In
geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (
physical geography
Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
), human impact characteristics (
human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...
), and the interaction of humanity and the environment (
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
). Geographic regions and sub-regions are mostly described by their imprecisely defined, and sometimes transitory boundaries, except in human geography, where
jurisdiction areas such as national borders are defined in law.
Apart from the
global continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
al regions, there are also
hydrospheric and
atmospheric
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
regions that cover the
oceans, and discrete
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
s above the
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
and
water masses
An oceanographic water mass is an identifiable body of water with a common formation history which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water. Properties include temperature, salinity, chemical - isotopic ratios, and other physical ...
of the planet. The
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as
plains and features.
As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among the many branches of geography, each of which can describe areas in regional terms. For example, ecoregion is a term used in
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
, cultural region in
cultural geography
Cultural geography is a subfield within human geography. Though the first traces of the study of different nations and cultures on Earth can be dated back to ancient geographers such as Ptolemy or Strabo, cultural geography as academic study first ...
, bioregion in
biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
, and so on. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called
regional geography
Regional geography is a major branch of geography. It focuses on the interaction of different cultural and natural geofactors in a specific land or landscape, while its counterpart, systematic geography, concentrates on a specific geofactor at the ...
. Regions are an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries.
In the fields of
physical geography
Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
,
ecology,
biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
,
zoogeography, and
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
, regions tend to be based on natural features such as
ecosystems or
biotope
A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countri ...
s,
biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
s,
drainage basins,
natural regions,
mountain ranges,
soil type
A soil type is a taxonomic unit in soil science. All soils that share a certain set of well-defined properties form a distinctive soil type. Soil type is a technical term of soil classification, the science that deals with the systematic categoriz ...
s. Where
human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...
is concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of
ethnography.
Globalization
Global regions distinguishable from space, and are therefore clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial environments, land and
water. However, they have been generally recognized as such much earlier by terrestrial
cartography
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
because of their impact on human geography. They are divided into the largest of land regions, known as
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
s and the largest of water regions known as
oceans. There are also significant regions that do not belong to either classification, such as
archipelago regions that are
littoral regions, or
earthquake regions that are defined in
geology.
Continental regions
Continental regions are usually based on broad experiences in human history and attempt to reduce very large areas to more manageable
regionalization
Regionalisation is the tendency to form decentralised regions.
Regionalisation or land classification can be observed in various disciplines:
*In agriculture, see Agricultural Land Classification.
*In biogeography, see Biogeography#Biogeograph ...
for the purpose of the study. As such they are conceptual constructs, usually lacking distinct boundaries. The oceanic division into maritime regions is used in conjunction with the relationship to the central area of the continent, using directions of the
compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
.
Some continental regions are defined by the major continental feature of their identity, such as the
Amazon basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boliv ...
, or the
Sahara, which both occupy a significant percentage of their respective continental land area.
To a large extent, major continental regions are mental constructs created by considering an efficient way to define large areas of the continents. For the most part, the images of the world are derived as much from academic studies, from all types of media, or from personal experience of global
exploration
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
. They are a matter of collective human knowledge of their own planet and are attempts to better understand their environments.
Regional geography
Regional geography
Regional geography is a major branch of geography. It focuses on the interaction of different cultural and natural geofactors in a specific land or landscape, while its counterpart, systematic geography, concentrates on a specific geofactor at the ...
is a branch of geography that studies regions of all sizes across the
Earth. It has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to understand or define the uniqueness or character of a particular region, which consists of natural as well as human elements. Attention is paid also to regionalization, which covers the proper techniques of space
delimitation into regions.
Regional geography is also considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences (similar to
quantitative
Quantitative may refer to:
* Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties
* Quantitative analysis (disambiguation)
* Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry
* Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis
...
or
critical geographies; for more information, see
history of geography).
Human geography
Human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...
is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with various discrete environments. It encompasses
human,
political,
cultural,
social, and
economic aspects among others that are often clearly delineated. While the major focus of human geography is not the physical landscape of the Earth (see
physical geography
Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
), it is hardly possible to discuss human geography without referring to the physical landscape on which human activities are being played out, and
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
is emerging as a link between the two. Regions of human geography can be divided into many broad categories:
Historical regions
The field of
historical geography involves the study of human history as it relates to places and
regions, or the study of how places and regions have changed over time.
D. W. Meinig
Donald William Meinig (November 1, 1924 – June 13, 2020) was an American geographer. He was Maxwell Research Professor Emeritus of Geography at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
Career
Meinig studied ...
, a historical geographer of America, describes many historical regions in his book ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History''. For example, in identifying European "source regions" in early American colonization efforts, he defines and describes the ''Northwest European Atlantic Protestant Region'', which includes sub-regions such as the "Western Channel Community", which itself is made of sub-regions such as the ''English
West Country'' of
Cornwall,
Devon,
Somerset
Somerset ( , ; Archaism, archaically Somersetshire , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the so ...
