Geddes, geography and ecology: The golden Age of vegetation mapping in Scotland

The rise and fall of a Scottish school of vegetation mapping at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century are outlined, and the role of individuals, links and institutions is briefly reviewed. The emerg ence of the school represented some of the earliest work of ecological surv ey in Britain. Vegetation mapping also lay at the core of a burgeoning inte rest in a 'new' geography as espoused and promoted by Patrick Geddes and a small group of associates based in Edinburgh and nourished by European cont acts. It was also the main physical manifestation of that growth of interes t. It is speculated that the subsequent development of geography, ecology a nd conservation in Scotland and perhaps beyond might have taken very differ ent courses if the rum-of-century momentum had been maintained. The roles o f Geddes and other key personalities such as Marion Newbigin and A.G. Tansl ey, their networks of contacts and influences, and their contexts are consi dered in relation to the development of the embryonic disciplines of geogra phy and ecology.