Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr. Anjum Shaheen

Assistant Professor

Department of Geography
Nims University Rajasthan, Jaipur
Human Geography

Unit I
Scope of Human Geography
• It is always difficult to define a subject. With a passage of time, as knowledge grows and
cultures advances, the definition of subject also change. Therefore, none of definition of
human geography is universally acceptable.

• Geography looks at the earth’s surface from two different but interrelated perspectives,
known as systematic and regional.

• Accordingly, it has two broad branches: systematic geography and regional geography.
Human geography is a branch of systematic geography.

• Human geography as second major branch of geography focuses on the study of people
and their social groups, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment by
studying their relations in spatiotemporal perspective.

• Human geographers describe and explain the human patterns of social interaction, as well
as spatial level interdependencies, and how they influence or affect the earth's
environment.

• Human geography is the study of the interrelationships between people, place, and
environment, and how these vary spatially and temporally across and between locations.

• Human geographers focus on the spatial organization and processes shaping the lives and
activities of people, and their interactions with places and environment.
• Human Geography is the study of the interrelationships between people,
place, and environment, and how these vary spatially and temporally across
and between locations.

• Whereas physical geography concentrates on spatial and environmental

processes that shape the natural world and tends to draw on the natural and
physical sciences for its scientific underpinnings and methods of investigation,
human geography concentrates on the spatial organization and processes
shaping the lives and activities of people, and their interactions with places
and nature.

• Human geography is more allied with the social sciences and humanities,
sharing their philosophical approaches and methods.

• The study of the interrelationships between people, place, and environment,

and how these vary spatially and temporally across and between locations

• Its nature is interdisciplinary and integrative. Human geography is more allied

with the social sciences and humanities, sharing their philosophical
approaches and methods
• 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 geography, and urban geography.

• What distinguishes human geography from other related disciplines, such

as development, economics, politics, and sociology, are the application of
a set of core geographical concepts to the phenomena under investigation,
including space, place, scale, landscape, mobility, and nature.

• These concepts foreground the notion that the world operates spatially
and temporally, and that social relations do not operate independently of
place and environment, but are thoroughly grounded in and through
them.
• With respect to methods, human geography uses the full sweep of
quantitative and qualitative methods from across the social sciences and
humanities, mindful of using them to provide a thorough geographic
analysis.

• It also places emphasis on fieldwork and mapping, and has made a

number of contributions to developing new methods and techniques,
notably in the areas of spatial analysis, spatial statistics, and GIS Science.

• The long-term development of human geography has progressed in

tandem with that of the discipline more generally.

• Since the Quantitative Revolution in the 1950s and 1960s, the philosophy
underpinning human geography research has diversified enormously.

• The 1970s saw the introduction of behavioural geography, radical

geography, and humanistic geography.
• These were followed in the 1980s by a turn to political economy, the
development of feminist geography, and the introduction of critical social
theory underpinning the cultural turn.

• Together these approaches formed the basis for the growth of critical
geography, and the introduction of postmodern and post-structural
thinking into the discipline in the 1990s.

• These various developments did not fully replace the theoretical

approaches developed in earlier periods, but rather led to further
diversification of geographic thought.

• For example, quantitative geography continues to be a vibrant area of

geographical scholarship, especially through the growth of GIS Science.

• The result is that geographical thinking is presently highly pluralist in

nature, with no one approach dominating.
 SCOPE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

• Each of the physical, biological and social sciences has its

own philosophy, methodology and scope. For example,
economics deals primarily with the production,
movement and consumption of goods and services;
geology is concerned with the composition and interior of
the earth’s crust; demography pertains to the
characteristics of human population; and zoology and
botany examine the animals and plants kingdoms
respectively.

• Similarly, geography examines numerous tangible and

intangible natural and man-made phenomena.
• In human geography, the major thrust is on the study of
human societies in their relation to the habitat or
environment.

• Dealing with the spatial distribution of societies, human

geography covers a very wide field or its scope is enormous.

• It embraces the study of human races; the growth, distribution

and density of populations of the various parts of the world,
their demographic attributes and migration patterns; and
physical and cultural differences between human groups and
economic activities.

• It also covers the relationship between man and his natural

environment, and the way in which his activities are
distributed.
• Human geography also takes into account the mosaic of
culture, language, religion, customs and traditions; types and
patterns of rural settlements, the site, size, growth and
functions of urban settlements, and the functional
classification of towns.

• The study of spatial distribution of economic activities,

industries, trade, and modes of transportations and
communications as influenced by the physical environment
are also the important topics of human geography.

• In brief, in human geography, we study the influence of

physical environment on the economic activity, society,
culture and religion of the people of a region.
• The impact of man on environment is also a topic of growing
importance in human geography.

• The adjustment of man to his physical environment in typical

geographical regions like equatorial, hot deserts and tundra is of great
relevance to human geography as it helps in understanding the
symbiotic relationship between social groups and their natural
environment.

• Human geography deals with the world as it is and with the world as it
might be made to be.

• Its emphasis is on people: where they are, what they are like, how they
interact over space and time, and what kinds of landscapes of human
use they erect upon the natural landscapes they occupy.

