1

Human Geography: Definition, Scope and Principles;

Contemporary Relevance

1.1 Definition
Geography is an ever evolving dynamic science. From its basic definition ‘study of the earth as the
home of man’ to the best known formal definition given by Richard Hartshorne ‘geography is
concerned to provide accurate, orderly and rational description and interpretation of the variable
character of earth surface’, it is evident that physical phenomena and human phenomena are the two
main components of geography. Naturally, physical geography and human geography are the two
main sub-fields of geography. It is obvious that the fairly distinct differences between the sub-fields
of physical and human geography developed at a later date. Physical geography deals with the natural
features and phenomena while human geography deals with the study of people and their
communities, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment by studying their relations
with and across time and space. Human geography attends to human patterns of social interaction, as
well as spatial level of interdependencies, and how they influence or affect the earth’s environment.
Thus, human geography is basically concerned with man-made features and provides a scientific
analytical framework for spatial analysis of man-environment complex relations and their regional
distinctiveness.

Some important definitions of human geography are mentioned below:

1. ‘Human geography is the synthetic study of the relationship between human societies and the
earth’s surface’ – Friedrich Ratzel (1899)
2. ‘Human geography is the study of changing relationships between the unresting man and
unstable earth.’ - E.C. Sample (1911)
3. ‘Human geography may be defined as the science which deals with the adaptation, in the
widest sense, of human groups to their natural environment.’ – Camille Vallaux (1925)
4. ‘Human geography offers a new conception of the inter-relationships between earth and man,
a more synthetic knowledge of physical laws governing our earth and of the relations between
the living beings which inhabit it.’ – Vidal de la Blache (1926)
5. ‘Human geography is the study of human groups and societies in their relationship to the
physical environment.’ – Albert Demangeon (1933)
6. ‘If (human geography studies man’s adjustments to natural environment, the varied and
peculiar ways in which he adapts his life, with wholly or in part, to physical and organic
nature.’ – White and Renner (1948)
7. ‘Human geography is the study of man as a living organism subject to determinate conditions
of existence and reacting to stimuli received from natural environment.’ – Max. M. Sorre
(1952)
8. ‘Human geography is the ensemble of all those facts in which human activity has a part to
play- a complex group of facts infinitely variable and varied, always contained within the
limit of physical geography, but having always the easily discernible characteristic of being
related more or less directly to man’ – Jean Brunhes (1952)
 9. ‘Human geography may be defined as the study of the nature and distribution of the
relationships between geographical environment and human activities and qualities’ –
Ellsworth Huntington (1959)
10. ‘Human geography is primarily concerned with the relations between man, ways of life and
the places in which they live.’ – George F. Carter (1974)

Till date no unanimously accepted definition of human geography has emerged because of
the changing philosophy of the subject particularly in context of the complex man-
environment relationship. However, ‘human geography as the study of Man and his
adjustment to Natural Environment’ has been unanimously accepted in all the definitions. The
different ways of man-environment interpretation gave geography a dichotomous character. Since
Darwinian era there have been two different schools of thought emerged in human geography in
explaining the man-nature relationship. These two schools are:

1. Determinism or Environmental Determinism

2. Possibilism

These aspects have been discussed in details under the sub-head ‘Principles of Human Geography’ in
this chapter itself. However, it seems appropriate here to note down the fundamental nature of human
geography, which is as under:

Nature of Human Geography: The above description about the definition of human geography and
impact of subjects’ dynamism thereon it is obvious that this field of active study bears certain specific
characteristics. Such specific characteristics may be named as Nature of Human Geography, which
may be pointed out as under:

1. It is man or human centred

2. It is concerned with human ecology
3. It is basically a social science
4. It is a spatial science
5. Facts of human geography are related to terrestrial unity

1.2 Scope of Human Geography

‘Man or human’ is the central theme of human geography. It is difficult to delineate the subject matter
of human geography because of its all-inclusive approach to study man-environment relationship,
which is exclude almost nothing. However, as a scientific discipline it is essential limit its contents to
avoid haziness. In light of the lack of consensus, it seems appropriate to put forward the views of
some eminent geographers on human geography contents before summarizing its scope or contents

Jean Brunhes in his ‘Human Geography’ (1952) considered three groups comprised of six essential
facts as the basic contents of human geography.

