The document discusses hierarchical routing in computer networks. It describes how routing is divided into intra-autonomous system (intra-AS) routing within an AS and inter-autonomous system (inter-AS) routing between ASes. Special routers called gateways perform both intra-AS routing with other routers in their AS and inter-AS routing with gateways in other ASes. This hierarchical structure allows scaling to large networks with many destinations by aggregating routers into regions.