• news and information flowed into Europe virtually faster than it could be interpreted or processed
• it especially placed scholars in an awkward position; learned individuals became torn between their religious beliefs and the true nature of the world contained in all the new information

A common trait of the Europe of the Middle Ages was to make human observations about the world conform to Biblical scripture.

• the Church at that time had a great deal of influence in many aspects of people's lives, and scholars were no different
• making observations conform to the Bible was part of a larger belief that the universe—also known as the cosmos—was the creation of a divine being, and as such it had an order to it
• the study of such an ordered universe was known as cosmography and its practitioners cosmographers
• the conflicts scholars faced developed as the information pouring into Europe increasingly failed to correspond to cosmographers' ideas, prompting conflicts with the Church

A good example of this conflict concerned the nature of the universe.

• cosmographers believed that the earth was the center of the universe (geocentrism)
• after about 1500, however, other scholars began doubting this notion, instead suggesting that the sun was at the center of the universe (heliocentrism)
• Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, for instance, all challenged geocentrism over a 130 year period
• in the end, they proved that the sun indeed was the center of our universe and that planetary movement was elliptical, not circular
• this was a great blow to the Church and it eventually led to the disappearance of the cosmographers

Geography

Just as new observations about the heavens began changing the fields of physics and astonomy, the new findings of the explorers began changing geography.

The first new geographic study was done by the cosmographer Sebastian Münster in 1544.

• this work was highly descriptive of places in the best tradition of Strabo
• it was, however, cosmography
• despite Münster's many mistakes and uninformed ideas, his work was a leading authority for several decades

• the work of Cluverius (Philipp Clüver) is a good example
  -wrote a historical geography of Germany in 1616 in the tradition of Herodotus and Strabo
  -wrote a 6 volume work on geography in general, published in 1624
  -he accepted Ptolemy's notions, showing that he was apparently unaware of Copernicus' work
  -his place descriptions—even for Europe—were much more accurate, however, than those of Münster as a result of newer and more reliable information

• the work of Nathanael Carpenter in 1625 was also important
  -wrote the first scholarly geographical work in English
  -though he felt nature dictated human characteristics, he too made very accurate descriptions of the earth's many places

• despite his short life, this German scholar was one of the truly great geographers of all time
• far ahead of his time, Varenius was one of the first to identify and describe the two-fold character of geography
  -he identified something called special geography
  
  -this included geographical writings that describe the often unique characteristics of particular places
  -we know this today as regional geography
  
  -he also identified what he called general geography
  
  -this included geographical writings that describe general and universal laws or principles that apply to all places
  -we know this today as systematic geography
  
  -he did not, however, see the two sides of geography as being mutually exclusive
  
  -in other words, neither side as more important
  -both were instead important to each other
  -without special geography, the laws of general geography could not be identified, verified, and understood
  -without general geography, special geography would be useless, little more than trivia; it needed the context of more fundamental concepts
  
• Varenius put forth his ideas in his Geographia Generalis in 1650
• unfortunately, Varenius died at the age of 28

Geographic Influences

In some cases, the new information arriving in Europe led simply to more creative erroneous ideas.

• some of the most important of these to geography involved the influence of the environment on man
  -the idea that nature influenced man was not new; it dated at least to Aristotle and the Greeks
  -in the 16th and 17th centuries, however, these ideas were furthered instead of eliminated
  
• one scholar in this area was Jean Bodin of France
  -he accepted the Greek idea of habitable climatic zones varying by latitude
  -he also felt that the stars and planets influenced human behavior (astrology)
  
• another Frenchman in this area was a man we can call simply Montesquieu
  -he also accepted the notion that human behaviour was guided by nature
  -he especially felt climate was influencial
  
• these notions are absurd, for there are examples of all types of human behavior at all latitudes and in all climates
  
• there are many more variables involved in human behavior than those of environment

Kant

One other scholar we should mention in reference to the changing view of geography at this time was the German, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

• though he was a philosopher, he had a great impact on geography
• it was he, for instance, who likely solidified geography's place among university disciplines
  
• he tought physical geography for 30 years at the University of Königsberg
• he began each semester by clarifying the position of geography among the many fields of learning
• he felt that geography as the differentiation of places was a fundamental field in his understanding of the world
• he also saw a clear break between the fields of history and geography

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