Geographers Biobibliographical Studies Volume 8 9781474231183, 9781474231169

Table of contents :
Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Introduction
List of abbreviations
Ewald Banse 1883-1953
Robert Neal Rudmose Brown 1879-1957
Robert Eric Dickinson 1905-1981
James Fairgrieve 1870-1953
Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko 1844-1873
John Forrest 1847-1918 and Alexander Forrest 18149-1901
Henry Gannett 1846-1914
John Paul Goode 1862-1932
Oscar MacCarthy 1815-1894
Vintilă Mihăilescu 1890-1978
Helge Nelson 1882-1966
Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev 1874-1928
Hans Hugold von Schwerin 1853-1912
Ellen Churchill Semple 1863-1932
Shigetaka Shiga 1863-1927
Wilhelm Sievers 1860-1921
Carl Troll 1899-1975
Alfred Russel Wallace 1823-1913
John Harold Wellington 1892-1981
Sidney William Wooldridge 1900-1963
Index

Citation preview

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GEOGRAPHERS Biobibliographical Studies VOLUME 8

GEOGRAPHERS BIOBIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES This volume forms part of the series Studies in the History of Geography planned by the Working Group on the History of Geographical Thought of the International Geographical Union and the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science. Chairman, Professor David Hooson, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. Secretary, Professor T.W. Freeman, 1 Thurston Close, Abingdon 0X14 5RD, England. Ordinary Members: Professor Josef Babicz, Institut d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, Polska Akademia Nauk, Nowy Swiat 72, Warsaw, Poland; Professor Manfred Büttner, 4630 Bochum, Kierfernweg ho, Federal Republic of Germany; Professor Geoffrey J. Martin, 82 Banks Road, Easton, Connecticut 0643O, USA; Professor Philippe Pinchemel, Institut de Géographie, 191 rue St. Jacques, Paris 75005, France; Professor Keiichi Takeuchi, Faculty of Social Studies, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Tokyo, Japan. Honorary Members: Professor Clarence D. Glacken, Earth Sciences Building, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA; Professor Richard Hartshorne, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; Professor Preston E. James, 379 Villa Drive South, Atlantis, Florida 33462, USA.

GEOGRAPHERS Biobibliographical Studies VOLUME 8 Edited by T. W. Freeman on behalf of the Working Group on the History of Geographical Thought of the International Geographical Union and the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LON DON • OX F O R D • N E W YO R K • N E W D E L H I • SY DN EY

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK

1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA

www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in 1984 by Mansell Publishing Limited © International Geographical Union, 1984 T.W. Freeman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: ePDF: 978-1-4742-3118-3 ePub: 978-1-4742-3117-6   Geographers: biobibliographical studies. Vol. 8 1. Geographers – Biography – Periodicals I. Working Group on the History of Geographical Thought II. International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science 910’.92’2 G67 Series: Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, volume 8

Contents Introduction List of abbreviations

XI

Beyer

1

Evald Banse 1883-1953

Rildiger

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown 1879-1957

T. W. Freeman

Robert Eric Dickinson 1905-1981

Leland R.

James Fairgrieve 1870-1953

R.C. Honeybone

27

Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko 18M-1873

R.L.

Yugai

35

John Forrest 18U7-1918 and Alexander Forrest 181*9-1901

J.M.

Powell

39

Pederson

7 17

Robert H. Block

U5

John Paul Goode 1862-1932

Geoffrey

51

Oscar MacCarthy l8l5-l891+

Sanford H. Bederman

57

Vintila Mihailescu 1890-1978

David Turnock

61

Helge Nelson 1882-1966

Karl-Erik

69

Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev 187^-1928

R.L.

Hans Hugold von Schwerin 1853-1912

Karl-Erik

Ellen Churchill Semple 1863-1932

Allen

Shigetaka Shiga 1863-1927

Shokyu Minamoto

95

Wilhelm Sievers 1860-1921

GUnter Mertins

107

Carl Troll 1899-1975

Philip

Tilley

111

Alfred Russel Wallace 1823-1913

Charles H. Smith

125

John Harold Wellington 1892-1981

S.J.K.

135

Sidney William Wooldridge 1900-1963

W.G.V. Balehin

Henry Gannett

Index

l8h6-19lk

J.

Martin

Bergsten

Yugai

77 Bergsten

D. Bushong

D.

Baker

81 87

1U1 151

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Introduction

Every journal over the years is likely to develop its own ethos and in this Geographers is no exception for its authors — some of whom have contributed several papers — have clearly if perhaps not consciously grasped two significant facts of which the first is that the achievement of a life's work must bear a close relationship to the historical circumstances of time and place and the second is that the temperamental qualities of an individual must give his work a quality of its own. Some of the twenty essays in this volume show that their subjects, however able and sensible, were not devoid of at least mild eccentricity, as in the case of Banse, though perhaps that could be more tactfully described as originality of mind. Looking at the world they saw it in such varied ways that one wonders if modern geographers spinning verbal webs to trap the living perception of an individual character are stating in their conclusions, hypothetical or definitive, anything more than an obvious feature of human character. And with this one may also wonder if all the enchantment in the idea of diffusion of skills and ideas is not in reality just another attribute of normal living experience. Yet what shines through these twenty essays is that the people studied have had a sense of purpose, a readiness to follow a compelling idea, a devotion to an ideal in action and writing that to them, if not necessarily to others, appeared to offer strength and inspiration. All scholarship involves isolation and loneliness and that may be why so small a proportion of the world's population aspire to scholarship, yet all scholars live in a world of political, social and economic change.

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

In several essays here published geographers are seen as world travellers, responding eagerly to the new opportunities given in the nineteenth century to visit lands overseas through improved transport, commercial and colonial expansion and the widespread desire to know the whole world. Such travel was expected to be part of the training of a geographer, notably in the German universities which were revered and indeed envied by aspirant geographers in other countries for their vision of what geographical study could achieve and their support of enterprisinp travellers using their skills in observation, mapping and recording of data to make the world better known. And in this the lure of the Tropics needs no emphasis, for the scramble for Africa from the 1880s was a deep concern of the major European powers and other tropical areas also provided rich rewards for scientific study. Sievers and Troll both went to South America, following the long-remembered example of Alexander von Humboldt, in their crucial early post-graduate years and in time Troll went to other tropical areas while Banse travelled extensively in North Africa, Turkey, Egypt and what is now Iraq, concerned to establish a geography of the Orient as a major world region. Rudmose Brown found inspiration in Polar regions as many more did in the years before the First World War when a new enthusiasm for such exploration was generated, partly at the 1895 International Geographical Congress in London. Would Darwin ever have evolved his revolutionary theories if he had not spent several years on the 'Beagle' voyage or Wallace foreshadowed him without his four years in South America from 18H8-52 and his

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Introduction

eight years in Malaya from 185*+? Or could the solution, however incomplete, of many of the mysteries of glaciation have "been discerned without the experience of its effects in many climatic zones? The saddest story in this volume is of Fedchenko who, having seen glaciers in Asiatic Russia during his pioneer explorations with his helpful and very able wife, went to the classic Alpine glaciers of Europe and lost his life at the age of twenty nine. More fortunate was the other Russian considered here, Neustruev, born in 187^ (the year of Fedchenko's death), who like a number of his countrymen worked on soils: like them he gave inspiration to workers in other countries and in his own country gave a basis for the effective regionalization of its vast areas of lowland. Some workers found in their own countries all the stimulus needed for a fruitful career of geographical scholarship. In most cases this did not preclude at least some periods of life when they worked elsewhere, as in the case of Helge Nelson of Lund who during his early investigation of areas of Sweden rich in evidences of glaciation but poor in agricultural resources came across the effects of emigration on the local people, so he followed the emigrants to America to see if they really had settled in the pioneer fringes of the time as many people supposed. While there he developed a general interest in the United States that was ultimately expressed in a two-volume work, though it is his Swedish work that is now mainly remembered. Conversely his predecessor von Schwerin, born almost thirty years earlier in 1853, having made a pioneer study of the Congo Free State, never lectured on Sweden in Lund University despite its expressed policy of encouraging teaching on the homeland and gave most of his research time to Herodotus and other figures of Greek classical geography. A number of geographers show the ability to meet a particular need of the time in their own countries. No example could be clearer than that of the Forrest brothers, both Australian-born, who influenced the whole development of Western Australia including its transport and communications, rural settlement, town planning and economic development. As John Forrest commented 'the first duty of a state is to find out what its territory consists of, and any government which neglects this duty is not worthy to be entrusted with the care of such territory'. The Forrests became applied geographers with every opportunity of seeing their ideas implemented. In contrast with Western Australia, Japan in the days of Shiga was a long-settled country, opened to western influences only in 1853 but adopting them with increasing momentum in the l880s. From his base at the developing Waseda University Shiga, partly through a fortunate family background, was able to see much of the inner national aspirations of the ruling classes, though he was probably wise to restrict his membership of parliament to just two years (no comparison with Mackinder is intended here). Had Shiga been more directly involved in the ebb and flow of political debate he could hardly have been one of the inspirers of the distinguished modern development of geography in Japan. Two Americans considered in this volume, Gannett and Goode, made fine contributions to the development of geography. Gannett, born in 18U6, was from 1880

deeply involved in the production of the Census, to which all students of the historical geography of the United States owe so much: fortunately there are still geographers concerned to make the Census in various countries a living survey of the whole community rather than a mere enumeration. And he was an early apostle of conservation at a time when exploitation was more in evidence. Of interest also is that he was a 'nineteenth-century prototype of the "team scientist"' when such people were rare and that he was deeply concerned with the welfare of geographical and geological societies. Goode was born sixteen years later than Gannett and his fame now rests mainly on his cartography, worldwide as well as local, but he too cared very much for his own land at a time when it was rapidly developing, and particularly for his beloved Chicago. In the very different country of Romania Mihailescu found rich opportunities for geographical work and to the last years of his life he was eager to learn from colleagues working elsewhere, adapting himself to political changes with tolerant understanding. There are many ways of serving the homeland and in England Wooldridge gave a clear message on the value of detailed fieldwork, to him embedded in a thorough knowledge of its physical geography not merely for its own significance but also as a basis for a convincing regional treatment. It may now seem that he was a product of the era when regional geography was a dominant interest, receiving a blessing from Hartshorne's Nature of Geography first published in 1939. Wooldridge worked from his home base in London, revealing as never before the rich variety of the southeast of England: a man known for incisive statement he said on occasion that 'the eyes of the fool are on the ends of the world', much to the chagrin of younger colleagues who found in other countries the opportunities for study they most desired and were heard darkly muttering imprecations against the 'parish pump school'. And yet one main achievement of Wooldridge, with others, was to foster the admirable Field Study Centres that have given so many young people in Britain their first real contact with effective fieldwork techniques. Geomorphology has moved forward in ideas so rapidly that some of Wooldridge's views would now be questioned but that is part of the general academic story. On a different plane another example of a man meeting a need of the time and working on his home ground is given by Fairgrieve in school education. The dreary character of geography teaching in schools had long been appreciated, not least by the eminent supporters of the Royal Geographical Society as well as by the workers in classrooms who joined the Geographical Association from 1893, but Mackinder (often wise in choosing the right man for a particular job) with a few others saw that Fairgrieve could infuse new life into school teaching. How it was done is revealed in the paper which also shows that the educational influence of Fairgrieve spread far beyond the shores of Britain. Some geographers became emigrants and found in their new home countries a rich field for geographical research and for Africa this is well illustrated by the papers on Wellington and MacCarthy. Wellington, one of the first students of geography as an honours course at Cambridge University, joined the staff of the