, and
Dorset.
In describing historic regions of America, Meinig writes of "The Great Fishery" off the coast of Newfoundland and New England, an oceanic region that includes the
Grand Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, sword ...
. He rejects regions traditionally used in describing American history, like
New France, "West Indies", the
Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies were a subset of the Thirteen Colonies in British America, located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies. Along with the Chesapeake Colonies, this area now roughly makes up the Mid-Atlantic states.
M ...
, and the individual colonies themselves (
Province of Maryland, for example). Instead he writes of "discrete colonization areas", which may be named after colonies but rarely adhere strictly to political boundaries. Among other historic regions of this type, he writes about "Greater New England" and its major sub-regions of "Plymouth", "New Haven shores" (including parts of Long Island), "Rhode Island" (or "Narragansett Bay"), "the Piscataqua", "Massachusetts Bay", "Connecticut Valley", and to a lesser degree, regions in the sphere of influence of Greater New England, "Acadia" (Nova Scotia), "Newfoundland and The Fishery/The Banks".
Other examples of historical regions are Iroquoia,
Ohio Country,
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...
, and
Rupert's Land.
In
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
, historical regions include
Siberia and the
Russian North
Russian North (russian: Русский Север) is an ethnocultural region situated in the northwestern part of Russia. It spans the regions of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, Vologda Oblast and Nenets Autonomous O ...
, as well as the
Ural Mountains. These regions had an identity that developed from the early modern period and led to
Siberian regionalism
Siberian regionalism (russian: Сибирское областничество, lit= Siberian oblast movement, translit= Sibirskoye oblastnichestvo) is a political movement that advocates for the formation of an autonomous Siberian state. The idea ...
.
Tourism region
A tourism region is a geographical region that has been designated by a governmental organization or
tourism bureau
The Tourism Bureau, MOTC () is the government agency under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Taiwan (Republic of China) responsible for the administration of domestic and international tourism policy making, execution and d ...
as having common cultural or environmental characteristics. These regions are often named after a geographical, former, or current administrative region or may have a name created for
tourism purposes. The names often evoke certain positive qualities of the area and suggest a coherent tourism experience to visitors. Countries, states, provinces, and other administrative regions are often carved up into tourism regions to facilitate attracting visitors.
Some of the more famous tourism regions based on historical or current administrative regions include
Tuscany in Italy and
Yucatán in Mexico. Famous examples of regions created by a government or tourism bureau include the
United Kingdom's
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or '' fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
and
California's Wine Country.
great plains region
Natural resource regions
Natural resources often occur in distinct regions. Natural resource regions can be a topic of physical geography or environmental geography, but also have a strong element of human geography and economic geography. A coal region, for example, is a physical or geomorphological region, but its development and exploitation can make it into an economic and a cultural region. Examples of natural resource regions are the
Rumaila Field
The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field located in southern Iraq, approximately from the Kuwaiti border. Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), the field is e ...
, the oil field that lies along the border or Iraq and Kuwait and played a role in the
Gulf War; the
Coal Region
The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons.
The region is typically defined as compris ...
of Pennsylvania, which is a historical region as well as a cultural, physical, and natural resource region; the
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, especi ...
, which like Pennsylvania's coal region is a historical, cultural, and natural region; the
Kuznetsk Basin
The Kuznetsk Basin (russian: Кузнецкий угольный бассейн, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of arou ...
, a similarly important coal mining region in Russia;
Kryvbas
:''Kryvbas'' ''may also refer to the FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, the football team in Kryvyi Rih. See also Kryvbas (disambiguation)''
Kryvbas (, full name Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin, ) is an important economic and historical region in central Ukrain ...
, the economic and iron ore mining region of Ukraine; and the
James Bay Project, a large region of Quebec where one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world has been developed.
Religious regions
Sometimes a region associated with a religion is given a name, like
Christendom
Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwin ...
, a term with medieval and renaissance connotations of Christianity as a sort of social and political
polity. The term
Muslim world is sometimes used to refer to the region of the world where Islam is dominant. These broad terms are very vague when used to describe regions.
Within some religions there are clearly defined regions. The
Roman Catholic Church, the
Church of England, the
Eastern Orthodox Church, and others, define ecclesiastical regions with names such as
diocese,
eparchy,
ecclesiastical provinces
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of severa ...
, and
parish.
For example, the United States is divided into 32 Roman Catholic
ecclesiastical provinces
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of severa ...
. The
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is organized into 33 geographic ''districts'', which are subdivided into ''circuits'' (the
Atlantic District (LCMS)
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, for example).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses regions similar to dioceses and parishes, but uses terms like
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
and
stake.
Political regions
In the field of
political geography
Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, po ...
