The Dictionary of Human Geography

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For the first half of the twentieth century,

physical geography informed regional geo-

graphic enquiry. At its most obvious, physical

geography provided a natural definition of

regions where economic and social activity

appeared adjusted to, or bounded by, the nat-

ural environment. Away from the obvious

physio-climatic regions, where physical geog-

raphy was merely a convenient backdrop, the

degree and manner in which physical geog-

raphy truly engaged the human landscape

was a vexing issue. Failure to answer this sat-

isfactorily legitimized a fundamental dualism

of geography, which was never successfully

reconciled. Environmental determinism ran

its course rather quickly, and human ecology

(Barrows, 1923) became not merely its suc-

cessor, but one of the defining and prescriptive

terms for geography itself (Turner, 2002).

While the concern was still to find something

new and unique to define the subject, there

was a critical twist for physical geography,

insofar as:

I believe that the age-old subject of geog-

raphy, though it has lost many specialities,

still seeks to cover too much ground, and

that it would benefit by frankly relinquish-

ing physiography, climatology, plant ecol-

ogy, and animal ecology. (Barrows, 1923,

p. 13)

In this way, geography was not only reorien-

tated but, with it, physical geography was

cancelled from the geographical project (for

an accessible treatment of these issues, see

Unwin, 1992). Physical geography was

increasingly identified as a particular form of

geographical activity (most frequently mani-

fest as applied geography) rather than as a

coherent intellectual field, and at best, referred

to obliquely when considering the role of

human–environment relations within geog-

raphy as a whole.

Not all were happy with a separation of

human and physical geography, of course,

and displeasure or unease came from many

quarters. Hartshorne (1939), for example,

was at pains to draw attention to the effective

elimination of physical geography, and thereby

to the restriction of geography. This was not

advocacy of physical geography for its own

sake, but an appeal to the heritage of

Humbolt and others, which held that nature

was essentially unitary. Geography’s mission

was to disclose areal association, andsystematic

studytook precedence over any particularsub-

ject matter. Dualism had arisen because of

philosophical abstraction and a concern to

study categories of phenomena in isolation

(Hartshorne, 1959). Much the same senti-

ments were expressed by physical geographers

such as Miller or Wooldridge, who maintained

a belief in the foundational role of physical

geography for regional study, even where con-

nections were subtle or unclear:

... to hurry on content with a few shallow

remarks based on perfunctory observation

of the physical elements of the environment

may result in overlooking or falsifying the

natural intimacy of relation that nearly al-

ways exists between the physical and the

cultural landscape. (Miller, 1953, p. 196)

Such convictions, although deeply situated,

were rarely compellingly demonstrated, and

the prevailing view of geography was one of

numerous separate branches, united only in

the far distant past (figure 2). Moreover, the

very appeals to unity based upon identification

or prescription of some essential property of

geographical analysis may have contributed to

the overshadowing of physical geography,

both within geography and in relation to the

other environmental sciences (Leighly, 1955).

Leighly argued, very simply, that geographical

study ofanyEarth surface phenomenon could

be justified not for its own sake (as often mis-

represented) butbecauseits existenceinplace

gave it legitimacy as the subject of geograph-

ical enquiry. By contrast, a physical geography

that required a more complex geographical

Hi

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GEOGRAPHY
Physiography
Commercial
geog
raphy
Climatology
Political
geog
raphy
Mathematicalgeography
Bio
geography
physical geography 1: The circumference of geog-
raphy: ‘... each one of the specialized phases [spheres]
of geography belongs equally to some other science... In
a loose way, the central part... may represent regional
geography’(Fenneman, 1919, fig. 1, p. 4)
Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_P Final Proof page 534 1.4.2009 3:20pm
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY