Regional geography
Also called: Regional approach · Topic: Geography as a Discipline: Nature, Branches and Approaches · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Geography as a Discipline"
Meaning
Regional geography, or the regional approach, was developed by Karl Ritter. It divides the world into regions at different levels, from large to small. A region may be natural (a river basin), political (a state) or designated (marked out for a purpose, such as planning). All features of a region are then studied together, to find "unity in diversity". Its branches include regional studies (macro, meso and micro), regional planning, regional development and regional analysis.
Example
A regional study of the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan studies its sand dunes, low rainfall, thorny vegetation, camel herding, water-harvesting methods and desert towns such as Jaisalmer together, as one unit.
Don't confuse with
- Systematic geography: systematic geography studies one theme across the whole world. Regional geography studies all themes within one region.
Related concepts
- Systematic and regional approaches
- Systematic geography
- Alexander von Humboldt
- Karl Ritter
- Dualism in geography
- Nomothetic and idiographic approaches