Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
who likened landscape to a 'medal cast in the image of its people'.
For him, the record of people's occupance of the land over long
periods of time could be read from the study of landscape. The
evidence might be, for example, an archaeological site, a pattern of
fi elds, or a form of settlement. Landscape then approximates the
nexus of geography. The study of regions as integrated parts of the
Earth's surface that combine nature and culture can be viewed in
the same way.
No other discipline focuses on the space-place-environment
nexus. This has been the focus of geography throughout its
history and still defi nes its role today. At the same time
geography has developed. Much has changed in the ways
particular concepts are interpreted and research is carried out.
Figure 3 traces the broad path of these changes, the major phases
through which geography has passed, and the divergences and
tensions that have recently emerged. Phase 1 was the long period
of time up to the mid-19th century when the explorers and
mapmakers sketched out the properties of the known world.
The beginning of the 20th century, phase 2, witnessed the
establishment of an identity for the discipline of geography
within universities founded on its bridging role between nature
and culture. During the fi rst half of the 20th century, phase
3 shifted the focus towards regional studies and human
landscapes; and phase 4, dating from the middle decades of the
20th century, saw the clear emergence of subdisciplines within the
broad categories of physical and human. Phase 5, which
began during the late decades of the 20th century, brings us
through to modern times and the increasing diversity of a wide
fi eld of study; the contemporary geography that we will seek to
illuminate.
Within the practice of contemporary geography, many traditional
components such as maps are still important, though satellite
remote sensing, sometimes known as Earth Observation (EO),