Introduction Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg and in 1955, when over sixty years of age, published his twovolume work on Southern Africa, including the whole area south of the Congo basin, having through the years developed the teaching and study of geography with marked success. His story is not unique. Far more dramatic is the life of Oscar MacCarthy, born in 1815 — one of the most crucial dates of nineteenth century history — in Paris, the son of Jack (Jacques) MacCarthy, an Irish emigre from Cork who went to France to fight with Napolean Buonaparte and eventually became a writer, especially on geographical topics. Oscar followed the same career but in I8U9, when thirty four years of age, moved to Algiers, a French colony from 183^, and lived there for the rest of his life, devoted to exploration and mapping and the development of the Algiers Library and Museum. Following the defeat of France in I87I he was responsible for the care of thousands of immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine and he is described in this volume as 'a dauntless and indefatigable traveller, an early student of climatology, and a mapmaker of some repute'. Like Charles de Foucauld he spent long periods in the desert, dressed as a vagabond but quietly collecting the material for his vast literary output and his numerous maps, though unlike Charles de Foucauld, who became a hermit priest and was ultimately murdered, MacCarthy became a renowned and respected citizen of Algiers where he died in his eightieth year. Finally there are other geographers whose lives show the attraction of various countries and of these two in this number are fascinating examples. Ellen Churchill Semple had an American education crowned by study at the famed Vasser College for women but found her lifelong inspiration through study at Leipzig with Friedrich Ratzel, whose work she translated and developed in Influences of Geographic Environment, followed at the end of her life by her book on the Mediterranean. Nobody questions her scholarship though many question her interpretation of the relation between man and environment. Always provided with adequate means to travel, she spent only part of each year as a university teacher and the rest touring America or Europe with an abiding sense of purpose, using observation as a complement to library study. Born over forty years later, in 1905, Dickinson seemed to be destined for a career in Britain but once he went to Germany in 1936-7 a new revelation came for he saw in its geographers a thoroughness and logicity in learning greater than he had met before; he was also appreciative of French and American geographers. From that time he developed his own outlook on human geography and settled in America, mistakenly returning to Britain for a few years, travelling widely and extending his initial researches in England to continental European and American human geography. Semple and Dickinson were geographers of contrasting backgrounds, interests and experience, both constrained to look beyond their homeland. Both were deeply impressed by German scholarship but arguably Dickinson retained a more critical approach and drank more deeply from other living streams of geographical learning. It is not the purpose of Geographers to formulate a hagiology of geographers. Nor is there any desire

ix

to limit its papers to persons who were solely geographers, if only for the reason that such a policy would exclude some of the fascinating Victorian polymaths, among them Wallace who is described as 'a pioneer ... in glacial theory, land use planning, geographical education, oceanography, diffusion studies, and above all zoogeography and island biogeography'. For all that, some workers in the nineteenth century had their own clear understanding of what they could do as geographers, notably the Forrests in Western Australia and Gannett in the United States. The desire to know and see and \inderstand the world has been the aim of many devoted scholars, such as Troll who gave one object of his work as 'to observe details ... to see them in context as a whole and imagine the significance this may have for conditions elsewhere'. In our own time many have come to see the appeal of the here and now, the immediate homeland, and the vast increase in the number of working geographers has made increasing specialization possible so that new techniques may be followed, many of them with no certainty that they will be productive. With this there is the hope that some will consider the work of those who have gone before, for in their time they too had ideas that showed wisdom and understanding o^ what they saw in man and the land and of people living in circumstances ranging from highly concentrated cities to sparsely settled deserts and the pioneer fringes of possible human occupation. T. W. Freeman Note: Intending authors are asked to write to Professor T. W. Freeman, 1 Thurston Close, Abingdon, 0X1U 5RD, who will send a copy of Notes for Authors (revised edition) and other information.

f

List of abbreviations

Abbreviations have been adopted from British 4148: Part 2t 1975, Word-abbreviation tiat.

Standard

A.A.G. Association of American Geographers Aberdeen Univ. Rev. Aberdeen University Review Abh. Geogr. Inet. FU-Berlint Anthropogeographie Abhandlungen des Geographischen Instituts der Freien Universitat, Berlin, Anthropogeographie Aoademia R.S.R. Academia Republicii Socialiste Romania Actea Congr. Int. Quat. (INQUA) Actes du Congres International du Quaternaire Adv. Soi. Advancement of Science Aim. Oaterr. Akad. Wi88. Almanach der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Am. Geogr. Soc. American Geographical Society An. Geogr. Antropogeogr. Anuar de Geografie gi Antropogeografie Ann. Am. Acad. Annals of the American Academy Ann. Am. Acad. Potit. Soc. Soi. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences Ann. Aaaoc. Am. Geogr. Annals of the Association of American Geographers Ann. G&ogr. Annales de Geographie Ann. Mag. Nat. Riat. Annals and Magazine of Natural History Arch. J. Architect's Journal Assoc. Am. Geogr. Association of American Geographers Baaler Beitr. Geogr. Ethnol. Basler Beitrage zur Geographie und Ethnologie

Beitr. Biogr.

Kotonidtforaohung Beitrage Kolonialforschung Mem. F.R.S. Biographical Memoirs, Fellows of the Royal Society Bonn. Geogr. Abh. Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen Bonn. Mitt. Bonner Mitteilungen Brit. J. Riat. Soi. British Journal for the History of Science But. S.S.G. Buletinul, Societatea de gtiinfce Geografice Romania But. Soc. Rom. Geogr. Buletinul, Societajii Geografice Romane But. St. Acad. A.P.R. Acad. R.P.R. Seat. Geot. Geogr. Buletin Stiinjific Academia Republicii Populare Romane Section Geologie, Geografie Butt. Am. Geogr. Soc. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society Butt. Geogr. Soc. Philadelphia Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia Bull. Soc. H$llenique Geogr. Bulletin de la Societe Hellenique de Geographie Stud. Geogr. Cercetari gi Studii Geografice Cercet. Coll. Geogr. Bonn Colloquium Geographicum Bonn Comun. Geogr. Comunicari de Geografie Contemp Rev. Contemporary Review

Die Natunn.88. Die Naturwissenschaften Die Neue Geogr. Die Neue Geographie diss. dissertation Dtach. Biogr. Jahr. Deutsches Biographisches Jahrbuch

xii

List of

abbreviations

Dtsoh. Runds. Geogr. Stat.

Deutsches Rundschau fiir

Geographie und Statistik Econ. Geogr. Economic Geography Enoycl. Soo. Hist. Encyclopaedia of Social History Encycl. Soo. Sci. Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences Erdkd. Erdkunde Erdkd. Wissen Erdkindliches Wissen Erg. Forsch. Nepal Himalaya Ergebnisse des Forschungsunternehmens Nepal Himalaya Erlanger Geogr. Arb. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten Essex Nat. Essex Naturalist Forsch.

Dtsch. Landes- und Volkskunde Forschungen zur Deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde Forsch. und Fortschr. Forschungen und Fortschritte Fortn. Rev. Fortnightly Review Geogr. Geogr. Geogr. Geogr.

Abh. Geographische Abhandlungen Ann. Geografiska Annaler Anz. Geographischer Anzeiger Biobibl. Stud. Geographers Biobibliographical Studies Geogr. J. Geographical Journal Geogr. Rev. Geographical Review Geogr. Rev. Japan Geographical Review of Japan Geogr. Runds. Geographische Rundschau Geogr. Taschenb. Geographisches Taschenbuch Geogr. Teach. Geographical Teacher Geogr. Z. Geographische Zeitschrift Geol. Jahr, Geologisches Jahrbuch Geol. Mag. Geological Magazine Geol. Runds. Geologische Rundschau Geophys. Mem. Geophysical Memoirs Giessener Geogr. Schr. Giessener Geographische Schriften

Hand. Geogr. Wiss. Sudamerika Handbuch der Geographischen Wissenschaft Sudamerika Hand. Pflanzenphysiologie Handbuch der Pflanzenphysiologie Heidelberger Geogr. Abh. Heidelberger Geographische Arbeiten Hist. Rev. Historical Review IGU International Geographical Union INQUA International Quaternary Association Int. Geol. Congr. International Geological Congress Izv. Obshch. Lyub. Estestev. Izvestiya Obshchestva Lyubitelei Estestvoznaniya Izv. Rus8kogo Geogr. Obshch.t Izv. R.G.O. Izvestiya Russkogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva J. Am. Inst. Planners Journal of the American Institute of Planners

Journal of the J. Anthropol. Soc. Lond. Anthropological Society of London J. Geogr. Journal of Geography J. Geogr. Japan Journal of Geography of Japan J. Geogr. Stud. Journal of Geographical Studies J. Geol. Soc. Japan Journal of the Geological Society of Japan J. Hist. Biol. Journal of the History of Biology J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. Journal and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London J. Sch. Geogr. Journal of School Geography J. Soil Sci. Journal of Soil Science J. Tokyo Geogr. Soc. Journal of the Tokyo Geographical Society J. Town Plann. Inst. Journal of the Town Planning Institute J. Trop. Geogr. Journal of Tropical Geography Jahr. Akad. Wiss. Lit. Mainz Jahrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz Jahr. Dtsch. Alpenvereins Jahrbuch des Deutschen Alpenvereins Jahr. Landesamt. Forsch.-Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen Jahrbuch des Landesamts fiir Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen Kartog. Koloniale Lucr.

