Geography of Western Canada

The Importance of Place

Why study geography?

• To understand more about the changing world we live in

• To learn more about the people and cultures of the world so that we can better understand each other

• To evaluate the connection between the earth and those who live on it

Five Themes of Geography

• Concepts that geographers use to study the world and the people that inhabit it

• Provide a framework to truly understand the geography of a place

• Help geographers gather, organize, and analyze information

Five Themes of Geography

1. Location

2. Place

3. Human-environment interaction

4. Movement

5. Regions

Location

Absolute location:

• The exact location of a place on the globe

• Uses a system to find an exact spot on the earth

• Latitude and longitude, street addresses, GPS, map coordinates

LatitudeLines extend east and west around the earth

and measure the distance north and south of the

Equator (0 degrees)

LatitudeAlso called parallels because each line of latitude is the same

distance apart and they never meet.

Longitude Lines extend north and south around the earth

and measure the distance east or west of the Prime

Meridian (0 degrees).

Longitude Also called Meridians.

Lines of longitude are not the same distance apart

everywhere.

Location

Relative location:

• The position of a place in relation to another place

• Uses descriptions to identify places on the earth

• Landmarks, direction, time, distance

Location

Room 409 is at the end of the hall, next to the stairs.

Argyle is at 1131 Frederick Road, North Vancouver.

Seattle is about 200 km south of Vancouver.

Sydney, Australia is located at 150° east longitude and 35° south latitude.

Place

• Place is a description of the characteristics that make a certain location distinct

• Describes what it is like there

• Physical Characteristics

• Cultural Characteristics

Place

Physical Characteristics:

• Natural features of the land in a particular location

• Landforms — plateaus, plains, mountains, deserts, rivers, soil, beaches

• Flora (plants) and fauna (animals)

• Climate – temperature, rainfall

• Resources – petroleum, minerals

Place

Cultural Characteristics:

• The ways people live in a particular location

• Religion, food, music, language, architecture, holidays as well as other aspects of everyday life

• Land use, housing, economic activities

• Type of government, political ideologies

• “Relationships within place”

• Explores the human use and modifications of the environment

• Bridges, dams, mining, any structures built by humans

Human-environment interaction

• Humans adapt to the environment

• Humans modify the environment

• Humans depend on the environment

Human-environment interaction

How do we use the earth?

How have we changed the earth?

MovementHow do people, goods and ideas get from one

place to another?

Movement is the travel of people, goods or ideas from one location to another.

Movement

People

Products

Ideas

RegionsHow is this place similar

to other places?

Are there common characteristics?

Regions

Formal regions:• Defined by governmental boundaries

Functional regions:

• Defined by a function

Vernacular regions:• Loosely defined by people’s perception