130 F. W. Parker — Relation of Geography to History. 



These are only some of the phases in the interpretation of history 

 in its relation to geography. 



There is a psychologic relation which is organically connected 

 with the study of history. The earth's surface is the home of 

 man, and geography is the study of that home. A psychologic 

 definition may be given as follows : The study of geography is 

 the formation of an individual concept of the earth's surface, 

 gained either by observation or by imagination ; that is, the 

 study of geography is the formation of individual concepts cor- 

 responding to the earth's surface as a whole or any of its parts. 

 The earth's surface, as the home of man, is the stage on which 

 all human action has taken place. Not only does the struc- 

 ture interpret, to a great degree, the events in the evolution of 

 naan, but it is at the same time an indispensable factor in the 

 retention or memorizing of historical facts. In other words, 

 history can neither be understood nor reinembered without a 

 clear mental picture of the stage, or the surface structure, on 

 which the historical events took place. The knowledge of sur- 

 face structure is of the greatest economical importance to the 

 study of history. 



In the usual way of studying history, events, the march of 

 nations, wars, are not clearly localized and defined. Facts and 

 events " schweben in der Luft," as the Germans say. They are 

 only related by the vague web of time without any notion of 

 differentiated space, and are therefore easily forgotten, ^\^e all 

 know in early youth how a child spontaneously cultivates fancy 

 and imagination. Geograph}'' is essentially in its basis the pro- 

 duct of imagination, the imagining of surface characters. To 

 illustrate, a clear mental picture can easily be acquired of the 

 beautifully modeled peninsula of Greece, with its great northern 

 defensive barrier of mountain maze, iis midrib of the Pindus, 

 its beautiful valleys, and its great walls of mountains. Here are 

 the conditions for the autonomy of seventeen states, and the 

 necessary proximity for mutual influence and defense. The 

 separation, as I have already said, produced polytheism and 

 initiated democracy ; the proximity, federal life. Now, a dis- 

 tinct picture of this beautiful peninsula, surrounded by its seas, 

 is an easily acquired product of geography by real study. 



It must, however, be said in this connection that there is 

 very little true geography, the geography of Ritter and Guyot, 

 now taught in our schools. We must all admit that the most 



