1. Geography as a Discipline

  NCERT Questions:

 Multiple choice questions:

 (i) Which one of the following scholars coined the term ‘Geography’?

a) Heredotus

b) Eratosthenese

c) Galileo

d) Aristotle

Ans. b) Eratosthenese

(ii)  Which one of the following features can be termed as physical features?

a) Port

b) Road

c) Plain

d) Water park

Ans. c) Plain

(iii) Make pairs of the following two columns and mark the correct option:

Ans.

(iv) Which one of the following is related to cause and effect relationship?

a) Why

b) Where

c) What

d) When

Ans. a) Why

2. Answer the questions in about 30 words

(i) What important cultural features do you observe while going to school? Are they similar or dissimilar? Should they be included in the study of geography or not? If yes, why?

Ans. Cultural features are also known as man-made features. Therefore, some cultural features that can be seen while going to school are roads, bridges, railways, markets etc. They are absolutely dissimilar features and they should be included in the study of geography as they are found on the Earth’s surface. Geography as a subject is concerned with the study of physiography, social and cultural features and the interaction between them.

(ii)  You have seen a tennis ball of cricket ball and orange and a pumpkin. Which one of these resembles the shape of the earth? Why have you chosen this to describe the shape of the Earth?

Ans.  The shape of the Earth could be best resembled with an orange because Earth is not a perfect circle; it is a spherical or geoid in shape. The radius of the Earth from the centre decreases as we go towards north and the South Pole.

(iii) Do you celebrate Van Mahotsava? Why do we plant more trees? How do the trees help in maintaining the ecological balance?

Ans. Planting trees is an essential part of instantiating ecosystem because trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. Therefore it helps in effecting and consuming carbon from the atmosphere. When the carbon content in the atmosphere is high, it affects the global climate tremendously. Trees also help in balancing environmental pollution.

(iv) How much time do you take to reach your school from your house? If your school is located across the road from your house, how much time will it take you to reach school? What is the effect of the distance between your residence and the school? Can you convert time in terms of space and vice versa?

Ans. (add examples) Aerial differentiation provides the theoretical foundation for regional geography by conceptualising space as constituting of identifiable units that may be distinguished from one another on the basis of a set of phenomena or criteria. When there is similarity and dissimilarity among the physical and cultural features on the earth surface, it is called aerial differentiation.

(v) You have already studied geography, history, civics and economics, as part of social studies. Attempt an integration of these disciplines highlighting their interface.

Ans. Geography is the study of physical and cultural environment.

In history, we study about the past of anything. It may be life of human beings or kingdoms or a particular society.

Civics is the study of politics, political division, constitution or political science.

Whereas economics deals with trade, farmers, export and import, production, supply and demand, consumers, etc.

Geography derives its data from social sciences and natural sciences. Hence, it may be said that geography is the integration of other sciences and culture.

Question Bank:

1. Multiple choice questions

1. We study under physical geography

a) Weather, soil, atmosphere, etc.

b) Agriculture

c) Population and Industry

d) Urban and rural settlement

Ans.  a) Weather, soil, atmosphere, etc.

In physical geography we study all the natural occurrences whereas others are the part of human geography.

2. Which of the following is not studied under economic geography?

a) Agriculture

b) Industry

c) Transport

d) Population

Ans. d) Population

Population is studied under demography. Agriculture, industry and transport are human activities for advancement of development.

3. The following is not a sub branch of biogeography:

a) Zoo-geography

b) Plant geography

c) Environment geography

d) Climate geography

Ans. d) Climate geography

Climate deals with atmosphere, insolation, pressure, precipitation etc.

4. Geography is concerned with the description and explanation of the aerial differentiation of the Earth’s surface. Who said it?

a) Herodotus

b) Eratosthenese

c) Richard Hartshorne

d) Galileo

Ans. c) Richard Hartshorne

5. Geography studies the difference of phenomena usually related in different parts of the Earth’s surface. Who gave this definition?

a) Humbled Brazil

b) Sample

c) Ratzel

d) Alfred Hettner

Ans. d) Alfred Hettner

6. Which of the following is not studied under population geography?

a) Sex ratio

b) Migration and occupational structure

c) Pollution

d) Population density

Ans. c) Pollution

Pollution is the result of human activities and development.

7. Who developed systematic geography?

a) Alexander Von Humboldt

b) Karl Ritter

c) Sample

d) Alfred Hettner

Ans. a) Alexander Von Humboldt (1769 to 1859)

8. Who developed regional geography?

a) Humbled

b) Karl Ritter

c) Sample

d) Alfred Hartner

Ans. b) Karl Ritter (1779 to 1859)

9. Under which approach is the world divided into regions of different hierarchical levels and then all the geographical phenomena in a particular region are studied?

a) Systematic approach

b) Physical approach

c) Dualism approach

d) Regional approach

Ans. d) Regional approach

Regional geography developed by Karl Ritter comprises Macro, Meso and Micro study of a region.