Nachr. Kartographische Nachrichten Runds. Koloniale Rundschau

Inst. Geogr. Univ. de Geografie Cluj

Cluj

Lucrarile Institutul

Macmillan's Mag. Macmillan's Magazine Math. Mag. Mathematical Magazine Meteorol. Mag. Meteorological Magazine Meteorol. Z. Meteorologische Zeitschrift Mid. E. Forum Middle East Forum Mitt. Geogr. Gesell. I-fiinchen Mitteilungen der ^Geographischen Gesellschaft in Munchen Mitt. Osterr. Geogr. Gesell. Mitteilungen der Ssterreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft n.s. Nachr.

new series, nouvelle serie Giessener Hochschulgesell. Nachrichten der Giessener Hochschulgesellschaft Nat. Nature Nat. Sci. Natural Science Natl. Cycl. Am. Biog. National Cyclopaedia of American Biography Natl. Geogr. Mag. National Geographic Magazine Natura Ser. Geogr.-Geol. Natura: Seria GeografieGeologie Petermanns Geogr. Mitt. (Erganz.) Peternanns Geographische Mitteilungen (Erganzungsheft) Probl. Geogr. Probleme de Geografie Proc. Geol. Assoc. Proceedings of the Geologists Association Proc. Int. Geogr. Congr. Proceedings of the International Geographical Congress

List of Proa.

Pacific Sci. Congr. Proceedings of the Pacific Science Congress Proc. R. Soc. Proceedings of the Royal Society Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London Prof. Geogr. Professional Geographer Pubis. Publications Q.J. Geol. Soc. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society Q.J. Sci. Quarterly Journal of Science Q. Rev. Quarterly Review Rev. Rev. Rev. Riv.

Afr. Revue Africane Geogr. I.C.G.R. Revista Geografica (institutul de Cercetari Geografice al Romaniei) Revue Roum. Geol. Geophys. Geogr. Ser. Geogr. Roumane de Geologie, Geophysique, Geographie, Serie Geographique Geogr. Ital. Rivista Geografice Italiana

S. Afr. Geogr. South African Geographer S. Afr. Geogr. J. South African Geographical Journal Sch. Rev. School Review Sch. World School World Sci. Science Sci. Progress Science Progress Sci. Rep. Scott. Natl. Antarc. Exped. Scientific Reports, Scottish National Antarctic Expedition Scott. Geogr. Mag. Scottish Geographical Magazine Sitz. Europ. Geogr. Sitzungen der Europaischen Geographen Sociol. Rev. Sociological Review Southeast. Geogr. Southeastern Geographer Southeast. Union Sci. Soc. Congr. Handbk. Southeastern Union of Scientific Societies Congress Handbook Stud. Cere. Geol. Geofiz. Geogr. Ser. Geogr. Studii si Cercetari de Geologie Geografizica Geografie Seriya Geografie Stud. Generalea Studium Generale Sven. Geogr. Arsbok Svensk Geografisk Arsbok Tagungsbericht und Wiss. Abh. Dtsch. Geogr. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen Deutscher Geographentage Tijdschr. Econ. Soc. Geogr. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Social Geographie Trans. Ethnol. Soc. Lond. Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London

Tag.

Trans. Trans.

abbreviations

xiii

Linn. Soc. Lond. Transactions of the Liiinean Society of London Pap. Inst. Br. Geogr. Transactions and Papers of the Institute of British Geographers

U.S. Geol. Soc. United States Geological Society U.S. Geol. Surv. United States Geological Survey Annu. Rep. Annual Report Bull. Bulletin Monogr. Monograph Prof. Pap. Professional Papers Univ. University USA SPIRE Trans. U.S. Army Snow Ice and Permafrost Research Establishments Transactions Vasser Misc. Vasser Miscellany Vasser Q. Vasser Quarterly Verh. Dtsch. Geogr. Verhandlungen des Deutschen Geographentages

Wiss. Veroff. Dtsch. Inst.

(Mus.) Landkd.

Wissen-

schaftliche Veroffentlichungen des Deutschen Instituts (Museum) fur Landkunde Z. Geomorph. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin Z. Gletscherkd. Glaz. Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie

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Ewald Banse 1883-1953

RUDIGER BEYER Reproduced by permission o/Braunschweigische Heimat Banse's first 'eccentric' act was to turn his back on classical geography in an attempt to disengage geography from analytical research and to establish it as Soh'dne Geographie on the basis of an intuitive perception of landscape, its very soul, and of its artistic representation. Although his ideas were refuted by scientific geography, his innovative concepts of geography promoted a lively discussion in high schools and universities. As a free-lance writer and explorer, Banse did valuable research mainly in the field of Oriental studies. 1. EDUCATION, LIFE AND WORK Banse, son of Hermann Banse, a painter, was born on 5 May 1883 in Brunswick, where he spent his childhood until he passed the final examination of the grammar school. While still a pupil he was keenly interested in travelogues and adventure novels, such as those by Karl May, whose novels of the Orient awakened his intense curiosity on Oriental countries and directed his interests towards the exploration of exotic worlds. He therefore decided, contrary to the wishes of his parents, to deepen his knowledge in the exploration and discovery of new worlds by a scientific study of geography. In 1902, he enrolled at the University of Berlin in geography, with F. v. Richthofen as his mentor. He broadened his studies by attending zoological courses. However, the courses in geography offered by Richthofen did not stimulate his excitement to the degree which he, according to his

Geographers Biobibliographioal

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

romantic concept of geography as an adventurous exploration of distant countries, expected to experience. In fact he considered Richthofen's lectures boring and far too abstract. After only one year, he changed universities, continuing his study in Halle under the direction of the geographers Alfred Kirchhoff and Willi Ule. In Halle he also studied geology under W. v. Fritsch and botany. Most of his time was devoted to gathering practical experience and knowledge from excursions. Although Banse had already begun his dissertation on Der Elm, he ended his studies abruptly in 1906. He felt that he had accumulated enough geographical knowledge and education to be scientifically prepared and indeed fully able to realize the essential goal he was striving for: exploration and travel into foreign countries. Therefore in 1906, after brief preparations, he started on his first Oriental voyage, heading for Tripoli (Libya). He spent thirteen months there and in the Mnschia oasis nearby. As Turkish officials at that time prevented him from travelling south into the Sahara, he continued his voyage by going to the Asian part of Turkey, visiting Alexandria, Beirut, Aleppo and travelling further through Anatolia, crossing the Black Sea by ship to Constantinople (Istanbul) and then returning home. Just one year later, in 1908, he travelled through Egypt, Mesopotamia, and again visited Anatolia. As he had to support himself financially he published a lot of both scientific and popular accounts of his travels. More than any other, his paper Der Orient - Ein geo-

2

Ewald Banse

graphischer

Begriff

(The Orient - a

geographical

term, 1908) aroused wide attention. In it he first outlined his idea of the Orient as a continent. His idea of the unity of North Africa and the Near East, which crystallized in his mind while travelling through these countries, was based on similarities he discovered in both regions, including the distribution of nomadism and also of the dromedary, and he noted the many climatic and botanical characteristics they had in common. His idea, however, did not find unanimous consent among experts: in particular Alfred Philippson, who knew the area, criticized Banse's views and his idea that the Orient should be regarded as a continent. Another voyage to Tripoli came abruptly to an end after nine months because of illness; he was therefore unable to realize his plans for visiting the Djebel Nefusa and the Atlas. His detailed studies of the town and its vicinity were published in his book Tripolis (1912). It was well received by a large public, although Schmitthenner, in a review of the book, called attention to the 'eccentricity of Banse's style' (1913, p.177), which resulted from his programmatic demand for a description of the earth in artistic, expressionistic terms. His style tended to expand into artistically moulded texts. Developing further his idea of an artistic geography, he launched attack after attack against traditional geography with a reformer's zeal and tried by means of a vast number of regional geographical descriptions and methodological publications to make further contributions to his concept of a 'Neue Geographie' (see Geographie, 1912). Severely criticizing traditional geography, he was strictly opposed to a schematic treatment of regional geography (in the sense of Kirchhoff/Hettner) and developed in these publications his concept of the 'Lehre vom geographischen Milieu der Lander' ('Doctrine of a Country's Geographical Milieu'). These ideas and his personal experiences while travelling through the Orient formed

the basis of his book Illustrierte Landerkunde (Illustrated Regional Geography, 191^, a book that

aroused attention because of its organizing principle, in effect, Banse's concept of the geographical milieu.

A. Kolb's Kulturerdteile

(Cultural

Continents)

can be

regarded as a further development of this idea on a higher level. The Prussian Academy of Sciences refused financial support for another of Banse's expeditions through the Libyan Desert to the Tibesti Mountains (1911). He therefore accepted the position of an editor for geography in the Brockhaus Lexikon for one year in order to supplement his income from journalism and to fund his new expedition. In 1912, he founded the

periodical Die Erde - Zeitsohrift fur Lander- und Vdlkerkunde, Reise und Jagd (The Earth - A Magazine for Geography, Ethnology, Travel and Hunting) as a

further source of income. Thus, in 191**, he was able to start his last Oriental expedition, well prepared and relying on his own financial resources. The Egyptian government, however, refused for political.reasons to let Banse enter the interior of the country with his already equipped caravan. Unhappy about the progress of his well-planned and costly expedition, though not

discouraged, he went via Tripoli into Morocco. He wrote the results of this journey in his book Wusten,

Palmen und Basare (Deserts,

Palms and Bazaars) only

a few months after he had returned home. Because of the outbreak of the First World War, the book was not published until 1921. He was, however, successful in completing his main work on the Orient Die Turkei, eine

mod.eme Geographie (Turkey:

A Modern Geography) as

early as 1915. Although it is also permeated by his reformist spirit ('The soul of Anatolia's interior can almost exclusively be grasped from its climatic side', 1916, 2 ed., p. 95) and sometimes loses its way in weird concepts of 'races', the main body of the book is acceptable in traditionally scientific terms. Another Banse book praised by geographical experts is the Lexikon der Geographie (2 vol., 1922/3), of which the appearance marked the first publication of a comprehensive geographical handbook in German. As traditional journals, although in the beginning willing to make concessions, refused more and more to accept his methodological contributions which were sometimes provocative and did not refrain from nersonal attacks, he counteracted by founding his own rieriodical

Die Neue Geographie (The New Geography) in 1922, in

which he published theoretical papers together with smaller regional geographical contributions after his own taste. The attacks he launched in these issues against traditional geography and their leading representatives determined the character of the journal in such a marked way that the publisher decided to discontinue its publication in 1926. In his numerous regional geographical papers which he wrote as a result of several travels through Europe and Germany, it became more and more obvious that Banse was finding a new interest in European, especially German, geographical areas and that his texts were increasingly influenced by the doctrines of National Socialism. In his description of countries, he shifted from a milieu-focused representation to a more folkrelated and race-oriented view, emphasizing Germanic race consciousness. Thus he heavily leaned towards the National Socialistic ideology. When Banse expressed his wish to receive a teaching position at a university, although he lacked the proper academic qualifications, his request was granted. He obtained an honorary professorship at the technical university of Brunswick. By arousing international indignation with the Nazi

propaganda in his book Raum und Volk im Weltkriege (Living Space and People during the World War, 1933J

which was published in England under the title Germany Prepares for War, he lost his professorship again — only to receive an equivalent position at the technical university of Hanover in the same year. He was allowed to do scientific research there but not to teach. Traditional geographers did not accept his book

Deutsche Landeskunde (Regional Geography of Germany, 1932).

