Chapter 1: What Is Human Geography?
ⅠLearning Objectives
By reading Chapter 1, you should be able to:
1. Have a broad understanding of how geographic thought developed formally and
informally from the preclassical period to the present.
2. Identify the major contributions to geography from the Greek, Chinese, Islamic
and European civilizations.
3. Identify the main tools, methods, and techniques that geographers use to gather
and frame knowledge.
4. Distinguish geography from other disciplines in the social sciences, such as
history.
5. Understand the differences between human and physical geography.
6. Identify the different schools of thought and the major thinkers in geography since
the time geography was institutionalized as a discipline to the present. This could
include how schools of thought developed differently in different countries, the
different approaches taken to the study of geography, and the variety of subject
matter studied.
Ⅱ Chapter Summary
Human geography is one of the world’s oldest academic disciplines, having developed
as an area of knowledge as early as the preclassical period. This chapter covers the
history of geography with sections describing the preclassical and classical periods; the
fifth to fifteenth centuries; European exploration; the occurrence of the formal definition
of geography; and key shifts in geographic thinking, institutionalization, and geography
over the past century.
Some of the earliest techniques in mapping were developed by Greek scholars.
These scholars defined the concept; created the word ‘geography’; and developed the
first concepts of scale relating different locations of as cosmography (heavens and
earth), chorography (places smaller than earth), and topography (local areas). The
Greeks also established the two major traditions in geography, writing for the purpose of
description, and the use of mathematical techniques for mapping, such as the grid
system of latitude and longitude.
However, between the fifth and fifteenth centuries Greek knowledge was mostly lost
in Europe. Instead, teleology, the belief that God designed the earth for humans, became
the dominant form of knowledge. Europeans moved towards symbolic T-O maps which
had little accuracy or factual basis. Meanwhile, major geographic advances took place in
China and the Islamic world. Due to Confucianism, Chinese geography differed from
other geographic thought in that it viewed the individual as part of nature, and this was
represented through integrated descriptions of humans and landscapes. Mapping was a
government activity done by Chinese civil servants. It is speculated that Chinese
explorers discovered North America in 1421, 70 years before European explorers. In the
same timeframe, the Islamic world was in the midst of geographic expansion, and its
geographers contributed considerably to geographic knowledge. The circumference of
the earth was recalculated, atlases were made, and they also corrected errors of the
Greeks thereby improving cartographic techniques.
As of the fifteenth century, Europeans began to engage in exploration and improve
mapping—one key innovation was that Mercator found a technique to project a sphere
onto a flat surface, improving maps for sea travel.
In the seventeenth century, Varenius provided a formalized definition of geography.
This definition focused mainly on its use of descriptive and mathematical techniques and
provided a text which situated geography within a system of knowledge. Around the
same time, pressures from outside geography formed: in particular, questions of
population and productivity arose with respect to food supply (Malthus). Therefore,
during the nineteenth century, a shift in thinking occurred regarding the relationships
between humans and their environment, as lead by the thinking of Humboldt, Ritter,
Ratzel, and Vidal.
Geography was institutionalized as a discipline in 1874 when the first department of
geography was opened in Prussia. Geography was soon institutionalized in France,
Britain and the United States, and then in Canada and Australia. Early forms of
geographic thought include physical geography as cause, known as ‘environmental
determinism’, as well as the study of human interactions with their environment and the
study of the human landscape. By 1903, geography was an established discipline with
departments in many universities. Between 1903 and 1970, the study of spatial analysis,
which employs quantitative techniques, was added to the study of human geography.
Contemporary geography has seen a marked separation between human and
physical geography. Human geography continues to take the approaches of landscape,
regional, and spatial analysis. Landscape geography increasingly incorporates the study
of cultural aspects, including landscape symbols and the human experience. Regional
geography has increased its awareness of the connectedness of the world
(globalization), and has incorporated Marxism to examine the unevenness of
development. Meanwhile, spatial geography has continued its approach of spatial
analysis with quantitative techniques. Geography has increasingly taken into account
major issues such as security and food, as well as, in particular, energy security and
social inequities as they are studied through the distribution of population and resources.
Ⅲ the key points of the text
The main function of geography is to serve society by both describing and explaining the earth and its
constant changes. An awareness of historical geography helps to fully understand contemporary
geography.
Preclassical Geography
The earliest geographic descriptions were maps that existed as rough sketches in sand or soil.
Historical records from about 4000 BCE show that the world’s first civilization, in Mesopotamia, had
maps depicting local areas drawn on clay tablets. Geographical knowledge was inadequate for
civilizations that existed before the emergence of classical Greek civilization (about 1000 BCE).
Classical Geography
Greek scholars initiated two major geographic traditions—literary and mathematical.
The literary tradition was based on the works of the following three scholars. Strabo (64 BCE–20 CE)
summarized their works in his multi-volume Geographia.