The first group named as ‘Unproductive Occupation of Soil’ includes ‘houses’ and ‘roads’. He
suggested that these two unproductive use of soil are responsible to create visible cultural landscape in
the form of human settlement- rural and urban and are the basis of social organization and socio-
economic and cultural mobility.
The second group ‘Facts of Plant and Animal Conquest’ includes two essential facts- ‘cultivation of
plants’ and ‘domestication of animals’. These facts resulted in the progress of human civilization.

The third group ‘Facts of Destructive Exploitation’ includes ‘devastation of plant and animals’ and
‘exploitation of minerals.’ These two facts have been termed as ‘economic plunder’ or ‘robber
economy’ by Brunhes. Overexploitation of non-renewable minerals as well as forest and wildlife has
posed serious environmental problems throughout the world by our modern civilization. Problems
associated with these facts need urgent attention.

Ellsworth Huntington (1959) included the following four types of human responses as the contents
of human geography:

1. Material Needs: food and drink; clothing; shelter; tools; and means of transportation
2. Fundamental Occupations: hunting; fishing; herding; farming; lumbering; mining;
manufacturing; trade and commerce.
3. Efficiency: health; cultural stimulus; recreation.
4. Higher Needs: government; education; science; religion; art; literature etc.

According to Huntington, all the bio-physical environment are inter-related and affect each another
considerably and they jointly affect the human life resulting various human responses.

V. C. Finch and G.T. Trewartha (1957) have classified the elements of human geography under
three major groups:

1. Physical Elements: topography; climate; minerals; soils, water bodies; natural vegetation
and animals
2. Population: distribution; density; migration; rural-urban ratio etc.
3. Cultural Elements: settlements; agriculture; manufacturing industries; trade and commerce;
transport etc.

A.V. Perpillou (1986) has limited the subject matter of human geography under the following four
categories:

1. Factors of Human Evolution from an anthropo-geographical point of view stressing the role
of environment alongwith technological advancement in cultural processes.
2. Forms of Human Adaptation to the Physical Environment in different regions.
3. Technical Facts and Stages in Human Emancipation, which includes progress of technology,
development of industrial life, manufacturing industries and their spatial distribution, trade
and routes.
4. Human Settlements including growth and distribution of population, migration, rural and
urban settlements, state and nations.

Conclusive Remark

The scope or content of human geography is still vague, however the core concern of the subject
suggests that it is mainly concerned with the spatial study of habitat, economy and society of human
population living in different parts of the world. On this basis the subject matter of human geography
may be put forwarded as under:
 1. Concept and Nature: Basic concepts and thoughts; Different approaches and Man-
environment relations.
2. Habitat: Population and its various characteristics, e.g. growth, distribution, density,
migration, composition, problems, policies etc; and Settlements- evolution, growth,
distribution, forms, functions, systems, problems and policies.
3. Economy: All components of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary activities.
4. Society: Evolution of Man; Human races; Art and Literature; Science; Socio-cultural
processes; Social organizations; Cultural hearths; Cultural diffusion; Cultural regions etc.

The content of human geography suggests that it is integrated with all the social sciences. With
gradual expansion contents and specialization a number of sub-disciplines emerged from it which are
closely related with other social sciences, e.g. economics, demography, history, political science,
sociology, anthropology and so on. Important sub-branches of human geography are: economic
geography, population geography, settlement geography, historical geography, political geography,
social geography, cultural geography, urban geography etc. Being one of the two major sub-fields of
Geography (Physical geography and Human geography), human geography is an inter-disciplinary
and integrating science which has a close interface and relationship with other sister disciplines in
social science.