His methodological book Lehrbuch

der

Geographie (How to Teach Geography Organically,

organischer,

1931)

was totally disregarded as being wrong from the very beginning. Banse lost his nrofessorship after the war; his efforts at obtaining one with F. Machatschek in Tucuman also failed. His last publication Alexander von Humboldt (1953) was merely a small booklet for the non-academic public and revealed no new insights. He died on

Ewald Banse 31 October 1953 in his home town, Brunswick, at the age of TO.

2.

SCIENTIFIC IDEAS, THEIR INFLUENCE AND SPREAD

Banse was a man of great gifts and sensibility. From the beginning of his academic studies, he began to realize his youthful, romantic ideas of adventure, of exploring worlds hitherto untouched, and mainly of seeking new scientifically verifiable knowledge about unknown and distant countries, and this in an uncompromising, diligent and enthusiastic manner. He subjected his private life wholly to his geographical work. He knew how to sift the thought of the age he lived in for new ideas, which he assimilated and converted into personal concepts. These concepts he then proclaimed with prophetic fervour, sometimes lacking in critical self control. Deeply impressed by the prevailing expressionism of his time and by- his experiences in the Orient, he thought he had to combine the two in regional geography, which for him was the central task of geography. With these concepts in mind, he violently opposed traditional geography with its dualism of a general and a regional geography. He first revealed his ideas of a 'Neue Geographic' in a series of programmatic articles in Petermanns

Geographischen Mitteilungen

(Geographie),

1922, a

geographical publication of world renown. In these articles, he first introduced the concepts of 'Milieu' and 'Landschaff as the cornerstones of his geography. Regional geography was now no longer restricted to describing and portraying the physical environment, that is essentially material things, but was also concerned with the spiritual components which permeated the land. It is not until one hears in the Sahara 'the curses of thousands of slaves, whipped through the land, crying and whispering above the deadly silence' that one experiences how this desert 'lies prostrate before you like the empty fist of a beggar'. It is not until such things become part of the picture that one reaches 'a higher form of geography'. 'It is this that awakens soul, that creates the metaphysical from the physical, that turns science into art' (1920, p. 18). By means of an expressionistic style, he tried to communicate new experience to the reader and in his efforts he succeeded in creating literary pieces of excellence in the field of a Schbne Geographie (artistic geography), to use the label he himself

chose in his Lexikon dev Geographie.

By means of stylistic and formal elements intentionally aiming at a portrayal of the milieu, however, with a missionary's zeal preaching an universal creed, he insisted on things like personal experience, intentional subjectivity, associations and intuitive interpolations; thus he created regional geographical essays of high excellence (H. Becker and C. Traumann, 1982, p. 232 f ) . Banse formulated his programme for a last time

in his book Entwicklung und Aufgabe der Geographie, RUckblicke und Ausblicke einer universalen Wissenschaft

3

(Development and Task of Geography: Past and Future of a Universal Geography, 1953). It seems obvious that a scientifically oriented geography had to reject this programme; the opposition, however, was not directed against Banse personally. Whenever he published admirable, at times even excellent work, as

in Die Turkei (1915) or his Lexikon der Geographie

(1922-3), he earned unanimous praise. reformist ideas,

Even in his

Banse's impact on the geography of his days was much more influential in the long run than critical reports of his reviewers seem to indicate. With Banse, geography became a good deal more concrete and picturesque, a trend that has continued until today (D. Henze, 1968, p. 92 f ) . In schools, geography teachers eagerly accepted his ideas, for in them they saw possibilities of infusing new life into their subject matter, which was often considered boring and dry. And even in scientific geography his ideas did not remain without influence. Hettner, his severest critic, was said to have had a secret, positive sympathy for this romantic eccentric; as he knew his responsibilities as a conscientious methodologist of his field, he permitted himself to express those sympathies only privately among friends. Geographers such as E. v. Drygalski, H. Hassinger, E. Obst and W. Volz more openly confessed that even a strictly scientific portrayal of landscapes and countries should expand beyond the rendition of dry, theoretical facts and make an attempt at creating a vivid picture of the subject in hand. If Banse had expressed his ideas more skillfully and less acrimoniously, he would have had more success personally and gained broader recognition than he actually found during his entire life.

Bibliography and Sources 1.

OBITUARIES AND REFERENCES ON EWALD BANSE

Beck, H., 'Geographie, Europaische Entwicklung in Texten und Erlauterungen' ('Geography, European Development in Texts and Comments'), Orbis aoademicus, vol 2/l6, Freiburg/Miinchen (1973) Becker, H. and C. Traumann, 'Der landeskundliche und landerkundliche Essay als Darstellungsform in der Geographie' ('The regional-geographical essay as a form of literary expression in geography'), Beitrage zur Hochgebirgsforschung und zur Allgemeinen Geographie, Festschrift fiir H. Uhlig,

Erdkundlich.es

Wissen, Beihefte

zur Geogr.

Z.,

vol 58 (1982), 227-^5 Bode, E., 'Ewald Banse, Zum Tode des grossen Braunschweiger Geographen' ('Ewald Banse, obituary on the great geographer from Brunswick'), Braunschweigische Heimat, vol Uo (195M, 17-20

4

Ewald Banse

Ewald Banse, Riv. Geogr. Ital. , vol 6l (195*0, 80-1 Friederichsen, M. , 'Die geographische Landschaft'

("The geographical landscape'), Geogr. Anz. ,

vol 22 (1922), 15**-6l, 233-UO Henze, D. , 'Ewald Banse und seine Stellung in der Geographie auf Grund seiner Schriften, Tagebucher und Briefe' ('Ewald Banse and his position in geography based on his texts, diaries and letters'), diss. Frankfurt/Main, Marburg (1968) Hettner, A., 'Methodische Zeit- und Streitfragen, V. Banses 'Neue Geographie und der Expressionismus in der Geographie' ('Methodical contemporary points of controversy, V. Banse's New Geography and expressionism in geography'), Geogr. Z. , vol 29 (1923), 53-7 Langhans, P., 'Banse, E., Lexikon der Geographie', Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol TO (192*0, hi Schmitthenner, H., 'Banse, Ewald, Tripolis', Geogr. Z. , vol 19 (1913), 177 Schultz, H.-D., 'Die deutschsprachige Geographie von 1800 bis 1970, Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte ihrer Methodologie' ('The German-speaking geography from 1800 to 1970, a contribution to the history of its methodology'), Abh. des Geogr. Inst, der FU-Berlin, Anthropogeographie, vol 29 (1980) Wichmann, H., 'Forschungsreisen, Ewald Banses Reise in die Libysche Wuste' ('Expeditions, Ewald Banse's voyage to the Libyan Desert'), Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol 60 (191*0, 92, 1^9, 21*i 2.

SELECTED

1908

BIBLIOGRAPHY

OF WORKS BY EWALD BANSE

'Der Orient - Ein geographischer Begriff ('The Orient - a geographical term'), Dtsch. Rundsch. Geogr. Stat., vol 31, 1-7 1908 'Die tripoliner Landschaft' ('The landscape of Tripoli ' ) , Geogr. Z. , vol l*i, 129-37 1909 'Agypten, Eine Landeskunde' ('Egypt, a regional geogranhy'), Angewandte Geographie, ed. by H. Grothe, Halle Saale, vol 3-7 1909 'Der Orient', Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol 55, 301-0*1, 351-5 1910 Der Orient, Eine Landerkunde in drei Banden ( The Orient, a Regional Geography in Three Volumes ) , Leipzig 1912 'Geographie', Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol 58, 1-U, 69-7*», 128-31 1912 Tripolis, Weimar 1912-1*1 Die Erde - Zeitschrift fur Lander- und Vdlkerkunde, Reise und Jagd (The earth - a magazine for geography, ethnology, travel and hunting), Weimar 191** Illustrierte Landerkunde (An Illustrated Regional Geography), Braunschweig, Berlin, Hamburg 191*1 'Der gegenwartige Stand der Erforschung der libyschen Wiiste und Tibestis, Unterlagen fur ein Erforschungsprogramm des letzten grosseren weissen Flecks in Afrika' ( "The actual state of the exploration of the Libyan Desert and the Tibesti Mountains, bases for an exploration programme of the last greater unknown territory in Africa'), Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol 60, 137-**2, 193-6, 26l-*+

Geogr. Mitt., 'Erdteile und Milieu', Petermanns vol 6l, 106-07 1915 Die Turkei, Eine moderne Geographie, Braunschweig 1920 Expressionismus und Geographie, Braunschweig 1921 Wusten, Palmen und Basare (Deserts, Palms and Bazaars), Braunschweig, Hamburg 1922-6 Die Neue Geographie, Vierteljahrblatter fUr kunstlerische Geographie und fur Freunde freier Forschung im Leben der Lander und Vdlker (The new geography, quarterly journal for artistic geography and for fri-ends of liberal research into the life of nations and people), Braunschweig, Hamburg 1915

1922-3 Lexikon der Geographie, Braunschweig, Hamburg, 192*1 1925

2 vol 'Die skandinavische Landschaft, Allgemeinere Gesichtspunkte' ('The Scandinavian landscape, general aspects'), Die Neue Geogr., vol 3, 65-77 'Zur seelengeographischen Gliederung der Erde' ('A division of the earth under "soul-geograph-

ical" aspects'), Die Neue Geogr., vol h, 109-25

1928 Landschaft und Seele (Landscape and Soul), Munchen 1932 'Uber den Zusammenhang von Landschaft und Mensch' ('About the relations between landscape and man'), Volk und Rasse, Illustrierte Vierteljahrschrift fur deutsches Volkstum, Munchen, vol 7, 8-18 1932 Deutsche Landeskunde, Umrisse von Landschaft und Volkstum in ihrer seelischen Verbundenheit ( A regional geography of Germany, the contours of landscape and people in their spiritual conformity) , Munchen 1933 Raum und Volk im Weltkriege, Gedanken Uber eine nationale Weltlehre (Living space and people during the World War, thoughts about a national world-doctrine), Oldenburg 1937 Lehrbuch der organischen Geographie, Vorschule und Einfuhrung in das Studium (Row to teach geography organically, preparation and introduction

to the study),

Berlin/Leipzig

1953 Entwicklung und Aufgabe der Geographie, Ruckblicke und Ausblicke einer universalen Wissenschaft (Development and task of geography: Past and future of a universal geography), Stuttgart/Wien 195*1 'Alexander von Humboldt', Grosse Naturforscher, ed. H.W. Frickhinger, Stuttgart, vol lU, l*i6p. Rudiger Beyer is a member of the scientific staff of the Geography Department at the University of Bamberg, West Germany. Re is indebted to Prof. Dr. Ernst Plewe for reviewing the manuscript and for his numerous hints and suggestions which the author integrated into the text. Translated into English by J. Adams and J. Kroner, members of the Department of English Linguistics, University of Bamberg.