Herodotus described the lands and peoples he observed in areas such as Egypt, Ukraine, and Italy.

Aristotle observed the likely interactions between latitude, climate, and population density.

Eratosthenes mapped the Mediterranean region and adjacent areas in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The mathematical tradition started with the following:

Thales foretold the eclipse of the sun in 585 BCE.

Erastothenes calculated the circumference of the earth in the second century BCE.

Hipparchus devised the grid of latitudes and longitudes to make mapping more accurate.

Ptolemy summarized much of the mathematical tradition in his eight-volume Guide to
Geography. He produced the first gazetteer of the world as well as a world map that included a
grid system.
The Greeks recognized the importance of differences in scale: cosmography (universe), chorography
(countries), and topography (local areas). Additionally, the Greeks were the first to suggest the existence
of a large landmass in the Southern hemisphere to balance the large land areas in the North.
The Fifth to Fifteenth Centuries: Geography in Europe, China,
and the Islamic World
Europe
Medieval Europeans knew little beyond their local environment. The maps of this period were reflections
of symbolism and were less accurate and less detailed than the Greek maps.
The more prominent maps were the T-O maps showing the world as a circle divided by a T-shaped body
of water and the Portolano charts often depicting the coastlines accurately.
Marco Polo travelled to China during this period and wrote about the places that he visited; however, he
was an explorer and not a geographer.
China
Chinese writings about the known world date back to the fifth century BCE. Chinese travellers reached
India, central Asia, Rome, and Paris—reaching Europe before Marco Polo reached China. There is proof
that the grid system of mapping was in use in the third century BCE when civil servants drew maps
showing the state of land/territory ownership.
Chinese culture viewed the individual as a part of nature while Greek and European cultures considered
the individual as different from nature.
Islamic World
The geographic knowledge base expanded with increasing Islamic conquests in North Africa, the Iberian
peninsula, and India. The most notable contributions between the ninth and fifteenth centuries were

Al-Idrisi’s book on world geography;

Ibn-Batata’s descriptions of Europe, Asia, and Africa; and

Ibn-Khaldun’s notes on the interaction between humans and environment.
The Age of European Exploration and Discovery
Explorations
Major explorations were led by Bartolomeu Dias around southern Africa, Columbus to North America,
Vasco da Gama to India, Ferdinand Magellan to Asia, and James Cook into the Pacific.
The following factors were responsible for the resurgence of explorations:

