Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
It is not until the 16th century, for example, that there is evidence
of the coherent practice of geography in British universities.
This practice was contained in a variety of schemes of study
and refl ected a wealth of intellectual traditions and established
disciplines. Relevant learned societies, especially the Royal
Geographical Society (RGS), offered support but tended to
be strongly focused on the historic priorities of mapmaking,
discovery, and exploration. Major changes were in the air in
the 19th century. In the 'Age of Empires', maps acquired new
meanings and the voyages and journeys of discovery had scientifi c
as well as political interest. Many had seen Darwin's work on
evolution by natural selection as the catalyst for studies of the
geography of the natural environment. More directly, Halford
Mackinder, the fi rst Professor of Geography at Oxford, developed
his 'Geographical Experiment', which involved the integration of
the study of society and the environment, and the maintenance
of culture and nature, under one umbrella. This defi ned
geography at that time and set the challenge of understanding
the relationships between these two principal components of the
Earth's surface.
Developments in the United Kingdom did not occur in isolation.
Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Ritter led movements towards
a new geography in Germany, with the former emphasizing the
Earth-surface features that created natural landscapes and the
latter arguing for the recognition of regions in the world as the
home of man. European ideas on the impact of environment
on people sparked the debate on determinism that extended
to American geographers. French geographers were strongly
interested in cultural landscapes and regions that refl ected
traditions and ways of life. All of these new ways of thinking about
people, environments, and the meanings of landscapes evolved
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were part of the
intellectual ferment that followed the new sciences and the lateral
thinking of the late Enlightenment.
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