Human GeographyNature and Scope

You have already studied ‘Geography as aDiscipline’ in Chapter I of the book,Fundamentals of Physical Geography (NCERT,2006). Do you recall the contents? This chapterhas broadly covered and introduced you to thenature of geography. You are also acquaintedwith the important branches that sprout fromthe body of geography. If you re-read thechapter you will be able to recall the link ofhuman geography with the mother disciplinei.e. geography. As you know geography as afield of study is integrative, empirical, andpractical. Thus, the reach of geography isextensive and each and every event orphenomenon which varies over space and timecan be studied geographically. How do you seethe earth’s surface? Do you realise that the earthcomprises two major components: nature(physical environment) and life forms includinghuman beings? Make a list of physical andhuman components of your surroundings.Physical geography studies physicalenvironment and human geography studies“the relationship between the physical/naturaland the human worlds, the spatial distributionsof human phenomena and how they comeabout, the social and economic differencesbetween different parts of the world”.1

You are already aware of the fact that thecore concern of geography as a discipline is tounderstand the earth as home of human beingsand to study all those elements which havesustained them. Thus, emphasis is on study ofnature and human beings. You will realise thatgeography got subjected to dualism and thewide-ranging debates started whethergeography as a discipline should be a lawmaking/theorising (nomothetic) ordescriptive (idiographic). Whether its subjectmatter should be organised and approach ofthe study should be regional or systematic?Whether geographical phenomena beinterpreted theoretically or through historic-institutional approach? These have been issuesfor intellectual exercise but finally you willappreciate that the dichotomy between physicaland human is not a very valid one becausenature and human are inseparable elementsand should be seen holistically. It is interestingto note that both physical and human

1 Agnew J. Livingstone, David N. and Rogers, A.; (1996) Blackwell

Publishing Limited, Malden, U.S.A. p. 1 and 2.

Unit-IUnit-IUnit-IUnit-IUnit-I

Chapter-1

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2 Fundamentals of Human Geography

phenomena are described in metaphors usingsymbols from the human anatomy.

We often talk of the ‘face’ of the earth, ‘eye’

of the storm, ‘mouth’ of the river, ‘snout’ (nose)

of the glacier, ‘neck’ of the isthmus and ‘profile’

of the soil. Similarly regions, villages, towns

have been described as ‘organisms’. German

geographers describe the ‘state/country’ as a

‘living organism’. Networks of road, railways

and water ways have often been described as

“arteries of circulation”. Can you collect such

terms and expressions from your own

language? The basic questions now arises, can

we separate nature and human when they areso intricately intertwined?

Human Geography DefinedHuman Geography DefinedHuman Geography DefinedHuman Geography DefinedHuman Geography Defined

• “Human geography is the synthetic study

of relationship between human societies and

earth’s surface”. Ratzel

Synthesis has been emphasised in the

above definition.

• “Human geography is the study of “thechanging relationship between the unresting

man and the unstable earth.”

Ellen C. Semple

Dynamism in the relationship is the keyword

in Semple’s definition.

• “Conception resulting from a more

synthetic knowledge of thephysical laws

governing our earth and of the relations

between the living beings which inhabit it”.

Paul Vidal de la Blache

Human geography offers a new conception

of the interrelationships between earth and

human beings.

NATURE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Human geography studies the inter-relationship

between the physical environment and socio-

cultural environment created by human beings

through mutual interaction with each other. You

have already studied the elements of physicalenvironment in class XI in the book entitledFundamentals of Physical Geography (NCERT2006). You know that these elements arelandforms, soils, climate, water, natural vegetationand diverse flora and fauna. Can you make a listof elements which human beings have createdthrough their activities on the stage provided bythe physical environment? Houses, villages, cities,road-rail networks, industries, farms, ports, itemsof our daily use and all other elements of materialculture have been created by human beingsusing the resources provided by the physicalenvironment. While physical environment hasbeen greatly modified by human beings, it hasalso, in turn, impacted human lives.

