# Choosing your Region
<a name="select-region"></a>

For many services, you can choose an AWS Region that specifies where your resources are managed. Regions are sets of AWS resources located in the same geographical area. You don't need to choose a Region for the [AWS Management Console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/) or for some services, such as AWS Identity and Access Management. To learn more about AWS Regions, see [Managing AWS Regions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//general/latest/gr/rande-manage.html) in the *AWS General Reference*.

**Note**  
If you have created AWS resources but you don't see those resources in the console, the console might be displaying resources from a different Region. Some resources (such as Amazon EC2 instances) are specific to the Region where they were created.

**Topics**
+ [Choosing a Region from the navigation bar in the AWS Management Console](select-region-procedure.md)
+ [Setting the default Region in the AWS Management Console](change-default-region.md)