Geography Test - 1

“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.

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.

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.

• 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’’.

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.

The correct answer is Determinism.

Key PointsDeterminism

• Geographical determinism asserts that human history, culture, society and lifestyles, development, etc are shaped by their physical environment.
• Geographical determinism understands human social action as a response to the natural environment.
• Environmental determinism rose to its most prominent stage in modern geography beginning in the late 19th Century when it was revived by the German geographer Friedrich Rätzel and became the central theory in the discipline.
• Determinism is one of three perspectives in geography that explains the relationship between the environment and humans. The other two are Neo-determinism and Possibilism.
• The natural environment is supreme and it controls every sphere of human activities.
• Activities of humans, human settlement types and patterns, cultural development, food habits, cultural habits, etc are determined by Nature.
• Humans act as passive agents and the environment acts as active agents.
• The philosophy of Determinism is based upon the interaction between primitive human society and strong forces of nature.
• This is an older philosophy that persisted till World War II. It says that the strong forces of the environment control the course of human action.
• This implies that the history, culture, mode of life, and the level of development of the social groups and countries are exclusively or largely controlled by the physical environment.
• According to Determinism, man is a passive agent, and nature is an active agent, which controls and determines the action and decision-making processes of man.
• As per determinism, human actions can be explained as a response to the natural environment.

The correct answer is Physical Geography.

Key PointsHuman geography

• Human geography is concerned with the distribution and networks of people and cultures on Earth's surface.
• A human geographer might investigate the local, regional, and global impact of rising economic powers China and India, which represent 37 percent of the world's people.
• Human geography studies the relationship between the physical environment and the social and cultural environment created by human beings through interaction between them.
• The dichotomy (distinction) between flesh and man is highly unacceptable because nature and humans are inseparable and must be fully understood.
• The natural environment is prepared by a man with the help of technology and has an impact on human health.
• We can find human traits everywhere in nature.
• Therefore, we use a metaphor such as ‘the mouth of the river, and ‘the eye of the storm’ to describe a visible area.
• Therefore, nature and man are inseparable and must be fully seen.
• Human Geography consists of a number of sub-disciplinary fields that focus on different elements of human activity and organization, for example, cultural geography, economic geography, health geography, historical geography, political geography, population geography, rural geography, social geography, transport

• 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.

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.

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key PointsAim of Human Geography

• Human Geography aims at the study of human and natural resources of a region so that these resources can be used for the progress and welfare of the people.
• It studies the effects of environment on human groups.
• It studies the modifications made by man in Environment. In this way, the main aim of Human Geography is to study the interactive relationship between man, environment and economic activities.