II.

Branches of Geography

Modern geography has been divided conventionally into two main traditions: systematic and regional geography. Systematic geography is concerned with the formulation of general laws and principles and is divided into two branches: physical geography and human geography. Each of these branches is subdivided into several specialist fields. Regional geography is concerned with the combinations of physical and human-made features that characterize different regions on the Earth’s surface and that distinguish one region from another. During the first half of the 20th century the regional approach dominated geographical research. However, during the 1940s it began to fall out of favour and today the systematic branches are predominant.

The eclipse of regional geography during the past 50 years has not been universal, however. In France and Germany it has maintained a rather stronger position, in part because of the different approach to the region in these countries. In contrast to the Anglo-American tradition, where regional geography became characterized by (and ultimately came to be rejected because of) a preoccupation with the unique nature of regions and with description rather than analysis, in France and, particularly, Germany, regional studies have been more concerned with discovering the nomothetic (law-controlled) aspects of particular areas.

One geographical discipline that cuts across the traditional boundaries is that of cartography. Because of the spatial aspect of much geographical research, maps have been considered the most important of the geographer’s tools. Whatever their area of interest, all geographers are trained, to a greater or lesser extent, in the techniques of map-making. The advent of the use of the computer in cartography over the past 30 years has not only revolutionized the practical aspects of map-making, it has also enabled geographers to tackle completely new areas of research. Computers have allowed them both to analyse larger and more complex amounts of data and to transform the results of that analysis into new forms of maps. These can range from the three-dimensional representation of particular topographical features to the mapping of different kinds of perceptual space.

A.

Systematic Geography

This section describes briefly the main branches of contemporary systematic geography and their respective subdisciplines. The methodologies they employ and their historical development are outlined in the sections that follow. More detailed discussion of these areas and of the current concerns and future trends within systematic geography can be found in the Physical Geography and Human Geography articles. The main subdisciplines of systematic geography also have their own articles.

A.1.

Physical Geography

The branch of systematic geography concerned with the physical environment, physical geography, encompasses a number of subject areas with close links to other environmental disciplines, notably geomorphology, climatology, biogeography, pedology, and hydrology. Oceanography is also sometimes classified within physical geography. Of these sub-disciplines probably the most important historically is geomorphology, which has played the leading role in the development of the theoretical underpinnings of physical geography. The evolution of the other subject areas has tended instead to reflect developments in their linked disciplines.

Geomorphology, which is linked to geology, is the study of the landforms on the Earth’s surface, their history, and the processes that mould them, notably weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, and the forces associated with plate tectonics. In recent years, in line with a general tendency within geography, several distinct specializations have emerged within geomorphology, such as anthropogeomorphology and applied geomorphology. The former is the study of the role of human beings as active geomorphological agents. Its development reflects our increasing ability to mould the environment—it is estimated, for example, that human activities now move more rock and soil in a year than do natural processes. The increasing understanding of the role of process and form in landform evolution and the development of successful predictive models has enabled the emergence of applied geomorphology, which allows physical geographers to advise on the probable impact of activities such as road construction or flood control schemes.

Climatology, the study of the long-term behaviour of the atmosphere in specific areas is closely linked to meteorology. It is concerned with explaining, generally in statistical terms, the causes of both present and past climates. In recent years technological advances in the measurement of climatic factors and the analysis of the resulting data have enabled the development of a number of specialisms within climatology. They include bioclimatology, the study of the relationship between living organisms and climate; applied climatology, in which climatic information is used to study environmental, social, and economic problems; and palaeoclimatology, the study of the history of the Earth’s climate, using both geological and historical records.

Biogeography, which is linked to ecology, is the study of the biosphere and of human effects on plants and animals. It encompasses such things as the changing distribution of plants and animals over the Earth (phytogeography and zoogeography) and the human impact on the ecology of the Quaternary period. Pedology involves the study of the formation, composition, and distribution of soils, as well as their classification. Hydrology is the study of the waters of the Earth, including their occurrence, distribution in space and time, and their relation to people and the natural environment. Oceanography is the study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that maintain the structure and motion of the salt waters that cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface.

