CHAPTER-1
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
• Human Geography is linked with the mother discipline as Geography.
• Human Geography studies the relationship between the physical or natural and human worlds.
• German geographers describe the state of country as a living organism.
• Networks of road, railway and water ways have often been described as arteries of circulation.
• According to Ratzel, Human Geography is the synthetic study of relationship between human societies and
earth’s surface. He focused on Synthesis.
• According to E.C Semple, Hemant Geography the study of the changing relationship between the unresting
man and the unstable earth. She focused on Dynamism.
• According to P V de la Blache, Conception resulting from a more synthetic knowledge of the physical laws
governing our earth and of the relations between the living beings which inhabit it. He focused in a new
conception and interrelationship between earth and human beings.
NATURE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY:
1. NATURALIZATION OF HUMANS OR ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
2. HUMANISATION OF NATURE OR POSSIBILISM
3. NEO DETERMINISM OR STOP AND GO DETERMINISM
1. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
a. Environmental determinism is the theory that the physical environment controls human society and
culture.
b. It’s based on the idea that the environment limits human potential and influences human behaviour,
culture, and development.
c. Climate, ecology factors influence human economic, cultural, and societal development.
d. The environment acts as a constraint to human potential.
e. Environment as an independent variable. It is the cause, and the evolution of human and societal traits is
the response.
Criticisms:
f. It discusses that the development of society depends upon factors of the environment such as landform and
climate of a specific site.
Environmental determinism is the theory that the physical environment controls human society and culture.
It’s based on the idea that the environment limits human potential and influences human behavior, culture,
and development.
Main features:
• Climate, ecology, and geography: These factors influence human economic, cultural, and societal
development.
• Nature as a limiting factor: The environment acts as a constraint to human potential.
• Environment as an independent variable: In this framework, the environment is the cause, and the
evolution of human and societal traits is the response.
Criticisms: