NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Geography - Geography as a Discipline

Q1: Multiple Choice Questions:
(i) Which one of the following scholars coined the term ‘Geography’?
(a) Herodotus
(b) Erathosthenese
(c) Galileo
(d) Aristotle
Ans: (b) Erathosthenese

Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar, is credited with coining the term "Geography." He is also known for his work in measuring the circumference of the Earth.

(ii) Which one of the following features can be termed as ‘physical feature’?
(a) Port
(b) Road
(c) Plain
(d) Water park
Ans: (c) Plain

Physical features are natural elements of the landscape, such as mountains, rivers, and plains. A plain is a large area of flat land with few trees, making it a physical feature.

(iii) Make correct pairs from the following two columns and mark the correct option.
(a) 1B,2C,3A,4D
(b) 1A,2D,3B,4C
(c) 1D,2B,3C,4A
(d) 1C,2A,3D,4B
Ans: (d)

• Meteorology is the study of weather and climate, so it pairs with Climatology.
• Demography is the study of populations, so it pairs with Population Geography.
• Sociology is the study of society and social behavior, so it pairs with Social Geography.
• Pedology is the study of soils, so it pairs with Soil Geography.

(iv) Which one of the following questions is related to cause-effect relationship?
(a) Why
(b) Where
(c) What
(d) When
Ans: (a) Why

The question "Why" seeks to understand the reason behind a phenomenon, exploring the cause-effect relationship.

(v) Which one of the following disciplines attempts temporal synthesis?
(a) Sociology
(b) Geography
(c) Anthropology
(d) History
Ans: (d) History

History is the discipline that focuses on the chronological order of events and attempts temporal synthesis by studying how events unfold over time.

Q2: Answer the following 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: While going to school, we see some cultural features like shops, schools, clubs, offices, temples, mosques, houses. These features are dissimilar.
Yes, they should be included in the study of geography as they are an essential part of human geography. 

(ii) You have seen a tennis ball, a cricket ball, an orange and a pumpkin. Which one amongst these resembles the shape of the earth? Why have you chosen this particular item to describe the shape of the earth?
Ans:  An orange resembles the shape of the earth because all others are almost sphere while pumpkin is long in shape. Earth is not a perfect sphere, it rotates on its axis. It is of geoid shape, flatter toward poles like an orange.

(iii) Do you celebrate Van Mahotsava in your school? Why do we plant so many trees? How do the trees maintain ecological balance?
Ans: Yes, we do celebrate Van Mahotsava in our school.
We plant so many trees because trees provide us food, oxygen, clean air, economical products such as rubber and paper. help in making medicine etc.
By taking in carbon dioxide and giving oxygen, trees maintain ecological balance.

(iv) You have seen elephants, deer, earthworms, trees and grasses. Where do they live or grow? What is the name given to this sphere? Can you describe some of the important features of this sphere?
Ans: The sphere where elephants, deer, earthworms, trees and grasses live and grow is known as biosphere.
Important features of this sphere are:

• The biosphere is the layer of the planet Earth where life exists.
• Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, thus, biosphere overlaps all other three spheres.
• Plants and animals are biotic elements of biosphere while soil, water, air are abiotic elements.

(v) How much time do you take to reach your school from your house? Had the school been located across the road from your house, how much time would you have taken to reach school? What is the effect of the distance between your residence and the school on the time taken in commuting? Can you convert time into space and vice versa?
Ans: It takes me around half an hour to reach my school. Had my school been located across the road from my house, I could reach there within four minutes. Due to the long distance between my residence and school, a lot of time gets wasted in commuting which affects my studies hour as well as playing hours negatively.
Time can be converted into space, vice versa is also true, i.e., we can convert space into time.

Q3: Answer the following questions in about 150 words.
(i) You observe every day in your surroundings that there is variation in natural as well as cultural phenomena. All the trees are not of the same variety. All the birds and animals you see, are different. All these different elements are found on the earth. Can you now argue that geography is the study of “areal differentiation”?
Ans: 

• There is vast variation in natural as well as cultural phenomena.
• The study of 'areal differentiation' is part of geography.
• Geography is not only limited to 'areal differentiation'. Geography as a discipline is related to space and takes note of spatial characteristics and attributes.
• It studies the patterns of distribution, location, and concentration of phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns.
• It takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns.
• It also takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena resulting from the dynamic interaction between human beings and their physical environment.
• Geography helps in understanding the reality in totality in its spatial perspective.
• Geography, thus, not only takes note of the differences in the phenomena from place to place but integrates them holistically which may be different at other places.

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

• Geography and History: Geography influences historical events. Spatial distance itself has been a very potent factor to alter the course of history of the world. Spatial depth provided defence to many countries, particularly in the last century. In traditional warfare, countries with large size in area, gain time at the cost of space. Every geographical phenomenon undergoes change through time and can be explained temporally. The changes in landforms, climate, vegetation, economic activities occupations and cultural developments have followed a definite historical course.
• Geography and Civics: The core concern of political science is territory, people and sovereignty while political geography is also interested in the study of the state as a spatial unit as well as people and their political behaviour.
• Geography and Economics: Economics deals with basic attributes of the economy such as production, distribution, exchange and consumption. Each of these attributes also has spatial aspects and here comes the role of economic geography to study the spatial aspects of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.