Post on 17-May-2015
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Geography: A History
Origins of modern Geography
Origins of modern geography can be dated back to western Europe in the 16th century.
Expansion of European power.
By 1600 the Atlantic trading system had establish links between Europe and the ‘New World’.
Increased range of European travel and trade transformed European perceptions of the world.
European universities began to offer specialized courses in geography.
‘Scientific Revolution’
Foundations of modern science established during 17th century.
Navigational skills that merely facilitated scientific discovery.
Discussions of the relative merits of different societies, cultures and civilizations around the world.
18th century – era of European enlightenment.
Geography as exploration
Geography as navigation transformed into Geography as exploration.
Scientific exploration as an objective
New navigational and cartographical techniques.
1769 James Cook voyage a turning point in the development of modern geography.
Exploration reflected imperial objectives
Enlightenment Geography
Alexander von Humboldt: Prussian, explorer and author
Ideas shaped by late 18th century European romanticism
Notable travels in South America
Sought a systematic science of geography
Carl Ritter: German, writer, explorer
Unfinished 19 volume Erdkunde published in mid 19th C
Objective to create a generalized world geography
Emergence of Societies
1778 Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. Pioneering expeditions by Mungo Park, Hugh Clapperton and Alexander Gordon LaingFrench Revolution: halt the Enlightenment geographical enquiry but provided purpose for the further development of cartography and land survey.First geographical societies emerge: Paris (1821), Berlin (1828), London (1830)
Emergence of the RGS
Royal Geographical Society became the focal point of world exploration.
1850: nearly 800 fellows
1870: 2,400 fellows
Number of prominent scientists joined: including Charles Darwin. Dominant figure: Sir Roderick MurchisonPublished general advice through its Hints to Travellers plus it boasts one of the largest private map collections in the world.
Success of the RGSRGS exploited a national passion for heroism in exotic places that was enthusiastically promoted by the British press.
The explorer was the ideal masculine hero of Victorian society.
Extensive exploration of Africa – many of the major explorers: Burton, Speke, Livingstone, Stanley – were influenced by the RGS.
New challenges posed by exploration into Asia, the polar ice caps, and in particular the Himalayas.
Geographical societies across Europe expanded rapidly.
The time of imperialism
An age of European military and commercial colonization of the Americas, Asia and Africa.
After the Franco-Prussian war (1870) aggressive colonial expansion
‘The Scramble for Africa’
RGS remained the largest and wealthiest geographical society in the world.
Geography enters universities
Chair of geography established in UCL in 1833First full time post in a British university not until 1887 in Oxford University: Halford Mackinder. The RGS and GA worked hard to promote the study of geography. Sir Harry Johnstone argued that geography should become a compulsory school subject.
‘it was only through detailed geographical description, complete with authoritative and regularly updated topographical and thematic maps, that a region could be know, understood and therefore fully possessed by those in authority’ (Heffernan, 1996:520).
Natural Selection?
University geography sought to explain human and natural features of the world, but also to justify the existence of European empires.
Friedrich Ratzel (and others) insisted that the principles of ‘natural selection’ applied equally to the natural, social and political realms.
Imperial ‘race’ of Europe
Environmental determinism and scientific racism
Alternative views
Environmental and moral improvement were the justification for intervention from the Western World.
However, Petr Kropotkin & Elisee Reclus argued that geography suggested ways of developing a new harmony of human societies with the natural world.
Crisis of the 20th Century
Unexplored and unclaimed ‘blank’ spaces on the world map were rapidly diminishing.
Mackinder talked of the emergence of 20th C world order dominated by land based empires bound together by railways.
Eurasian landmass: the geographical pivot of history = whoever had control would have power over limitless resources and would dominate world affairs.
Global Conflict• WWI: first truly global conflict• Mackinder: war had erupted from
the territorial struggle he had foreseen.
• Leading geographers involved in redrawing the political map after WWI.
• Isiah Bowman adviser to US President Woodrow Wilson during peace negotiations.
• Several French geographers advised the French government during peace conferences and the RGS was involved in aiding the Naval and War Office Intelligence services.
Post-war Geography• First schools of geography
established during the war:– Liverpool (1917), LSE and
Aberystwyth (1918), UCL and Cambridge (1918), Manchester (1923)
• Expansion of the discipline eroded the control of the RGS on the geographical agenda.
• Geographers keen to establish the subject as scientifically rigorous.
• Institute of British Geographers established in 1933
The Interwar Years
• Interwar years: evolved into a popular discipline. • Sub-disciplines arose. • Physical and human geography should be brought
together in the analysis of specific regions. • The region became the building block of Geography. • School of cultural geography established at Berkeley
with the idea that historical and geographical particularism and the unique qualities of diverse regions should be explored.
Emergence of spatial science
• Nationalistic geographers
• WWII end of geopolitical movements of Italy and Germany.
• 1960s and 1970s – stress on quantitative geographical enquiry.
• New and more rigorously scientific regional science developed during the post war years.