Naturalisation of Humans andHumanisation of Nature

Human beings interact with their physicalenvironment with the help of technology. It isnot important what human beings produce andcreate but it is extremely important ‘with thehelp of what tools and techniques do theyproduce and create’.

Technology indicates the level of culturaldevelopment of society. Human beings wereable to develop technology after they developedbetter understanding of natural laws. Forexample, the understanding of concepts offriction and heat helped us discover fire.Similarly, understanding of the secrets of DNAand genetics enabled us to conquer manydiseases. We use the laws of aerodynamics todevelop faster planes. You can see thatknowledge about Nature is extremely importantto develop technology and technology loosensthe shackles of environment on human beings.In the early stages of their interaction with theirnatural environment humans were greatlyinfluenced by it. They adapted to the dictatesof Nature. This is so because the level oftechnology was very low and the stage ofhuman social development was also primitive.This type of interaction between primitivehuman society and strong forces of nature wastermed as environmental determinism. Atthat stage of very low technological developmentwe can imagine the presence of a naturalisedhuman, who listened to Nature, was afraid ofits fury and worshipped it.

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Human Geography: Nature and Scope 3

The Naturalisation of HumansThe Naturalisation of HumansThe Naturalisation of HumansThe Naturalisation of HumansThe Naturalisation of Humans

Benda lives in the wilds of the Abujh Maadarea of central India. His village consists ofthree huts deep in the wilds. Not even birdsor stray dogs that usually crowd villages canbe seen in these areas. Wearing a smallloin cloth and armed with his axe he slowlysurveys the penda (forest) where his tribepractices a primitive form of agriculture calledshifting cultivation. Benda and his friendsburn small patches of forest to clear themfor cultivation. The ash is used for makingthe soil fertile. Benda is happy that theMahua trees around him are in bloom. Howlucky I am to be a part of this beautifuluniverse, he thinks as he looks up to seethe Mahua, Palash and Sal trees that havesheltered him since childhood. Crossing thependa in a gliding motion, Benda makeshis way to a stream. As he bends down toscoop up a palmful of water, he remembersto thank Loi-Lugi, the spirit of the forest forallowing him to quench his thirst. Movingon with his friends, Benda chews onsucculent leaves and roots. The boys havebeen trying to collect Gajjhara and Kuchla,from the forest. These are special plantsthat Benda and his people use. He hopesthe spirits of the forest will be kind and leadhim to these herbs. These are needed tobarter in the madhai or tribal fair coming upthe next full moon. He closes his eyes andtries hard to recall what the elders had taughthim about these herbs and the places theyare found in. He wishes he had listened morecarefully. Suddenly there is a rustling ofleaves. Benda and his friends know it is theoutsiders who have come searching for themin the wilds. In a single fluid motion Bendaand his friends disappear behind the thickcanopy of trees and become one with the

spirit of the forest.

The story in the box represents the directrelationship of a household belonging to aneconomically primitive society with nature. Readabout other primitive societies which live incomplete harmony with their naturalenvironment. You will realise that in all such casesnature is a powerful force, worshipped, reveredand conserved. There is direct dependence of

human beings on nature for resources whichsustain them. The physical environment for suchsocieties becomes the “Mother Nature”.

The people begin to understand theirenvironment and the forces of nature with thepassage of time. With social and culturaldevelopment, humans develop better and moreefficient technology. They move from a state ofnecessity to a state of freedom. They createpossibilities with the resources obtained fromthe environment. The human activities createcultural landscape. The imprints of humanactivities are created everywhere; health resortson highlands, huge urban sprawls, fields,orchards and pastures in plains and rollinghills, ports on the coasts, oceanic routes on theoceanic surface and satellites in the space. Theearlier scholars termed this as possibilism.Nature provides opportunities and humanbeing make use of these and slowly nature getshumanised and starts bearing the imprints ofhuman endeavour.