Settlement Geography

Population Geography

Political Geography

Urban Geography

Social Geography
Historical Geography

Anthropo-geography

Medical Geography

HUMAN Economic Agricultural Geography

GEOGRAPHY Geography
Resource Geography

Industrial Geography

Transport Geography

Cultural Geography Languages

Religion

Tools and Skills

Fig. 1: Scope of Human Geography
Social organizations
1.3 Principles of Human Geography
Main characteristic of human geography that separates it from other related fields of knowledge is that
it applies a set of core geographical concepts to the any phenomena under study. These concepts
include space, place, scale, mobility and nature. These core concepts postulate the idea that human
activities do not operate without the influence of space, place and environment, but are thoroughly
grounded in and through them.
As has been already mentioned, human geography studies the relationships between human beings
and the natural environment. The man-environment relationships have been interpreted in several
ways. There have been numerous approaches, principles and methodologies developed by
geographers to examine and interpret man-nature interactions. Here is a brief description of the major
schools of thought developed in human geography.
Environmental Determinism: As opined by Lewthwaite, determinism is “the point of view that
environment controls the course of human action”. In other words, it is the belief that variations in
human behaviour around the world can be explained by differences in the natural environment. The
philosophies, approaches and practices that flow from a concern with the environment are known as
environmental determinism.
The essence of the deterministic school of thought is that the history, culture, lifestyle and stage of
development of a social group, society or nation are largely governed by the physical factors of the
environment such as terrain, climate, drainage, flora and fauna etc. The determinist generally consider
humans to be ‘passive’ agents and various environmental factors control human attitudes, decision-
making processes and lifestyles. The determinist school of thought has roots in the writings and
teachings of ancient Greek, Roman, Arab and other scholars who conceptualized that natural
conditions of any location greatly influence the course of civilization.
Modern deterministic school of human geography got its modern credentials during the later part of
18th century and the beginning of 19th century when Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter
focused their work on the relationships between social groups and their natural environment.
Environmental determinism was greatly influenced by the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species
in 1959. The German geographer Friedrich Ratzel, who is considered the founder of modern human
geography, was a strong proponent of determinist school. In the similar fashion, Ellen Churchill
Semple defined human geography as the “study of changing relationship between human societies and
the earth’s surface”. Subsequently, determinism attained great popularity among American
Geographers. Thus both, the German and American schools of thought popularized ‘environmental
determinism’ through their works under the imposing influence of Ratzel and Semple.
However, environmental determinism was criticized by many geographers on account of presenting
over-simplified generalizations of social and cultural development of any region. Determinist failed to
take into account the cultural factors that affect human behaviour which could explain the existence of
different cultures in similar geographic regions across the world. Determinism school was criticized
as it failed to provide empirical evidence for its generalizations. It was increasingly proven that people
make their own culture, history and civilization and the human course of action cannot be described
through the simplified explanations of environmental determinism.
Possibilism: Possibilism is the school of thought that has an opposite philosophy than environmental
determinism. Possibilism considers human beings to be ‘active’ agents in environment. This is a
belief that natural environment provides opportunities and human beings can utilize them depending
on the level of knowledge and technology of a socio-cultural group. The term ‘possibilism’ was given
by Le Febvre, who stated that “the true and only geographical problem is that of utilization of
possibilities. There are no necessities, but everywhere possibilities.” Febvre also explained that “the
natural data are much more the material than the cause of human development. The essential cause is
less nature, with its resources and its obstacles, than man himself and his own nature”. The
possibilists saw a series of possibilities in natural environment that can be used by human
development. They argued that the actual ways in which development takes place were dependent on
people concerned rather than just the immediate physical surroundings. Only exceptions are the areas
of extreme physical conditions such as deserts, tundra, equatorial and high altitudes as they severely
limit the possibilities available for human development. Even in such cases, the course of human
development cannot be simply explained through physical environment as evidenced by existence of