Ewald Banse

Chronology 1883

Born in Brunswick, 5 May

1902

Final grammar school examination and enrolment at the University of Berlin in October

1903-05

Study at Halle university

1906-07

First voyage to Tripoli/Libya (stay of 13 months) and through the Near East

1908

Travel through Egypt, Mesopotamia and Anatolia (February-May, second OrientTour); first publication concerning his idea of the Orient as a continent

1909

Second stay in Tripoli (May-December, third Orient-Voyage)

1911

Refusal of his application for financial support by the Prussian Academy of Science for his Tibesti-Expedition

1911-12

Editor for geography, Brockhaus

1912

Publication of the first monograph on Tripoli; edition of his periodical

Lexikon

Die Erde - Zeitschrift fUr Lander- und Vdlkerkunde, Reise und Jagd (The Earth A Magazine for Geography, ethnology, Travel and Hunting) (until 191*0 191**

Expedition to the Libyan Desert; finally voyage via Tripoli to Morocco (fourth Orient-Tour, 7 weeks)

1915

Publication of his regional geography,

Turkei 1922-23

Banse's Lexikon in two volumes

der Geographie,

1922

The Neue Geographie founded as Banse's second journal (published until 1926); Banse nominated as a corresponding member of the Sociedad Geografica de Lima

192^

Travel to Scandinavia

1929

Study trip to the Alps

1932-3*»

Appointment as h.c. professor at the technical university of Brunswick

published

5

1933

Travel through south-east Europe

193^-^5

Appointment as h.c. professor at the technical university of Hanover

19^9

Application to F. Machatschek in Tucuman for a professorship is refused

1953

Died in Brunswick, 31 October

r

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown 1879-1957

T.W. FREEMAN Known to some as 'Ruddy Brown' and to others as 'R.B.', Rudmose Brown was one of the 'explorer' geographers of Britain, trained in the field sciences and at first a botanist and marine biologist. He certainly looked the part, for in appearance he was like some legendary Nordic hero and year by year described himself to his students as a pure Nordic Viking with his tall and rugged build, long head, blue eyes, red and golden hair, fresh complexion, mixed Aberdonian and Scandinavian ancestry, the latter through his mother. At all times he made his views known with refreshing directness and if he disapproved of the work of others he said so. His ire was roused by the concern of P.M. Roxby of Liverpool for the spread of Christian civilization in China...'a damned missionary'. His elder brother was professor of French in Trinity College, Dublin (University of Dublin) but contact between two very similar personalities did not produce harmony and the present writer, who knew and liked them both, was caught in the verbal crossfire and amused if slightly embarrassed by the comments they made on each other. Both were in essence sympathetic characters, kindly towards their students and genuinely interested in their young colleagues at a time when senior academics expected and sometimes received sycophantic deference. They were clearly men of distinguished background, in their right place as university teachers, blessed with a rich and at times distinctly broad sense of humour, attractive and entertaining in social relations but on occasion liable to cyclonic outbursts when some point of principle was involved. This paper is concerned with the geographer so the French scholar must now

Geographers Biobibliographiaal

Studies3

volume 8 (198U)

retire from the scene as some characters do in the novels of Jane Austen except to say that both brothers strengthened teaching and research in their respective fields at the two very different universities of Sheffield and Dublin. 1. EDUCATION. LIFE AND WORK Rudmose Brown the geographer, born in Clapham, London on 13 September 1879, was the son of Robert Brown (18U2-1895), described in an obituary {Geoar. J., vol 6 (1895), 577-8) as 'genial and kindly, fond of talk with intimate friends', and who, from choice, was known generally as Robert Brown of Campster (sometimes written as 'Camster') or Campsterianus after the small estate in Caithness of Campster and Friherrainda from which he came. This was to distinguish him from Robert Brown (1773-1858), a friend of A. von Humboldt called

facile

Botaniaorum Princeps, and one of the founders

of the Royal Geographical Society. The use of their mother's maiden name Rudmose by the sons of the Campster Robert Brown made them stand out from the innumerable other Browns of Britain. The father, Robert Brown of Campster, though mainly a botanist, was even better known for several popular geographical works, of which some were adaptations from foreign works and others compilations. He also wrote on the erosive power of ice but the obituary already mentioned notes that he was 'perhaps the most widely known exponent of popular geography of the present generation', in effect a man who had done much to disseminate the results of geographical science if not to advance geographical thought. He was also a member of various scientific

8

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown

expeditions, including Spitsbergen, Greenland and Baffin Bay in l86l, British Columbia in 1863-6 and the west coast of Greenland in I867 with Edward Whymper (181*0-1911). Dr Brown was also responsible for the geography section in the collection of Arctic papers prepared by the Royal Geographical Society for an expedition in 1875. With modifications in a later time and different circumstances, Rudmose Brown made a career strongly reminiscent of his father's, for he too came to geography through the field sciences, having had his school years at Dulwich and his university training at Aberdeen from 1896-1900 as a student of biology. As a new graduate of 1900 Rudmose Brown at once found a post as assistant to Patrick Geddes, who from 1889-1919 was professor of Botany at Dundee University College, then part of the University of St Andrews. On Geddes he wrote that In the eighties and nineties of the last century one of the most active minds in Scotland was that of Patrick Geddes. His penetrating insight, clarity of vision and versatility of of outlook were qualities which illumined his encyclopaedic knowledge and made him an original thinker in many branches of knowledge. Above all he brought to bear on human problems the evolutionary biological outlook...Ideas flowed from his active mind; old fetishes were overturned, new vistas opened. But always he introduced order into thought. His was a scientific mind in the best and widest sense of the term, but he never limited his scientific thought to the experimental sciences... (Geography, vol 33/3 (19H8), 110) Through Geddes Rudmose Brown came in touch with the botanical geography of Charles Flahault, professor of botany at the university of Montpelier. And he also welcomed the scheme of John Bartholomew and Geddes ('called a sociologist, quite rightly...but he was also a geographer, and a geographer before he was a sociologist') for an Institute of Geography, which unhappily never got further than the pages of the

Scottish

Geographical Magazine (vol 18 (1902), ll*l*-8

and 217-20).' Also in his formative years Rudmose Brown met A.J. Herbertson (1865-1915), a frequent visitor to the summer schools organized by Patrick Geddes at the Outlook Tower in Edinburgh, and others associated with research both in biogeography and regional geography, including Elisee Reclus (1830-1905), author of the

famous Nouvelle Gtographie Universelle

published from

1878-9^. The response of Rudmose Brown to Geddes and his associates revealed the hope that systematic study of the field sciences could be directly beneficial to mankind as well as interesting in itself, for geography was concerned with the interaction of environment and human life. There lay its problems, indeed its challenge, and in 19^8 Rudmose Brown said what many others have thought, that geography could well be a post-graduate study, as through inevitable circumstances it was in his case and also that of distinguished contemporaries including Marion I. Newbigin (1869-1931*), H.J. Fleure (1877-1966), Eva G.R. Taylor

(1879-1966), C.B. Fawcett (1883-1952) and P.M. Roxby (1880-19^7). But he never favoured Diplomas, which in his view 'attracted casual students' to a level of study 'well below the standards of a degree' {Geography, vol 33/3 (19^8) 116). Several universities offered diplomas eagerly sought by adult students, notably teachers, before honours degrees were available. . To Rudmose Brown the one crucial objective must be the full recognition of geography as a subject for Honours study. It took him sixteen years to achieve this in Sheffield. In 1902 Rudmose Brown, as a botanist and marine zoologist, joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of William Spiers Bruce (l867-192l), whose ambition was to lead a purely Scottish expedition to the Weddell Sea. Having raised substantial funds, including a large contribution from the Coats family of Paisley, Bruce converted an old Norwegian whaler into the Scotia, in which the expedition penetrated to latitude 7^ S, made many valuable oceanographical observations and discovered what was named Coats Land. Of this enterprise Rudmose Brown wrote in 1952 {Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 68/2, 99) that 'no other expedition has brought back from the Antarctic a richer harvest of collections and observations'. It gave him a lifelong love of Polar regions, aesthetically satisfying for 'the transcendent beauty of polar seas and lands', and he approved of Geddes' comment 'Go and see for yourself and don't be content with the views of others'. Indeed he went further in saying that I cannot believe that any physical geographer who has not visited uolar regions can be a wholly trustworthy exponent of the influence of ice on the landscape. See the ice at work; go back in time to the Pleistocene Ice Age and then talk to your students about ice. {Geography, vol 33/3 (191+8), 111*). Many teachers might feel 'If only we could' though they would be less enthusiastic about sharing the experience in his rhetorical question 'Can you imagine the savage power of great seas if you have not ridden the waves of the North Atlantic or Southern Ocean at their winter wildest?' On his return in 1901* Rudmose Brown worked at Bruce's Oceanographical Laboratory near, but not in, Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh and in the same year was given the medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his work in the Antarctic. In 1906 he became a vice-president of the International Polar Congress, of which he attended the 1906 meeting in Brussels. His first papers dealt with botany and plankton in the Falklands and farther south. They

were published in the Scottish

Geographical

Magazine

in 1903 and 1901+, and his last papers were published in the same journal, in 195Q on Spitsbergen (vol 66, 173-7) and in 1952 (vol 68, 97-100) on 'Fifty years ago: the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition'. Between lay a wealth of experience, though he never went to the Antarctic again and from 1909 his main interest was in Spitsbergen. However, in 1907 he went to the Mergui Archipelago, Burma, on the invitation of the Indian government to study the pearl fisheries, on which he wrote an interesting paper for the Scottish

