Region
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'''Region''' is a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region is a medium-scale area of land|Earth or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest (which could be, for example, the world, a nation, a river basin, mountain range, and so on), and larger than a specific site or location. A region can be seen as a collection of smaller units (as in "the New England states") or as one part of a larger whole (as in "the New England region of the United States").
Regions are areas and or the spaces used in the study of geography. A region can be defined by physical characteristics, human characteristics and functional characteristics.
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, cultural region in cultural geography, bioregion in Biogeography, and so on. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called Regional geography.
Regions are conceptual constructs and, thus, may vary among cultures and individuals.
==Natural regions==
In the fields of [[physical geography]], [[ecology]], [[biogeography]], [[zoogeography]], and [[environmental geography]], regions tend to be based on natural features such as [[ecosystem]]s or [[biotope]]s, [[biome]]s, [[drainage basin]]s, [[mountain range]]s, [[soil type]]s, and so on.
===Ecoregions===
Many systems of defining [[ecoregion]]s have been created. The [[World Wide Fund for Nature]] (WWF) has been active in creating one of the more recent and comprehensive systems. In this system, ecoregions are part of a nested hierarchy of ecological regions of different scales. Small units are called sites, micro-[[ecosystem]]s, landtypes, and land units, among other terms. Small units are grouped into larger units called landscape mosaics, meso-ecosystems, landtype associations, and subregions, among other terms. These in turn are grouped into larger units called variously regions, ecoregions, provinces, divisions, domains, zones, [[ecozone]]s, kingdoms, and so on.
===Hydrological regions===
The fields of hydrology and hydrography involve the study and description of water in the environment. Surface-water hydrology focuses on streams, lakes, wetlands, and other kinds of surface water (as opposed to groundwater). Hydrology is a broad field with many topics of study, including the delineation of water-based regions.
There are many systems for defining surface water regions. A basic type of stream-based region is the [[drainage basin]], or watershed. In some cases, drainage basins are directly linked to cultural and political regions. For example, the [[Hudson Bay]] drainage basin was defined politically as [[Rupert's Land]], the historic territory of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. Boundaries between drainage basins, called [[water divide]]s, are frequently used as political boundaries.
====Hydrologic Units====
The drainage basin concept is expanded upon in hierarchical systems of ''hydrologic units''. In the United States, an effort is being made to delineate hydrologic units in a six level hierarchy covering the entire country and adhering to a standard called the "Federal Standard for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries". The six nested levels of hydrologic unit regions are named, from largest to smallest, regions, subregions, basins, subbasins, watersheds, and subwatersheds. The system defines 21 hydrologic unit (HU) regions in the United States, 222 HU subregions, 352 HU basins, and 2,149 HU subbasins. The delineation of 5th level watersheds and 6th level subwatersheds is not complete, but estimates predict about 22,000 watersheds and 160,000 subwatersheds in the United States.
===Physiographic regions===
{{Main|Physiographic regions of the world}}
Regions defined based on the dance ,=moves it can achieve characteristics are called "phsycadellic" or "geomorphic" regions. Physiography involves the delineation and description of regions from the viewpoint of [[geomorphology]]. Geologist Nevin Fenneman defined a classic three-level hierarchical system of physiographic regions for the United States in 1946. The regions are called divisions, provinces, and sections. For example, there are 8 large [[United States physiographic region|physiographic divisions]], such as the [[Canadian Shield]] and the [[Interior Plains]]. These are subdivioned into provinces and sectiones. The appalachiane Highlands division, for example, contains the Valley and Ridge province, which in turn contains three sections, the Tennessee section, Middle section, and Hudson section. The Valley and Ridge province approximately corresponds to the more general region known as the [[Ridge-and-valley Appalachians]].
===Palaeogeographic regions===
[[Palaeogeography]] is the study of ancient geologic environments. Since the physical structures of the Earth's surface have changed over geologic time, palaeogeographers have coined various names for ancient regions that no longer exist, from very large regions such as the supercontinents [[Rodinia]], [[Pangaea]], and [[Pannotia]], to relatively small regions like [[Bering land bridge|Beringia]]. Other examples include the [[Tethys Ocean]] and [[Ancylus Lake]]. Palaeogeographiccontinentalregionsthatinclude [[Laurentia]], [[Proto-Laurasia]], [[Laurasia]], [[Euramerica]] (the "Old Red Continent"), and [[Gondwana]].
==Historical regions==<!-- This section is linked from [[Hispanic]] -->
{{Main|Lists of unofficial regions by country}}
The field of [[historical geography]] involves the study of human history as it relates to places and [[Historical region|regions]], or, inversely, 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 "[[England|English]] [[West Country]]" of [[Cornwall]] and [[Devon]].
