Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
It was a short step to roles as managers of space, place, and
environment. Classifi cation and mapping of landforms, climate,
biota, and soils provided, and in many respects still provide,
a geographical basis not only for scientifi c understanding of
natural environmental change and human impacts, but also for
the applied fi elds of resource exploitation and conservation and
the mitigation of human effects. In Britain, the early land-use
surveys presaged the major contributions of geographers to
the whole town and country planning movement. Attempts by
colonial and postcolonial powers both to exploit and improve the
lot of developing countries were contingent on knowledge and an
understanding of the resource base.
The geographer as teacher informs children and adults of the
nature of the world in which they live; of its natural order and
cultural diversity. These are useful skills, but how do we identify
them and trace their development in modern geography?
As with most things, some have endured whilst others have
diminished in signifi cance. Perhaps more importantly, very new
skills have emerged and sit within the domain of geography
(Figure 20).
Fieldwork
Fieldwork is a useful initial skill to identify. It is still widely
practised as a research tool and taught in the geography
curriculum as an essential component of the discipline. Its origins
lie in the exploration tradition: as intrepid explorers pushed their
way through jungles, crossed deserts, and bridged rivers, and
indeed navigated the world, they were practising and developing
fi eldwork skills. They were gathering information at fi rst hand,
observing landscapes and peoples as they saw them, classifying
landforms and biotic species, and measuring coastlines and the
elevations of mountains. As they probed into previously unknown
lands and places, they had several roles. Predominantly they were
West Europeans with visions of discovery, wealth, and colonies
