ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, the academic discipline of geography has experienced a conceptual and methodological transformation which rivals that of any other social science. From an essentially descriptive discipline content primarily with the collection and categorization of data about countries and regions, modern geography has become more quantitative and theoretical in orientation and technically more dependent upon mathematical and statistical modes of analysis. For those who find comfort in historical precedent, it is possible to trace the roots of this transformation deeper into the history of geographic thought. But it has only been since 1950 that the isolated strands of change have become interwoven and sufficiently consolidated to redirect the context and objectives of geographical research.