• It encompasses all those interests and topics of geography that are not
directly concerned with the physical environment like cartography.
• Human geography’s content provides integration for all the social
sciences, for it gives to those sciences the necessary spatial,
temporal and systems viewpoint that they otherwise lack.

• At the same time, human geography draws on other social

sciences in the analyses identified with its sub-fields, such as
behavioral, political, economic, or social geography.

• Human geography admirably serves the objectives of a liberal

education. It helps us to understand the world we occupy and to
appreciate the circumstances affecting peoples and nations other
than our own.

• It clarifies the contrasts in societies and cultures and in the

human landscapes they have created in different regions of the
earth.
• Its models and explanations of spatial interaction allow us
to better comprehend the economic, social, and political
systems within which we all, singly and collectively, live and
operate.

• Its analyses of spatial systems make us more aware of the

realities and the prospects of our own society in an
increasingly troubled and competitive world.

• The study of human geography, therefore, can help make

us better informed citizens, more able to understand the
important issues facing our communities and our countries
and better prepared to contribute to their solution
• Human Geography is a Human Ecology. Concept was put forward
by - H.H. Barrows (believed in social Darwinism) – American 1923
CL White and GT Remmner also supported.
• Followers tried to establish an interactive relationship between
man and his biotic and abiotic elements of environment.
• Survival of fittest. Those survived are better fitted to environment
than their competitors.
• Superior survives and inferior eliminated.
• Central idea- man, like plant and animal has to struggle in his
physical environment and in this process of struggle the weaker
gets eliminated.
• Ratzel, Davis, E. C. Semple, Huntington, Taylor, Lamarckian
supported the concept.
• Criticized - Man is far superior to other animal and plant. Man
can change the harsh climate of physical world
• Human Geography is the study of man and his
adjustment to Natural Environment
• Widely accepted definition – HG is the study of man
and his adjustment to his natural environment.
• Greek, Roman and Arab scholar supported –
Aristotle, Darwin has same view.
• Example of man adjustment to natural environment
– there are numerous racial and ethnic groups in
the world, their geo- climate condition is different
from each other substantially.
• Use, misuse and underuse the resources according
to their cultural belief and technological knowledge.
• History:
• HG has long history but got more value in 18th and
19th century.
• Man and his environment relationship were supported
by Herodotus, Aristotle, and Eratosthenes.
• Strabo explained the effect of geo-ecological features
on the progress of human being.
• Arabs – Al- Idrisi, Ibn- Khaldun, Al Battani, Al, beruni
discussed about the nature and its effects on the
cultural characteristics of human being.
• The idea was revived in Europe during Renaissance –
late 18th and early 19th century
• Alexander Von Humboldt and Karl Ritter – Kosmos and
Erd kunde.
• HG become more popular after origin of species 1859. F. Ratzel
(German - father of human geography) – Anthropogeography:
landmark in human geography Definition - Human geography is
the synthetic study of relationship between human societies
and earth’s surface”
• E.C Semple definition: Human geography is the study of “the
changing relationship between the unresting man and the
unstable earth. Ellen Churchill Semple (American Geographer
(1863- 1932)
• Blache definition - Conception resulting from a more synthetic
knowledge of the physical laws governing our earth and of the
relations between the living beings which inhabit it”.
• By the 1980s, human geography widened and included al thing
which are note natural like cartography, quantitative techniques
ect. .
• SCOPE
• Each of the physical, biological and social science has its own philosophy,
methodology and scope. Geology is the study of physical structure, their
composition and structure of the earth.  The major thrust of HG is the
study of human society in relation to their natural habitat.
• Deal with wide distribution of human society therefore its scope is
enormous. Influence of physical environment on economy, culture, food,
customs, language etc.
• 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 geography, and urban geography.
• What distinguishes human geography from other related disciplines, such
as development, economics, politics, and sociology, are the application of
a set of core geographical concepts to the phenomena under
investigation, including space, place, scale, landscape, mobility, and
nature.
• These concepts foreground the notion that the world
operates spatially and temporally, and that social
relations do not operate independently of place and
environment, but are thoroughly grounded in and
through them.
• With respect to methods, human geography uses the
full sweep of quantitative and qualitative methods from
across the social sciences and humanities, mindful of
using them to provide a thorough geographic analysis.
• It also places emphasis on fieldwork and mapping and
has made a number of contributions to developing new
methods and techniques, notably in the areas of spatial
analysis, spatial statistics, and GIS science.
• The long-term development of human geography has progressed in
tandem with that of the discipline more generally.
• Since the Quantitative Revolution in the 1950s and 1960s, the
philosophy underpinning human geography research has diversified
enormously.
• The 1970s saw the introduction of behavioral geography, radical
geography, and humanistic geography.
• These were followed in the 1980s by a turn to political economy, the
development of feminist geography, and the introduction of critical
social theory underpinning the cultural turn.
• Together these approaches formed the basis for the growth of critical
geography, and the introduction of postmodern and post-structural
thinking into the discipline in the 1990s.
• These various developments did not fully replace the theoretical
approaches developed in earlier periods, but rather led to further
diversification of geographic thought.
• For example, quantitative geography continues to be a vibrant area of
geographical scholarship, especially through the growth of GIS science.
• The result is that geographical thinking is presently highly pluralist in
nature, with no one approach dominating. period approaches Broad