Landscape

A landscape means an area of land as one can see it. This includes landforms, flora, fauna and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.

According to its meaning, lighting and weather conditions are part of landscape as well. Objects inside the building can sometimes be considered part of landscape as well.

 Geology 
The landscape is determined mainly by the underlying geology. This can be seen clearly in the East African Great Rift Valley. There almost everything in the landscape is caused by or connected with the pulling apart of Africa which is happening there. Even in Great Britain, a geologically quiet place, the whole landscape can be understood by understanding its geological past.Fortey, Richard 1993. The hidden landscape: a journey into the geological past. Pimlico, London. One geological place is the rain forest

Etymology
The word was borrowed as a painters' term from DutchThe  word landschap, came from land (patch or area that comes from the Basquish word landa meaning labored earth) and the suffix -schap, corresponding to the English suffix "-ship". during the 16th century, when Dutch artists began to become masters of the landscape genre. The Dutch word landschap had earlier meant simply “region, tract of land” but now meant “a picture depicting scenery on land”.The English word landscape was first recorded in 1598. 34 years passed before the word is used of a view or vista of natural scenery. This delay suggests that people were first introduced to landscapes in paintings and then landscapes in real life.

 References 

 Related pages 
Landscape architecture
Landscape painting
Landscape urbanism

Category:Geography
Category:Geology