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Umar Habib

Component II – e-Text

Introduction

Geography occupies a specific position in the system of sciences since it examines both, natural and social phenomena; hence the basic division of geography into physical and human. And those two disciplines were the core of the analysis: physical geography, which belongs to natural and exact sciences in the Web of Science database, and human geography, included among social sciences there.

Interactions/relations with other sciences

While defining the scope of geography we had seemed that some parts of it have their strongest affiliations with mathematics and environmental (natural) sciences, others with history and social sciences. While other sciences deal with distinctive types of phenomena, geography studies several kinds of phenomena, each already studied by another science. Thus, geography has firmly established itself as a discipline of synthesis, on the plane of empirical knowledge.

Branches of geography

Variables phenomena on the Earth’s surface can be treated separately or in the association. They are classified and categorized into physical phenomena and human phenomena or are treated in association as interrelated phenomena. So geography has two main branches: Physical Geography and Human Geography.

Physical Geography

Physical geography is concerned with the study of the explanations of Nature or physical phenomena, surrounding the systematic sciences of geology, meteorology, zoology, astronomy, botany, and chemistry. Physical geography has its origin in the distant past when the ancient Greek and Roman scholars developed their attention in the study of Nature and its different attributes. It became a very popular field of study during the last third of the nineteenth century. Physical geography has a number of sub-branches which treat different kinds of physical occurrences.

The four elements of the ecosystem which interest the botanist, zoologist and geographer are:

(i) It brings together the worlds of man, plants, and animals surrounded by a single system in which the interfaces between the components can be analyzed;

(ii) It is structured in a more or less orderly, rational and reasonable way;

(iii) Ecosystems include a permanent amount of material and energy;

(iv) It is a type of general system which uses and can make use of general developed themes of systems analysis.

Relations and Natural Sciences

Fenneman (1919) argues that the regional geography is the heart of the science. He shows simply but effectively the relationship between geography and many other fields from which it draws much of the subject matter. He further avers that geography should be identified like other disciplines, not by its periphery but by its core, by what is unique to it.

Figure 1: Relationship of Geography with other disciplines

Source: Fennemen, N.M. (1919) the circumference of Geography

The diagram expresses the fundamental conception that sciences overlap and that each one of the specialized phases of geography belongs equally to some other science. Such a diagram will be helpful if not constructed too strictly. In a loose way, the central part of the circle may represent regional geography.

Astronomy and Geography: Astronomy deals with the celestial bodies (their motion in the universe) which include the different Suns and their planets, satellites, their motion, constellations, as well as different kinds of phenomena occurring in the Outer Space. It is a pure natural science and systematically deals with the concrete objects and phenomena which have a known situation in the Universe. Geography’s link with astronomy has developed mainly because it also deals with specific phenomena. Geography attempts to identify and measure the impact of the motion of the celestial bodies on the surface of the Earth. How have the phenomena on the spatial section of the Earth’s surface been influenced by the objects of the celestial space? This has necessitated in geography to study the form, size and movement and motion of celestialbodies, especially of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon, and their corresponding position in the solar system. Geography also attempts to determine the position of the stars and the constellation in the horizon, the extent of the celestial sphere and other celestial phenomena, such as to locate new planets, their satellites and stars.

It is the mathematical tradition in geography which has brought both astronomy and geography closer to each other. With the help of mathematics the precise location, nature of motion and movement, extent of celestial sphere, form, and size of celestial bodies, including those of the Sun, the earth, and the moon have been successfully determined. Astronomy and geography both are equally concerned with these aspects, and in a sense, they are mutually interdependent.

The interaction of astronomy and geography within the mathematical framework has given rise to cartography in geography which treats the specific phenomenon of location about geodesy (forms, shapes, size of the earth, latitude, and longitude, etc.) and celestial objects.

Ayurveda, Medicine, and Geography: Ayurveda is one of the most prominent and well-known traditional systems of medicine that has survived and flourished from ages till date. With the enormous knowledge of nature-based medicine, the relationship of human body constitution and function to nature and the elements of the universe that act in coordination and affect the living beings, this system will continue to flourish in ages still to come. Ayurveda believes that the entire universe is made up of five elements, i.e., Jala (Water), Vayu (Air), Prithvi (Earth), Aakash (Space or ether), and Teja (Fire). All these elements (referred to as PanchaMahabhoota in Ayurveda) are believed to form the three basic senses of humor of human body in varying combinations. The three senses of humor; Vata dosha, Pitta dosha and Kapha dosha collectively known as “Tridoshas,” and they control the basic physiological functions of the body along with five sub-doshas for each of the principal doshas. Medical geography nowadays is gaining importance in contemporary medicine and has its origin from Hippocrates. Nonetheless, Charaka Samhita which was written long before Hippocrates intricately speaks about medical geography. Though the manuscript gives a broad outline of geography regarding Jangala, Aanoopa, and Sadharana; it also discusses various places of the then India.

