In
geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (
physical geography), human impact characteristics (
human geography), and the interaction of humanity and the environment (
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
). Geographic regions and sub-regions are mostly described by their imprecisely defined, and sometimes transitory boundaries, except in human geography, where
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
J ...
areas such as national borders are defined in law.
Apart from the
global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
al regions, there are also
hydrospheric and
atmospheric regions that cover the
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
s, and discrete
climates above the
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
and
water masses
An oceanographic water mass is an identifiable body of water with a common formation history which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water. Properties include temperature, salinity, chemical - isotopic ratios, and other physical ...
of the planet. The
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as
plains and features.
As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among the many branches of geography, each of which can describe areas in regional terms. For example, ecoregion is a term used in
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
, cultural region in
cultural geography
Cultural geography is a subfield within human geography. Though the first traces of the study of different nations and cultures on Earth can be dated back to ancient geographers such as Ptolemy or Strabo, cultural geography as academic study first ...
, bioregion in
biogeography, and so on. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called
regional geography. Regions are an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries.
In the fields of
physical geography,
ecology,
biogeography,
zoogeography
Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution (present and past) of animal species.
As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular biology, genetics, mor ...
, and
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
, regions tend to be based on natural features such as
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s or
biotopes,
biomes,
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
s,
natural regions,
mountain ranges,
soil types. Where
human geography is concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of
ethnography.
Globalization
Global regions distinguishable from space, and are therefore clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial environments, land and
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
. However, they have been generally recognized as such much earlier by terrestrial
cartography because of their impact on human geography. They are divided into the largest of land regions, known as
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
s and the largest of water regions known as
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
s. There are also significant regions that do not belong to either classification, such as
archipelago regions that are
littoral regions, or
earthquake regions that are defined in
geology.
Continental regions
Continental regions are usually based on broad experiences in human history and attempt to reduce very large areas to more manageable
regionalization
Regionalisation is the tendency to form decentralised regions.
Regionalisation or land classification can be observed in various disciplines:
*In agriculture, see Agricultural Land Classification.
*In biogeography, see Biogeography#Biogeographi ...
for the purpose of the study. As such they are conceptual constructs, usually lacking distinct boundaries. The oceanic division into maritime regions is used in conjunction with the relationship to the central area of the continent, using directions of the
compass.
Some continental regions are defined by the major continental feature of their identity, such as the
Amazon basin, or the
Sahara, which both occupy a significant percentage of their respective continental land area.
To a large extent, major continental regions are mental constructs created by considering an efficient way to define large areas of the continents. For the most part, the images of the world are derived as much from academic studies, from all types of media, or from personal experience of global
exploration. They are a matter of collective human knowledge of their own planet and are attempts to better understand their environments.
Regional geography
Regional geography is a branch of geography that studies regions of all sizes across the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
. It has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to understand or define the uniqueness or character of a particular region, which consists of natural as well as human elements. Attention is paid also to regionalization, which covers the proper techniques of space
delimitation into regions.
Regional geography is also considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences (similar to
quantitative or
critical geographies; for more information, see
history of geography).
Human geography
Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with various discrete environments. It encompasses
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
,
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
,
cultural,
social, and
economic aspects among others that are often clearly delineated. While the major focus of human geography is not the physical landscape of the Earth (see
physical geography), it is hardly possible to discuss human geography without referring to the physical landscape on which human activities are being played out, and
environmental geography
Integrated geography (also referred to as integrative geography, environmental geography or human–environment geography) is where the branches of human geography and physical geography overlap to describes and explain the spatial aspects of int ...
is emerging as a link between the two. Regions of human geography can be divided into many broad categories:
Historical regions
The field of
historical geography
Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. It is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with history, anthropology, eco ...
involves the study of human history as it relates to places and
regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
, or the study of how places and regions have changed over time.
D. W. Meinig, a historical geographer of America, describes many historical regions in his book ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History''. For example, in identifying European "source regions" in early American colonization efforts, he defines and describes the ''Northwest European Atlantic Protestant Region'', which includes sub-regions such as the "Western Channel Community", which itself is made of sub-regions such as the ''English
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
'' of
Cornwall,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
,
Somerset, and
Dorset.
