An overview of the global energy balance, atmosphere–ocean circulation, the Hadley and Ferrell Cells, and heat and moisture budgets forms the introduction to an examination of Southern Hemisphere circulation. The chapter is a primer for paleoclimatologists working on the natural archive from the tropics to the poles. The major circulation characteristics of the Southern Hemisphere are defined in descriptive terms. Low-latitude circulation is viewed through the tropical zonal pressure gradient and Walker Circulation; tropical easterlies, near-equatorial trough, and westerlies; the Intertropical Convergence Zone over the ocean basins, the Maritime Continent, Africa, and South America; and tropical/subtropical monsoons. The mid-high latitudes are explored through the mid-latitude westerlies, circumpolar trough, Antarctic coastal easterlies and coastal-slope winds, and the annual and semi-annual oscillations in pressure and temperature. The major climate modes, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole, ENSO diversity, tropical–extratropical interactions, the Pacific–South American modes, and the Southern Annular Mode are described in terms of air–sea interactions.