, regions tend to be based on political units such as
sovereign states; subnational units such as administrative regions,
provinces,
states (in the United States),
counties,
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
s,
territories
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
, etc.; and multinational groupings, including formally defined units such as the
European Union, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military ...
, and
NATO, as well as informally defined regions such as the
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the "First W ...
,
Western Europe, and the Middle East.
Administrative regions
The word "region" is taken from the
Latin ''regio'' (derived from ''regere'', 'to rule'), and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of subnational entity (e.g., the
''región'', used in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
). In English, the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (e.g., the
''область'' (''
oblast''), used in Russia alongside a broader term ''регион'').
The following countries use the term "region" (or its
cognate) as the name of a type of subnational administrative unit:
*
Belgium (in French, ''région''; in German, ''Region''; the
Dutch term ''gewest'' is often mistakenly translated as "regio")
*
Chad (', effective from 2002)
*
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
(''región'')
*
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
(''région'')
*
Denmark (effective from 2007)
*
England (not the United Kingdom as a whole)
*
Eritrea
*
France (''région'')
*
Ghana
*
Guinea (''région'')
*
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
(''região'')
*
Guyana
*
Hungary (''régió'')
*
Italy (''regione'')
*
Madagascar (''région'')
*
Mali (''région'')
*
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
(''reġjun'')
*
Namibia
*
New Zealand
*
Peru (''región'')
*
Portugal (''região'')
*
Philippines (''rehiyon'')
*
Senegal (''région'')
*
Tanzania
*
Thailand
*
Togo (''région'')
*
Trinidad and Tobago (''Regional Corporation'')
The Canadian
province of
Québec also uses the "administrative region" (''région administrative'').
Scotland had
local government regions from 1975 to 1996.
In Spain the official name of the
autonomous community of
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
is ''Región de Murcia''. Also, some single-province autonomous communities such as
Madrid use the term ''región'' interchangeably with ''comunidad autónoma''.
Two
län
Län ( Swedish, ), lääni ( Finnish, ) and len ( Norwegian, ) refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland and Norway. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010. In Norway, the term was in use b ...
(counties) in Sweden are officially called 'regions':
Skåne and
Västra Götaland, and there is currently a controversial proposal to divide the rest of Sweden into large
regions, replacing the current counties.
The government of the
Philippines uses the term "region" (in
Filipino, ''rehiyon'') when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country. This is also the case in
Brazil, which groups its primary administrative divisions (''estados''; "states") into ''grandes regiões'' (
greater regions) for statistical purposes, while Russia uses ''экономические районы'' (
economic regions
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...
) in a similar way, as does
Romania and
Venezuela.
The
government of Singapore makes use of the term "
region" for its own administrative purposes.
The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
*
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
, which uses the ''област'' (''oblast'')
*
Greece, which uses the ''Περιφέρεια'' (''periferia'')
*
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
, which uses the ''область'' (''oblast), and for some regions the
''край'' (''
krai
A krai or kray (; russian: край, , ''kraya'') is one of the types of federal subjects of modern Russia, and was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR.
Etymologically, the word is rela ...
'')
*
Ukraine, which uses the ''область'' (''oblast)
*
Slovakia (''kraj'')
China has five 自治区 (''zìzhìqū'') and two 特別行政區 (or 特别行政区; ''tèbiéxíngzhèngqū''), which are translated as "
autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy— ...
" and "
special administrative region", respectively.
Local administrative regions
There are many relatively small regions based on local government agencies such as districts, agencies, or regions. In general, they are all regions in the general sense of being bounded spatial units. Examples include electoral districts such as
Washington's 6th congressional district
Washington's 6th congressional district encompasses the Olympic Peninsula, most of the Kitsap Peninsula, and most of the city of Tacoma. Its counties include the entirety of Clallam, Kitsap, Jefferson, and Grays Harbor counties, and part of M ...
and
Tennessee's 1st congressional district
Tennessee's 1st congressional district is the congressional district of northeast Tennessee, including all of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties and parts of Jefferson Cou ...
; school districts such as
Granite School District
The Granite School District spreads across central Salt Lake County, Utah, serving West Valley City, Millcreek, Taylorsville, South Salt Lake, and Holladay; Kearns and Magna Townships; and parts of West Jordan, Murray and Cottonwood Heigh ...
and
Los Angeles Unified School District; economic districts such as the
Reedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It includes within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida. It acts with the same ...
; metropolitan areas such as the
Seattle metropolitan area, and metropolitan districts such as the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), originally known as the Sanitary District of Chicago, is a special-purpose district chartered to operate in Cook County, Illinois since 1889. Although its name may imply other ...
