La Société de Géographie is one of the oldest French learned societies and the oldest geographical society in the world. It was founded in 1812 by Jean Nicolas Buache, who was geographer and cartographer to Louis XVI and has been in public use since 1827.

La Société de Géographie has been participating in various activities since 1822. The Society organises monthly conferences, exhibitions, visits and trips to places of interest and awards prizes and medals for geographical work. The society also sponsors expeditions, lends its facilities for sister organisations to use, holds other conferences and organises trips for its members.

The society has a magazine entitled La Géographie.

The society has a considerable collection of reviews, maps, atlases, globes and photographs, although these are stored off site.

The society is a member of EUGEO and participates in IGU every four years.

Société de Géographie
184, Boulevard Saint-Germain
75006 Paris
France

www.socgeo.org

socgeo@socgeo.org

Publications

La Géographie

Geographical Society of Finland is a community of geographers and those interested in geography. The Society traces its origins back to 1888, when two organizations, the Geographical Society of Finland and Finnish Geographical Association, were founded. They were united into a single organization in 1921. The Society’s purpose is to promote research in geography and related sciences at home and abroad. The Society’s official languages are Finnish and Swedish.

The Society had 1,067 members at the end of 2003, including 6 honorary members and 61 corresponding members. The Society arranges an annual meeting, inviting visiting speakers from aboard. Public lectures are arranged on topics of current interest.

Geographical Society of Finland publishes two journals.

TERRA is the leading Finnish- and Swedish-language geographical quarterly in Finland. It contains articles, review articles and discussion, book reviews, news and information for Finnish geographers and others interested in geography.

FENNIA is published twice a year chiefly in English. Its issues consist of original research articles. Special consideration is given to manuscripts addressing the northern aspect.

ATLAS OF FINLAND introduces the reader to the natural environment, population, economy, society and cultural life of Finland. Six editions have been published. The first of them, published in 1899, was the first national atlas in the world. Further editions came out in 1910, 1925, 1960, 1977-1994 (a series of 26 folios devoted to specific topics) and in 1999 to celebrate the volume’s 100th anniversary. An updated and expanded English-language version of the sixth edition was published as a special issue of FENNIA and as an attached CD-Rom in November, 2002 (Volume 180: 1-2).

Orders for the Society’s publications (TERRA and FENNIA) should be sent to

Bookstore Tiedekirja, Kirkkokatu 14, FIN-00170 Helsinki, Finland.

Geographical Society of Finland
P.O.Box 64
FIN-00014
University of Helsinki
Finland

www.helsinki.fi/maantiede/geofi/geosofi.html

Publications

Terra

This is the leading Finnish and Swedish language geographical quarterly in Finland. It contains articles, review articles and discussion, book reviews, news and information for Finnish geographers and others interested in geography.

Fennia

This is published twice a year chiefly in English. Its issues consist of original research articles. Special consideration is given to manuscripts addressing the northern aspect.

www.helsinki.fi/maantiede/geofi/geosofi.html

Det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab (the Royal Danish Geographical Society) was established November 18th, 1876 with the dual purpose of ‘disseminating knowledge of the Earth and its inhabitants’ and to ‘promote interest in geographical sciences’.

To achieve its aims the society arranges meetings, where lectures on geographical themes can be discussed, publishes a journal, and keeps a library and collection of maps. The society attempts in the first place to inform about Danish geographical research and to form links to other geographical and related societies.

This essence of the society’s founding declaration has consistently been materialized during its first 125 years of existence.

Up to WW I the society had an important role in initiating, supporting, and reporting Arctic research, particularly in relation to Greenland, which was thus kept under Danish aegis. Most of the leading polar researchers were awarded the society’s Gold Medal (Nansen, Nordenskiöld, Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton) and gave lectures in Copenhagen. Exploration was a leading motive of the time, and it still was in the time between the great wars. The arctic expeditions with sledges and dogs culminated with Knud Rasmussen’s 5th Thule-expedition along the entire polar edge of the North American continent to trace Eskimo origins. Expeditions became modernized by utilizing airplanes (Lauge Koch). Danish expeditions in Central Asia (Haslund-Christensen) provided much new information, but domestic geomorphology attracted increasing interest, specifically the dynamics of the wadden-sea coastal landscape.