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]], 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. Historic regions of this type Meinig writes about include "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 include Iroquoia, [[Ohio Country]], [[Illinois Country]], and [[Rupert's Land]].
==Tourism regions==
[[Tourism geography]] is the study of tourism and travel as it relates to places. Regions are studied as places of tourist origin as well as tourist destination. From the perspective of tourism geography, a regions like the [[Lake District]] of England may receive more attention than its political region of [[Cumbria]], or New Zealand's [[Fiordland]] region more than [[Southland Province]]. For example, the policy used by the Wikitravel guide discourages the use of U.S. counties as guide subjects, in favor of geographic or metropolitan regions.
In [[ecotourism]], regions are often described in terms more environmental than political, such as the [[Serengeti]] region.
Other examples of tourism regions include the [[Loire Valley]] in France, [[Cinque Terre]] in Italy, [[Cappadocia]] in Turkey, and the [[Great Barrier Reef]] in Australia.
==Natural resource regions==
[[Natural resource]]s 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. Some examples of natural resource regions include the [[Rumaila Field]], the oil field that lies along the border or Iraq and Kuwait and played a role in the [[Gulf War]]; the [[Coal Region]] of Pennsylvania, which is a historical region as well as a cultural, physical, and natural resource region; the [[South Wales Coalfield]], which like Pennsylvania's coal region is a historical, cultural, and natural region; the [[Kuznetsk Basin]], a similarly important coal mining region in Russia; [[Kryvbas]], the economic and iron ore mining region of Ukraine; and the [[James Bay Project]], 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 [[List of Church of England dioceses|Church of England]], the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], and others, define ecclesiastical regions with names such as [[diocese]], [[eparchy]], [[Ecclesiastical Province|ecclesiastical provinces]], and [[parish]].
For example, the United States is divided into 32 Roman Catholic [[List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of the United States|ecclesiastical provinces]]. 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 (Mormonism)|ward]] and [[Stake (Mormonism)|stake]].
{{anchor|Political regions}}
==Political regions==<!-- This section is linked from [[Regions of Italy]] -->
In the field of [[political geography]] regions tend to be based on political units such as sovereign [[state]]s; subnational units such as [[province]]s, [[county|counties]], [[township]]s, [[Territory (country subdivision)|territories]], etc; and multinational groupings, including formally defined units such as the [[European Union]], 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]].
===Local administrative regions===
There are many relatively small regions based on local government agencies. Sometimes these small political regions are called districts or areas, and sometimes 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]] and [[Tennessee's 1st congressional district]]; school districts such as [[Granite School District]] and [[Los Angeles Unified School District]]; economic districts such as the [[Reedy Creek Improvement District]]; metropolitan areas such as the [[Seattle metropolitan area]], 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 [[Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District]], and [[C-TRAN]].
===Administrative regions===<!-- This section is linked from [[Montoire-sur-le-Loir]] -->
The word "region" is taken from the [[Latin]] ''regio'', and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of [[subnational entity]] (eg, the [[Regions of Chile|''región'']], used in [[Chile]]). In [[English language|English]], the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (e.g., the [[Oblasts of Russia|''область'']] (''[[oblast]]''), used in [[Russia]] alongside with a broader term ''регион'').
The following countries use the term "region" (or its [[cognate]]) as the name of a type of subnational administrative unit:
*[[Regions of Belgium|Belgium]] (in [[French language|French]], ''région''; in [[German language|German]], ''Region''; the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] term ''gewest'' is often translated as "region")
*[[Regions of Chad|Chad]] (''{{lang|fr|région}}'', effective from [[2002]])
*[[Regions of Chile|Chile]] (''región'')
*[[Regions of the Republic of the Congo|Congo]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Côte d'Ivoire|Côte d'Ivoire]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Denmark|Denmark]] (effective from [[2007]])
*[[Regions of England|England]]
*[[Regions of Eritrea|Eritrea]]
*[[Regions of France|France]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Ghana|Ghana]]
*[[Regions of Guinea|Guinea]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Guinea-Bissau|Guinea-Bissau]] (''região'')
*[[Regions of Guyana|Guyana]]
*[[Regions of Hungary|Hungary]] (''régió'')
*[[Regions of Italy|Italy]] (''regione'')
*[[Regions of Madagascar|Madagascar]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Mali|Mali]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Namibia|Namibia]]
*[[Regions of New Zealand|New Zealand]]
*[[Regions of Peru|Peru]] (''región'')
*[[Regions of the Philippines|Philippines]] (''region'')
*[[Regions of Senegal|Senegal]] (''région'')
*[[Regions of Tanzania|Tanzania]]
*[[Regions of Togo|Togo]] (''région'')
*[[Regional Corporations and Municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidad and Tobago]] (''Regional Corporation'')
The [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Provinces and territories of Canada|province]] of [[List of Quebec regions|Québec]] also uses the "administrative region" (''région administrative'').