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown Geographical Magazine (vol 23 (1907), ^63-83) with a more specialized treatment of the echinoidea and asteroidea for the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He became a D.Sc. of Aberdeen University in 1909 for a thesis on 'Seals of the Weddell Sea'. Meanwhile, in 1908, he had moved to Sheffield as lecturer in geography and there he remained to the end of his life. In an obituary D.L. Linton explained the happy chance that Rudmose Brown's appointment as the first lecturer in geography in the university of Sheffield ... had a direct connection with the Royal Geographical Society. In November 1907 the then President of the Society, Sir Taubman Goldie, was guest of honour at a dinner given in Sheffield by the Court of Governors, and he took the occasion to urge the young university to institute teaching in the subject. His words so inroressed Mr Edgar Allen, a steel manufacturer and notable benefactor to both city and university, that Mr Allen agreed to find half the salary of a young lecturer for five years. The post was advertised ... and in the summer of 1908 Rudmose Brown attended one of Herbertson's famous summer schools in Oxford - his only formal instruction - before taking up his duties in October. {Geogr. J., vol 123 (1957), 576-7) What this last sentence may unintentionally obscure is that through experience of exploration and oceanographical work, combined with the Geddesian inspiration, Rudmose Brown at the age of twenty-nine had already acquired much of the spirit of geography. At this time there were promising developments in the rising civic universities of the north of England, for P.M. Roxby had been at work in Liverpool from 1903 and in Manchester J. McFarlane (1873-1953) had lectured in geography since 1903, though there had been other lecturers from 1892. For many years Rudmose Brown worked faithfully on, but with little apparent r>rospect of building up a strong working department of geography: indeed at times its continued existence seemed to be uncertain. Like colleagues in other universities he was eager to improve the teaching of the subject in schools and he was, in his early years, a warm supporter of the Geographical Association which from 1893 had carried forward the work done earlier by the Royal Geographical Society and, locally, by the Manchester Geographical Society in schools, colleges and universities . Now he had time to face, as did other pioneers who were sole lecturers in universities, the problem of what modern geography should comprise and a paper of 1911*, 'The province of the geographer' {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 30 (1911*), U67-79), came as the first major indication of his approach. It was generally believed at the time that geography should provide, at all stages of education, some knowledge of the whole world, including its major structural and physical features, its climate, natural vegetation and agriculture, distribution of population, commerce and industry. Though sharing the general respect for the Herbertson scheme of 'natural regions', said by

many critics with partial accuracy to be in effect 'climatic regions', Rudmose Brown wanted students to have some conception of all the world. With this, throughout his career at Sheffield, he emphasized that geography must be firmly rooted in its physical basis, for only with such a foundation could its various branches achieve significance. He was too realistic a student of human life ever to become a 'determinist'. The world emphasis of Rudmose Brown was not unique for in one form or another regional, historical, climatic, geomorphological, human, it was part of the teaching provided in most British univerities during the interwar period. But this explains the final comment in the already quoted obituary by D.L. Linton, who succeeded to his chair (founded in 1931) that Rudmose Brown's career as a geographer, based on the twin foundations of exploration and natural science, was in some ways the most complete of any in Britain in his day and age. He was not a regional geographer like Herbertson or Ogilvie, or a systematist like those of us who belong to a succeeding generation. He was, to the last, a world geographer. Perhaps he was the last in this generation. His care for school education was shown in The scope of school geography of 1922, written with J. McFarlane and O.J.R.'Howarth (1877-195*0 and in The principles of economic geography, 1920 and later editions pub1 lished in 1923/l926, 1929, 193 * and 1939. For many years this was a useful textbook and he gave further service through acting as editor for a series of school texts published by the Harrap firm. In 191^ Rudmose Brown attended the meeting of the British Association in Australia, on which he wrote a full account in the Scottish Geographical Magazine (vol 30, 631-5). Although the First World War had broken out by the time the meeting took place, the programme was followed as originally planned except that a visit to New Zealand was cancelled and only a few went on a tour of Tasmania. The Australians made it possible for those present to see much of interest and naturally Rudmose Brown did so. He was particularly interested in a paper on the climatic Dossibilities of Australian agricultural settlement, then a controversial issue. For four years from 1915, though keeping watch over his Sheffield department, he worked in London for the Geographical Section of the Naval Intelligence Department and was author or part author of the hand-

books on Siberia

and Arctic

Russia,

1918, Norway and

Sweden, also 1918, Finland, 1919 and Mexico, also 1919. Later this work was allocated to the Historical Section of the Foreign Office, which in 1920 published seven more handbooks of which he was sole or part author,

Spitsbergen, Finland, Aaland Islands, British New Guinea, Greenland, Falkland Islands and Kerguelen and

Pacific Islands. The pur-nose of the handbooks was 'to supply by scientific arrangement, material for the discussion of naval, military and political problems, as distinct from the examination of the problems themselves'. They were used in service establishments and embassies throughout the world and in the early

9

10

Robert

Neal Rudmose

Brown

years after the war also by the League of Nations. Rudmose Brown could not claim close personal knowledge even of all the polar areas, still less of Mexico or British New Guinea, but geographers of his time were acquiring techniques of regional study from maps, statistics, government reports and other published material. Naturally cynics talked of 'armchair geographers' but for any area of considerable extent only a sampling technique is possible. And under wartime conditions a number of geographers were induced to write on areas which in fact they had never visited. During the Second World War Rudmose Brown was again asked to contribute to the Geographical Handbooks prepared by the Naval Intelligence Department but unfortunately the book for which they were written, to his eloquently expressed chagrin, never appeared. The unpublished chapters on Spitsbergen which he wrote have been deposited in the archives of the Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge. When he returned to Sheffield in 1919 the outlook for geography in the university did not appear to be bright so he applied for the advertised post as lecturer in geography at the university of Aberdeen, only to discover that his great friend and associate Dr W.S. Bruce appeared to be the university's first choice (in fact John McFarlane, at Manchester University from 1903, was appointed). He wrote to his old friend Bruce on 21 June 1919 and explained that in Sheffield 'an intrigue has been going on to undermine the position of my department and get it absorbed in geology ... I went to London in order to serve the interests of this country by doing work in which I was an expert and ... at no choice of my own but by request of the Admiralty'. He was then in need of a higher salary and Aberdeen would ensure 'a livelihood and facilities for the decent education of our child' though the Spitsbergen enterprise 'came as a godsend with its big fee'. Sheffield was not the only university where geologists were unhelpful to the advance of geography but comments by university teachers on other subjects are not invariably marked by charity or — more reprehensibly — understanding of their work. As it happened, Rudmose Brown's most fruitful years were to come quite soon. In 1920 Alan G. Ogilvie left Manchester University after only one year as Reader in Geography and Rudmose Brown was appointed 'to give assistance in the Department of Geography during the sessions 1920-21 and 1921-22' but 'without any title' in the university (letter of Registrar to TWF, 6 May 1983). Meanwhile in Sheffield for five years from 1919 a main concern was to establish an Honours degree course in the Faculty of Pure Science. Little support was given by the departments of physics and chemistry and when the main argument was won he faced the difficulty of persuading the university that he must have an assistant lecturer. In 192U Alice Garnett joined him on the Sheffield staff and in the same year they launched the Honours school in the faculty of Pure Science, followed by the Arts Honours degree in 1928. Through a time dangerous for university geography teaching, Rudmose Brown was instrumental in maintaining departments at both Manchester and Sheffield. From 1920-5 he wrote seven papers for the new

journal, Discovery, on polar areas and other writings for a general readership including contributions to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Chambers' and other encyclopaedias and the Encyclopedia Arctica (New York 19^0). He also contrbuted to the Dictionary of National Biography. There were various opportunities for geographers to make their work generally known, then as now. As a refreshing academic personality Rudmose Brown was greatly appreciated at meetings and conferences: he acted as Recorder for Section E of the British Association from 1920 to 1925 and its President in 1926. He served as President of the Sheffield branch o^ the Geographical Association for several years and he was a member of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society from 1925-8 and also in 19^5-6. Of the Institute of British Geographers .he was a founder member (193^) and its second President (following Professor C.B. Fawcett) in 1937-8. Honours included the Cuthbert Peek grant of the Royal Geographical Society in 1919, and also the presidency of the Antarctic Club in 1932 and of the Arctic Club in 19^9. In 19^5 he was awarded the insignia of a Commander of the Order of St Olav by King Haakon of Norway. But his finest memorial was the foundation of the Honours School of Geography in Sheffield University. He and his one and only colleague, Dr Alice Garnett, gave unstinted service to this work, accepting cheerfully a weekly teaching commitment of as much as twenty hours that would drive modern academics to livid rebellion. On retirement he stayed in Sheffield, his last years saddened by the death in 1950 of his wife, Edith Johnstone, an Edinburgh lady from an artist's family and a friend of the Geddes household, and he died in Sheffield on 27 January 1957. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT The clearest expression of his outlook on Reograrihy came in an address of 191^, introduced as 'delivered to the classes in Geography, University of Sheffield, during the session 1913-1^' {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 30 (l9lM, ^67-79). Rudmose Brown begins by quoting G.G. Chisholm's judgement that rivalry between schools of geography arose because 'some have insisted on treating man as determining the supreme aim of geographical studies ... while others have sought to bring into independent prominence the study of the forms and physical conditions of the earth's surface'. In his view geography was not one of the fundamental sciences. Derivative in itself, its own outlook on nature is built on a synthesis of other sciences which are in turn derivative, geology, meteorology, biology, anthropology and economics. It must rank, therefore, on the plane of sociology or of the science of human history with its roots lying deep and ramifying widely in the fundamental physical sciences ... Looking for an approach giving some unified purpose, Rudmose Brown found inspiration in the three-fold PLACE-WORK-FOLK association of Patrick Geddes

