Tools of Geography Five Themes

Essential Questions

• Why is it important to understand physical geography?

• How and why is geographic information organized?

• How do humans interact with the natural world around them? What is the outcome of their interactions?

Geography is the study of people and their environment and resources

I. LOCATIONa. the position of a place on the Earth’s surface

b. relative location: describing a place in relation to another place

c. absolute location: requires the use of lines of longitude and latitude to find the exact location

d. latitude: measures distance north and south of the equator

e. longitude: measures distance east and west of the Prime Meridian

f. Prime Meridian: divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western hemispheres

(What is the relative and absolute location of Redwood High school?)

II. PLACEa. physical

characteristics: landforms, climate, soil, and animal life

b. human characteristics: activities, rituals, transportation, religion, language, food, etc.

c. every place in the world has it’s own physical and human characteristics

III. MOVEMENTa. migration: the movement of large numbers of people for

economic, political, &/or educational purposes (i.e. political freedom, opportunity, food, shelter, etc.)

• forced migration: slavery

b. trade: the movement of goods between areas• different areas have different resources and levels of

economic development• exports: goods sent outside of the country (What do we

export?)• imports: goods brought into the country (What do we import?)

c. ideas spread: film, music, culture,

d. interdependence: dependence on countries for goods, resources, and knowledge (What of we did not have oil?)

IV. Interaction between people and their environment

a. wherever people live, they change the natural environment

b. hidden costs: pollution-air, water, land (+ & - of cars, pesticides, nuclear weapons, and power plants)

c. sometimes people are able to adapt to environment without high impact (i.e. Alaska, Guatemala, Ecuador)

V. REGION

a. an area with it’s own unifying characteristics

b. physical characteristics: landforms and climate

c. cultural characteristics: systems of government, religion, and economics