The Venezuelan Andes and the geographical imagination

The geographical imagination works in many ways, but regions are perhaps the most common spatial abstraction geographers create and diffuse. The construction of regions is more than a territorial matter, because generalizations about society and culture are embedded within regional boundaries. Regions as heuristic tools are not static; they are modified with shifts in settlement, political economy, national identity, or cultural perception. To illustrate this point, I explore Andean regional awareness in Venezuela. The image of the Andes, which did not emerge until the early nineteenth century, passed through three phases-integration, decline, and cultural refuge. I argue that a reinvigorated regional geography should consider questions of origin, evolution, nation building, position in the world economy, and the role of the geographical imagination.