Nature

Abstract

International audienceFrom the ancient times to the present debates on nature and environment, the idea of Nature has been one of the main concepts which interested Geographers. This paper deals with the representations of this idea in the works of thinkers who played a major role in shaping modern Geography, with a special focus on the Mediterranean world. It aims to clarify how Nature was important in defining heuristic strategies of the geographical sciences and their explications of reality. In the first part of the paper, we start from the early definitions of Geography, provided by Greek authors, and arrive to the establishment of the classical geography between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th, stressing the line which started from the German Erdkunde and led to the creation of classical national schools in Europe at the end of the 19th century. In the second part, we deal with the relationship between Geography and different ecological and environmental ideas in the last century. Finally, we state that the role of Geographers in shaping the present environmental topics, dealing with ecology, landscape and planning is more important than what is normally believed, and that the role of the Mediterranean world in that is a major one