In describing historic regions of America, Meinig writes of "The Great Fishery" off the coast of Newfoundland and New England, an oceanic region that includes the
Grand Banks. He rejects regions traditionally used in describing American history, like
New France, "West Indies", the
Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies were a subset of the Thirteen Colonies in British America, located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies. Along with the Chesapeake Colonies, this area now roughly makes up the Mid-Atlantic states.
Mu ...
, and the individual colonies themselves (
Province of Maryland, for example). Instead he writes of "discrete colonization areas", which may be named after colonies but rarely adhere strictly to political boundaries. Among other historic regions of this type, he writes about "Greater New England" and its major sub-regions of "Plymouth", "New Haven shores" (including parts of Long Island), "Rhode Island" (or "Narragansett Bay"), "the Piscataqua", "Massachusetts Bay", "Connecticut Valley", and to a lesser degree, regions in the sphere of influence of Greater New England, "Acadia" (Nova Scotia), "Newfoundland and The Fishery/The Banks".
Other examples of historical regions are Iroquoia,
Ohio Country,
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...
, and
Rupert's Land.
In
Russia, historical regions include
Siberia and the
Russian North, as well as the
Ural Mountains. These regions had an identity that developed from the early modern period and led to
Siberian regionalism
Siberian regionalism (russian: Сибирское областничество, lit= Siberian oblast movement, translit= Sibirskoye oblastnichestvo) is a political movement that advocates for the formation of an autonomous Siberian state. The idea ...
.
Tourism region
A tourism region is a geographical region that has been designated by a governmental organization or
tourism bureau as having common cultural or environmental characteristics. These regions are often named after a geographical, former, or current administrative region or may have a name created for
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
purposes. The names often evoke certain positive qualities of the area and suggest a coherent tourism experience to visitors. Countries, states, provinces, and other administrative regions are often carved up into tourism regions to facilitate attracting visitors.
Some of the more famous tourism regions based on historical or current administrative regions include
Tuscany in Italy and
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...
in Mexico. Famous examples of regions created by a government or tourism bureau include the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
's
Lake District and
California's Wine Country.
great plains region
Natural resource regions
Natural resources often occur in distinct regions. Natural resource regions can be a topic of physical geography or environmental geography, but also have a strong element of human geography and economic geography. A coal region, for example, is a physical or geomorphological region, but its development and exploitation can make it into an economic and a cultural region. Examples of natural resource regions are the
Rumaila Field
The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field located in southern Iraq, approximately from the Kuwaiti border. Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), the field is e ...
, the oil field that lies along the border or Iraq and Kuwait and played a role in the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
; the
Coal Region of Pennsylvania, which is a historical region as well as a cultural, physical, and natural resource region; the
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, espe ...
, which like Pennsylvania's coal region is a historical, cultural, and natural region; the
Kuznetsk Basin
The Kuznetsk Basin (russian: Кузнецкий угольный бассейн, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of aroun ...
, a similarly important coal mining region in Russia;
Kryvbas, the economic and iron ore mining region of Ukraine; and the
James Bay Project
The James Bay Project (french: projet de la Baie-James) refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by state-owned utility Hydro-Québec, and the diversion of neighb ...
, a large region of Quebec where one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world has been developed.
Religious regions
Sometimes a region associated with a religion is given a name, like
Christendom, a term with medieval and renaissance connotations of Christianity as a sort of social and political
polity. The term
Muslim world is sometimes used to refer to the region of the world where Islam is dominant. These broad terms are very vague when used to describe regions.
Within some religions there are clearly defined regions. The
Roman Catholic Church, the
Church of England, the
Eastern Orthodox Church, and others, define ecclesiastical regions with names such as
diocese,
eparchy
Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...
,
ecclesiastical provinces
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of severa ...
, and
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
.
For example, the United States is divided into 32 Roman Catholic
ecclesiastical provinces
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of severa ...
. The
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is organized into 33 geographic ''districts'', which are subdivided into ''circuits'' (the
Atlantic District (LCMS), for example).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses regions similar to dioceses and parishes, but uses terms like
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
and
stake.