vastly different cultures in similar geographic and ecological regions.
The French geographer Vidal de la Blache wrote a classic titled Principles de Geographie Humane
and stated that “human geography offers a new conception of the interrelationship between earth and
man… a more synthetic knowledge of the physical laws governing our earth and of the relations
between the living beings that inhabit it”. Blache and his followers put emphasis on the ‘freedom’ of
the individuals and societies to keep or to fight the natural conditions. In this way the French school
developed the possibilistic school of thought. However, even though human beings have numerous
possibilities in a given natural setting, they still cannot go against the directions laid by the physical
environment. The Possibilist School was criticized for completely ignoring the influence of physical
environment.
Neo-Determinism: The concept of neo-determinism was put forward by Griffith Taylor in the
1920s. Studying the agricultural settlement in Australia, he argued that agricultural development was
greatly influenced by factors of the physical environment such as distribution of rainfall etc. He
postulated the idea that the economic development of a country is largely determined by nature.
Human beings are able to accelerate, slow or stop the progress of a country’s development. Similar to
a traffic controller in a large city, human beings can alter the rate of progress but not the direction of
progress of a country’s development. His geographical philosophy is expressed as a popular phrase
‘Stop and Go Determinism’.
Taylor described that the well-endowed parts of the world offer a number of different possibilities for
making a living, but in the other nine-tenths of the Earth’s land area, nature clearly has the upper
hand. In most parts of the world, the land is either too dry, or too cold, or too wet or too rugged. Any
settlers who fail to heed this nature-given limitation must face disaster. Elaborating his philosophy of
‘stop-and-go determinism’ Taylor observes- “Protagonists of the possibilist theory instance the
carrying of fertilizer to the Canadian prairies, or the remarkable development of somewhat sterile
northern Denmark as examples of human control which have determined the utilization of the regions
concerned. I do not for a moment deny that man plays a very important part, but he does not take
fertilizer to the ‘barren grounds’ nor the inhabitant of Denmark would have developed their less
attractive regions, if they had been free to choose among the good lands of the world”. According to
Taylor, societies of the above mentioned regions have merely pushed ahead in nature’s ‘plan’ for their
terrain. Even if we are able to replicate these advancements in other parts of the world, it would only
prove that we have taken one more step towards our adjustment to the limits laid down by nature.
Therefore, human beings are not free agents and we should not depart from the directions indicated by
our natural environment.
Cultural or Social Determinism: There was a popular perspective in ancient Greece that only
those who spoke their language could understand their behaviours, values, and social systems. The
Greeks felt that their culture was what defined them as a people, and it’s something you had to learn
by being a part of their society. Cultural determinism supports the idea that our emotional and
behavioural patterns are formed and moulded by the culture we are raised in. According to James, the
cultural or social determinism emphasizes the human element: “our thoughts determine our acts and
our acts determine the previous nature of the world”. It is well established that human interests,
desires, prejudices and values vary across space. Similarly, the modification of an environment
largely depends on our perceptions, ideas and decision-making processes. This philosophy, as
advocated by American scholars, can be summarized as the principle that the “significance to man of
the physical and biotic features of his habitat is a function of the attitudes, objectives and technical
skills of man himself”. For instance, a country is richly endowed from the point of view of the
hunters, but may appear poor to an agricultural community.
The importance of various natural resources is only evident to people who can utilize them. As
technology develops, the environment does not become irrelevant; rather it becomes more complex.
The philosophy of cultural determinism was developed by many American geographers. Eduard
Ullman wrote that “the environment is essentially neutral, its role being dependent on the stage of
technology, type of culture and other characteristics of a changing society. However, social
determinism has been criticized as it does not adequately assess the natural environment, i.e. the
influence of environmental factors upon ‘cultural geographic differences’.
Approaches to the Study of Human Geography
Human geography emerged as a separate main branch of geography in late 19 th century. Since
then it travelled through various stages of conceptual development. A number of approaches
and methodologies have been used in the spatial study of human or cultural landscape.
Following are the important approaches to the study of human geography:

