Name______Date______

Why is Every Place Unique?

  1. Place: A Unique Location

a.People possess a very strong sense of ______. They typically have strong feelings for hometowns, vacation spots, or schools (like AHS). In order for geographers to draw a distinction from place to place, they need to identify its location. To do this they can use three concepts: ______.

  1. Place Names

a.It’s pretty simple, sometimes the best way to identify a location is by ______. Places can be named for ______(Cleburne), ______(St. Louis), ______ (Athens), among other things.

b.A ______. (Like, Alvarado)

c.Tetaumata­whakatangihanga­koaua­o­tamatea­urehaeaturipuka­pihimaunga­horo­nuku­pokaiwhenuaa­kitana­rahu, in New Zeland, has the longest place name in the world. It means, “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one.”

  1. Site

a.Site is the ______. Things like, elevation, water sources, vegetation, wildlife, etc.

b.Site has always been an important consideration for humans when establishing a settlement, and can actually be altered by humans.

  1. Situation

a.This is the ______.

b.Consider Istanbul

c.Do you ever use situation to describe a place?

  1. Region: A Unique Area

a.A region is an area of Earth with a ______

  1. Regions are unique not because of one particular characteristic, but because of the combination of characteristics.

b.A region gains its character from a combination of ______, like language, ______, like industry, and ______, like climate. This character is known as its ______.

c.Literally any space bigger than a place and smaller than Earth can be a region.

  1. Formal Region

a.This is also known as a ______ or ______region.

b.This is a region where people share one or more distinct characteristics, like ______, political alliance, religion, or ______.

c.Be careful not to ignore minority groups!

  1. Functional Region

a.This is also called a ______ region. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region is the ______ and the region diminishes as you move from that focal point or “node.”

b.Think ______ or shopping center

c.Geographers use this region to help define an ______.

  1. Vernacular Region

a.This is also called a ______ region.

b.This is an area people believe exists because of their ______.

c.Consider the ______. Environmentally the south is a region where the last winter frost occurs in March and rainfall is more plentiful in winter than in summer. Cultural features include a ______, high numbers of Baptists, preference for Republicans, and historically joining the ______ in the 1860’s.