The post-war society has maintained its interest in arctic research and also in being he main outlet for the results of Danish geographical research. Presently, themes such as coastal and glacial-periglacial morphology, climatic change, satellite-based analyses of agrarian landscapes in Africa, urban development and the forming of the Öresundregion are at the fore, along with a modernization of the geographical discipline.

Presently the society has some 400 members.

Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab
Øster Voldgade 10
DK 1350 Copenhagen K
Denmark

www.rdgs.dk

Publications

Danish Journal of Geography (Geografisk Tidsskrift)

Contains contributions on the Geography of Denmark and is a main channel for publishing works of Danish geographers. Broad range of themes, especially of an ecological character.

Published twice a year in English.

Folia Geographica Danica

Contains mainly doctoral theses and similar significant works in book-form.

The Czech Geographical Society was established inside of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1894. During 1920-1939 and 1945-1990, it was Czechoslovak Geographical Society.

Since 1896 it has been publishing a scholarly quarterly entitled “Sborník”, which last name from 1996 is “Geografie” (Geography). It is one of the Czech (as well as European) oldest scholarly journals. The journal for geography teachers is named “Geografické rozhledy” (Geographical horizons).

From the beginning, the Czech Geographical Society has been university-based. Initially, it was Charles University of Prague, the oldest university in the Central Europe.

Very beneficial to the Czech Geographical Society was its co-operation with the Academy of Sciences. The Institute of Geography of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences had its headquarters in Brno between 1952-1993 (at a former monastery where, in the mid-19th century, Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel discovered the laws of genetics) and was originally so closely linked with the Geographical Society, especially under director Jaromír Demek, who was also the head of the Geomorphological Map Section of the IGU in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the Institute of Geography did not survive the transformation period and it was dissolved in 1993.

The most spectacular international achievement of the Czech Geographical Society after fall of communism was the regional International Geographical Union Conference, organised in Prague in 1994 – the Society’s centenary.

The Czech Geographical Society has 498 members organized in nine local branches (Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava, Plzen, Ceské Budejovice, Ústí nad Labem, Hradec Králové and Liberec). It is divided to the seven sections according to system of geographical sciences: Physical Geography, Socio-Economic Geography, Regional Geography, GIS and Cartography, Historical and Environmental Geography, Geographical Education, and the smallest (but very active) Polar Section.

Congresses of the society are organized every four years. The last one was held in Liberec in 2008, next one will be held in Ostrava at 2010.

The “Société Belge de Géographie” was founded on 27 August 1876, just a few days before King Léopold II opened the “Conférence géographique de Bruxelles”.

In 1882, the Society was allowed to add the term “Royale” to its name. There was then a great interest towards a better knowledge of the different parts of the world, under the influence of colonialism and trade. At the end of the century, the Society had more than a thousand members, scientists, but mainly businessmen, lawyers or civil servants.

From the beginning, the Society has published a journal, named “Bulletin de la Société (Royale) Belge de Géographie” and “Revue Belge de Géographie” from 1962. This last change of name renders deeper changes. At the end of the Fifties, the Society lost the financial support from colonial corporations: the Revue became more closely associated to academic research. As a fulfilment of this trend, the journal merged in 2000 with the “Bulletin de la Société Belge d’Etudes Géographiques” under the name “Belgeo”, publishing more and more papers in English, with strict requirements of paired review.

Another constant goal of the Society is popularization. This goal has for a long time only been achieved through the organisation of conferences. Since the Eighties, the Society has published atlases of Belgium and Europe and a collection of touristic guidebooks, under the title “Hommes et Paysages” (now 34 booklets have been published), proposing geographical fieldtrips in Belgium.

The Society is holding a library. The collection of books, journals, atlases and maps has gained evident historical value, due to the age of the Society.

