Chorology

From Geography

Chorology is the study of geographic distributions over and variations of the earth’s surface. It can be seen within the spatial analysis approaches as one of the main conceptions of human geography (Gregory, Johnston, Pratt, Watts and Whatmore, 2009).

The source

The term chorology is used to give meaning to the study of geography. According to Hettner, an influential German geographer in the mid twenties, geography should be understood from a logical system of sciences. In the traditional division of natural and cultural sciences there is no place for geography, because when phenomena in the geographical field are studied there are as well natural as cultural elements that have influence. It is therefore not possible to divide geography in one of the two mentioned sciences. Hereby Hettner developed new categories for science. First there is a difference between abstract (physics and chemistry) and concrete science (in which the reality is analysed in the context of time and space). Within the concrete science a trichotomy is made, which Hettner called the “Ding-, Zeit and Raumwissenchaften. In this trichotomy you have the systematic (such as mineralogy), chronological (such as history) and the chorological (spatial) sciences (Ostermeier, 1987).

Distinction in chorological science

The chorological science was divided into two groups. First the astronomical science, studying phenomena in space and second studying phenomena on the earth's surface. This study of phenomena on the earth's surface was concerned with the human interaction- and interconnections with the natural environment, the arrangement by region of the earth’s physical phenomena. Through this connections and interactions every place or area in the world has an unique character. In the chorological science there is no distinction between social and physical geography, it is the variety in places and it’s spatial coherence that determines whether something is geographical relevant or not (Gregory, et al., 2009).

References

• Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M.J., and Whatmore, S. (2009). The dictionary of human geography. 5th edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Ostermeier, J.F. (1987). De opvattingen van Alfred Hettner (1859-1941) over de plaats van de geografie in het systeem van wetenschappen. Katholieke universiteit Nijmegen: Nijmegen.

Editors

• Page created by Lars Paardekooper 20-10-2012