Five Themes of Geography: Place

TIBETAN ANTELOPE . Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 10 Aug 2012.

There are two characteristics used to describe a place.

Geography emphasizes the understanding of both of these factors and their integration together.

• Physical Characteristics - climate, landforms, bodies of water, natural vegetation, animals, and soils.

• Human Characteristics - ethnic groups, languages, religions, cultural characteristics, holidays and festivals, migrations, landmarks, and settlement patterns.

Frank Jacobs loves maps, but he finds most atlases too predictable. He collects and comments on all kinds of intriguing maps—real, fictional, and what-if ones—and has been writing the Strange Maps blog since 2006.