10. Under which approach a phenomena is studied world over as a whole, and the identification of typologies or spatial patterns is done?

a) Systematic approach

b) Physical approach

c) Dualism approach

d) Regional approach

Ans. a) Systematic approach

Systematic approach in geography was developed by Alexander Von Humboldt.

2. Very short answer type questions:

1. What are different approaches to the study of geography?

Ans. The major approaches to study geography have been:

a) Systematic approach

b) Regional approach

2. Who introduced systematic approach?

Ans. The systematic geography was introduced by Alexander Von Humboldt, a German geographer (1769 to 1859).

3. Who was the propounder of Regional Approach?

Regional geography approach was developed by another German geographer and the contemporary of Humboldt, Karl Ritter (1779 to 1859).

4. Define geography.

Ans. The term geography was first coined by Eratosthenes, a great scholar (276 to 194 BC). The word has been derived from two great words Geo (Earth) and Graphos (description). Put together, they mean description of the Earth. The earth has always been seen as the abode of human beings, and thus scholars defined geography as the description of the earth as the abode of human beings.

5. What is studied under environment geography?

Ans. It is concerned with environmental problems such as land gradation, pollution and environment conservation.

6. What is studied under biogeography?

Ans. It has emerged as a result of interface between physical geography and human geography. It has four branches:

a) Plant geography

b) Zoogeography

c) Environment geography

c) Ecology

7. What is studied under geomorphology?

Ans. It is concerned with the study of land forms, their evolution and related processes.

8. What is studied under hydrology?

Ans. It studies the realm of water over surface of the earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies and its effect on different life forms, including human life and their activities.

9. What are main branches of biogeography?

Ans. Biogeography has four main branches:

a) Plant geography

b) Zoo geography

c) Ecology

d) Environment geography

10. What is studied under economic geography?

Ans. It studies economic activities of the people including agriculture, industry, tourism, trade and transport infrastructure and services.

11. What are sub branches of physical geography?

Ans. Physical geography has three sub branches:

a) Geomorphology

b) Climatology

c) Hydrology

d) Soil geography

12. What are sub branches of human geography?

Ans. human geography includes social and cultural geography, population geography, settlement geography, economic geography, historical geography, and political geography.

13. What are the recent techniques that help the geographer to understand the earth’s surface better?

Ans.

a) GIS and GPS

b) Computer cartography

Are some of the modern methods and recent techniques that help the geographers to understand the earth’s surface.

14. What do you mean by aerial differentiation?

Ans. When there is similarity and dissimilarity among the physical and cultural features of the Earth’s surface it is called areal differentiation.

15. Explain the changes occurred in the civilization of man in course of time.

Ans. Many changes have occurred in the civilization of man in course of time:

a) Man moved from stage of necessity to stage of freedom

b) Created new possibilities from the nature

c) We find now humanised nature and naturalised human

d) Space got organised with the help of transport and communication

3. Short answer type questions

1. Differentiate between physical geography and biogeography.

Ans. The main difference between physical geography and biogeography is:

2. Differentiate between Systematic approach and Regional approach.

Ans. Main differences between systematic and regional approach are summarised as:

3. As a scientific discipline, how the category of questions in geography are concerned? Explain.

Ans. As a scientific discipline geography is concerned with three sets of questions:

a) Some questions are concerned with the identification of the patterns of natural and cultural features as found over the surface of the earth. These are the questions about What?

b) Second type of questions is related to the distribution of the natural and human cultural features over the surface of the Earth. These are the questions about Where?

c) The third set of question is related to the explanation of or the causal relationships between features and the process and phenomena. These are the questions about Why?

4. On the basis of regional approach, explain different branches of geography.

Ans. Branches of geography based on regional approach are:

a) Regional Studies/Areal studies: It comprises of macro, meso and micro regional studies.

b) Regional planning: It comprises of country/rural and town/urban planning.

c) Regional development: It deals with the development issues of a region.

d) Regional Analysis There are two aspects which are common to every discipline. These are.

Philosophy

i) Geographical thought

ii) Land and human interaction/Human Ecology

Methods and techniques

i) Cartography, including computer cartography

ii) Quantitative techniques/Statistical Techniques

5. Explain different branches of geography under biogeography.

Ans. Biography has emerged as a result of the interface between physical geography and human geography. It has four branches, plant geography, zoo geography, ecology and environment geography:

a) Plant geography: It studies the spatial pattern of natural vegetation in their habitats.

b) Zoogeography: It studies the spatial pattern and geographic characteristics of animals and their habitats.

c) Ecology: It is concerned with the scientific study of the habitat characteristic of species.

d) Environmental geography: It is concerned with environmental problems such as land gradation, pollution, and environment conservation.

