Introduction

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such aslandforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements like lighting and weather conditions, and human elements like human activity and the built environment.

The word landscape comes from the Dutch word landschap, from land (directly equivalent to the Englishword land) also the suffix -schap, corresponding to the English suffix "-ship".

Landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists were on the verge of becoming masters of the landscape art genre. The Dutch wordlandschap had earlier meant simply 'region, tract of land' but had acquired the artistic sense, which it brought over into English, of 'a picture depicting scenery on land'.