ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that in the process of its conception of science and the associated notions of the region were altered and replaced by quite a different view. It begins with an older core idea and, in particular, statements made about it by Richard Hartshorne. Hartshorne called his work The Nature of Geography, using the definite article and the singular form of the nouns. Hartshorne conceived the geography as a science, although it was different from what he variously called the 'exact sciences', 'natural sciences', or 'systematic sciences'. The conception of region that emerged out of the University of Washington was abstract and instrumental, bearing on 'significant, theoretical, policy and/or practical questions'. Belief in the instrumental power of science in achieving national security interests is the first characteristic, found most starkly in the conviction that science, and its embodiment in technology, won the Second World War.