, the
Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, the
Metropolitan Police Service of
Greater London, as well as other local districts like the
York Rural Sanitary District
York was a rural sanitary district in Yorkshire, England, until 1894. It was based on the York poor law union (minus the City of York itself, which was an urban sanitary district), and included parishes in the West Riding, the North Riding and t ...
, the
Delaware River Port Authority, the
Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District The Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), located in Nassau County, Florida is a government entity dedicated to encouraging productive use of land, water and air resources in the county. According to a summary taken from Florida ...
, and
C-TRAN.
Traditional or informal regions
The traditional territorial divisions of some countries are also commonly rendered in English as "regions". These informal divisions do not form the basis of the modern administrative divisions of these countries, but still define and delimit local regional identity and sense of belonging. Examples are:
* England
*
Finland
*
Japan
*
Korea
*
Norway (''landsdeler'')
*
Romania
*
Slovakia
*
United States
Functional regions
Functional regions are usually understood to be the areas organised by the horizontal functional relations (flows, interactions) that are maximised within a region and minimised across its borders so that the principles of internal cohesiveness and external separation regarding spatial interactions are met (see, for instance, Farmer and Fotheringham, 2011; Klapka, Halas, 2016; Smart, 1974). A functional region is not an abstract spatial concept, but to a certain extent it can be regarded as a reflection of the spatial behaviour of individuals in a geographic space.
The functional region is conceived as a general concept while its inner structure, inner spatial flows, and interactions need not necessarily show any regular pattern, only selfcontainment. The concept of self-containment remains the only crucial defining characteristic of a functional region. Nodal regions, functional urban regions, daily urban systems, local labour-market areas (LLMAs), or travel-to-work areas (TTWAs) are considered to be special instances of a general functional region that need to fulfil some specific conditions regarding, for instance, the character of the region-organising interaction or the presence of urban cores, (Halas et al., 2015
).
Military regions
In military usage, a region is shorthand for the name of a military
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
larger than an
Army Group
An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled b ...
and smaller than an
Army Theater or simply Theater. The full name of the military formation is Army Region. The size of an Army Region can vary widely but is generally somewhere between about 1 million and 3 million soldiers. Two or more Army Regions could make up an Army Theater. An Army Region is typically commanded by a full
General (US four stars), a
Field Marshal, or
General of the Army (US five stars), or
Generalissimo (Soviet Union); and in the
US Armed Forces an
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
(typically four stars) may also command a region. Due to the large size of this formation, its use is rarely employed. Some of the very few examples of an Army Region are each of the Eastern, Western, and southern (mostly in Italy) fronts in Europe during
World War II. The military map unit symbol for this echelon of formation (see
Military organization and
APP-6A
NATO Joint Military Symbology is the NATO standard for military map symbols. Originally published in 1986 as Allied Procedural Publication 6 (APP-6), NATO Military Symbols for Land Based Systems, the standard has evolved over the years and is c ...
) is identified with six Xs.
Media geography
Media geography is a spatio-temporal understanding, brought through different gadgets of media, nowadays, media became inevitable at different proportions and everyone supposed to consumed at different gravity. The spatial attributes are studied with the help of media outputs in shape of images which are contested in nature and pattern as well where politics is inseparable. Media geography is giving spatial understanding of mediated image.
See also
*
Autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy— ...
*
Committee of the Regions
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...
*
Continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
*
Continental fragment
Continental crustal fragments, partly synonymous with microcontinents, are pieces of continents that have broken off from main continental masses to form distinct islands that are often several hundred kilometers from their place of origin.
Cau ...
*
Euroregion
*
Field (geography)
In the context of spatial analysis, geographic information systems, and geographic information science, a field is a property that fills space, and varies over space, such as temperature or density. This use of the term has been adopted from ...
*
Latin names of regions
*
Military district
*
Regional district
In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. there were 28 regional districts in ...
*
Regionalism (disambiguation)
Regionalism may refer to:
* Regionalism (art), an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s
* Regionalism (international relations), the expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with the creation ...
*
Regional municipality
A regional municipality (or region) is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Reg ...
*
Subcontinent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
*
Submerged continents
*
Subregion
*
Supercontinent
*
United Nations geoscheme
Notes
References
* Bailey, Robert G. (1996) ''Ecosystem Geography''. New York: Springer-Verlag.
*
Meinig, D.W. (1986). ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 1: Atlantic America, 1492-1800''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
* Moinuddin Shekh. (2017) " Mediascape and the State: A Geographical Interpretation of Image Politics in Uttar Pradesh, India. Netherland, Springer.
* Smith-Peter, Susan (2018) ''Imagining Russian Regions: Subnational Identity and Civil Society in Nineteenth-Century Russia''. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
External links
Map and descriptions of hydrologic unit regions of the United States*
tp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NCGC/products/watershed/hu-standards.pdf Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit BoundariesPhysiographic regions of the United States
{{Authority control
Geography
Geography terminology
Regional geography