Pandi Geço (1913–1994) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. He was best known for his unique regionalization of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

into four physical-geographic regions, a regionalization proposed for the first time by him and still used today. He was also the author of the first Albanian academic

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

s of

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Early life and higher education

Pandi Geço was born in

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

in 1913, the only son of Niko Geço and Katerina Ballauri. He received his primary education in his hometown, Korçë, where he continued his secondary and tertiary education in

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

at the

Albanian National Lyceum Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

. In 1935 he completed his studies in the Lyceum and went to study geography in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He graduated from the

University of Sorbonne The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

in 1940 and that same year returned to his hometown in Albania, where was appointed pedagogue at the same Lyceum at which he had studied.

Career

Eventually he moved to

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

and from 1948 until 1951 he worked in the first post-war Albanian scientific institution, the ''Institute of Studies'' (), later called the ''Institute of Sciences'' (). In 1951 he moved into the academic didactic system as professor of geography at the High Pedagogical Institute of Tirana. From 1956–1959 he was a member of the Department of Geodesy in the Faculty of Civic Engineering. Between the years 1959–1965 Geço was chief of the Department of Geography of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the

Polytechnic University of Tirana The Polytechnic University of Tirana (UPT) () is a public university located in Tirana, the capital of Albania. It offers degrees in engineering and related fields. History The Polytechnic University of Tirana is the oldest and the second larg ...

and gave lectures until 1974, the year he retired from teaching. He also conducted scientific research and published several articles concerning the regionalization of Albania,

climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospher ...

demographics Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examin ...

urban geography Urban geography is the subdiscipline of geography that derives from a study of cities and urban processes. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. Scholars, activists, and the public have ...

, and

economic geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography that studies economic activity and factors affecting it. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. Economic geography takes a variety of approaches to many different topi ...

. Of particular importance is his study ''Contemplations on the geographical regionalization of Albania'' (), where, for the first time, Pandi proposed a unique geographical regionalization of Albania, based on the concepts of integral geography. He divided Albania into four physical-geographic regions: Northern Mountain Region, Central Mountain Region, Southern Mountain Region and

Western Lowlands The Coastal Lowlands () is a physiogeographical region encompassing the western edge of Albania. It comprises the flat plains extending in the west along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coast that are surrounded by hills and mountains as ...

. This regionalization system is still used today. Geço held the title ''

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

'' and published several geographic academic textbooks, analyzing in detail the demographic evolution of the Albanian urban and rural settlements, particularly the capital Tirana. He was also involved in cultural exchanges with French scientific teams in Albania due to his high academic profile and proficiency in French. After a long career in the field of geography, Geço died in November 1994 in Tirana, at the age of 81.

Notable works

Pandi Geço published several works in both

and French, as well as academic textbooks of geography: *Shqipëria – pamje fiziko-ekonomike (), 1959 *Gjeografia fizike e Shqipërisë (), 1963 It was eventually translated and published in 1961 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by the same title. *Mendime për rajonizimin gjeografik të Shqipërisë (), 1964 *Gjeografia ekonomike e Shqipërisë (), 1970 *Fjalor i termave të gjeografisë: shqip-rusisht-frëngjisht (), coauthor with F. Leka and L. Dodbiba, 1975 *In ''"Studime Historike"'': :*Tendenca e zhvillimit të forcave prodhuese në RPSH, e parë ne planin historiko-gjeografik (), 1972 :*Disa aspekte të evolucionit të qytetit shqiptar gjatë shek. XX (), 1975/4 :*Disa aspekte të evolucionit të popullsisë fshatare të RPSSH (), 1977/4 *In ''"Ethnographie albanaise"'': :*L'accroissement de la population urbaine dans la République Populaire d'Albanie et sa nouvelle répartition géographique (), 1976 *In ''"Studime Gjeografike"'': :*Një vështrim i shkurtër fiziko-gjeografik mbi Ultësirën e Shkodrës (), 1985

Legacy

Geço is credited for writing the first Albanian geographic textbooks for universities, while his unique regionalization of Albania is still used today. In honour of his scientific contribution to the Albanian geography, the Albanian Association of Geographers led by Prof. Arqile Bërxholi bears the name "Pandi Geço" ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geco, Pandi Albanian geographers 1913 births 1994 deaths Albanian National Lyceum alumni People from Korçë 20th-century geographers Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Tirana