Introduction

Many works cover subjects in the context of a given geographical area. In such cases, the proper class number from the schedules is typically qualified by the area number taken from Table 2. Such addition should only occur when instructed, though classifiers have considerable leeway to do so in practice due to the instruction in Table 1 which allows addition from Table 2. Because Table 1 notation is standard subdivisions, this means Table 2 notation can almost always be added to a base number, whether directly or indirectly.

Definition and scope

Table 2 is a long list of notations designating geographic areas, historical periods and biography. The main divisions, T2–3–9, are organized based on political and administrative boundaries. Table 2 also lists natural, geographical and geophysical, geo-cultural and geopolitical divisions of the world. Due to the level of detail, it is by far the largest of the auxiliary tables. All areas of the world, natural geographical divisions, political or administrative units, some scattered geophysical divisions of the earth and some non-contiguous conceptual divisions based on various characteristics of the people who inhabit them have been accommodated in Divisions 1 to 9:

• –1 Areas, regions, places in general; oceans and seas

• –2 Biography

• –3 Ancient world

• –4 to –9 Modern world; extraterrestrial worlds

The dash before these numbers reminds one that these numbers are never used alone, but only added when one is instructed to do so. Area numbers for some places can also be synthesized, e.g. Portuguese-speaking countries, Islamic countries, former French colonies, developing regions of Asia, etc.

In addition to notation for oceans and seas, T2–1 contains regions bound by geophysical or social characteristics, e.g. plains, forests, tropics, deserts, oceans, socioeconomic regions, rural areas, hemispheres, Third World countries, political unions and so on. T2–2 is biography, though note that ‘biography’ has a specialized meaning in the DDC, meaning any personfocused treatment, not just works that are themselves a biography of an individual. T2–3 denotes the ancient world, mostly the world of classical antiquity, while the modern world, as divided into various continents and countries, fills out the rest of the table, T2–4–9. Due to the DDC's systemic bias, some parts of the world, especially developed Western countries, have more detailed treatment than other countries (e.g. there is notation for every county and county-equivalent of the United States), though recent strides have helped to equalize this.