Chorography

Not to be confused with Choreography.

Chorography (from χῶρος khōros, "place" and γράφειν graphein, "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district,[1] and by extension such a description or map.[2] This term derives from the writings of the ancient geographer Pomponius Mela and Ptolemy, where it meant the geographical description of regions. However, its resonances of meaning have varied at different times. Richard Helgerson states that "chorography defines itself by opposition to chronicle. It is the genre devoted to place, and chronicle is the genre devoted to time".[3] Darrell Rohl prefers a broad definition of "the representation of space or place".[4]

Ptolemy as imagined by a 16th-century artist
  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chorography" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 270.
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Helgerson 1992, p. 132.
  4. ^ Rohl 2011, p. 1.