GEO 466/566: Germany, France, and Great Britain

GEO 466/566: The Profession of Geography

Germany, France, and Great Britain

Germany

As scholars became increasingly specialized in the years after the death of von Humboldt and Ritter, the academic disciplines we know so well today began to appear.

Probably the first country where academic geography appeared was Germany, in the 1870s.

this should not be surprising for several reasons
remember, however, that despite these reasons, it took a few years after Ritter's death for the second professorship in geography to materialize
a watershed event in 1874 led to more than a dozen additional appointments of geography professors in Germany

Of the newly appointed professors of geography—most of whom were not really trained as geographers—Ferdinand von Richthofen was one of the most influencial.

he was a geologist and an experienced field worker, travelling to China and California
he was appointed as Peschel's successor at Leipzig in 1883
shortly thereafter, he delivered an important lecture in which he defined the field of geography
geography, according to von Richthofen, was concerned with the diverse phenomena that occur in interrelation on the face of the earth
von Richthofen also addressed the issue of whether geography should be descriptive or law-seeking
for von Richthofen, then, as it had been for Varen, geography was a whole consisting of two closely related components

Another important scholar during this period in German geography was a man named Friedrich Ratzel.

became professor of geography at Leipzig in 1886, replacing von Richthofen
he had travelled in the U.S. and Mexico in 1874-1875, and became keenly interested in human geography
his overriding concern in geography has been perceived as the study of environmental influences on human history
his main work was the 2 volume Anthropogeographie (1882-1892), which is often used as evidence of his environmental determinism
however, Ratzel was quick to point out that cultural factors, as well as physical ones, shaped human behavior and history
perhaps the reason he is called an environmental determinist (though he was not) is because his students accepted many of his generalizations too literally and themselves became determinists
Ratzel was the first cultural geographer
for some reason, Ratzel was not as influencial in German geography as von Richthofen

One other very important German geographer was Alfred Hettner.

was the first professor since Ritter who was trained as a geographer
was also the founder and editor of Geographische Zeitschrift, a major German geographical periodical
Hettner, like von Richthofen and many before him, conceived of geography as chorology
Hettner restated the sentiment of von Humboldt, that nature was a whole and that geography needed to view it as such
finally, Hettner also agreed with Varenius

A final German geographer we might mention was Otto Schlüter.

was not comfortable with the idea that geography was a method and not a body of specific data
adopted the idea of geography as the study of the landscape
like Hettner, Schlüter was concerned with areal differentiation
unlike Hettner, however, Schlüter focused on the interrelations of phenomena that gave places their unique appearances
Schlüter used historical geography to trace change

France

One of the countries to follow the German lead was France, generally in the 1880s and 90s.

prior to this time, there had not been any formal presence of academic geography at the university level
this is not to say that geography did not exist in France before this time
things began to change in the late 1800s

Perhaps the single most important individual in the development of French geography was Paul Vidal de la Blache.

he began his education interested in ancient history and classical literature, but in the process he discovered the great geographical writings of the Greeks
his major academic appointment in life came in 1898, when he was given the geography chair at the Sorbonne, the great French national university in Paris
he followed the tradition established in Germany of giving an inaugural lecture concerning his views of geography
no matter how you interpret Vidal's geography, it is clear that he is in the same human tradition as Ratzel
because of his stress on the use of pays or natural regions, Vidal made a tremendous contribution to the development of what we now know as regional geography
moreso than most previous scholars, Vidal produced a huge legacy of students

Of all these students, however, one proved to be the most important--Jean Brunhes.

in 1907, he was appointed first chair in human geography in Europe at Lausanne, Switzerland
in 1912, he took a similar appointment at the College of France, in Paris
in 1910 he published his own Human Geography
Brunhes, however, did not follow Vidal exactly; he had some different views
in his book, Brunhes further deviated from Vidal by focusing not on the social groupings of humans, but on the surface features of the earth produced by humans
again, Brunhes did not neglect physical geography, but he did concentrate on human geography

Another very important student of Vidal was Emmanuel de Martonne, Vidal's own son-in-law.

unlike Vidal and Brunhes, de Martonne was primarily a physical geographer
this training led him to believe that physical geography was an essential part of all geographical studies, regardless of their locations

Great Britain

Lagging behind Germany and even France in the establishment of academic geography in Europe was Great Britain.

again, however, geography was nowhere near absent in Great Britain

Geography was established in Great Britain in 1886.

this was the watershed date in British geography
in Britain, the Royal Geographical Society conducted a survey of geography in Britain and compared its position to that in other countries
the society recommended on the basis of its survey, that geography professors be added at all the major British universities
the schools agreed and responded by establishing the positions

The first important academic geographer in Britain was Halford J. Mackinder.

he was the first new geography appointee at Oxford in 1887
because of his training, he felt geography and history could not and should not be separated
Mackinder expressed his ideas in one of his first lectures in 1887
the best example of Mackinder's view of geography came in 1904, in his lecture "The Geographical Pivot of History"

Mackinder's view of geography, which over time became that of many British geographers, demanded initial work in physical geography.

human events could not be understood without a knowledge of the setting in which they took place

Most of the other British geographers, however, did not share Mackinder's world view.

they concentrated more specifically on man/land relationships

After World War I, we can identify 5 major characteristics or areas of development in British geography.

one major area of interest for the British was exploration
the British have also been very much concerned with regional studies
field studies and map interpretation have also been a big part of British geography
a fourth characterstic of British geography has been a stress on historical geography and the history of geography
finally, the British have shown a tendancy to apply the findings of their geographic studies to social, political, and economic problems

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Created by JTK; last revised on 2 October 1996.