Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen was a German geographer, geologist and traveller best known for his work in China that included coining the terms “Silk Road” or “Silk Route” for the foreign trade routes of the country. He also termed the hilly red sandstone plain comprising the central and eastern regions of Sichuan province in south-western China as “Red Basin”. He travelled extensively through eleven of eighteen provinces in China conducting geographic and geological research work and later wrote the impressive geological treatise of five volumes along with a two volume atlas, which was entitled ‘China Cartographica’. It became the first serious European study on the geography of China, which continued to be the standard for several years. Throughout his career he conducted geological research in several regions including the Dolomite Alps, Japan, Philippines, Ceylon, Myanmar, Bangkok and California among others. During the later years of his life he served as a Professor of Geography in many German Universities. He standardised the procedures of chorology, the study of regions and places, and chorography, the art of mapping or describing a region. Present day geologists consider him a stratigrapher. Richthofen helped in establishing the science of geomorphology and is recognised by the geomorphologists as one of the leading pioneers of modern development of the field.