ABSTRACT
The concept of Raum appears to be the central concept of German geographical and, more especially, geopolitical thought in the last half-century. A Raum may contain a variety of landscapes in the way of interrelated subregional units. Furthermore, Raum includes a political in addition to a social and cultural connotation, and as such has been elaborated by Friedrich Ratzel in his volume on political geography, which, unfortunately has remained untranslated. The American South is the historical region of the United States and therefore the seat of American regionalism. The interpenetration and integration of regional and cultural phenomena has already become the paramount object of interest in plans for post-war education and in suggestions for postwar reconstruction studies. The region, considered as Raum, must stand the test of history; its frontiers must reassert themselves throughout all the changes which the region might otherwise undergo. The concept of frontier corresponds to the concept of Raum.