The Society, which counts about 120 members now, mainly geographers, is located at the Geographical Institute of the “Université Libre de Bruxelles”.

Société Belge de Géographie
Geographical Institute of the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe
Gate 5
Building S
(Mail address: Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 50, CP. 246, 1050 Brussels)

www.srbg.be

Publications

Belgeo (Belgian Journal of Geography)

Belgeo intends to mirror the multicultural Belgian Society and its openness to the international scene. It also strives for high scientific quality. Besides general topics, the journal covers European and global issues and of course Belgian matters. Belgeo is published in four issues a year, two of which are centred on themes in human geography; one issue will address a physical geography topic. The fourth issue is devoted to papers with various subjects. For each thematic issue, a guest editor, specialised in the subject is appointed.

Homme & Paysages

A constant goal of the SRBG is popularization. This goal has for a long time been achieved through the organisation of conferences. Since 1986, the Society publishes a collection of tourist guides, under the title Hommes et Paysages. The general idea is to teach the non specialist how to understand a landscape. Most items are the result of collaborations between authors from different disciplines.

Austrian Geographical Society

The Austrian Geographical Society [Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft, ÖGG] has been founded in 1856 and is one of the world’s oldest scientific associations in the field. Its aim is to promote and disseminate geographical knowledge also beyond the boundaries of the discipline. To this end, the ÖGG organizes lectures, excursions and other scientific events such as exhibitions, promotes young scientists by awarding prizes and publishes a scientific journal, the Annals of the Austrian Geographical Society [Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, MÖGG] as well as a newsletter (GeographieAktuell). The ÖGG addresses students, scientists and everyone who is interested in geographic topics.

Contact:

Helmut Wohlschlägl, President (helmut.wohlschlaegl@univie.ac.at)

Peter Jordan, Executive Board member for international relations (peter.jordan@oeaw.ac.at)  

Annals of the Austrian Geographical Society [Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, MÖGG] (http://www.moegg.ac.at)

The oldest (since 1857) still existing geographical journal of the German-speaking area is published annually in a print and an open-access electronic version with contributions in German and English. The journal invites authors from all the various branches of geography and related disciplines plus cartography and has its regional focus on Central Europe in the widest sense. Several articles on a focus theme are usually accompanied by theoretical and empirical treatises on a wide range of additional topics as well as short research and conference reports. Scientific articles are peer-reviewed, and the journal is listed and evaluated by the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), ISI Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports (JCR), Geobase, Elsevier, Scopus, Google Scholar, EBSCO, ERIHPLUS and others and has an impact factor. 

Regional branches

The Society runs regional branches outside Vienna in all other Austrian university locations with geography departments. They exist in Innsbruck since 1971 (with the status of a branch association titled “Innsbruck Geographical Society” [Innsbrucker Geographische Gesellschaft]), in Graz since 1987, in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee since 1989, and in Salzburg – after a predecessor society had already existed from1952 to 2007 – since 2015 (with the status of a member society titled “GeoComPass Salzburg – Geographical Society of Salzburg”).

Speciality groups

Speciality groups are set up for special professional orientations of geographers and geography branches as well as cartography. They are largely independently managed sub-organizations of the ÖGG.

Austrian Cartographic Commission [Österreichische Kartographische Kommission, ÖKK]

The ÖKK was founded in 1961 as the first expert commission of ÖGG. Since then, it has dealt with cartographic issues on a national level and represents Austrian cartography in the International Cartographic Association (ICA). There are two meetings every year for domestic communication with the opportunity to participate in specialist presentations. A newsletter, which all members of the ÖKK receive, contains news from home and abroad. Eight technical discussion groups started work in 1998. Founded already in 1959 and a special status has the Austrian Board on Geographical Names [Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kartographische Orstnamenkunde, AKO] as a multidisciplinary expert group in place-name standardization passing recommendations for Austria and representing Austria in international fora of this field (e.g., United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, UNGEGN).

