Abstract: | The author, who regards landscapes as physical terrain types rather than as regional units, briefly surveys previous approaches to landscape classification and offers his own classification scheme. The scheme is based on a major division of all landscapes into plains (lowland and upland) and mountain types (distinguished by vertical zonality). Within the classification, soils and bioclimatic criteria are used to determine the upper rungs of the hierarchy, and geological and geomorphic criteria are taken into account mainly at the lower levels. |