This is the second in the series Oxford Regional Environments (series editors Antony Orme and Andrew Gondie), following The Physical Geography of Africa. The book is divided into three parts: I) Systematic coverage of the main components of the physical environment, II) Regional treatment based on the biome concept, and III) Human responses to the physical landscape. The book is intended to fill a void in a recent geographic literature by providing an interpretive work that integrates knowledge "across the environment" while placing recent discoveries in a human context.