Modem geography grew out of the needs of the colonialist/imperidalist powers in the later part of the 19th century. Shortly after World War II, a social science of universal scientific principle rather than a particularistic descriptive science was required. This has been the background to the emergence of « scientific geography » in North America since the 1950's. Critiques of this position have been mounted from several quarters. Humanism and marxism are perhaps the best known. However, in recent years, an ecological critique has begun to make it self progressively more and more evident. This ecological critique may be either « adaptive » or « fundamental ». This latter version has strong roots outside the academic community, and may yet evolve to become the most significant geographic critique of the contemporary « status quo ».