Health geographers are mostly concerned with the prevalence of different diseases along with some scales from the national to global, and examine the natural world, in all of its complications, for correlations between diseases and their locations. This approach places health geography alongside the other sub-disciplines of geography that trace the man and environment relations.

Health geographers use modern tools to analyze the diffusion of various diseases on maps, as people get affected themselves, and across wider spaces, as they migrate. Health geographers also consider all types of spaces as presenting health risks, from natural disasters to interpersonal violence, stress, and other potential dangers. In a nutshell, geography provides space to Ayurveda and Healthcare.

Geology and Geography: Geology is the natural science which has traditionally been closest to geography because both of them have strong links with the idiographic tradition. Geology describes and clarifies ‘concrete’ simple phenomena and puts them into a geological chronology and classification. Geography also attempts to deal with ‘concrete’ recognizable phenomena occurring on the surface of the earth, classifying them into various categories. Both study such concrete phenomena which have known the situation in time and space.

Geology is the study of the rocks, their layout, and arrangements, types, minimal constituents, resistance and age, distribution, dip, and alignment, etc. these are all concrete phenomena, and need not be quantified. Geography is essentially the study of the Earth’s surface, especially the morphology of the surface. Morphology of the Earth’s surface is the manifestation of the rock structure in different forms. So one has to study geology to explain the morphology. The analogy, “Landscape is the study of structure, process and stage” clearly demonstrates the closest relation between geology and geography. The term ‘structure’ refers to geology and the words ‘process, ‘ and ‘stage’ refer to geography. The sentence makes both complementary to each other. Geology and geography both study the distribution of various kinds of rocks and minerals, their mode of occurrence, chemical and physical components, hardness, specific gravity and lots of other things which are concrete and recognizable. The interaction between geology and geography leads to Geomorphology or landform geography.

However, certain types of phenomena studies in geography are quantifiable. They require the formulation, verification or rejection of hypotheses through experiments and the establishment of universal scientific laws. Because of this changing trend in geography, the discipline shows some deviation from its traditional ideographic link with geology.

Physics and Geography: Geography has long been associated with Physics. As geography is the study of variable phenomena on the earth’s surface, the mechanism of the phenomena requires being studied within the framework of physics. The physics of the atmosphere, called meteorology, uses the methods of physics to interpret and explain atmospheric processes. Similarly, the physics of hydrosphere is called oceanography, which too applies the principles of physics to explain and interpret hydrosphere processes. Even lithospheric processes and changes are studied within the framework of physics. The characteristics of phenomena studied in meteorology and oceanography show that objectives are quantifiable. Some of their phenomena are more abstract than those studied by geologists and biologists.

Geography, as a science of synthesis, seeks to draw within its circumference the core principles of meteorology and oceanography in a clear attempt to explain and interpret ‘the interrelated features’ and terrestrial phenomena.’ Interaction with meteorology has given rise to a systematic branch of climatology in geography. Climate interested in ‘the process’ of exchange of energy and mass between the earth and the atmosphere because that results in conditions for the climate. It is the climate which is a prime factor for analyzing and classifying the terrestrial phenomena occurring on the earth’s surface. To understand the variable phenomena, one has to take into consideration the basic principles of meteorology and hydrology, then to proceed with an explanation, to account for the interdependence of phenomena.

Botany and Geography: It is the ideographic tradition in geography which seeks to suggest its close link with biology and zoology. The systematic branches of botany and zoology have traditionally been confined to a classification and description of various kinds of species on the Earth’s surface which tend to form unique features and phenomena. Geography, being the study of the spatial section of Earth’s surface, also attempts to explore the distributional aspects of floral phenomena and also provides their classification. Again, we come to the point that the distributional nature of floral phenomena. Both botany and geography seek to describe and classify the spatial pattern of real phenomena and put them into different classifications according to spatial conditions.

Geography is closely related to zoology. Because both seek to interpret:

(i) The distribution of the individual genera and species of animals;

    (ii) The distribution of the interrelated phenomena of genera and species of animals over the spatial section of the Earth surface; and

(iii)  Both are concerned with the difference in the faunal equipment of the different lands.

