E.— GEOGRAPHY 



105 



techniques learnt in the realms of geography, biology and geology — and 

 carried across to anthropology, history and sociology — such pioneers will 

 ultimately earn the respect of the leaders in the * purer ' social sciences. 

 But I must caution any piratical young geographer who cruises in strange 

 waters that his reward, if any, will probably be a posthumous one. 



It seems advisable to consider for a moment definitions of the fields 

 of geography. Like many other geographers, I have put forth my own 

 definition, and it runs somewhat as follows, ' Geography is concerned with 

 description, localisation and explanation of the data which relate man to 

 his material environment.' As I see it, the essential feature is the localisa- 

 tion (i.e. charting of the data in question) with a view to explaining 

 their distribution. In a word we should make maps not solely as an 



Fig. I. — The Liaison Character of Geography, using 'Environmental' Sciences 

 to explain Social Sciences. The map of the continents suggests the 

 ecological character of Geography. 



end in themselves, but with a view to explaining the phenomena in 

 question (Griffith Taylor 1935). Perhaps, before proceeding farther, 

 some apology is necessary for the introduction of so many diagrams into 

 a presidential address. My excuse is that my subject is Geography — 

 and Geography without maps is, to my mind, as little worth while as 

 Hamlet without the Prince. 



B. Geography and History. 



Let us now consider how the techniques of geography and allied sciences 

 can be usefully employed in helping the social sciences. There are, of 

 course, many ways in which charting data is helpful to the historian or 

 anthropologist, but curiously enough many workers in the sister disciplines 

 are extremely sceptical of the value of such a technique. I cannot do 



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