Humanisation of Nature

Winters in the town of Trondheim mean fierce

winds and heavy snow. The skies are dark

for months. Kari drives to work in the dark at

8 am. She has special tyres for the winter

and keeps the headlights of her powerful car

switched on. Her office is artificially heated

at a comfortable 23 degrees Celsius. The

campus of the university she works in is built

under a huge glass dome. This dome keeps

the snow out in winter and lets in the sunshine

in the summer. The temperature is controlled

carefully and there is adequate lighting. Even

though fresh vegetables and plants don’t grow

in such harsh weather, Kari keeps an orchid

on her desk and enjoys eating tropical fruits

like banana and kiwi. These are flown in from

warmer areas regularly. With a click of the

mouse, Kari can network with colleagues in

New Delhi. She frequently takes a morning

flight to London and returns in the evening in

time to watch her favourite television serial.

Though Kari is fifty-eight years old, she is

fitter and looks younger than many thirty-

year- olds in other parts of the world.

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4 Fundamentals of Human Geography

Can you imagine what has made such alife style possible? It is technology that hasallowed the people of Trondheim and others toovercome the constraints imposed by nature. Doyou know about some other such instances?Such examples are not difficult to find.

A geographer, Griffith Taylor introducedanother concept which reflects a middle path(Madhyam Marg) between the two ideas ofenvironmental determinism and possibilism.He termed it as Neodeterminism or stop andgo determinism. Those of you who live in citiesand those who have visited a city, might haveseen that traffic is regulated by lights on thecross-roads. Red light means ‘stop’, amber lightprovides a gap between red and green lights ‘toget set’ and green light means ‘go’. The conceptshows that neither is there a situation ofabsolute necessity (environmental determinism)nor is there a condition of absolute freedom(possibilism). It means that human beings canconquer nature by obeying it. They have torespond to the red signals and can proceed intheir pursuits of development when naturepermits the modifications. It means thatpossibilities can be created within the limitswhich do not damage the environment and thereis no free run without accidents. The free runwhich the developed economies attempted totake has already resulted in the green houseeffect, ozone layer depletion, global warming,receding glaciers and degrading lands. Theneo-determinism conceptually attempts tobring a balance nullifying the ‘either’ ‘or’dichotomy.

Human Geography throughthe Corridors of Time

The process of adaptation, adjustment with andmodification of the environment started with theappearance of human beings over the surfaceof the earth in different ecological niches. Thus,if we imagine the beginning of humangeography with the interaction of environmentand human beings, it has its roots deep inhistory. Thus, the concerns of humangeography have a long temporal continuumthough the approaches to articulate them havechanged over time. This dynamism in

approaches and thrusts shows the vibrantnature of the discipline. Earlier there was littleinteraction between different societies and theknowledge about each other was limited.Travellers and explorers used to disseminateinformation about the areas of their visits.Navigational skills were not developed andvoyages were fraught with dangers. The latefifteenth century witnessed attempts ofexplorations in Europe and slowly the mythsand mysteries about countries and peoplestarted to open up. The colonial period providedimpetus to further explorations in order toaccess the resources of the regions and to obtaininventorised information. The intention here isnot to present an in-depth historical accountbut to make you aware of the processes of steadydevelopment of human geography. Thesummarised Table 1.1 will introduce you to thebroad stages and the thrust of humangeography as a sub-field of geography.

• Welfare or humanistic school of thought

in human geography was mainly concerned

with the different aspects of social well-being

of the people. These included aspects such

as housing, health and education.

Geographers have already introduced a

paper as Geography of Social well-being in

the Post Graduate curriculum’.

• Radical school of thought employed

Marxian theory to explain the basic cause

of poverty, deprivation and social inequality.

Contemporary social problems were related

to the development of capitalism.

• Behavioural school of thought laid great

emphasis on lived experience and also on

the perception of space by social categories

based on ethnicity, race and religion, etc.

Fields and Sub-fields of Human Geography

Human geography, as you have seen, attemptsto explain the relationship between all elementsof human life and the space they occur over.Thus, human geography assumes a highlyinter-disciplinary nature. It develops close

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Human Geography: Nature and Scope 5

Table 1.1: Broad Stages and Thrust of Human Geography

interface with other sister disciplines in socialsciences in order to understand and explainhuman elements on the surface of the earth.With the expansion of knowledge, new sub-fields emerge and it has also happened tohuman geography. Let us examine these fieldsand sub-fields of Human Geography (Table 1.2).