It is the ecological tradition in botany and zoology which brought them much closer to geography. Ecology is the study of the relationships between animals, plants and their environments. Ecologists, therefore, study the natural relationships whereby particular species of plants and animals are dependent on each other and the non-organic environment. This aspect of ecology exerts its influence on man’s biological nature and his relationship to the natural environment.

Geography, especially population geography and synecology (which treats the development of plant and animal communities in an area), can be said to parallel traditional biological ecology. During recent decades, ecology has become a major interest of research in botany, zoology, and geography. This is due to the development of a new direction within ecology – called systems ecology – which studies construction and function of the ecosystem. An ecosystem consists of the biological community at a specific place and the environmental, physical circumstances which influence and are influenced by the biological community. It manifests the interdependence and interrelationship between botany, zoology, and geography.

Relations with Social Sciences

Economics and Geography: Economics and geography are long related to each other, and should be regarded united and inseparable because both study ‘concrete phenomena which have known situation and time’, focusing on man.

Economics is concerned with man’s economic activities, and the principles governing the location of units of production, forces of production, relations of production, the division of labor, and a host of institutional aspects including health, capital investment, and assets, entrepreneurial skills, technology, investment funds, etc. In brief, economics is concerned with how human needs and wants are satisfied in a world of limited resources, where everyone cannot have as much as he or she wants of everything.

All the above phenomena concerning economics have a known situation and time. They must be studies in spatial and temporal context. Every human activity, dealing with satisfying needs and wants, must have a definite location (place), time and distribution. For example, mining activities refer to the place of occurrence of minerals, their distribution and the period of extraction. The purpose of the activity is production. Each unit of production on the Earth’s surface is variable in the context of place, time and distribution.

Since geography is the study of an ensemble of phenomena about the place, localization, time and distribution, it is equally concerned with the variable character of the economic activities. Agricultural activities and industrial activities do have known places, localization, time and distribution on the various spatial sections of the Earth’s surface. Forces of production, relations of production, units of production, a division of labor, the material condition and the entrepreneurial skill, all tend to have ‘areal expression’ with a known time and situation. This makes economics and geography interdependent.

Modern geography which focuses on testing, o the empirical validation of hypotheses concerning variable economic phenomena, has developed a much stronger affinity with economics. This has been productive of new ideas and techniques since the 1950s. The introduction of location theory into geography is based on concepts from ‘Neoclassical Economics’ (which forms the basis of the view of how economic activity functions) as conventionally adopted in capitalist society.

Geography’s interaction with economics has given rise to economic geography, which is the study of the spatial variation on the Earth’s surface of activities related to producing, exchanging and consuming goods and services.

Sociology and Geography: Sociology is mainly concerned with the institutional aspects of the society which broadly include social organization of communities, family structure and system, rituals, culture, customs, social system, and overall the entire way of living. Since all these aspects tend to constitute distinct phenomena which have known situation and time, they must be studies in spatial context.

Each spatial section of the Earth surface is identified by its distinct ‘genre de vie’, which results into ‘social phenomena’ and when one studies the variable character of its social phenomena on the Earth’s surface, he seeks to integrate sociology with geography. For example, when a sociologist or a geographer studies the institutional aspects of the social organization of the major communities of India, he or she takes into account the geographical aspects and bases of the social organizations of the major communities, each with a distinct way of life and having ‘place’, localization’ and ‘distribution’ in different sections of the country. This shows the interrelationship between sociology and geography.

Geography’s traditional link with sociology appears to have developed mostly as a result of the idiographic tradition. However, the introduction of the location theory into sociology has further strengthened its ties with geography and vice versa. Geography has drawn some of its concepts from modern sociology which are associated with the formulation of empirical generalizations or laws through mathematical methods and statistical procedures. A number of studies of relations between social behavior of movement of people between urban centers, of spatial interactions between social groups, of the relationship between innovation and tradition in rural and urban areas, have been made “both in sociology and geography with the aid of models. Social geography is the logical expression of the interaction between sociology and geography as it studies social phenomena in spatial context.

Anthropology and Geography: Anthropology attempts to study human races, their physical’ characteristics, biological traits, cultural traits, and organizations, and seeks to classify them accordingly. Physical and biological traits of human races and their organization are products of nature. Races have been identified on the basis of various indices, such as head index, nasal index and cephalic index and skin color, hair texture and stature and are accordingly categorized as Negrito, Negro, Australoid, Mediterranean, Nordic, Alpine, and Mongolic. Each of them has distinct biological traits and habitats and cultural traits and attempt to study the variable racial phenomena on the spatial section of the Earth’s surface.

