This is the first text in the five-volume Shape of the World Series which offers a comprehensive, broad-based course in human geography. The text shows how geographical thinking enables us to grasp the connection between the local and global world. It begins with the idea that the way in which we see the world is a matter of interpretation: it depends upon who you are - a third World peasant or a resident of Los Angeles. This approach is developed by showing how different places are constructed through a web of economic, political, and social connections that shape and reshape them.