What is Geography?

Mr. Carney

What is Geography?

A: The study of Earth. The two main goals are to answer:

1. Where are things? And

2. Why are they there?

5 Themes of Geography:

1.Location

2.Place

3.Human/Environment Interaction

4.Movement

5.Regions

Location:

Geographers want to know first WHERE a place is, and there are two types of ways to express this:

1.Absolute Location: The precise latitude and longitude of a location.

2.Relative Location: The location of a place in relation to another place. “Columbus is approx. 200 miles Southwest of Cleveland

Cardinal Directions (on a compass rose) are North, South East and West…intermediate directions lie between those (see example)

Place:

Features found at a specific location

1.Physical Characteristics such as hills, streams, mountains, forests (landforms), hot or cold climate, etc..

2.Human characteristics: Includes the culture of the humans inhabiting the location. (population, religions, languages spoken)

                           

Human/Environment Interactions1.Ways humans impact the environment and the ways the environment affects them…people who learn to survive with little water…people who have learned to exist in extreme conditions

***Good example are Sherpa people of Nepal, excellent at adapting to high altitudes and cold conditions. Can we think of other good examples?

Movement1.How do People, Goods, and Ideas get from one place to another?

*Melting pot of the U.S – immigrants bring ideas here.

*Especially relevant in the technology age of today…internet breaks boundaries and influences many..

*What makes movement easier? (Rivers, roads) What makes it more difficult? (Mountains, difficult climate or terrain)

Region1.Places that are grouped with something in common

*Regions always have unifying human or physical feature such as:

-Population

-History

-Climate

-Landforms

Other important terms and where they fit in to “Geography”

1.Hemisphere – Each half of the Earth, Equator divides North and South, Prime Meridian divides East and West.

2.Meridians – Another word for lines of longitude…they run North and South from North Pole to South Pole.

3.Parallels – Another word for lines of latitude…they run East and West.

Class definition of Geography: