I.

Introduction

Geography, from the Greek geographia, “earth description”, science that, broadly defined, deals with the structures and processes of the Earth’s physical and human environments and the interactions between the two, particularly in their spatial contexts. Put even more broadly, geographers seek to understand the way our world works and why it appears as it does. This involves explaining the processes operating below, on, and above the Earth’s surface and the ways in which these processes have created the landscapes around us and continue to change them; as well as the ways in which human beings have been affected by and in turn have modified the natural environment, and how and why human structures and activities have developed in different ways in particular places.

The universal nature of geography means, in fact, that, like history, it is very hard to define satisfactorily. Geographers themselves have struggled, and failed, over the years to come up with a single definition—a problem that has been compounded by the fact that what has been studied as geography has changed substantially over the past 2,000 years (see History of Geography below). Notwithstanding this, however, there is one thing that most, if not all, definitions agree upon, that geography is the discipline that is particularly concerned with spatial relationships.