Long answer type questions.

1. What is the importance of physical geography?

Ans.

a) Physical geography includes study of lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

b) Each element is very important for human beings.

c) Landforms provide base for agriculture, industries, transport and communication and settlements.

d) Mountains provide water to rivers and facilitate low lands, forest and center for tourists’ spots.

e) Plateaus provide forest and minerals

f) Climate influences the cropping pattern, livestock, food and clothes of the people, types of houses etc.

g) Climate and precipitation influence the type of forest.

h) Oceans provide food, water transport and influence the climate. They are the source of hydrological cycle.

Each element of physical environment is important for human beings. Landforms provide the base on which human activities are located. The study of physical geography is emerging as a discipline of evaluating and managing natural resources. In order to achieve this objective, it is essential to understand the intricate relationship between physical environment and human beings. Physical environment provides resources and human beings utilise these resources and ensure their economic and cultural development. Accelerated pace of resource utilization with the help of modern technology has created ecological imbalance in the world. Therefore, a better understanding of physical environment is essential in study of geography.

2. Physical and human factors both are dynamic, not static. Explain.

Ans. The geographical phenomena, both the physical and human, are not static, but highly dynamic. They change over time as a result of the interactive process between ever changing Earth and untiring and ever active human beings:

a) Primitive human societies were directly dependent on their immediate environment. Human beings have come to term with nature through adoption and modification.

b) The present society has passed the stage of primitive societies which was directly dependent on their immediate physical environment for sustenance. Present societies have modified their natural environment by inventing and using technology and thus have expanded the horizon of their operation by appropriate utilization of the resources provided by nature.

c) With the gradual development of technology, human beings were able to loosen the shackles of their physical environment. Technology helps in reducing the harshness of flavoured, increased labour efficiency and provided leisure to human beings to attend the higher needs of life, it also increase the scale of production and the mobility of labour.

d) The interaction between the physical environment and human beings has put their imprints everywhere and created new possibilities in collaboration with nature.

Thus we find humanised nature and naturalised human beings, and geography studies their interactive relationships. The space got organised with the help of the means of transportation and communication network. The links, roots and nodes (settlements of all types and hierarchy) integrated the space and gradually it got organised.

It takes note of the associations and interrelationships between the phenomena over space and interprets those providing explanations for this pattern. It also takes note of the association and interrelationships between the phenomena resulting from the dynamic interaction between human beings and their physical environment.

3. Explain different branches of physical geography.

Ans.  Physical geography has four sub-branches which are as follows:

a) Geomorphology: It is concerned with the study of landforms, their evolution and related processes.

b) Climatology: It is concerned with the study of structure of atmosphere and elements of weather and climate and climate types and regions.

c) Hydrology: It studies the realm of water over the surface of the Earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies, and its effect on different life forms, including human life and their activities.

d) Soil geography: It is concerned with the study of the processes of soil formation, soil types, their fertility status, distribution and use.

4. What matters are studied under human geography?

Ans. Following facts are studied under human geography:

a) Social/Cultural Geography: It is concerned with the study of society and its special dynamics as well as the cultural elements contributed by the society.

b) Population geography: It studies population growth, distribution, density, sex ratio, migration and occupational structure etc.

c) Settlement geography: Studies the characteristics of rural and urban settlements.

d) Economic Geography: It studies economic activities of the people including agriculture, industry, tourism, trade and transport infrastructure and services etc.

e) Historical geography: It studies the historical processes through which the space gets organised. In other words, it studies how history has influenced the geography of a region.

f) Political geography: It studies the impact of political events and study boundaries, space, relations between neighbouring political units, delimitation of constituencies, election scenario and develops theoretical framework to understand the political behaviour of the population.

 HOTS

1. Geography is an integrated discipline. How?

Ans. It is a discipline of synthesis. It includes special and temporal synthesis. Its approach is holistic in nature. It recognises the fact that the world is a system of interdependence. The present world is a global village. The efficient transport and communication help the world to become unified village. The audio visual media helped the data to be enriched. Technology provided better chances for monitoring natural phenomena as well as the economic and social parameters.

2. Geographers play an important role for a country. How?

Ans. Geographers are important for any country because:

a) They study the variations and associations of the features on the earth surface. i.e. cropping patterns differs from place to place and it is due to difference in the climate, soil demand, transport facility and capacity of the farmer.

b) A geographer also studies the cause and effect relationships.

c) The interaction between man and nature is highly dynamic and not static. So it is also called as the study of the relation between unstable earth and un-resting man.

d) geographer helps to predict climate.

e) He helps in handling natural calamities.

