Human Geography Test - 1

The correct answer is samples of rock materials from the moon.

Key Points

• Traveller's account is used to disseminate information about the areas of their visits like the terrain, currency, language and many other things. Hence option 1 is correct.
• A map is a representation of certain boundaries of the earth on a flat surface showing countries, bodies of water, cities, etc. Hence option 2 is correct.
• Samples of rock materials from the moon provide information about the moon but geography is the study of the earth.
  • Hence the information should be from earth. So it is not a part of geographical information. Hence option 3 is incorrect.
• Ancient epics through stories provide information about the ancient people and their environment. Hence option 4 is correct.

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 a better understanding of natural laws.
• For example, the understanding of concepts of friction and heat helped us discover fire. Similarly, understanding of the secrets of DNA and genetics enabled us to conquer many diseases.

• Australian geographer Griffith Taylor, in 1920 argued that the limit of agricultural settlements in Australia has been set by factors of the physical environment such as a distribution of rainfall.
• He further said that the best economic programme for a country to follow has in large part been determined by nature, and it is the geographer’s duty to interpret this programme.
• Man is able to accelerate, slow, or stop the progress of a country’s regional development. But he should not, if he is wise, depart from directions as indicated by natural environment. He is like the traffic controller in a large city who alters the rate but not the direction of progress.
• This theory is also called ‘’stop and go determinism’’.

“Human geography is the synthetic study of relationship between human societies and earth’s surface” – Ratzel

Human geography offers a new conception of the interrelationships between earth and human beings.

• Human geography is an attempt to explain the relationship between all elements of human life and the space they occur over. Thus, human geography assumes a highly interdisciplinary nature. 
• The nature of human geography is all embracing in terms of man-environment interactions; however, as a scientific discipline it is to limit its content so as to avoid vagueness.

• The people begin to understand their environment and the forces of nature with the passage of time.
• Possibilism is reaction to environmental determinism. It is based upon the assumption that the environment sets certain constraints or limitations, but culture is otherwise determined by social conditions. 
• This theory says that the true and only geographical problem is that to utilisation of possibilities. Nature provides possibilities and man utilises them according to his culture, traditions, and levels of socioeconomic development.
• The prohibitive cost of production of these crops in the extremely cold conditions of these areas will compel man not to grow them in the tundra climate.

Medical Geography

• In this branch, geographers normally study the patterns in which particular diseases spread. 
• This means that pandemics & epidemics are usually studied here as well as common illnesses, general health care and death as well.

The environment is constituted by the interacting systems of physical, biological, and cultural elements interrelated in various ways, individually as well as collectively.

Important PointsThese elements may be explained as under: 

• Physical elements are space, landforms, water bodies, climate, soils, rocks, and minerals. They determine the variable character of the human habitat, its opportunities as well as limitations.

Thus, we can conclude that Settlements are not the constituent of the physical environment.

Additional InformationPhysical environment refers to geographical climate and weather or physical conditions wherein individual life. The human race is greatly influenced by the climate. Some examples are as under:

• In the cold countries i.e. European countries the people are of white color. Likewise, in Asian and African countries, that is, in hot countries, people are of dark complexion.
• The physique of an individual depends on climate conditions as the individual tries to adjust to his physical environment.
• The human working efficiency also depends on climatic conditions.