Five Themes of Geography

The five themes of geography are five important concepts underlying the study of the world's physical locations and their characteristics and occupants. These themes are location, place, region, movement, and human-environmental interaction. Location, place, and region mainly deal with the physical and natural features of a place. Movement and human-environmental interaction primarily examine human migration, activity, and influence in a place. When used collectively, these five themes can give a comprehensive description of a place, its people, and its unique features and significance.

The five themes were first identified and published by the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers in 1984. They were intended to identify and delineate the most important features of the complex and multitiered study of geography and make the discipline easier to teach and learn. Although researchers have subsequently expanded upon this list, the main five themes remain the standard for most basic geographic studies in the twenty-first century.

Background

Geography, the study of physical locations and their characteristics and occupants, is an ancient occupation. Thousands of years ago, geographers gathered reports from explorers and immigrants to create the first maps. These earliest maps, largely based on incomplete and at least partially inaccurate information, gave only rough approximations of the size and attributes of various lands. They reflected only the "known world" of the geographer's culture and failed to include entire continents and oceans that would not be discovered for centuries or millennia. For example, the ancient Greek geographer Hecataeus created a map of the world known to the Greeks around 500 BCE that included only a rough representation of southern and central Europe and landforms comprising northern Africa and parts of Asia and India.

As science progressed and explorers traveled farther, however, geography developed into a much more advanced study. Maps, atlases, and other geographic resources became increasingly accurate and comprehensive. While the first geographers focused mainly on the basic outlines of natural features such as landforms and oceans, later geographers began to incorporate new themes and broader concepts into their studies. They began to incorporate human elements into their studies of location, adding names of tribal and ethnic groups, national and regional boundaries, and notes on human activities relating to climate and natural resources.

By the twentieth century, geography had become a highly advanced discipline incorporating many forms of study. It had become so complex and multifaceted, in fact, that many educators found it difficult to teach. Students could be overwhelmed by the multitude of studies and considerations that contribute to the different facets of geographic science.

In the 1980s, the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers worked with educators across America to organize the study and teaching of geography. This panel searched for the underlying concepts of modern geographical studies and eventually isolated five primary themes: location, place, region, movement, and human-environmental interaction. The panel published these themes in 1984, and they became a new standard for geographical education. They helped teachers and students alike grasp the most important factors of geography without becoming overwhelmed by elaborate details and subcategories.

Ten years later, the National Geographic Society revisited this study and created a list of eighteen standards, the National Geography Standards, which elaborated on the main themes. This larger list was more comprehensive. However, the five themes created in 1984 were already well established and appreciated for their relative brevity and ease of use. The five themes remain the primary convention for geographical education in the twenty-first century.

Overview

The five main themes of geography are location, place, region, movement, and human-environmental interaction. These themes may be used individually but are most often used together. When approached together, these themes create comprehensive geographical studies incorporating detailed descriptions of physical locations, their natural characteristics, their plant and animal life, and the populations and activities of humans that inhabit them.

The first theme, location, is the most fundamental aspect of geography. It was the basis for the earliest maps and geographical studies. Location refers to a specific part of the world that is being studied. The location is most often a city or country, but it may include any physical place, such as a mountain range, an ocean, or an ethnic region. Geographers may state location in two main ways. One way is an absolute location, which is a specific and independent description of where the location may be found. Absolute locations are most often expressed by longitude and latitude coordinates or by street addresses. These are forms of measurements intended to be unique, permanent, and unchanging. The other type of location is relative location, which describes a location based on another location. For example, a geographer may describe the relative location of Florida as "south of Georgia," "north of Cuba," "part of the American South," "east of the Gulf of Mexico," and so on.

The second theme, place, elaborates upon location. Place describes the main characteristics, both natural and human, of the location being studied. Geographers may include hundreds of characteristics in the study of place. The first and most basic aspect is the name or names associated with the place. Many places have multiple names, including the names used by its residents and the names used by outsiders. For example, the United States may be called "the US," "the USA," "the States," "America," and so on by its residents. Meanwhile, it also has hundreds of names in the various languages of the world, such as "États-Unis d'Amérique" in French. The study of place also encompasses the features of the place, including its landforms, waterways, plant and animal life, environmental conditions, and so on. A thorough study of a place should show the unique qualities of the place as well as how it may be compared to other places.

The third theme, region, encompasses many aspects of location and place. A region is broadly described as a group of places, generally close to one another, that share similar natural or human characteristics. Geographers may observe several types of regions. One is a formal region, which is a region that is clearly defined and often politically related. Formal regions include continents, countries, and large cities and districts that may be easily designated on maps. Other regions, classified as functional regions, are not officially defined but still operate in a closely related way. A good example of a functional region is a large city and its suburbs. Other regions are even less defined and exist primarily in the minds and attitudes of people. For example, Americans commonly refer to central states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas as being part of an "American Midwest" region, though this designation seldom appears on maps.

The remaining themes refer more directly to humans and their activities in a place. The theme of movement examines the way humans travel, trade, and share ideas across lands. Since prehistoric times, people have migrated to new places, allowing humanity to spread to all parts of the world. Part of this movement has involved trading goods and services, which allows people to spread precious resources, culturally important artwork, and advanced technology between different lands and groups of people. At the same time, people have spread knowledge and learning. Physical movement and the spread of trade and ideas over millennia have created a world of immense variety. At the same time, the shared roots of humanity may be traced back to reveal underlying commonalities even between seemingly very different societies. Studying these factors is an important feature of modern geography.

The final theme relates to the interaction between humans and their environments. In every land they inhabit, humans must make certain adaptations to survive and thrive. These adaptations often involve ways of life, such as clothing, occupation, and cultural attitudes. For example, in hot places, people often take siestas, midday breaks from work to rest and avoid dangerous overexposure to sun and warmth. In cold areas, people must make special efforts to protect their bodies from freezing wind and snow, most commonly by wearing thick clothing. Additionally, over time, people generally modify their environments to better suit their wants and needs. Sometimes these modifications are purposeful and beneficial, such as paved roads for transportation and irrigation systems for crops. Other times, the modifications are accidental or harmful, such as pollution of rivers or the depletion of the ozone layer. All of these modifications, positive and negative, become part of the study of humans and their environment.

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