Robert Neat Rudmose Brown ('one whom I must always recognise as my greatest teacher'). This went beyond the view that geography was the study of distributions for the real concern was man and environment existing as a relationship that could be discerned by regional survey. For this to be done well the geographer 'must pass through some training in geology, meteorology, oceanography and anthropology and, if possible economics and biology too, and thence to geography properly sneaking'. To modern readers this may seem to be a counsel of perfection incapable of achievement, in the tradition of the Victorian polymaths with a zeal for academic versatility. But geographers of seventy years ago sought in regional study a synthesis of all that seemed to be relevant and Rudmose Brown quotes J. Arthur Thomson (l86l1933), the biologist and friend of Patrick Oeddes, "The description is correct that geography is a circle cutting many other circles, but that is precisely its peculiar scientific merit and virtue, that it expresses a unification or synthesis of complementary disciplines'. On historical geography Rudmose Brown quotes the dictum of the classical scholar, J.L. Myres, that geography 'essays to discover what happens where and to explain why anything which happens, happens just where it does; and under what combination of circumstances it does happen just there*. Sir John Myres may seem to have been almost as eager to underline words as Queen Victoria but he would certainly have agreed with Rudmose Brown's comment that 'the geographical milieu cannot account for all: there is also a directive force in human affairs that springs from man and affects his environment'. In other words, between man and environment there is always the idea. Rudmose Brown ended his article by a characteristic appeal for common sense and recognized three needs in teaching, of which the first is for sensible judgement. In his view the 'outstanding facts of geography ... are not the discovery of the North Pole and the South Pole' but 'events such as the realisation of the Suez and Panama canals'. Secondly, though exploration was for the few, geographers need to travel and could at least appreciate the variety of environments within the British Isles, and perhaps also see the Mediterranean and Arctic lands. Finally any teacher of geography must guard against the danger of killing an emotional appreciation of nature, and while my aim in this department must be to bring you to an understanding of how the surface features of our globe came to be a fit dwelling-place for men and how the multiple phenomena of nature act and interact on one another and influence man and his activities, who in turn reacts upon them, my success would be one-sided and incomplete if I failed to deepen your feeling of the beauty of it all or was unsuccessful in awakening in you some sense of its wonder. More than a peroration, this was an inspiration. Six years earlier, in 1908, Rudmose Brown wrote

an extended review of Elisee Reclus' L'homme et la terre, published in six parts from 1905-08 (Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 2k (1908), 369-7M. In this work 'the whole story of man's progress from his earliest beginnings to the dawn of our era is traced'. It deals with 'man's struggles and his progress, his wars and his alliances, his religions and his discoveries are all interpreted in terms of his changing environment'. History deals with time and geography in space but time and space are not mutually exclusive in either study for as Reclus puts it 'La Geographie n'est autre chose que l'Histoire dans l'Espace, de meme que l'Histoire est la Geographie dans le Temps'. Reclus insisted that the study of the earth's phenomena apart from their relationship to man is not geography and therefore geography becomes synonymous with human geography or anthropogeography. Even so, zoological and botanical geography are necessary for the complete study of man in his physical and human setting. But where could a line be drawn by geographers defining their field? For example Physical geography, in so far as it deals with the relations of land forms to and terrestrial phenomena to man and his work, is also tributary to anthropogeography. Otherwise it is not truly geography, but rather an aspect of geology. There is a tendency among some geographers to develop the purely physical side of their science at the expense of true geography {Scott. Geogr. Mag., 2k (1908), 370). Physical features change little but have different values from one age to another in human influence. The people also change though in every grade of upward progress there are survivals from earlier times, so that the same combination of forces can never come into operation twice. It needs little reflection to see that history can never repeat itself. Reclus' fine appreciation of man and environment meant so much to geographers of Rudmose Brown's time and may raise the nagging thought that something has since been lost by the abandonment of world geography and by many of regional geography also, much of it under the influence of such complacent phrases as one already quoted, that 'systematists ... belong to a succeeding generation'. Nevertheless it is in systematic Arctic study that Rudmose Brown made his main contribution to geography. In 1906 and 1907 Dr W.S. Bruce led parties to study Prince Charles Foreland, Spitsbergen, 'a neglected area', but through other commitments Rudmose Brown was unable to take part. Happily he was able to join the more elaborate Scottish Arctic expedition of 1909, for which the 1906 and 1907 visits were a preparation. In 1909 the travellers included the redoubtable John Mathieson of the Ordnance Survey, then aged 5*+ but eager to have "his first experience of Arctic camping, and also Alaisdair Geddes (1891-1917), the elder son of Sir Patrick Geddes, a young man of marked promise killed on wartime service: Mr Mathieson in retirement became a familiar figure as honorary librarian and map curator at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. This 1909 expedition was largely concerned with the economic development of Spitsbergen for Dr Bruce and his colleague

11

r

12

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown

Mr J.V. Burn-Murdoch formed the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate to tap the resources of the 1,650 square miles of 'estates' on which claims had already been made. In his book of 1920 (p. 251) Rudmose Brown ' noted that the estates contained 'vast fields of Carboniferous coal, smaller areas of Tertiary coal, some magnetic iron ore, oil shale and presumably free oil', as well as 'practically all the enormous deposits of gypsum in the country'. These resources were 'easily accessible and ... near good harbours'. Three years later, in July 1912, Rudmose Brown went to Spitsbergen again with W.S. Bruce for prospecting and surveying. They travelled by the Norwegian coastal mail steamer to Tromso and then on a 'small motor fishing-sloop' which took a whole week to reach Spitsbergen, after which they walked through the heart of Spitsbergen, an 'unexplored waste', and finally returned to Tromso on one of the American Coal Company's boats {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 28 (1912), 5^*3). They reported that the hunting of polar bears, blue and white foxes, and reindeer had been disastrous and strongly condemned the use of poison: in fact Spitsbergen had been 'almost cleared of game' and whaling was 'much diminished'. Rudmose Brown continued to condemn the avarice and stupidity of hunters, generally Norwegian. However coal mining, begun in 1872, had been greatly developed during the previous ten years, with Norwegian labourers, British foremen and American engineers: much of it was adit mining. Some marble was quarried also. In general there were some 300 miners at work in summer and 100 in winter. Most of the food supplies were imported from Norway though on Spitsbergen itself there were 100 live pigs and a few cows. The first cruise ship came in 1893 and some development of tourism might be expected. But the essential problem was lack of political control and consequently there was 'insecurity of tenure and absence of any kind of law except usage and might'. Except for whaling and hunting the exploration to 1912 had been in the hands of the British, Americans, Swedes and Norwegians, but Russians and Germans had also been looking anxiously for territorial claims. In 191*+ Dr Bruce went again, but not Rudmose Brown (then in Australia for the British Association meeting) though activity was restricted during the First World War. Afterwards, in 1919, the Scottish Syndicate was reconstructed with a much increased capital and an expedition were sent to prospect and develop the area claimed by British companies, covering in all onequarter of its entire area. In 1919 Spitsbergen had 1,000 summer residents. Rudmose Brown in his book of 1920 finished by asking 'who should have it?' and noted that the main interests were those of Britain, Norway and Sweden, with Russian to a lesser extent and of these Britain and Norway had the strongest claims. He suggested that Spitsbergen might become a mandated territory, acquired by the League of Nations, to be administered by either Britain or Norway. The possibilities of maritime trade in Arctic waters appeared to be increasing with the development of ports at Murmansk and Archangel in Russia and on the Petsamo river assigned to Finland in 1920 (to become Russian again in 1 9 ^ ) • As it happened Spitsbergen was assigned to Norway by a treaty drawn up by the Supreme

Council in Paris in December 1919 and signed on 11 February 1920 {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 36 (1920), 111-16) but this treaty was not ratified though in 1925 Spitsbergen, as Svalbard, became Norwegian. Economic activity continued for coal was sent to Norway, Sweden and Finland and the reserves were estimated to be 10,000 million tons. Through the years Rudmose Brown continued to follow the fortunes of Spitsbergen and wrote papers on its development. In the last paper but one of his life, 'Svalbard of today' {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 66 (1950), 173-7) he reported that the economic possibilities of the future lay in hunting and trapping, mining and tourism. The musk-ox had been introduced in 1929 and was protected by the Norwegian authorities. Although by 19^1 the civilian population had been evacuated, the hotel closed and the mines devastated, recovery was swift after the war. The general topography was known but there was still a need for detailed exploration in geology, oceanography and botany. In 1950 the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate was transferred to another British company. In 1927, the year when his book The Polar regions was published, Rudmose Brown gave the presidential address to Section E of the British Association at its meeting in Leeds on 'Some problems of polar geography' {Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 1*3 (1927) 257-81). At that time, before air survey became so effective a means of mapping, the existence of an Antarctic continent was 'still based on circumstantial evidence for little more than one-third of its coast was accurately known'. The question of its former connections with other lands of the Southern Hemisphere was already a live issue. Climatically greater knowledge of oscillations as expressed by the varying amounts of sea-ice and variations in the intensity of currents raised the hope that 'before long general weather forecasts of real value will be possible for some months ahead'. More oceanographical work was needed in the high southern latitudes. There were also many gaps in the knowledge of the Arctic and he showed the possible implications of further work as a basis for weather forecasting. Historically the attraction of Arctic lands and seas lay in trade but when that proved to be limited, even illusory to some degree, the idea was to reach the Pole. Through the years people in geographical circles came to expect Rudmose Brown to comment on the scientific significance of all polar exploration and he regretted that the publishers never issued a second edition of his 1927 book, The Polar regions. He saw the exploration of polar latitudes as part of the essential scientific enquiry which from the Age of Discovery and particularly from the nineteenth century had covered the entire world. He was well aware that expeditions with purely scientific aims and no sensational journey or feat in their programme would appeal in vain for funds, as both Scott and Shackleton realized. Even so he always respected achievement and in a paper of 1912 {Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 28, 20^-08) on the success of Raold Amundsen in reaching the South Pole a month before Scott he said that It must be remembered that the expedition did not carry a large scientific staff, in fact only eight men all told were landed, and their object

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown was to find and reach the Pole ... we need not look for much detailed scientific work such as Scott's expedition with its large staff will accomplish. But what Captain Amundsen's expedition lacks in this respect is compensated for in his geographical discoveries. At all times interested in the economic possibilities of polar lands, Rudmose Brown, having drawn attention to the dangers of destructive exploitation, especially in whaling and the fur trade, with a zeal comparable to that of the modern conservationist, reaches the conclusion that there may be some settlement in the outer rim ... with its prosperous, though scattered, colonists of pastoral interests, and its fur farms here and there supplying high-priced furs in limited numbers. But the settlement must wait until the pressure of population on the world's resources is even greater than it is today. The remoter parts, those without rich tundra and the ice-covered seas and lands, must remain deserts, visited only by roving hunters and occasional explorers. In short ... a shrinking of the Arctic wilderness but never its complete disappearance. In this extract there are traces of the idea prevalent in the 1920s that one solution of world population problems was to extend the area of settlement, however unfavourable climatic and other conditions might appear to be. But the cold realism of Rudmose Brown and others shows sound pragmatic sense. Like other geographers in British universities Rudmose Brown accepted the responsibility of studying the home area, and published two essays in the volume

edited by A.G. Ogilvie, Great Britain:

essays

in

regional geography (1928). In both of these, 'The Don valley and the South Yorkshire coalfield' (290-300) and 'Holderness and the Humber' (301-10) he acknowledges the help given by student theses written for degree work. The essays cover a wide range of topics, from fundamental physical features through historical development to modern economic problems, with a few vivid comments such as those on Sheffield (p. 296), still essentially a great workshop in a nook of the Pennines, essentially an industrial town in which the surface relief, alternation of ridge and valley, led in the period of prosperity in the nineteenth century to a great crowding in the valleys and somewhat later growth over the ridges. No city has a more beautiful site: scarcely any city has a more dreary appearance. Yet its western suburbs extending on to the gritstone moors and swept by clean winds are in striking contrast to the grimy monotony of its central part and eastern valley area. In 1936, when the Geographical Association visited Sheffield for a conference, he gave a paper of which the content was in full accord with the title, 'Sheffield, its rise and growth' (Geography, vol 21

13

(1936), 175-8U). But there were no other papers on his home ground and therefore it might be said that from geographical choice and perhaps opportunities his home ground was first the Antarctic and then the Arctic, particularly Spitsbergen.

