In 1807 the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt published a small book entitled Ansichten der Natur (Views of Nature), which resulted from his more than five-year trip through the American continent. What Humboldt desired to reveal to the reader was a synthetic view (“Totalein- druck”), obtained by a detailed analysis of the multiple local phenomenon (including the human dimension) that composed the physiognomy (“Phisiog- nomie”) of each specific segments of our planet. Find more details about the book here and ‘Essay on the Geography of Plants’