Human Geography
(Nature and Scope)
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.
• The elements like houses, villages, cities, road-rail networks, industries etc and all other elements of material culture have been created by human beings using the resources provided by the physical environment.
• While physical environment has been greatly modified by human beings, it has also, in turn, impacted human lives.
Naturalisation of Humans
• Human beings interact with their physical environment with the help of technology. Technology indicates the level of cultural development of society.
• Human beings were able to develop technology after they developed better understanding of natural laws. For example, the understanding of concepts of friction and heat helped us discover fire.
• In the early stages of human adapted to the dictates of Nature because the level of technology was very low and the stage of human social development was also primitive. The type of interaction between primitive human society and strong forces of nature was termed as environmental determinism.
Humanisation of Nature
• With social and cultural development, humans develop better and more efficient technology.
• Humans create possibilities with the resources obtained from the environment. They create cultural landscape. The earlier scholars termed this as possibilism.
• Nature provides opportunities and human being make use of these and slowly nature gets humanised.
• A geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced the concept of Neo Determinism or Stop and Go determinism which is mid way path. The concept states that there is neither a situation of absolute necessity (environmental determinism) nor there is condition of absolute freedom (possibilism). It means that human beings can conquer nature by obeying it.
Human Geography through the Corridors of Time
• The Human Geography is concerned with the process of adaptation, adjustment with and modification of the environment started with the appearance of human beings over the surface of the earth in different ecological niches.
• Earlier there was little interaction between different societies and the knowledge about each other was limited.
• The late fifteenth century witnessed attempts of explorations in Europe and slowly the myths and mysteries about countries and people started to open up.
Fields and Sub-fields of Human Geography
• Human geography is highly inter-disciplinary in nature. It develops close interface with other sister disciplines in social sciences in order to understand and explain human elements on the surface of the earth.
| Fields of Human Geography | Sub-Fields | Interface with Sister Disciplines of Social Sciences |
|---|---|---|
| Social Geography | - | Sociology |
| Behavioural Geography | Psychology | |
| Geography of Social Well-being | Welfare Economics | |
| Geography of Leisure | Sociology | |
| Cultural Geography | Anthropology | |
| Gender Geography | Sociology, Anthropology, Women’s Studies | |
| Historical Geography | History | |
| Medical Geography | Epidemiology | |
| Urban Geography | - | Urban Studies and Planning |
| Political Geography | - | Political Science |
| Electoral Geography | Psephology | |
| Military Geography | Military Science | |
| Population Geography | - | Demography |
| Settlement Geography | - | Urban/Rural Planning |
| Economic Geography | - | Economics |
| 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 Trade | International Trade |
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History – Themes
in Indian History |
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Science – Contemporary World Politics |
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– Politics
in India since Independence |
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Geography – Indian
People and Economy |
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– Fundamental of Human Geography |
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Chapter 1: - Population: Distribution, Density, Growth
and Composition |
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Chapter 12: - Geographical Perspective on Selected
Issues and Problems |
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