A.2.

Human Geography

Human geography involves the study of people and their activities and structures, whether economic, social, cultural, or political. It also encompasses the ways in which people interact with the natural environment. At its simplest this involves the description, analysis, and mapping of where, for example, industries or towns are located, but human geographers’ concerns are generally far more complex than this. In particular, they seek to understand how and why human structures and activities have developed in particular ways in particular places. Like physical geography, human geography is divided into a number of specialized areas of research—economic, political, social, cultural, urban, and historical geography.

Economic geography is the study of the ways in which patterns of economic activity and their relationship to the exploitation of natural resources vary across the surface of the Earth. It deals with the distribution of resources and the production and consumption of goods and services. Economic geography can be divided into four major interlinked sub-fields: agricultural, development, industrial, and transport geography. In recent years economic geographers have been particularly concerned with understanding uneven economic development, as well as the ways in which social structures can be related to economic activity.

Modern political geography involves the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. It is concerned with the interrelationships between people, state, and territory. Conventionally, the state acts as the pivotal scale of study. Above the state is the level of international relations, or geopolitics. Below the state level is the political geography of localities.

Social geography is concerned with the social significance attached to place and with analysing the spatial structures that give rise to different social relations, in particular the processes that create inequality. Social geographers are concerned not just with mapping and explaining the geography of issues such as racism or gender relations, but also with analysing the role of space in these issues. Cultural geography has its roots in the study of the evolution of rural landscapes. Modern cultural geographers, however, are equally interested in the urban, reflecting their growing concern with the idea of landscape-as-text, and with understanding how people perceive both places and other people. In recent years the links between social and cultural geography have increased, and researchers have become involved in studying an increasingly broad range of issues. Both social and cultural geographers draw on contemporary developments in the study of social sciences and literature, such as feminism and postmodernism, to analyse the language and images used to represent different groups and places. This has led, for example, to the development of “geographies” of previously marginalized groups, such as gay men and lesbians, children, and disabled people, which addresses the link between the way such groups are socially and culturally constructed and their use of space.

Urban geography is concerned with the study of towns and cities, including both their internal characteristics and structure, and the spatial and other relationships between them. In recent years researchers have been particularly concerned with the way urban areas are changing, and how these changes are explained by variations in political and economic power relationships between different groups. Areas of research include: the rise of gentrification and suburbanization; the changing location of workplaces within cities; variations in access to public services; and the way the growth of local, issue-based politics has influenced power relations and urban structures.

Historical geography is concerned with the development of human structures and activities over time. In the past human geographers tended to be concerned with the historical development of particular regions, including changes in settlement patterns and economic activity. Modern historical geographers are concerned more with global trends, such as the geography of the emergence of industrial capitalism, or of colonialism.

B.

Regional Geography

This is the branch of geography that is concerned with understanding geographical complexity by comparing and contrasting the characteristics of different regions on the Earth’s surface, and by assessing the various relationships between them. The concept of the region has been very important in the development of geography as a distinct discipline (see History of Geography below) because of the way it integrates the human and physical environments, enabling an understanding of the interactions between them in different localities. However, few researchers in the English-speaking world would today describe themselves as specifically regional geographers. Even so, the regional concept is still in use as an analytical tool. For example, it has been used to study the ways in which the concentration of particular skills influence where firms choose to locate, or the influence of the media on the creation of regional identities.

The integrative approach that characterized regional geography in the past also survives in modern landscape geography, which is concerned with the analysis of the nature of place as an interaction between communities and environments. To this end landscape geographers look not only at the physical realities of the human and natural environments, but also at the way these environments are and have been perceived, and the way this has acted as an active agent in landscape development. This contrasts with the German tradition of landscape geography (Landschaftskunde), in which the landscape is seen as the product of the interaction of human and physical factors and only such features as are repetitive and appear in accordance with certain rules and laws are taken into account. The aim is to develop and explain a typology of landscapes.