Promoters

The DNA region or sequence that helps in initiating transciption is known as the promoter. Rna polymerase binds to the promoter and further initiates transcription of a gene.
They can be present close to the transcription start site or many kilobases away. 
Based on their location they can be characterised as Core/Basal promoter elements or the Regulatory region elements.

Core/Basal elements include TATA boxes and Initiator Sequences (Inr). CpG islands are also present in mammals.
Regulatory region elements include UAS/enhancer elements and URS/silencer elements.

Other promoters are Downstream Promoter elements (DPE) and BRE (TFIIB recognition element).