1. Traditional Approaches
i. Systematic approach
ii. Regional approach
iii. Historical approach
iv. Environmentalistic approach
v. Possibilistic approach
2. Contemporary Approaches
i. Ecological approach
ii. Spatial approach
iii. Behavioural approach
iv. Humanistic approach
v. Welfare approach

1.4 Contemporary Relevance

The major themes of human geography such as – location, distribution, space, place, region,
movement, diffusion and man-environment interrelationships have contemporary significance.
Contemporary human geography is focused on the scientific study of location of people and activities
over the earth surface and the reasons for their distribution including density, concentration and
pattern analysis.
In human geography population studies focus on population growth trends and patterns, density and
distribution in context of physical and cultural landscape. Determinants of population dynamics –
fertility, mortality and migration are key concerns. Population-resource-development relationships
and population problems provide insights for population policy formulations. Therefore, the study of
population is the basis for understanding a wide variety of issues in human geography. To understand
the challenge of increasing food supply, reducing poverty and inequalities, encouraging economic
growth with distributive justice and ecological balance and reducing pollution contemporary human
geographers focus on quantitative as well as qualitative aspects. Population geographers document
from where people migrate and to where they migrate and also highlight the reasons why people
migrate. Economic opportunities, cultural freedom and environmental comfort are the three main
objectives of migration. The insider-outsider conflicts related to migration and refugee problems have
gained significance in contemporary human geography.
Human geographers try to understand and explain why differences exist and how social customs are
related to cultural landscape. It helps in understanding cultural features such as languages, religions
and ethnicities across earth. Human geography clarifies the contrasts in societies and cultures and in
the human landscapes they have created in different parts of the world. It helps in better understanding
of ‘isms’ such as racism, communalism, casteism, regionalism, naxalism, terrorism and nationalism.
In contemporary phase people are being pulled in opposite directions by two factors – globalization
and local diversity. Globalization due to information technology revolution pulls people into greater
cultural and economic interaction with others. At the same time people are searching for more ways to
express their unique cultural traditions and economic practices. Political conflicts, economic
uncertainty and pollution of environment are reflections of these two divergent forces.
Within human geography political geographers help to explain the physical and cultural elements that
underlie political unrest in the world. They try to explain how people have organized earth surface
into countries and different level alliances and what are reasons underlying the observed arrangements
and conflicts resulting out of this geopolitics.
Human geographers are different from other social scientists because they never forget physical
environment as they are trained in both social and physical-biological sciences. This is of special
significance in studies related to natural disasters and their management and mitigation. This
integrated approach has also special significance in achieving the goal of substation development.
Human geographers address urban problems and help in process of sustainable urbanization. This way
human geography helps in developing better informed citizens, more capable of understanding
contemporary challenges faced by communities and countries and finally better prepared to contribute
in overcoming these challenges.

References and Further Reading:

Adhikari, Sudeepta (2010). Fundamentals of Geographical Thought, Allahabad: Chaitanya Publishing
House.
Berry, B. J. L. and D. F. Marble (1968). “Spatial Analysis”
Bonnett, A. (2008) What is Geography?, London: SAGE.
Burton, I. 1963. “The Quantitative Revolution and Theoretical Geography”, Canadian Geographer, 7, 4,
pp. 151-162.
Cloke, P., Philo, C. & Sadler, D. (1991) Approaching Human Geography. London: Chapman.
Dikshit, R. D. (2006). Geographical Thought: A Contextual History of Ideas, New Delhi: Prentice Hall of
India.
Haggett, P. (1966). “Locational Analysis in Human Geography”, New York.
Husain, M. (2004). “Evolution of Geographical Thought”, Rawat Publications: New Delhi.
Harvey, D. (1969). “Explanation in Geography”, Edward Arnold: London.
Husain, M. (2002). “Human Geography”, Rawat Publications: New Delhi.
Johnston, R., Gregory, D. Pratt, G. & Watts, M. (2000) The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th edition.
Cambridge: Blackwell Publishing
Tatham, G. (1951) Geography in the twentieth century, New York: The philosophical library.