Alfred Hettner

Alfred Hettner (6 August 1859, in Dresden – 31 August 1941, in Heidelberg) was a German geographer.

Hettner is known for his concept of chorology, the study of places and regions, a concept that influenced both Carl O. Sauer and Richard Hartshorne. Apart from the geography of Europe, his fieldwork concentrated mainly on that of Colombia, Chile and Russia. Early life and education Hettners parents were art historian Hermann Theodor Hettner and Marie von Stockmar. His maternal grandfather was Christian Friedrich, Baron Stockmar. His half-brother was Otto Hettner. Career Hettner obtained his PhD from the University of Strasbourg, and was also a pupil of Ferdinand von Richthofen and Friedrich Ratzel at Leipzig—where he obtained his habilitation.

According to him, geography is a chorological science or it is a study of regions. Hettner rejected the view that geography could be either general or regional. Geography, like other fields of learning, must deal in both unique things (regional geography) and with the universal (general geography), but the study of regions — especially in the form of his approach — is the main field of geography. Hettner supervised, among others, the PhDs of Martha Krug-Genthe, Oskar Schmieder, and .

In 1895, he founded the journal , which he also edited for many years. He was a lecturer briefly at Tübingen (1894-1897) and Leipzig (1897-1899).