ABSTRACT
There is every reason to guard the idea of relating any distributions to fundamental aspects of physical geography; in the primary settlement of colonists, for example in Australia, a knowledge of physical geography could have saved people from considerable hardship. Viewing the past hundred years, the initial attraction was clearly exploration. And it has proved an abiding attraction, for the appeal of strange and rare circumstances and experiences still survives. World schemes of regionalization have given millions of people some idea of the whole globe, even though they may seem appropriate only in the earlier phases of geographical study. In regional study, the tendency of some writers is to base their work round a theme, such as the distribution of population, and from that to consider the relation of the people to the earth, by considering the effects of physical features, climate, soils and other features on the agriculture which supports some, at least, of the population.
