The Companion Encyclopedia of Geography provides an authoritative and provocative source of reference for all those concerned with the earth and its people. This Companion examines both physical and human geography, and the relationship between the two. An international team of forty-seven geographers, all recognized figures in their discipline, chart the development of humankind's diverse habitat and the social and economic activities within that habitat up to the present day, and look to the future. The work is divided into six parts: A differentiated world * A world transformed by the growth of a global economy * The global scale of habitat modification * A world of questions * Changing worlds, changing geographies * Geographical futures The forty-five self-contained chapters are bound into a unifying whole by the editors' general and part introductions; each chapter provides details of the most useful sources of further reading and research, and the volume concludes with a comprehensive index. This is an invaluable resource not only for students, teachers and researchers, but also for professionals in commercial and public sector organizations.