Austrian Research Association on Geomorphology and Environmental Change [Österreichische Fachgruppe für Geomorphologie und Umweltwandel]

The Association conceives itself as representing the interests of geomorphologists and is at the same time a platform for physical geography in Austria. It promotes national networking of geomorphologists in universities, schools, authorities/offices and in the private sector and represents them in international networks and scientific organizations such as the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) or the International Permafrost Association (IPA). Its aim is to stimulate communication and the regular exchange of experiences between the members and to stimulate them to engage in joint activities (regular events, training courses and research projects). 

Austrian Association for Applied Geography [Österreichischer Verband für Angewandte Geographie, ÖVAG]

The Association has been established in 1992 to represent the interests of applied geography in business, administration, science and the wider public. It is a network platform for issues of applied geography, as well as a bridge between university education and the job market. It is also a group of geographers working at the interface with business, government, politics, academia, media and the public. As a flexible and open network, its goal is to strengthen the status of applied geography within geography and to communicate the problem-solving skills of professional geographers in spatial issues.

Speciality Group on Geographical and Socio-Economic Education [Fachgruppe für Geographische und Soziökonomische Bildung, GESÖB]

The group was newly founded in 2016. Meetings take place twice a year for internal coordination and consensual planning of activities and projects. Thus, this group is an important player in the field of Austrian subject didactics. GESÖB founded and implemented the two international research and development networks INSERT and INSERT-Money. The aims of this group relate on the one hand to the subject of geography and economics (GW), on the other to interdisciplinary activities and are focused on the following areas: to follow innovative paths in geographical and economic education, to cooperate with national and international educational institutions, to design projects with geography and economics teachers and subject didacticians, to involve pupils and inspire them with our subject, to demonstrate the importance of an integrative geographical-economic-social education for participants and outsiders, to implement further training events for geography and economics teachers, to develop and apply quality criteria for the EduGroup’s economic web-portal.

 Association of geographers of Slovenia / Zveza geografov Slovenije

Association of geographers of Slovenia is the umbrella professional institution of Slovene geographers, founded in 1922. Is one of the oldest professional associations of the state. In 1992, at the 27th IGU Congress in Washington, the Association of the Geographic Societies of Slovenia was accepted as fully entitled member to the International Geographical Union and in 2009 the member of EUGEO.

The Association is executing the following tasks: it co-ordinates activities of regional geographic societies, supports professional research, stimulates and directs modernization of teaching, prepares professional conferences, lectures and field works, promotes and develops international professional co-operation, conducts professional publishing.

Members of the Association are 8 independent geographic and related societies with more than 700 members. They organise professional lectures, prepare didactic resource materials, organise excursions in and aroundSlovenia, etc.

The Association executes activities through its several operative bodies – commissions: on Geographic Research, on Geographic Education, on Professional Publishing, on Financial Matters, on Awards, and some temporal bodies (congress organising committees). The association has organised 22 Slovene geographic congresses where the greatest achievements of all branches of geographical science were presented. Each meeting was held at a different location where regional topics were discussed. Besides regular conferences, the Association has organised several meetings on problems related to Slovenia and the profession.

Publications

 Publications

Publishing is an important task of the Association. It issues two periodic publications. Geographical Bulletin/Geografski vestnik (http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/sl-si/publikacije/geografskivestnik.aspx) is a journal of geography and related disciplines. It has been published since 1925 and is therefore not only the oldest Slovenian geography journal, but also one of Slovenia’s oldest periodicals.

Geographic Horizon/Geografski obzornik (http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/sl-si/publikacije/geografskiobzornik.aspx) , is a geographic journal established to popularise geography. It has been issued from the year 1954 onwards. The nature of it contents is informative and devoted to the modernisation of geography teaching and the spreading of professional knowledge.

Besides these central publications the Association has published several studies related to the topics of the meetings of Slovene geographers (http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/sl-si/publikacije/zbornikizborovanj.aspx). Other professional publications have been supported as well. In order to present Slovenia and Slovenian geography to the international professional world the Association published in 2004 “Slovenia: a geographical overview” (http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/sl-si/publikacije/sloveniaageo.aspx).