You would have noticed that the list islarge and comprehensive. It reflects the

expanding realm of human geography. Theboundaries between sub-fields often overlap.What follows in this book in the form ofchapters will provide you a fairly widespreadcoverage of different aspects of humangeography. The exercises, the activities and thecase studies will provide you with someempirical instances so as to have a betterunderstanding of its subject matter.

Broad Features

Imperial and trade interests prompted the discovery and

exploration of new areas. An encyclopaedic description of

the area formed an important aspect of the geographer’s

account.

Elaborate description of all aspects of a region were

undertaken. The idea was that all the regions were part of

a whole, i.e. (the earth); so, understanding the parts in

totality would lead to an understanding of the whole.

The focus was on identifying the uniqueness of any region

and understanding how and why it was different from

others.

Marked by the use of computers and sophisticated

statistical tools. Laws of physics were often applied to

map and analyse human phenomena. This phase was

called the quantitative revolution. The main objective was

to identify mappable patterns for different human

activities.

Discontentment with the quantitative revolution and its

dehumanised manner of doing geography led to the

emergence of three new schools of thought of human

geography in the 1970s. Human geography was made more

relevant to the socio-political reality by the emergence of

these schools of thought. Consult the box below to know

a little bit more about these schools of thought.

The grand generalisations and the applicability of universal

theories to explain the human conditions were questioned.

The importance of understanding each local context in

its own right was emphasised.

Approaches

Exploration and

description

Regional analysis

Areal differentiation

Spatial organisation

Emergence of

humanistic, radical

and behavioural

schools

Post-modernism in

geography

Period

Early Colonial

period

Later Colonial

period

1930s through the

inter-War period

Late 1950s to the

late 1960s

1970s

1990s

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6 Fundamentals of Human Geography

Table 1.2: Human Geography and Sister Disciplines of Social Sciences

EXERCISESEXERCISESEXERCISESEXERCISESEXERCISES

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.(i) Which one of the following statements does not describe geography?

(a) an integrative discipline

(b) study of the inter-relationship between humans and environment

Fields of Sub-fields Interface with SisterHuman Disciplines of Social Sciences

Geography

Social — Social Sciences – Sociology

Geography Behavioural Geography Psychology

Geography of Social Welfare Economics

Well-being

Geography of Leisure Sociology

Cultural Geography Anthropology

Gender Geography Sociology, Anthropology, Women’s Studies

Historical Geography History

Medical Geography Epidemology

Urban — Urban Studies and Planning

Geography

Political — Political Science

Geography Electoral Geography Psephology

Military Geography Military Science

Population — Demography

Geography

Settlement — Urban/Rural Planning

Geography

Economic — Economics

Geography Geography of Resources Resource Economics

Geography of Agriculture Agricultural Sciences

Geography of Industries Industrial Economics

Geography of Marketing Business Studies, Economics, Commerce

Geography of Tourism Tourism and Travel Management

Geography of International International Trade

Trade

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Human Geography: Nature and Scope 7

(c) subjected to dualism

(d) not relevant in the present time due to the development of technology.

(ii) Which one of the following is not a source of geographical information?

(a) traveller’s accounts

(b) old maps

(c) samples of rock materials from the moon

(d) ancient epics

(iii) Which one of the following is the most important factor in the interactionbetween people and environment?

(a) human intelligence (c) technology

(b) people’s perception (d) human brotherhood

(iv) Which one of the following is not an approach in human geography?

(a) Areal differentiation (c) Quantitative revolution

(b) Spatial organisation (d) Exploration and description

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Define human geography.

(ii) Name some sub-fields of human geography.

(iii) How is human geography related to other social sciences?

3. Answer the following questions in not more than 150 words.

(i) Explain naturalisation of humans.

(ii) Write a note on the scope of human geography.

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