the wish to spread Christianity and establish trade routes

the development of printing technology

the thirst for knowledge
Mapping
Maps from the fifteenth century onwards were increasingly functional. Copernicus produced maps of
Poland that were used to settle boundary disputes. Mercator showed how to represent a sphere on a flat
surface, with the famous 1569 Mercator projection. By the early seventeenth century, Mercator’s map
replaced all earlier charts used at sea. Abraham Ortelius produced the first modern atlas in 1570.
Geographic Descriptions
A flurry of geographic writing resulted after each new exploratory expedition. Apian divided the earth
into five zones: one torrid, two temperate, and two frigid. He provided notes on each continent and listed
major towns. Munster included descriptions of the major regions of the earth in Cosmography.
Geography Rethought
Bernhardus Varenius
Varenius defined geography as the part of mixed mathematics that explained the state of the earth and its
parts. He believed it was important to study universal geography simultaneously with special, or
particular, geography; particular geography can be chorographical or topographical.
Immanuel Kant
According to Kant, geography and history together comprised all knowledge. His view of geography was
as special rather than general, and it represented a different approach from that of Varenius.
Universal Geography: 1800–74
During this period, there was a decline in exploratory activity, mapping, and descriptions. It was a period
of radical change in the way knowledge was organized. Today’s academic disciplines began emerging at
universities.
The first major work of this period was that of Malte-Burn, who discussed both general and special
geography.
Humboldt and Ritter
Humboldt and Ritter dominated the first half of nineteenth-century geography. Humboldt’s greatest work,
Cosmos, presented a complete account of the interaction of all human and natural forces. He insisted that
all races had a common origin and that no one race was superior to another. Additionally, he saw humans
as a part of nature, not separate from it.
Ritter’s partially complete work Die Erdkund (19 volumes) reflects his theories (similar to Humboldt’s)
about the unity of humans and nature. Ritter was concerned with relationships and used a conventional
regional focus in his writings and lectures.
Other Developments
Map-making became very important and governments began to assume responsibility for it. As a result
atlases became more sophisticated. Accurate survey techniques were developed in eighteenth-century
France, which made large-scale topographic maps possible. Also at this time, geographical societies were
founded in Paris, Berlin, London, St Petersburg, and New York.
Institutionalization: 1874–1903
Germany
Richthofen upheld the distinction between special and general geography. He also contended that the two
types could be combined to form a chorological or regional approach.
Ratzel concentrated on human geography or ‘anthropogeography’. Volume 1 of his major work,
Anthropogeographie, studied the effects of physical landscapes on humans, while Volume 2 focused on
the relationships between humans and land.
Hettner held that geography was a chorological science of the earth’s surface (a view first expressed by
Kant). His work excluded studies of human–land relations, as well as excluding considerations of time.
As a result, three different interpretations characterized German geography following 1874, and these
differences continued into the twentieth century.
France
Sociologist Pierre le Play focused on the interaction between humans and land, as well as the impact of
technology on social groupings.
Réclus published a descriptive systematic geography of the world and universal geography.
Vidal de la Blache followed the work of Ratzel and Le Play and focused on the interaction between
humans and land, the evolution of human landscapes, and the description of distinctive regions. He
emphasized that physical geography impacted humans while humans modified physical geography.
Britain
Mackinder felt that geography and history were closely related, a global geographic perspective was
essential, and that physical geography was essential for human studies. The emphasis was on physical,
rather than human, geography during this period.
United States
Physical geography was dominant. Davis argued that physical geography influenced human landscapes
and that geography was a regional science. Semple also studied physical influences while many other
American geographers adopted the regional focus.
Prelude to the Present: 1903–1970
Academic geography was characterized by three main areas of study:

physical geography as cause

humans and land

regional studies
Later a new approach was added: spatial analysis.
Physical Geography as Cause
This school believed human landscapes were an outcome of physical geography. Most geographers
admitted that there were close interactions between physical and human geography. These interactions are
not so simple, however, that one can assume that physical geography is the cause and human geography is
the effect.
Humans and Land
The following three scholars rejected the concept of physical-geography-as-cause and propagated
possibilism—the theory that human activity is shaped by deliberate human choices.

Vidal developed a French geographic tradition, beginning about 1899.

In 1906 Schlüter founded a German school of landscape geography.

Sauer, an American, considered geography to be a chorological discipline, but one greatly
concerned with the manner in which humans modify physical landscapes.
Regional Studies
Regional studies was apopular discipline during the first half of the nineteenth century. In America, Davis
produced a map of regions as early as 1899. In 1905 the British scholar Herbertson proposed an outline of
world’s natural regions. All this study led to the publication of the Nature of Geography by Richard
Hartshorne in 1939.
Two related yet different aspects characterized North American geography:

analysis of the interaction between humans and land

regional studies
Spatial Analysis
Schaefer stated that geographers should move away from the descriptive regional studies to an
explanatory approach using scientific methods.
The 1960s was marked by remarkable growth in detailed analyses based on quantitative methods.
Contemporary Geography
There have been seven major trends in contemporary human geography:

an increasing separation of the physical and human components of geography
o
Humboldt and Ritter tried to integrate the two components of geography. This was
followed by a period in which some geographers considered ‘physical geography as
cause’ very important, while others regarded human geography as more relevant.
o
Very few geographers deny the relevance of physical to human geography, but equally
few regard one as necessary to the other.

a rejuvenated landscape approach
o
Landscape geography involves the study of human ways of life, cultural regions and
related landscapes, and interactions between human and physical landscapes. Since 1970,
this approach has been associated with humanism and Marxism.

a revitalized regional geography
o
Regional geography today reflects three main concerns that are the underlying concepts
of humanism and Marxism:
 concern with regions as locales for human activity
 uneven economic and social development between regions
 regions reflect the characteristics of the occupying society and in turn affect that
society

an ongoing interest in spatial analysis
o
The topics studied by spatial analysts are typically economic.
o
Some geographers feel that this approach is overly concerned with spatial issues and
ignores the influences of other variables. Contemporary regional and landscape
geographers argue that space is important only when it is analyzed in terms of human
use.

a recognition of the need for a global perspective
o
The global movements of people, goods, ideas, capital, and increasing connectivity
necessitate the study of the world picture. The spread of diseases, international migration,
refugee problems, food shortages, and urban growth are all issues that require thinking on
the global scale.

