Varenius, Bernhardus

Varenius, Bernhardus (bŭrnhär`dəs vərē`nēəs), or Bernhard Varen (bĕrn`härt fä`rən), 1622–50, Dutch geographer. He studied to be a physician, but instead focused on geography. His first work was a geography and history of Japan, Descriptio regni Iaponiae (1649). He is best known for his Geographia generalis (1650), standard for a century and translated into many languages. Newton used part of it in the production of the English Cambridge edition (1682) and incorporated the work into his teaching. Varenius attempted to define the field of geography as a science and to classify, organize, and coordinate its branches.