Political regions
In the field of
political geography, regions tend to be based on political units such as
sovereign states; subnational units such as administrative regions,
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
s,
states (in the United States),
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
,
townships,
territories, etc.; and multinational groupings, including formally defined units such as the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and
NATO, as well as informally defined regions such as the
Third World,
Western Europe, and the Middle East.
Administrative regions
The word "region" is taken from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''regio'' (derived from ''regere'', 'to rule'), and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of subnational entity (e.g., the
''región'', used in
Chile). In English, the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (e.g., the
''область'' (''
oblast''), used in Russia alongside a broader term ''регион'').
The following countries use the term "region" (or its
cognate) as the name of a type of subnational administrative unit:
*
Belgium (in French, ''région''; in German, ''Region''; the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
term ''gewest'' is often mistakenly translated as "regio")
*
Chad (', effective from 2002)
*
Chile (''región'')
*
Côte d'Ivoire (''région'')
*
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
(effective from 2007)
*
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
(not the United Kingdom as a whole)
*
Eritrea
*
France (''région'')
*
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
*
Guinea (''région'')
*
Guinea-Bissau (''região'')
*
Guyana
*
Hungary (''régió'')
*
Italy (''regione'')
*
Madagascar (''région'')
*
Mali (''région'')
*
Malta (''reġjun'')
*
Namibia
*
New Zealand
*
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
(''región'')
*
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
(''região'')
*
Philippines (''rehiyon'')
*
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
(''région'')
*
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
*
Thailand
*
Togo (''région'')
*
Trinidad and Tobago (''Regional Corporation'')
The Canadian
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Québec also uses the "administrative region" (''région administrative'').
Scotland had
local government regions from 1975 to 1996.
In Spain the official name of the
autonomous community
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
of
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
is ''Región de Murcia''. Also, some single-province autonomous communities such as
Madrid use the term ''región'' interchangeably with ''comunidad autónoma''.
Two
län (counties) in Sweden are officially called 'regions':
Skåne and
Västra Götaland, and there is currently a controversial proposal to divide the rest of Sweden into large
regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
, replacing the current counties.
The government of the
Philippines uses the term "region" (in
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
, ''rehiyon'') when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country. This is also the case in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, which groups its primary administrative divisions (''estados''; "states") into ''grandes regiões'' (
greater regions) for statistical purposes, while Russia uses ''экономические районы'' (
economic regions) in a similar way, as does
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
and
Venezuela.
The
government of Singapore makes use of the term "
region" for its own administrative purposes.
The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
*
Bulgaria, which uses the ''област'' (''oblast'')
*
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, which uses the ''Περιφέρεια'' (''periferia'')
*
Russia, which uses the ''область'' (''oblast), and for some regions the
''край'' (''
krai
A krai or kray (; russian: край, , ''kraya'') is one of the types of federal subjects of modern Russia, and was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR.
Etymologically, the word is relat ...
'')
*
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, which uses the ''область'' (''oblast)
*
Slovakia (''kraj'')
China has five 自治区 (''zìzhìqū'') and two 特別行政區 (or 特别行政区; ''tèbiéxíngzhèngqū''), which are translated as "
autonomous region" and "
special administrative region", respectively.
Local administrative regions
There are many relatively small regions based on local government agencies such as districts, agencies, or regions. In general, they are all regions in the general sense of being bounded spatial units. Examples include electoral districts such as
Washington's 6th congressional district
Washington's 6th congressional district encompasses the Olympic Peninsula, most of the Kitsap Peninsula, and most of the city of Tacoma. Its counties include the entirety of Clallam, Kitsap, Jefferson, and Grays Harbor counties, and part of ...
and
Tennessee's 1st congressional district
Tennessee's 1st congressional district is the congressional district of northeast Tennessee, including all of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties and parts of Jefferson Count ...
; school districts such as
Granite School District and
Los Angeles Unified School District; economic districts such as the
Reedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. It includes within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida. It acts with the sa ...
; metropolitan areas such as the
Seattle metropolitan area
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce ...
