positive and
negative ways.
• Humans adapt to the environment.

People have managed to find ways to live in
almost every corner of the planet. Some
people have built their homes on poles to
protect them from flooding.
If you live in a cold location, most
likely you have some kind of
heating in your home.
If you are in a hot spot, you adapt
with a fan, air conditioning or
maybe some refreshing iced tea.
The fourth of the five themes is Movement.

Humans move a lot. And, it isn’t just people. Our
ideas, products, fads and resources move around the
planet.
The process of Movement
continues to change.
Consider how long it must
have taken Vikings to
cross the ocean and
how quickly it is done
today.
Yes, it is impossible to comprehend, but it wasn’t so

long ago that there were no smart phones, tablets, lap
tops or even computers. Yikes!!! The Movement of
communication continues at a rapid pace making it
easier and faster to keep in touch with family and
friends all around the world.
The fifth of the five themes is Regions.

Regions are areas that have similar, unifying
characteristics that can be physical, human, cultural or
natural. And, it’s easy to contrast regions with other
areas that may have different characteristics.
Regions may be determined by physical
characteristics such as mountains,
plains or deserts. The Louisiana Bayou
is known for its swamps, bald
cypress trees and ‘gators.
Regions can be determined by their human

characteristics as well. The densely populated East
and West Coasts of the United States are very different
from the lesser populated parts of the Prairie States.
Some regions are determined by both their physical
and cultural characteristics.
The Deep South, in the United
States, is very different from
the rest of the country. In the
same way, Mediterranean life is
not at all like life in northern
Europe.

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Where was your last

TELL ME Describe the

How do the people

What food do they

Did you have a nice

Geographers organize space on a map in ways like

There are five themes of geography that help

Five Themes of Geography

The first of the five themes is Location.

The Relative location describes the

The second of the five themes is Place.

Human characteristics refer to the cultural features that

The theme of Place helps to flesh out the information

The third of the five themes is Human/Environment

• Humans modify the environment.

• Humans adapt to the environment.

The fourth of the five themes is Movement.

Yes, it is impossible to comprehend, but it wasn’t so

The fifth of the five themes is Regions.

Regions can be determined by their human

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