The earth is full of a vast and diverse landscape, where places are so significantly different from each other. Geography organizes places by answering five questions, known as the themes of Geography. Roll over each of the themes shown below to read about each one.
| Location | What is the location of a place? A place can have absolute location, such as in coordinates of a map using longitude and latitude; or it can have a relative location, such as the house next door. |
| Place | What are the physical and human characteristics of a place? All places have features that give them personality and distinguish them from other places. |
| Region | A region is an area that is defined by certain similar characteristics. How are places similar to and different from other places? Those unifying or similar characteristics can be physical, natural, human, or cultural. |
| Movement | How do people, goods, and ideas move from one place to another? This can be local such as how did you get to school today, or it can be global such as how did humans get to North America? |
| Human-Environment Interaction | Human-environment interaction looks at the relationships between people and their environment. How do people interact with the natural environment of a place, and how do they change it? |
Each of these themes offers a way for you to look at the world and its people. To thoroughly understand any place you study, you need to know how these themes relate to each other.
