Aardkunde

Aardkunde, often translated as geography, is the scientific study of the Earth's surfaces and the spatial distribution of natural and human phenomena. It seeks to describe, explain, and predict patterns in the physical environment and in human activity, and to understand how places and regions differ from one another. The field integrates physical processes such as climate, landforms, soils, water, and ecosystems with human dimensions like culture, economy, politics, and urban development.

Methods include field observations, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, spatial analysis, and quantitative modeling. Subfields are physical geography (geomorphology, hydrology, climatology, biogeography) and human geography (economic, political, social, urban, cultural). Cartography and GIS are central tools, along with evolving data sources such as satellite imagery and environmental datasets.

Applications span urban planning, resource management, environmental assessment, disaster risk reduction, transportation, and sustainable development. In Dutch-speaking regions, aardkunde is commonly used to refer to the field as well as the school subject aardrijkskunde; at universities it appears as geography or earth sciences.

Aardkunde is closely related to, yet distinct from, geology and environmental science: geology focuses on Earth's materials and history, while aardkunde emphasizes spatial patterns, processes, and human–environment interactions across scales.