The Place of Natural Hazards in the Annales de Géographie (1891-1991)

Abstract

Environmental hazards have become a topic of discussion among French physical geographers, who are incrisingly more conscious of the growing exposure of society to environmental risks and the need to asses their own competence and level of involvement in the subject. In fact, environmental risk has been a recurring topic troughout the history of French Geography. This article attempts to examine the attention which the topic of environmental risk has received in Annales de Géographie since its origins in 1891, and thus clasify the different attitudes existing in French Geography. The period can therefore be divided into three stages (1891-1930, 1930-1975, 1975-1991). Analysys covers not only the courtesy the references to catastrophies but also the principal authors. In this way the article should, by and large, reflect how the topic has been studied in French Geography.