The 5 Themes of Geography - Definitions and Examples
Location of a place is defined according to its latitude and longitude. Latitude lines measure distances north and south of the Equator. Longitude lines measure distances east and west of the Prime Meridian. A place's absolute location is defined with latitude and longitude lines. This is its exact location.
Place
Geographers study this geography theme by looking at the characteristics that distinguish one place from another place on Earth. These physical and human characteristics can include landforms, waterways, people, climate, languages, communication, and transportation.
Human/Environment Interaction
Geographers study the way humans interact positively and negatively with their environments. They also study the lasting affects these interactions may have on a place. Some examples of this geography theme are damming a river, polluting the air, building highways or railroads, and even watering lawns and gardens. Human behavior such as planting trees is a positive interaction with the environment where creating landfills is a negative interaction.
Movement
People are always on the move, but this theme of geography is not just about people moving from one place to another in cars and airplanes. Movement also deals with how and why people travel from one place to another. Some people travel for career, others to be close to family, and some move to escape war or religious persecution. One example of movement was pioneers heading West on the Oregon Trail in hopes of finding cheap, fertile land in Oregon.
Regions
A region is a unit on the earth's surface that has unifying characteristics such as climate or industry. These characteristics may be human, physical, or cultural. Not only do geographers study characteristics, but they also study how regions around the world may change over time.
Different types of physical regions are deserts, mountains, grasslands, and rain forests. In a city or town, there may be commercial or business regions and then residential regions.
For example, in the United States, we commonly identify the South as a region. Those states that are located in the south-eastern part of the United States have similar climates and grow similar crops, in addition many people who live there have a "southern" accent. These are characteristics that help unify this area of land that is considered a region.
