Long Questions with Answers - Human Geography Nature And Scope

Q. 1. Explain the concept introduced by Griffith Taylor with the help of examples.
Ans. A Geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced concept which reflects a middle path (Madhyam Marg) between the two ideas of environmental determinism and possibilism.
He termed it as Neo-determinism or stop or go determinism, it means that possibilities can be created within the limits which do not damage the environment and there is no free run without accidents.
Examples : Those of you who live in cities and those who have visited a city, might have seen that traffic is regulated by light on the cross-roads.
(i) Red light means 'stop'. Amber light provides a gap between red and green lights 'to get set' and green light means 'go'.
(ii) The concept shows that neither is there a situation of absolute necessity nor is there a condition of absolute freedom.
(iii) It means that human beings conquer nature by obeying it.
(iv) They have to respond to the red signals and can proceed in their pursuits of development when nature permits modifications.

Q. 2. Explain naturalisation of humans.
Ans. Human beings have been interacting with their physical environment since long ago.
(i) In the early stage of interaction with their natural environment, humans were greatly influenced by it. This type of interaction gave way to naturalisation of humans.
(ii) At this stage, we can imagine the presence of a naturalised human who listened to nature, was afraid of its fury and worshipped. it.
(iii) Naturalisation of humans allows them to adapt to the dictates of nature. In the primitive times, the human household shared a direct relationship with the nature. Human considered nature to be a powerful force which was worshipped, revered and conserved.
(iv) This is considered as a direct dependence of human beings on nature for resource which sustain them. The physical environment for the primitive human societies became the 'Mother Nature'.
(v) Human beings began to understand the force of nature with the passage of time. Humans realised that nature provided them with abundant resources and the humans slowly and gradually got naturalised.

Q. 3. Write a note on the scope of human geography.
Ans. The process of adaptation, adjustment with and modification of the environment started with the appearance of human beings over the surface of Earth in different ecological niches. Thus, we can imagine the begining of human geography with the interaction of environment and human beings.
(i) The concerns of human geography have a long temporal continuum though the approaches to articulate them have changed over time.
(ii) Earlier there was little interaction between different societies and the knowledge about each other was limited. Travellers and explorers used to disseminate information about the areas of their visits. Navigational skills were not developed and voyages were fraught with dangers.
(iii) With the advancement in technology, human geography developed which helped in explaining the relationship between all elements of human life and the space they occur over. The scope of human geography can be well explained with the help of examples.
(iv) For example; the humanistic school of thought in human geography is mainly concerned with the different aspects of social well-being of the people.
(v) The radical school of thought employed Marxian Theory to explain the basic cause of poverty and social inequality. Similarly, behavioural school of thought laid great emphasis on live experience and also on the perception of space by social categories based on ethnicity, race and religion, etc.