3. Who was first to coin the term geography?

Ans. Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar (276 to 194 BC) in the 3rd century coined the term Geography. His famous book was called ‘Geographia’.

‘Geography is the description of the Earth’.

4. What is the origin of the word geography?

Ans. The word geography is derived from the two Greek words, Geo – meaning Earth Graphos meaning – description.

Some scholars define geography as the description of the Earth as the abode of human beings.

5. How can we say that the Earth is multidimensional?

Ans. Many sciences developed to describe the physical features of the earth, such as geology, pedology, oceanography, botany, zoology, and metrology and cultural features of the earth such as economics, history, sociology, political science, and anthropology. Hence, we consider earth multidimensional.

6. How does geography differ from other subjects?

Ans. Geography differs from other subjects in terms of matter and methodology. Geography derives its data from social sciences and natural sciences.

7. What do you mean by the aerial differentiation?

Ans.

a) Aerial differentiation represents one of the classic philosophical approaches to geographic inquiry.

b) Central concept of areal differentiation is that the surface of the earth may be divided into regions which may be distinguished and categorized using various special criteria.

c) Thus aerial differentiation provide the theoretical foundation for regional geography by conceptualising space as consisting of identifiable units that may be distinguished from one another on the basis of a set of phenomena or criteria.

d) When there is similarity and dissimilarity among the physical and cultural features on the earth’s surface. It is called aerial differentiation.

8. What do geographers study?

Ans.

a) A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is earth’s natural environment and human society.

b) They study the variation and association of the features on earth surface that is cropping pattern differs from place to place and it is due to difference in the climate, soil, demand, transport facility, capacity of the farmer.

c) Geography also studies the cause and effect relationships.

d) The interaction between the man and nature is highly dynamic and not static. So it is also called as the study of the relation between unstable earth and un-resting man and nature.

9. What is the relation between man and nature?

Ans.

a) Humans are sophisticated and evolved animals who have modified the natural environment to make it suitable for living.

b) While human dependence on nature has been decreased over the process of evolution people still demonstrate many forms of nature contentedness.

c) This includes emotional attachment to nature, perception of them-selves as a part of nature, and activities aimed at nature protection.

d) Human is an integral part of nature, and nature has imprints of man.

10. What is the effect of nature on man?

Ans.

a) Being in nature or even viewing signs of nature reduces anger, fear and stress and increases pleasant feelings.

b) Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and protection of stress hormones.

c) It may even reduce mortality.

d) Food, clothing, shelter and occupation of man are decided by the nature.

11. How does technology help man?

Ans.

a) Technology loses the shackles of the physical environment.

b) It develops resources and utilise them.

c) It reaches the higher needs of life.

d) It increases the production of the crops and mobility of labour.

12. Describe the dialogue between nature and man.

Ans.

You created the soil. I created the cup.

You created night, and I created the lamp.

You created wilderness, hilly terrains and desserts.

I created flowers beds and gardens.

Here the writer wants to say that nature has given us many things. But the human beings have modified them according to their living environment. But the survival of the human being is not possible without nature. So the nature becomes integral part of the human beings.

13. Explain the changes occurred in the civilization of man in course of time.

Ans.

a) Man moved from stage of necessity to stage of freedom.

b) Create new possibilities from the nature.

c) We find now humanised nature and naturalised man.

d) Space got organised with the help of transport and communication.

14. What is geography?

Ans. Geography is the study of Earth’s landscape, peoples, places, and environment. It is a study about the world in which we live. Geography is unique in bridging the social sciences, human geography with the natural sciences and physical geography. It also studies a special organization and integration.

15. How can we say that geography is an integrated discipline?

Ans.

a) Geography recognises the fact that the world is a system of interdependence.

b) The present world is a global village.

c) The efficient transport and communication help the world to become unified village.

d) The audio visual media helped the data to be enriched.

e) Technology provided better chances of monitoring natural phenomena as well as the economic and social parameters.

f) Geography as an integrating discipline has interface with numerous natural and social sciences.

16. What is the basic objective of sciences and social sciences?

Ans. The basic objective of science and social science is to understand the reality of the nature.

17. How do other subjects help geography as an integrated subject?

 Ans.

a) History helps in knowing the man-made activities.

b) Physics helps to calculate the effect of climate on man.

c) Economics helps to understand the effect of human activities on the development of the country.

d) The geographical factors modified the course of history.

e) The change in the climate has influenced on the occupation.

18. Define the relation of geography with natural sciences.

Ans.

a) All branches of physical geography have close relation with natural sciences.

b) Biogeography has close link with zoology and botany.

c) Mathematics and arts also have contributed to the development of geography to measure the area and dimensions of the Earth.

d) Cartography and projections are based on mathematics.