Five Themes of Geography 5 Themes of Geography

Five Themes of Geography

5 Themes of Geography • The 5 Themes of Geography originated by the National Geographic Society to fulfill a need for geographers to categorize everything they learn. 1. Location - “where are we? ” 2. Place – “How does the landscape affect us? ” 3. Regions – “How can we describe this area? ” 4. Movement – “How are ideas exchanged? ” 5. Interactions – “How have we changed the land? ”

Location – Absolute and Relative • “Where are we? ” • Absolute location – very precise location on globe – Latitude – distance of any point north or south of the equator, measured up to 90 degrees – Longitude – distance of any point east or west of the Prime Meridian, measured up to 180 degrees – Richmond, B. C. located 49. 1666° N (latitude), 123. 1336° W (longitude) • Relative locations - described by time, direction in relation to other places – Richmond is approximately 15 km south of Vancouver, 1000 km south-west of Calgary, and 220 km north of Seattle

Latitude and Longitude

Place – Physical and Cultural Characteristics • How do the physical characteristics of a place affect how people live? – Example: Prince Rupert, B. C. is in a mountainous area on the coast, has heavy rainfall, but also abundant forests and ocean access. • Cultural landscapes – visible results of human activity • Sustainable – an activity that maintains an ecological balance by avoiding the depletion of a natural resource.

Regions – Formal, Functional, Perceptive • How can geographers organize information about different areas? • Regions – areas that have common characteristics – Ex: Gov’t, landforms or climate • Formal Regions – based on official boundaries – Ex: Surrey, Greater Vancouver Regional District • Functional Regions – based on connections created by an activity such as communication or trade flow. – Ex: NAFTA • Perceptual Regions – determined by peoples attitudes and feelings – Ex: “up north”, “the interior”, “east side”

Formal Regions – GVRD formal boundaries

Interactions - Human/Environment • What brings about changes in the natural landscape? • Humans depend on the environment and adapt to it, but they also change it dramatically to suit their needs and wants.

Movement • How do people interact in the 21 st century? • Modern technology provides interaction no matter where you are located. • Globalization – process of economic technological, political, and cultural forces creating a single, global society.

Physical Regions of Canada

Appalachian Region • Southeastern USA to Maritimes • Varied landscape of rolling hills, valleys, small mountains, highlands and coastal fjords – What is left of an older mountain range worn down by glaciers and millions of years of erosion

Canadian Shield Region • ½ of Canada’s land surface – Hardest rigid blocks, surrounded by younger continental landforms • Once volcanic mountain range • 2 billion years old • Sparsely populated, little soil fertility • Full of valuable minerals: gold, nickel, platinum, diamonds etc.

Arctic Region • Untapped mineral reserves • 40% of our landmass and is home to more than 100, 000 Canadians

St. Lawrence Lowlands • Between Lake Huron, Erie and Ontario • Glacial melt created great lake and fertile soil surrounding St. Lawrence Niagara Falls – created by glacier activity Millions of years ago.

Interior Plains • • Stretched from Cordillera mountains to Canadian shield Mostly flat land rolling hills and river valleys Millions of years ago was tropical climate – over time remains pressed between sedimentary layers to form large deposits of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas and evaoprites such as potash Evaporite – type of sedimentary deposit resulting from the evaporation of seawater

Cordillera • Parallel mountain ranges – Includes dormant volcanoes, glaciers, ice fields • • • Rocky and Coastal mountains Formed by plate collision caused the earth’s crust to buckle, pushing and folding volcanic rock into mountains. Plate movement called plate tectonics