ABSTRACT
As Chapter 2 has shown, the Straits region shares a number of common physiographic characteristics which are reflected in the landscapes of the region. In terms of river catchments, the dominance of certain soil types and common vegetational patterns, there is justification in seeing the essential unity of the region. Whilst divided by the waters of the Straits, as the preceding chapter demonstrated, those waters arrived only very recently in geological time. The nature of the landscapes, drainage, soils and vegetation are examined here; they provide the important environmental framework within which human ingenuity, cooperation and organisation has acted to shape the human landscape of the region.
