geodiversity — English

The variation of geographical attributes or properties or characteristics (variables) from one place or time to another. The global environment displays countless differences (variation) from any region to any other region, which indicate that conclusions made in one area cannot summarily be extrapolated to similar areas all over the world. No two desert regions are exactly the same in all respects; no two equatorial forests are perfectly the same. The same applies to all natural regions and areas. Similarly, cities differ much from one another and also from area to area within any city itself. The characteristics of each and every area on Earth – however small or large it may be – consists of a unique set of attributes (characteristics) and we may never assume that whichever applies to one area or region would apply to any other similar area or region. Different areas or regions may have certain attributes in common, but they might have even more attributes that differ completely from the one area to another. Therefore, we can never assume that regions with more or less comparable characteristics or collections of characteristics, could simply be regarded as being “the same”. Spatial differentiation should always be borne in the geographer’s mind. The fact that there is so much geodiversity on Earth constitutes the idiographic principle (uniqueness principle) in Geography. This essential and extremely important principle holds that there are no two places that are exactly the same. The idiographic principle is of the utmost importance in Geography where we are always generalising and grouping like to like and looking for similarities in small local areas as well as on the large global scale. True enough, certain regions or areas might have a lot of attributes in common, but there will still be numerous characteristics that differ somewhat or largely. All of this is covered by the basic geographical principle of spatial variation and variability (see “spatial variation”).

Afrikaans     Sesotho sa Leboa     isiZulu    

Back to main concept page

← Previous concept    Next concept →