GEOGRAPHY 



This political grouping is of con- 

 siderable importance for two main 

 reasons. The facts concerning 

 man's labours are usually recorded 

 in terms of political areas, coun- 

 tries or provinces, so that the geo- 

 grapher has some difficulty in 

 determining the sum of human 

 activities in a given region which 

 includes part of two or more coun- 

 tries. At the same time geography 

 is not a study of purely academic 

 interest. Everybody is interested in 

 topographical facts of some kind, 

 if only because he reads his daily 

 paper with interest, and the prac- 

 tical aim of geography is to present 

 so ordered a conspectus of man's 

 life and work in the world of to- 

 day that the student may be able 

 to grasp the complete significance of 

 the topographical facts presented. 



Changing and Stable Elements 

 The ordered view of the world 

 so obtained implies a study of 

 the earth as an environment by 

 natural regions ; an acquaintance 

 with the human adjustments to 

 these specific environments and, 

 finally, a knowledge of the world's 

 political units as they are related 

 to the ideal view of the world pre- 

 viously obtained. The topogra- 

 phical subject matter of geography 

 is ever-changing ; a new railway or 

 canal, the conquest of the air, a new 

 application of science to industry 

 may alter all values, so that the 

 geographer is required to confine 

 his attention to the more perma- 

 nent and stable elements of the 

 world and to be ready to adjust his 

 conclusions to the new circum- 

 stances as and when they occur. 



The geographer is, however, 

 above all else an inquirer, carry- 

 ing his investigations wider and 

 deeper into man's manifold activi- 

 ties, and at the present there are 

 two lines of fruitful investigation 

 which are being followed. On the 

 one hand, especially upon the Con- 

 tinent of Europe, geographers are 

 completely analysing compara- 

 tively small portions of the world, 

 such as Flanders, testing the con- 

 clusions already attained on a 

 broader basis and collecting new 

 facts ; on the other hand geo- 

 graphers are utilising the concep- 

 tion that the world as a whole is a 

 unit to demonstrate that there are 

 certain fundamental conditions or 

 relationships which can be changed 

 only slowly and after a long inter- 

 val. For example, some three-fifths 

 of the world's raw cotton is gro"m 

 in the United States, giving thi\t 

 country a dominant position ix\ 

 relation to the cotton markets ot 

 the world. 



This is a fundamental geographi- 

 cal fact, for it is barely conceivable 

 that any progress in cotton grow- 



3470 



ing elsewhere in response to any 

 stimulus whatever can materially 

 alter the situation. If India and 

 Egypt improved their output, the 

 States would probably improve in 

 equal proportions; if cotton were 

 grown extensively elsewhere under 

 a system of bounties or artificial 

 encouragement the States would 

 safeguard their interests and take 

 steps to maintain the relative posi- 

 tion. The geographer recognizes 

 the nature of the situation and it 

 is his business to ascertain com- 

 pletely the consequences and causes 

 thereof. Contrast, however, the 

 position of the former Russian Em- 

 pire as a former grower of one- 

 tenth of the world's wheat. It is 

 fundamental that wheat is grown 

 extensively in Russia, but the pro- 

 portion neither is nor can be con- 

 stant ; and the geographer demon- 

 strates the reasons why wheat is 

 grown and why the quantities 

 grown in Russia must fluctuate in 

 comparison with the total world's 

 output. 



The Geographer's Method 

 The geographer, therefore, takes 

 each country and describes it, so as 

 to specify (1) the type or types of 

 physical conditions of which it is 

 comprised ; (2) the kinds of people 

 who inhabit it ; (3) the way in 

 which these people react to their 

 environment in comparison with 

 the lives of similar peoples else- 

 where and with the lives of differ- 

 ent peoples in similar areas ; and 

 (4) the relation it bears to the 

 world as a whole. He lays empha- 

 sis upon the life and work of man 

 to-day, and in so doing provides 

 suggestions for the immediate 

 future which will control to some 

 degree man's development in the 

 next few decades. B. c. Wains 

 The value of geography in edu- 

 cation is due to its power of equip- 

 ping the young citizen with a wide 

 outlook, a sense of perspective and 

 proportion, a familiarity with 

 methods of scientific anatysis and 

 a certain manipulative facility. 

 For in giving the wide outlook it 

 does not sacrifice accuracy of de- 

 tail, while its disregard of non- 

 essentials and its many aspects 

 tend to marked clearness of 

 generalisation along with a multi- 

 fold adaptability. The observation 

 of facts, their verification and their 

 embodiment in a map, are valuable 

 if mechanical, processes within the 

 power of any normal child ; the 

 synthesis or analysis of the whole 

 human environment is a study 

 worthy of the close attention of 

 university honoursmen. The rela- 

 tion of natural occupations to 

 natural conditions and natural 

 products involves wide borrowing 

 from such various sciences as 



< GEOGRAPHY 



botany, geology, and anthropology. 

 If, therefore, we assume that the 

 ultimate aim of geography is to 

 study the interaction of man and 

 his environment, it is obvious that 

 only scientific methods will carry 

 conviction and that such methods 

 presuppose an adequate knowledge 

 of the fundamental data of the 

 problem. The first step in the 

 collection of such data is the 

 patient observation of facts ex- 

 tensively and intensively ; and 

 extensive observation is the special 

 work of explorers. The general 

 tre.id of such work in recent times 

 has, therefore, a peculiar signifi- 

 cance in relation to this ultimate 

 aim ; and among the most signi- 

 ficant events of the past few years 

 are undoubtedly the conquest of 

 both poles, the reconstruction of 

 the interiors of Asia and Australia, 

 the partitioning of Africa, and the 

 advances in oceanography. 



For instance, already we see that 

 the meteorological work carried 

 out in the Antarctic continent 

 seems likely to be a step towards 

 forecasting the failure of monsoon 

 rains in India during the succeed- 

 ing summer, i.e. a step towards 

 avoiding all the horrors which used 

 to be associated with unforeseen 

 famine in that populous country. 

 The development of Africa, again, 

 seems likely to test vitally the 

 value of European systems of 

 education ; for the Bantus, at all 

 events, are a virile, but illiterate 

 people, who are demanding educa- 

 tion, and education of the same 

 kiad as is given to white children. 



International Cooperation 

 The essential fact is that to-day 

 although the world is practically 

 known, large areas of it still have 

 to be surveyed and properly 

 mapped ; and the latter task in- 

 volves a wide scheme of interna- 

 tional cooperation, which is already 

 illustrated by, e.g. the Interna- 

 tional Geodetic Association, the 

 International Council for the 

 Study of Sea Fisheries, and the In- 

 ternational Map of 1 : 1,000,000. 



Side by side with the extensive 

 work of the explorers has been the 

 intensive study of the more ad- 

 vanced countries of the world, 

 leading to most useful generalisa- 

 tions based on detailed and precise 

 knowledge of the conditions 

 physical, climatic, zoological and 

 botanical, etc. obtaining in re- 

 gions of which we have relatively 

 trustworthy historic records for 

 hundreds of years back. And this 

 intensive work is training the new 

 type of explorer, who will organize 

 the new lands discovered by the 

 old type on lines favourable to 

 the best development of man in the 

 particular region. 



