Study Guides

Prep AP/Geography

January 11, 2003

Chapter 1 Study Guide: Exploring Geography

Section 1: The Five Themes of Geography

1. Geography- the study of where people, places, and things are located and of the ways in which things relate to each other.

2. Absolute location- any place or thing exact position on the globe.

3. Equator- an imaginary line that circles the globe halfway between the North and South poles. The equator divides the world in two.

4. Hemisphere- a half of the earth; the Equator divides the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The Prime Meridian divides the Eastern and Western Hemisphere.

5. Latitude- imaginary lines that run parallel to the Equator; these lines measure distances North and South of the Equator.

6. Prime Meridian- an imaginary line running from North and South at 0*.

7. Relative location- the name of a term of how people usually describe a location; where it is located in relation to other places.

8. Formal region- areas in which a certain characteristic is found throughout the area.

9. Functional region- consists of one central place and the surrounding places affected by it.

10. How does the study of a place's human characteristics differ from the study of its physical characteristics? The studies of these two characteristics are extremely diverse. Mainly the study of human characteristics has to do with our economy. I like to think of it as everything we have done to the land. For example how many people live there, what are their techniques, what kind of government they are ruled by etc. The study of physical characteristics has to do with Mother Nature. I think of this