This document introduces the five themes of geography: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions. It provides examples for each theme. Location refers to absolute and relative positions on Earth. Place combines physical and human characteristics. Human-environment interaction examines human dependence on and modification of the environment as well as adaptation. Movement considers the transportation of people, ideas, and resources. Regions are areas with unifying physical, cultural, or human characteristics that distinguish them from other areas.

1. Written and Illustrated by Phillip Martin

2. Five Themes of Geography
Geography is
more than
names, dates,
capital cities
and remote
locations on
maps.
Geographers organize space on a map in ways like
historians organize time.

3. Five Themes of Geography
There are five themes of geography that help
geographers organize space. These themes answer
the questions: Where is it? Why is it there? and
What are the consequence of its being there?
Five Themes of Geography
Location
Place
Human/Environment Interaction
Movement
Regions

4. Five Themes of Geography
The first of the five themes is Location.
Just like it sounds, when you talk about location, you
mean a point or an area somewhere on the surface
of the Earth.
Absolute location can be a street
address or the latitude and longitude
of a place. It’s very specific.
The absolute location
of New York City is:
40° 42' 51" N longitude
74° 0' 23" W latitude.

5. Five Themes of Geography
The Relative location describes the
location of a place with respect to
other places and the environment.
New York City is on the eastern
seaboard of the United State.
The City was built where the Hudson
River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Big Apple is in the southeast
corner of New York State.

6. Five Themes of Geography
The second of the five themes is Place.
Place refers to the physical and human characteristics
in a location.
Physical characteristics refer to mountains, rivers,
animals, plants,
forests, beaches,
grasslands, bodies
of water, soil and
topography of a
spot.

7. Five Themes of Geography
Human characteristics refer to the cultural features that
people bring to an area. This includes the architecture,
religion, food, population density, language patterns,
politics, transportation and types of occupations.
One of the more unique locations in the United States
due to its cultural features is New Orleans.

8. Five Themes of Geography
The theme of Place helps to flesh out the information
you have from Location.
Your school may be located at 1426 Main Street.
That’s the Location. But, Place gives you the
personality of the school. You learn about the number
of classrooms, diversity of the
population, what’s in the
broom closet, the kind of
clothing students wear, the
smells in the back of the
kitchen, the football team’s
record and the test score you’d
rather forget.

9. Five Themes of Geography
The third of the five themes is Human/Environment
Interaction which includes three key concepts.
• Humans depend on the environment. Your
environment is made up of everything
around you. It includes both living and
non-living things. No matter where you
live, you depend on your environment
for food, shelter and clothing.
From the beginning of time, people
migrated to find places with enough
food, water and shelter for living.

10. Five Themes of Geography
• Humans modify the environment.
People learned a long time ago how to modify
the environment to better their lives. Tools
from stone, bone and later metal were used to
plow fields and irrigate crops.
People continue to this day
to build homes, construct
dams, farm with larger
tools, and interact with
the environment in
both positive and
negative ways.

11. Five Themes of Geography
• Humans adapt to the environment.
People have managed to find ways to live in
almost every corner of the planet. Some
people have built their homes on poles to
protect them from flooding.
If you live in a cold location, most
likely you have some kind of
heating in your home.
If you are in a hot spot, you adapt
with a fan, air conditioning or
maybe some refreshing iced tea.

12. Five Themes of Geography
The fourth of the five themes is Movement.
Humans move a lot. And, it isn’t just people. Our
ideas, products, fads and resources move around the
planet.
The process of Movement
continues to change.
Consider how long it must
have taken Vikings to
cross the ocean and
how quickly it is done
today.

13. Five Themes of Geography
Yes, it is impossible to comprehend, but it wasn’t so
long ago that there were no smart phones, tablets, lap
tops or even computers. Yikes!!! The Movement of
communication continues at a rapid pace making it
easier and faster to keep in touch with family and
friends all around the world.

14. Five Themes of Geography
The fifth of the five themes is Regions.
Regions are areas that have similar, unifying
characteristics that can be physical, human, cultural or
natural. And, it’s easy to contrast regions with other
areas that may have different characteristics.
Regions may be determined by physical
characteristics such as mountains,
plains or deserts. The Louisiana Bayou
is known for its swamps, bald
cypress trees and ‘gators.

15. Five Themes of Geography
Regions can be determined by their human
characteristics as well. The densely populated East
and West Coasts of the United States are very different
from the lesser populated parts of the Prairie States.
Some regions are determined by both their physical
and cultural characteristics.
The Deep South, in the United
States, is very different from
the rest of the country. In the
same way, Mediterranean life is
not at all like life in northern
Europe.

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