[[Scotland]] had [[Regions of Scotland|local government regions]] from 1975 to 1996.
In Spain the official name of the [[autonomous community]] of [[Murcia]] is ''Región de Murcia''. Also, some single-province autonomous communities such as [[Madrid]] use the term ''región'' interchangeably with ''comunidad autónoma''.
Two [[Län of Sweden|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 of Sweden|regions]], replacing the current counties.
The government of the [[Regions of the Philippines|Philippines]] uses the term "region" (in [[Filipino language|Filipino]], ''rehiyon'') when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country. This is also the case in [[Brazil]] which groups its primary administrative divisions (''estados''; "states") into ''grandes regiões'' ([[Regions of Brazil|greater regions]]) for statistical purposes, while Russia uses ''экономические районы'' ([[Economic regions of Russia|economic regions]]) in a similar way, as does [[Development regions of Romania|Romania]] and [[Administrative regions of Venezuela|Venezuela]].
The [[government of Singapore]] makes use of the term "[[Regions of Singapore|region]]" for its own administrative purposes.
The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
*[[Oblasts of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], which uses the ''област'' (''oblast'')
*[[Oblasts of Russia|Russia]], which uses the ''область'' (''oblast''')
*[[Subdivisions of Ukraine|Ukraine]], which uses the ''область'' (''oblast''')
*[[Regions of Slovakia|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 of China|autonomous region]]" and "[[special administrative region]]", respectively.
===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 include:
*[[Regions of Finland|Finland]]
*[[Regions of Japan|Japan]]
*[[Regions of Korea|Korea]]
*[[Regions of Norway|Norway]] (''landsdeler'')
*[[Historical regions of Romania|Romania]]
*[[List of traditional regions of Slovakia|Slovakia]]
==Geographical regions==
A region can also be used for a geographical area; with this usage, there is an implied distinctiveness about the area that defines it. Such a distinction is often made on the basis of a historical, political, or cultural cohesiveness that separates the region from its neighbours.
Geographical regions can be found within a country (e.g., the [[Midlands]], in [[England]]), or transnationally (e.g., the [[Middle East]]).
Similarly, the [[United Nations]] Statistics Division has devised [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm a scheme] for classifying macrogeographic regions (continents), continental [[subregion]]s, and selected socioeconomic groupings.
===Examples of geographical regions===
*[[Geographical regions in Serbia and Montenegro]]
*[[Historical regions of Central Europe]]
*[[Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula]]
*[[List of regions in Australia]]
*[[List of regions of Canada]]
*[[List of regions in India]]
*[[List of regions of the United States]]
*[[List of traditional regions of Slovakia]]
*[[Regions of Brazil]]
*[[Regions of Asia]]
*[[Regions of Turkey]]
*[[Lists of unofficial regions by country]]
==Military usage==
In military usage a region is shorthand for the name of a military [[Military organization#Units, formations, and commands|formation]] larger than an [[Army group|Army Group]] and smaller than an [[Theater (warfare)|Army Theater]] or simply Theater. The full name of the military formation is Army Region. An Army Region usually consists of between two and five Army Groups. 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 would typically be commanded by a full [[General]] (US four stars), a [[Field Marshal]] or [[General of the Army]] (US five stars), [[Generalissimo]] (Soviet Union) or [[General of the Armies]] (US six stars), or by general officers holding ranks equivalent to six stars (for those nations that have had these generals). Due to the large size of this formation, its use is rarely employed. Some of the very few examples of an Army Region would be each of the Eastern, Western, and southern (mostly in Italy) fronts in Europe during [[World War II]]. The military map symbol for this echelon of formation (see [[Military organization]] and [[APP-6A]]) consists in six Xs.
{{army units}}
==See also==
*[[DEMOLOGOS Project]]
*[[Regional development]]
*[[Regional geography]]
*[[Carl O. Sauer]]
*[[Regional state]]
*[[Region (Europe)]]
*[[Subregion]]
*[[DVD region]]
{{Regions of the world}}
==External links==
* Map and descriptions of hydrologic unit regions of the United States]
* [ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NCGC/products/watershed/hu-standards.pdf Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries]
* [http://tapestry.usgs.gov/physiogr/physio.html Physiographic regions of the United States]
==References==
* Bailey, Robert G. (1996) ''Ecosystem Geography''. New York: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-94586-5
* [[D.W. Meinig|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. ISBN 0-300-03548-9
{{Types of administrative country subdivision}}
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Regional geography]]
[[Category:Administrative divisions]]
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Geography terminology]]
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[[it:Regione (geografia)]]
[[he:חבל ארץ]]
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[[ru:Регион]]
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