The reciprocal relationship between anthropology and geography has resulted in the development of ‘anthropogeography’ or ethnology which treats different human groups in terms of the natural conditions and the geographical distribution of races (men). The study of ‘apartheid’ (the policy of spatial separation of races) as applied in South Africa forms an inseparable part of anthropogeography or ethnology.

History and Geography: History and geography fill up the entire circumference of our perception; history that of time, and geography that of space. As Herodotus has rightly said that History without Geography has no roots and Geography without History has no fruits. History differs from geography only in the consideration of time and area. The former is a report of phenomena that follow one another and has reference to time. The latter is a report of phenomena besides each other in space. History is a narrative, geography is a description. History provides the framework into which the multiplicity of historical facts are ordered, the area provides the skeleton for geography, and both the fields are concerned with integrating different kinds of phenomena. Therefore, history and geography are traditionally idiographic and are mutually interdependent.

Geography’s inclination towards physics seems to have been further intensified on account of its increasing dependence on the hypothetic-deductive method. It has been mostly developed in Physics, Geography’s increasing tendency to adopt the hypothetic-deductive method has been mainly due to the type of questions regarding the variable phenomena to be answered and the nature of empirical data to be studied. It is characteristic of the phenomena now studied in geography and physics that objectives are quantifiable.

Some of the phenomena of theoretical geography are, however, much more abstract, and some of them cannot be directly observed, but the method of measurement has given a theoretical supposition of their existence. Theoretical geography, like theoretical physics, operates in an abstract milieu, seeking unity and association through mathematical and statistical hypotheses and postulates. It is from physics that theoretical geography has been able to develop into model-building, precisely because it works with abstract and quantifiable phenomena.

Tourism and Geography: Tourism geography is the study of travel and tourism, as an industry and as a social and cultural activity. Tourism geography covers a wide range of interests including the environmental impact of tourism, the geographies of tourism and leisure economies, answering tourism industry and management concerns and the sociology of tourism and locations of tourism.

Tourism geography is that branch of science which deals with the study of travel and its impact on places.

Geography is fundamental to the study of tourism because tourism is geographical in nature. Tourism occurs in places, it involves movement and activities between places and it is an activity in  which   both   place   characteristics   and  personal   self-identities   are   formed,  through   the relationships that are created among places, landscapes, and people. Physical geography provides the essential background, against which tourism places are created and environmental impacts and concerns are major issues that must be considered in managing the development of tourism places.

Political Science and Geography: Certain writers maintain that geographical and physical conditions greatly affect the character, the national well-being of the people, and their political thinking. Aristotle was of the opinion that devoid geography neither political nor strategically wisdom could move ahead. Bodin was the first modern writer who formulated a relationship between Political Science and Geography. Rousseau also tried to establish a relationship between climatic conditions and forms of government. He contended that warm climates are favorable to despotism or dictatorship, cold climates to barbarism and moderate climates to a good policy. Montesquieu, another French scholar, also laid emphasizes upon the influence of physical environments on the forms of government and liberty of the people.

Nonetheless, Buckle excels all. In his History of Civilization, he viewed that ‘the actions of men, and therefore of societies, are determined by the mutual interaction between the mind and external phenomena of human life’. He emphasized that the actions of the individual and societies be influenced by the physical environments, particularly food, climate, soil, and the “common aspects of nature.” In short, Buckle rejected the previously accepted idea that the free will of man regulates the actions of the individual and society.

It is true that geographical location is a major factor in moldings the fortune of every State, and it greatly influences its national as well as international policies and political institutions. Moreover, to fathom the actual impact of geographical factors on the political life of a nation, particularly about its foreign policy, a new discipline of Geopolitics has developed. In a country like India Political Institutions (elections) and Geography are like the two faces of a coin and cannot exist without each other

Therefore, it is no overstatement to say that geographical phenomena always plays a major role in measuring the purpose of national policies and to some degree the character of the political institutions of any area.

References:

• Fennemen, N.M. (1919) the circumference of Geography, Annals of Association of American Geographers, IX. Pp 3-11.
• Fennemen, N.M. (1919) the circumference of Geography, Annals of Association of American Geographers, IX. Pp 3-11.
• Buckle, H.T. (1864) History of Civilization in England, Longmans Green. London, 4th edition