The Five Themes of Geography A Framework for Studying the World

The Five Themes of Geography

A Framework for Studying the World

Florida Geographic AlliancePowerPoint Presentations

2007

Theme 1: Location

• Where is It?• Why is It There?

Two Types of Location

•Absolute

•Relative

Absolute Location

• A specific place on the Earth’s surface• Uses a grid system• Latitude and longitude• A global address

FloridaAbsolute Location

• Florida24°30'N to 31°N Latitude79°48'W to 87°38'W Longitude

• Tallahassee30° N Latitude 84° W Longitude

Relative Location

• Where a place is in relation to another place

• Uses directional words to describe– Cardinal and

intermediate directions

Florida

• North Carolina is bordered by Georgia and Alabama on the north, and Alabama to the west.

• The Atlantic Ocean forms Florida’s east coast. The Gulf of Mexico forms it’s west coast

• Florida is one of the Southeastern States

Theme 2: PlacePhysical Characteristics• peninsula• Everglades• Climate• Bodies of Water

Theme 2: PlaceHuman Characteristics

• People• Culture• Language• Religion• Buildings and

Landmarks• Cities

Florida: Human Characteristics

Theme 3: Human Environment Interaction

How People Interact With Their Environment

People . . .• Adapt to Their Environment• Modify Their Environment• Depend on Their Environment

http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/corbis/DGT119/BAG0017.jpg

Florida: Human Environment Interaction

Theme 4: Movement

The Mobility of• People• Goods• Ideas

How Places are linked to one another and the world

Florida: Movement

Theme 5: Regions

What Places Have in Common

• Political Regions• Landform Regions• Agricultural Regions• Cultural Regions

Florida: Regions

People, Things, and Phenomena

• Move across space (MOVEMENT)• May be associated with specific spaces for a

variety of physical and social reasons (PLACE)• Can be physically located in space (LOCATION)• Can be used to classify space (REGION)• Interact with each other in specific ways in

different places and combinations (HUMAN-EARTH RELATIONSHIPS)

William Pattison’s Four Traditions of Geography

• In 1964, W.D. Pattison, a professor at the University of Chicago, wanted to counter the idea that geography was an undisciplined science by saying that geographers had exhibited broad enough consistency such that there were four distinctive, but affiliated traditions.

1)  An earth-science tradition - physical (natural) geography

• Physical geography• The lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere,

and biosphere• Earth-sun interaction• Offshoots are geology, mineralogy,

paleontology, glaciology, and meteorology• The study of the earth as the home to

humans

Earth-Science Tradition

• Intellectual legacy: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.); Greek philosopher who looked at natural processes, Earth is spherical, matter falls together toward a common center.

• Modern geographer: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); German

• 1)   All knowledge can be classified logically or physically• 2)   Descriptions according to time comprise history,

descriptions according to place compromise geography • 3)   History studies phenomena that follow one another

chronologically, whereas geography studies phenomena that are located beside one another.

2)   A man-land tradition - relationships between human societies and natural

environments.        

• Human impact on nature

• Impact of nature on humans

• Natural hazards

• Perception of environment

• Environmentalism

• Cultural, political, and population geography

Man-Land Tradition

• Intellectual legacy: Hippocratic; a Greek Physician of 5th century B.C. who wrote that places affect the health and character of man.

• Modern geographer(s): Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859); German

• 1)   Move beyond describing earth’s surface to explaining why certain phenomena are present or absent.

• 2)   Origin of “where” and “why” approach• 3)   Environmental determinism – how the physical

environment causes social development

3)  A spatial tradition - spatial unifying theme, similar patterns between physical &

human geography.

•  Mapping• Spatial analysis• Boundaries and densities• Movement and transportation• Quantitative techniques and tools, such as

computerized mapping and Geographic Information Systems

• Central Place Theory

Spatial Tradition

• Intellectual legacy: Claudius Ptolemy (A.D. 100?-170?); a Greek, who wrote 8-volume Geographia in the second century A.D. containing numerous maps (also father of geometry).

• Modern geographer:Alfred Wegener; climatologist

• 1)   Studied spatial arrangement of landmasses, used geographical and geological evidence

• 2)   Continental drift – landmasses were once part of supercontinent (plate tectonics)

•  

4)  An area-studies tradition - regional geography

• Description of regions or areas

• World regional geography

• International trends and relationships

• How regions are different from one another

Area Studies - Regional

• Intellectual legacy: Strabo (63? B.C.-A.D. 24?); Roman investigator, who wrote a report called Geography, a massive production for the statesmen intended to sum up and regularize knowledge of location and place, their character, and their differentiation.

• Modern geographer: Carl Sauer (1889-1975); American

• 1)  The work of human geography is to discern the relationships among social and physical phenomena

• 2)  Everything in the landscape is interrelated.