an increasing concern with applied matters
o
Contemporary human geography responds to a wide range of social and environmental
issues such as peace, energy supply and use, food availability, population control, and
social inequalities.

an increasing emphasis on technical content
o
Technical advances such as aerial photography, infrared imagery, and satellite imagery
aid data collection.
o
Further advances in computer technologies and geographic information systems have
facilitated mapping and data analysis.
Conclusion
An understanding of the human world is essential to both advance knowledge and serve society. While
the methods may be different in various countries, the fundamental goal of human geography is to serve
society.
There are two choices when trying to study the history (story) of geography: there is more than one story,
and there is more than one way of telling that story. Knowing the story of geography is important because
it gives context within our analysis and shapes the way we study places and people, as well as the various
approaches and philosophies that developed over time.
Study Questions
1. What are the major trends in human geography?
2. What were the three main differences that characterized German geographic interpretation from 1874
to 1903?
3. Why is the period of classical geography so important?
4. What were the major developments that marked European resurgence beginning in the fifteenth
century?
5. Why is the story of geography important to understand and remember?
Ⅳ、Study Questions
（1）Short Answer Questions
1. What are the core tools and methods that geographers have used to
contextualize knowledge throughout the history of the discipline?
Answer: Geographers rely on description and the gathering of facts.
Following the Greek tradition in the classical period, geographers follow
the literary tradition using written description as well as the mathematical
tradition in the form of maps.
2. How did the descriptions by early Chinese geographers differ from those of
early European geographers and why?
Answer: Chinese geographers integrated descriptions of people and
physical landscapes, whereas early European geographers typically
described physical and human landscapes separately. This difference is
due to the Chinese understanding of Confucianism which views the
individual as part of nature, and the European following of Christianity,
which views the individual as separate from nature.
3. What are some of the key differences between when and how Chinese and
European civilizations made, diffused, and used maps?
Answer: The first map makers in China were civil servants, and maps were
used to assert the state’s ownership rights over land. Printing
technology
was used in the reproduction of maps in China as early as 1155. Maps in
China were also used for exploration, and it is thought that China
‘discovered’ North America in 1421, 70 years prior to Columbus.
4. Europeans did not adopt printing technology for a more rapid diffusion of
maps until 1472. Europeans also used maps for exploration, and
‘discovered’ North American in 1492. It was not until the 1800s that
governments took responsibility for map making and keeping, in the form of
the establishment of geographical societies.
5. What is the difference between ‘environmental determinism’ and
‘possibilism’?
Answer: Environmental determinism is the understanding that the physical
landscape is a core factor affecting the development of human activities,
such as human cultures and landscapes. Meanwhile, possibilism is the
perspective that human activity is determined by the choices people make,
and these choices affect the physical landscape they live in. Possibilism is
the perspective of the landscape school of thought in geography.
6. What are some of the new components that have been incorporated into
contemporary geography perspectives and subjects of analysis?
Answer: Since the 1970s there has been an increasing integration of a
global perspective into human geography. This includes the integration of
human connectedness, and includes the increasing recognition of
interconnected economies and environmental issues. There has also been
an increased emphasis on the study of applied issues, which include food
and energy security, population growth, and the distribution of wealth and
inequities.
（2）Research Questions
1. Describe the different traditions of geography as they arose from different
civilizations of the world, namely, Greece, China, the Islamic world, and
Europe. Outline some of the major differences and similarities.
2. What has been the relationship of the development of scientific knowledge
and scientific and mathematical instruments to the development of
geographic thought, tools and techniques?
3. What is the importance of the teachings of Immanuel Kant, Alexander von
Humboldt, Carl Ritter, and Paul Vidal to the development of geographic
thought? How are their teachings and writings incorporated into
contemporary geographical methods and subjects of analysis?
4. How did institutionalization of geography as an academic discipline change
the organization of the knowledge held by geographers and their
subsequent studies?
5. Describe the contemporary geography approaches of regional studies and
spatial analysis. What are the core differences in these approaches and
subjects of study? Describe any similarities between them.
（3） Links of Interest
The Canadian Association of Geographers http://www.cag-acg.ca
The Association of American Geographers http://www.aag.org/
The International Cartographic Association http://www.icahistcarto.org/
Map Societies around the world
http://cartography.geo.uu.nl/mapsoc/indexname.html#C
The Atlas of Canada http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html
The National Atlas of the United States of America
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/natlas/Natlasstart.asp