, and metropolitan districts such as the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the
Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, the
Metropolitan Police Service of
Greater London, as well as other local districts like the
York Rural Sanitary District, the
Delaware River Port Authority
The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the governments of Pen ...
, the
Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District, and
C-TRAN.
Traditional or informal regions
The traditional territorial divisions of some countries are also commonly rendered in English as "regions". These informal divisions do not form the basis of the modern administrative divisions of these countries, but still define and delimit local regional identity and sense of belonging. Examples are:
* England
*
Finland
*
Japan
*
Korea
*
Norway (''landsdeler'')
*
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
*
Slovakia
*
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Functional regions
Functional regions are usually understood to be the areas organised by the horizontal functional relations (flows, interactions) that are maximised within a region and minimised across its borders so that the principles of internal cohesiveness and external separation regarding spatial interactions are met (see, for instance, Farmer and Fotheringham, 2011; Klapka, Halas, 2016; Smart, 1974). A functional region is not an abstract spatial concept, but to a certain extent it can be regarded as a reflection of the spatial behaviour of individuals in a geographic space.
The functional region is conceived as a general concept while its inner structure, inner spatial flows, and interactions need not necessarily show any regular pattern, only selfcontainment. The concept of self-containment remains the only crucial defining characteristic of a functional region. Nodal regions, functional urban regions, daily urban systems, local labour-market areas (LLMAs), or travel-to-work areas (TTWAs) are considered to be special instances of a general functional region that need to fulfil some specific conditions regarding, for instance, the character of the region-organising interaction or the presence of urban cores, (Halas et al., 2015
).
Military regions
In military usage, a region is shorthand for the name of a military
formation larger than an
Army Group and smaller than an
Army Theater or simply Theater. The full name of the military formation is Army Region. The size of an Army Region can vary widely but is generally somewhere between about 1 million and 3 million soldiers. Two or more Army Regions could make up an Army Theater. An Army Region is typically commanded by a full
General (US four stars), a
Field Marshal, or
General of the Army (US five stars), or
Generalissimo
''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used.
Usage
The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...
(Soviet Union); and in the
US Armed Forces an
Admiral (typically four stars) may also command a region. Due to the large size of this formation, its use is rarely employed. Some of the very few examples of an Army Region are each of the Eastern, Western, and southern (mostly in Italy) fronts in Europe during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The military map unit symbol for this echelon of formation (see
Military organization and
APP-6A) is identified with six Xs.
Media geography
Media geography is a spatio-temporal understanding, brought through different gadgets of media, nowadays, media became inevitable at different proportions and everyone supposed to consumed at different gravity. The spatial attributes are studied with the help of media outputs in shape of images which are contested in nature and pattern as well where politics is inseparable. Media geography is giving spatial understanding of mediated image.
See also
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Autonomous region
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Committee of the Regions
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...
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Continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
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Continental fragment
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Euroregion
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Field (geography)
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Latin names of regions
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Military district
Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...
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Regional district
In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. there were 28 regional districts in ...
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Regionalism (disambiguation)
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Regional municipality
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Subcontinent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
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Submerged continents
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Subregion
A subregion is a part of a larger region or continent and is usually based on location. Cardinal directions, such as south are commonly used to define a subregion.
United Nations subregions
The Statistics Division of the United Nations (UN) ...
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Supercontinent
In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", which leav ...
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United Nations geoscheme
Notes
References
* Bailey, Robert G. (1996) ''Ecosystem Geography''. New York: Springer-Verlag.
*
Meinig, D.W. (1986). ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Volume 1: Atlantic America, 1492-1800''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
* Moinuddin Shekh. (2017) " Mediascape and the State: A Geographical Interpretation of Image Politics in Uttar Pradesh, India. Netherland, Springer.
* Smith-Peter, Susan (2018) ''Imagining Russian Regions: Subnational Identity and Civil Society in Nineteenth-Century Russia''. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
External links
Map and descriptions of hydrologic unit regions of the United States*
tp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NCGC/products/watershed/hu-standards.pdf Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit BoundariesPhysiographic regions of the United States
{{Authority control
Geography
Geography terminology
Regional geography