Geography is often thought of as just remembering country names, capitals, flags, and just reading maps. But geography is much more than that. Geography is about understanding how the world works, how people and places are connected, and how you fit into it all.
A simple concept for beginners to understanding what geography is all about is the five themes of geography. These themes are movement, region, human-environment interaction, location, and place. A good acronym for remembering this is MRHELP.
The first theme is movement. Movement is the travel of people, goods, and ideas from one location to another. When talking about geography, movement does not mean exercising.
Jumping jacks or running is not movement by this definition. The geographic term for movement refers to going from point A to point B for a purpose that connects people and places. Some examples of the movement of people would be driving or riding the bus to school, taking the subway to work, or flying for vacation.
It also refers to the migration of people, moving from one country to another, or maybe another community within the same country. Examples of movement of goods would be the tractor trailers you see going down the highway, the delivery man at your front door bringing the products you bought online, or the cargo ships that you see in the oceans and ports. An example of the movement of information would be this video right here. I have put information into the video, you are watching it and taking it in. The information is now moved from me to you.
Social media would also be an example of movement. You are looking at and reading posts. Reading newspapers, books, and watching TV would also be examples of the movement of information. The next theme is region. Regions describe an area with similar cultural or physical characteristics that set it apart from other areas.
Physical characteristics would be things such as climate, landforms, natural disasters, and vegetation. Though you can physically touch it, this does not include man-made structures, such as homes and infrastructure, though the physical environment does influence the building of these things, which I'll cover here shortly. Man-made structures would be considered a human characteristic, which also includes things such as population, economics, religion, language, and history.
Latin America is a an example of a region. Mostly defined by its culture, its inhabitants have a shared ancestry made up of natives, immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula, and slaves brought from Africa. The entire region was explored, conquered, and taken by the Spanish and Portuguese empires. This has resulted in the Spanish or Portuguese language being the prominent languages in the region, and Roman Catholic being the most practiced religion.
The Great Plains of the United States is also a region, but it's mostly defined by its physical characteristics. It's mostly a flat area which separates it from its eastern mountainous neighbor, the Rocky Mountains. The Great Plains also has enough rainfall for grasslands, but not quite enough rain for a lot of trees. This relatively low amount of water supply distinguishes it from its flat neighbor, the interior lowlands, which has more trees and is better for farming.
Regions can be separated into three different types formal, functional, and vernacular regions. A formal region is a region with official boundaries. countries. This includes cities, counties, states, and countries. They are clearly known and they can be inside of each other.
A functional region is a single place with surrounding areas tied to it. The theme of movement is a key aspect of this type of region, because people are moving in and out of a center point. New York City is an example of this, where people often drive into Manhattan, a borough of New York City, for work, shopping, or entertainment, but drive back to their home and other places.
other boroughs or the suburbs outside of New York City at the end of the day. A vernacular region, which is sometimes called a perceptual region, is an area that doesn't have a formal boundary but are commonly known regions. The South in the United States is a vernacular region. Depending on who you ask, you are going to get different answers on what the South actually is.
Some people may say this is the South, while others are going to say this, or even this. This is what makes it a vernacular or a perceptual region. It is all up to the individual's perspective on what the region actually is.
Cheers. The Middle East is also a vernacular region. Historically, it's been a very confusing definition. But today, the Middle East typically refers to this. But many people refer to this as the Middle East.
This is also called the Middle East in North Africa. Or they may even think of this as the Middle East. which is sometimes called the Greater Middle East.
Though a large generalization, a physical characteristic that defines this region is a climate that is arid to semi-arid, and the religion of Islam is wildly practiced, which is a human characteristic. The next theme is human-environment interaction. Human-environment interaction describes how people change their environment and how environment changes the way people live. People depend on the environment for their survival. We rely on moderate climates and we settle an ideal place.
that can be hunted and farmed for food. Our permanent settlements always sit near freshwater resources. Take a look at the Nile River.
People live along the riverbanks but just a few miles out there is nothing but desert. People depend on this river for both their survival and their survival. survival and livelihoods. This is the case for everyone throughout the world, though it may not be as obvious as living on the banks of the Nile.
People also adapt to their environment. The ancient Incas used terrace farming to prevent erosion on the steep slopes of hillsides. You wear warm clothing to keep from getting cold in the wintertime. We also modify the environment.
Deforestation, which occurs to clear land for development or for logging, is an example of how we modify the environment. Another example would be the building of a dam to create a reservoir. The next theme is location.
Location describes where a place is on earth. Location is split into two different types, absolute location and relative location. Absolute location is a place's exact location. Absolute location can be identified with latitude and longitude.
longitude lines, or an address. On the other hand, relative location is a description of a place's location in relation to another. With relative location, you could describe a place's location using words like nearby, above, down the road, or east of. For example, if you needed directions to the White House and I gave you the coordinates or address to type in, this would be absolute location. But if I said the White House is northwest of or around the corner from the Lincoln Memorial, this would be Relative Location.
Location is often used interchangeably with the word place, or last theme, but when talking about the five themes, it is distinctively different. Place describes the physical and human characteristics of a location. This can be confused with region, as it also is described by physical and human characteristics, but generally a region refers to a larger area. The White House is a place. It has a history of being home to U.S. presidents, its exterior is white, and it's influenced by Greek architecture.
These are human characteristics. The Grand Canyon would also be a place. Its relative location would be in northern Arizona or north of Flagstaff.
Its physical characteristics are large rock walls carved by the Colorado River. It has a semi-arid climate. Human characteristics would be that it is designated a national park by the US government. It's a popular tourist destination.
nation and was once home to many different Indian tribes. Now that we've covered all five themes, let's do a quick recap. Movement describes how goods, ideas, information, and people move from one location to another. Cargo ships, reading a book, and people moving towns are examples of movement.
Regions describe an area with similar cultural or physical characteristics that set it apart from other areas. Latin America is an example of a region. Regions can be separated into three types. types, formal, functional, or vernacular, also called perceptual regions.
Human-environment interaction describes how people change their environment and how the environment changes the way people live. Deforestation, dressing warm for the winter, and building dams are all examples of human-environment interaction. Location describes where a place is located. is on Earth. There are two types of location, absolute location and relative location.
Absolute location tells you exactly where something is. Using coordinates or addresses are examples of absolute location. Comparing one place to another would be relative location.
Place describes the physical and human characteristics of a location. The White House would be a place, so would the Grand Canyon, or your school or workplace. Hopefully this video helped you understand the five themes of geography and set you on the path to thinking like a geographer. If you did find this video helpful, please like and subscribe and thank you for watching.