How did French geographers use the concept of pays to study regions?

In the context of geography as a discipline, French geographers—led by the influential Paul Vidal de La Blache—utilized the concept of pays to conduct detailed regional studies.

Rather than viewing regions as abstract or purely administrative units, Vidal and his followers treated the pays as a specific, localized geographic entity defined by the intimate interrelations between human activity and the physical environment. This approach focused on how local populations adapted to their unique surroundings, creating distinct "ways of life" (genres de vie) that were reflected in the rural landscape and settlement patterns.1

By producing lucid regional monographs, these geographers sought to document how people were not passive subjects but active agents who modified their environment to advance their own ends. This methodology emphasized the study of small, coherent areas where the harmony between nature and human society could be observed in detail, forming a foundational pillar of modern French human geography.1