DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE    2187 W

In this essay I will be looking at the development of geography as an academic discipline, and then I will be discussing the role that theory has had in the development of geography. I will research past events and influences, to see how they have affected geography as an idiographic subject and changed the subject into a spatial science and effectively into a core academic discipline.

The discipline of geography is among the most ancient of sciences. Geography can be traced back to Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar who lived around 276-196 B.C and who is often called ‘the father of geography’. Alexander Von Humboldt was a German geographer from 1769-1859, commonly known as ‘the father of modern geography’. As well as Humboldt, Carl Ritter is also considered as one of the founders of modern geography. Both Humboldt and Ritter shared similar views. The naturalist Charles Darwin wrote a book called the ‘Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection’ in 1859. It “proved an inspiration to many geographers, who saw in Darwin’s idea of natural selection the possibility of a general theory of man-land relationships… so man needed to adopt modes of living which were consonant with the environment in which he lived…” (Graves, 1975)

Geography branched out as a new light and the thought process was now in place. Yet Darwin never claimed to be a geographer, with his main concentration being botany. Humboldt and Carl Ritter then co-founded a Geographical Society in Germany in 1874, bringing together Humboldt’s principle of a systematic approach and Ritter’s regional approach which were key methods of geography at this time. Regional geography is the study of world regions. It looks at key characteristics and how one place is specific and unique compared to another.