ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the roots of unity in the development of Geography and the indicators for the persistence of unity in the modern discipline. Geography occupied a place in the minds of the generalist scholars of the classical period and beyond because it was an empirical reality. The immediate period of the nineteenth century that preceded the launch of the Geographical Experiment was dominated by debates in the natural sciences and in particular the impact of Charles Darwin. Environmentalism contained the relationship in its most explicit form, and a long debate evolved on its nature with the conflicting claims of a set of ‘isms’, from determinism to possibilism with probablism occupying the middle ground. The development of regional geography opened up another dichotomy within the discipline that was significant for a time but short-lived. The most significant adaptation of regionalism was that relating to the concept of place.