3.

INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS

Rudmose Brown as a geographer owed much to his initial training in the field of sciences and in that he was in a traditional mould which led back to Alexander von Humboldt and many other naturalist-geographers of Europe including Russia. He took a broader view of geography than his friend at Cambridge, Frank Debenham (1883-1965), initially a geologist attached to R.F. Scott's Antarctic expedition of 1910, one of the founders of the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and its first Director in 1926. Debenham was able to encourage numerous expeditions by young scientists in polar latitudes both at Cambridge and in London in association with the Royal Geographical Society, while circumstances in Sheffield university were such that Rudmose had to be constantly there, guiding the progress of a small but vigorous department of geography. He retired from university service at the end of the Second World War before the modern expansion of British universities, and not least their geography departments, had begun. He owed much to the inspiration of Patrick Geddes and another lifetime friend, Hugh Robert Mill (l86l-1950). From the former he acquired inspiration rather than detailed knowledge and from the latter breadth of interest for though he shared Mill's lifelong devotion to polar research (which for health reasons he was never able to experience): he also admired Mill's educational writing in geography, his work for the British Rainfall Organization and his devotion to local regional survey. At a time when British geographers aspired to cover the whole world in their teaching, Rudmose Brown was in accord with current practice. A high proportion of graduates from modern universities such as Sheffield became school teachers and he was eager to give them a vision not only of the whole world but also of the fascination of any local area, at home or abroad. Even so, the main contribution of Rudmose Brown was to polar studies and he was one of a comparatively small but influential number of people who regarded such work as scientific advance rather than heroic adventure. Wisely, having in his strong early years been an Antarctic explorer, he later concentrated on the study of Spitsbergen and made it better known than various other polar areas having at least some economic significance. His views on its possible tourist attractions may now seem to be exaggerated, though they were shared by others including Frank Debenham, but his general writings on polar land were valuble for in our day research on geodesy, geomorphology (especially glaciation), meteorology, climatology, even economic and political geography, all draws data from polar latitudes. There lay his specialization and main interest. His natural pragmatism, however modified by the influence of Patrick Geddes, led him to regard internationally-minded idealists such as P.M. Roxby as romantics. In the broad scientific views of Geddes he found the idea of relationship between all organic

14

Robert

Neat Rudmose

Brown

life with the inorganic world and with the uniquelyendowed human species, capable of building a New World but also of reducing it to ashes. For all that he gave people hope.

Bibliography and Sources 1.

Sheffield

University

Calendar

(1957-8), 20-3

Linton, D.L., Geogr. J., vol 123A (1957), 576-7 anon., Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr., vol 23 (1957), viii-x Aberdeen Univ. Rev., vol 38 (1957-8), 213

1915 1919

1920 1922 1926 1927

1905

'Argentine Antarctic station', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 21, 207-10 (with J.H. Pirie) 'The Scottish Antarctic Expedition: second Arctic voyage of the Scotia1, Scott. Geogr. Mag., v o l 2 1 , 21+-37 'The b o t a n y of Gough i s l a n d ' , J. Linnean

1906 1909 1910 1912

1915 1920

Soc.,

vol 37, 238-50, 263-7 'Diego Alvarez or Gough island', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 21, 230-1+0 'Antarctic botany: its present state and future problems', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 22, 1*75-81+ " 'British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-09', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 25, 250-9 'Sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 26, 1+22-1+ 'The problems of Antarctic plant life', Sci.

Rep.

Scott.

Natl.

Antarc.

Exped.,

Natl. Rep. Antarc. Exped., no l+/ll+, 193-206 Memoranda and evidence in Report of the interdepartmental committee on research and development in the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands,

H.M.S.O., 161+ p. 'The Weddell centenary and the problems of Antarctica', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 39, 172-80 1929 'Recent Antarctic discoveries', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 1+5, 321-8 1930 'Antarctic discoveries', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 1+6, 321-8 1939 'Antarctic history - a reply to Professor W.H. 1923

1952

Hobbs', Scott.

Geogr.

Mag.,

191+3

vol 62, 97-9

'Fifty years ago: the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 68, 97-100

of

Map of Prince

Spitsbergen

Charles

Scott.

Mag.,

Foreland,

Spitsbergen,

1:

140,000, publ. H.S.H. Prince of Monaco 'Spitsbergen in 1915', Geogr. J., vol 1+6, 10-23 'Spitsbergen, terra nullius', Geogr. Rev., vol 7, 311-21 Geogr. 'The present state of Spitsbergen', Scott. Mag. , vol 35, 201-11 'The coalfields of Spitsbergen', Nature, vol 10l+, 115-16 'Recent developments in Spitsbergen', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 36, 111-16 'Mining developments in Spitsbergen', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 38, 115-i7 'New Arctic expeditions', Nature, vol 117, 696 'Preservation of wild life in Spitsbergen', Geogr.

vol 1+3, 167-70

Scott.

Geogr.

Mag.,

vol 1+3, 257-81

'The Soviet Polar station', Scott.

c.

1907 1910

d.

Geogr.

v o l 6 2 , 166-8 'The n l a c e names of S v a l b a r d ' , Geogr.

180-1+' 1950 'Svalbard of today', Scott. 173-7 The Mergui

J.,

Mag., vol 102,

Geogr. Mag., vol 66,

archipelago

'Mergui archipelago, its people and products', Scott.

Geogr.

Mag.,

vol 23, i+63-83

'Echinoidea from the Mergui archipelago and Mostcos islands, Lower Burma', Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh, vol 18, 36-1+1+ Books and contributions

to

books

(i) On polar topics 1906 (with R.C. Mossman and J.H. Pirie) The voyage 1919

no 3, 3-20:

also (et al.), 'The botany of Gough island', ibid. , 33-1+3 'Amundsen's Antarctic explorations', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 28, 20U-08 'The seals of the Weddell sea', Sci. Rep. Scott.

especially

'Some problems of Polar geography', (presidential address to section E of the British Association), 1938

Antarctica

exploration,

'The development of Spitsbergen', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 28, 561-71 Geogr. Mag., vol 1913 'Lost in the Arctic', Scott. 29, 193-5_

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY ROBERT NEAL RUDMOSE BROWN

a.

Arctic

1912

OBITUARIES

The Times, 21 January 1957 Allen, D., Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 73/2 (1957), 123-1+ Debenham, F., Polar Record, vol 8 (1957), U66-7 Garnett, A., Geography, vol 1+2/2 (1957), 123: also

2.

b.

1923 1927

1928

the Scotia, 3l6 p. Spitsbergen: exploration, hunting and mineral resources, 320 p. A naturalist at the Poles, 316 p. The Polar regions: the physical and economic geography of the Arctic and Antarctic, 2l+5 p.

of

'Antarctic and sub-Antarctic plant life and some

of its problems', Problems

Am. Geogr. S o c , 31+3-52

(ii) Educational works 1920 The principles of economic

of Polar

Research,

geography,

208 p.;

also 1923, 1926, 1929, 1931+1, 1939 1922 (with O.J.R. Howarth and J. McFarlane) The scope 1931 1932 e.

of school

geography,

158 p.

'The Antarctic' in Suggate, L.S., Australia

New Zealand, 1+07-13 Introduction, Harrap's General

works

General

School

and

Atlas

'Earth and man', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 2l+, 369-71+ 1911+ 'The province of the geographer', Scott. Geogr. Mag. , vol 30, 1+67-79

1908

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown 19lU 1930 19U8

"The British Association in Australia', Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 30, 631-5 'Fridtjof Nansen' (obituary), Geogr. J., vol 7^.92-5 'Scotland and some trends in geography', (Herbertson Memorial lecture), Geography, vol 33, 107-20

/. Works written for official use 1918-19 Handbooks prepared by the Intelligence Department of the Admiralty: Siberia and Arctic Russia, October 1918; Finland, January 1919; Norway and Sweden (jointly), December 1918; Mexico (jointly), 1919 1920 Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical section of the Foreign Office: no 36, Spitsbergen (jointly); no U7, Finland; no hd, Aaland islands; no 88, British flew Guinea; no 132 Greenland; no 138, Falkland Islands and Kergeulen; no 139-1+7, Pacific Is lands

15'

Chronology 1879

Born in London, 13 September

1896

After his schooldays at Dulwich College entered Aberdeen University as a student of biology and graduated in 1900

1900

Became assistant in botany to Professor Patrick Geddes at the University College of Dundee

1902

Joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

g. Contributions to the journal, 'Discovery' 1920-31 'The exploration of the sea', vol 1 (1920), 326-7; 'Problems of Arctic discovery', vol 2 (1921), 126-9; 'Lost Islands of the Southern Ocean', vol 3 (1922), 88-91; 'The attack on Mount Everest', vol 3 (1922), 291-*+; 'Plant life in the Antarctic', vol h (1923), 1^9-53; "The sovereignty of Polar lands', vol 5 (192*0, 77-81; 'Whaling in the Southern Ocean', vol 6 (1925), ^2-5; 'Captain James Cook', vol 9 (1928), 287-90; 'Why did Andree fail?*, vol 12 (1931), 69-72

1901*

Worked at W.S. Bruce's Oceanographical Laboratory, Edinburgh and published his first papers

1906

On the invitation of the Government of India, visited the Mergui archipelago, Burma, to study the pearl fisheries Attended the International Polar Congress, Brussels

1908

Appointed lecturer in geography at Sheffield University

Works on Sheffield and district h. 1928 'The Don valley and the South Yorkshire coalfield', 290-300 and 'Holderness and the Humber', 301-10 in Ogilvie, A.G. (ed.), Great Britain: essays in regional geography, Cambridge 1936 'Sheffield, its rise and growth', Geography, vol 21, 175-8U

1909

Awarded the D.Sc. degree of Aberdeen University Made the first of several visits to Spitsbergen as a member of Dr W.S. Bruce's Scottish Arctic Expedition (later visits in 1912, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1925)

1911*

Published a paper on "The province of a geographer' which was a fine statement of his views Attended the meeting of the British Association in Australia

1915-19

Attached to the Admiralty War Staff and was sole or joint author of several Handbooks for government use

1919

Awarded the Cuthbert Peek Grant by the Royal Geographical Society Returned to full time service at Sheffield University

1920

Gave assistance in geography teaching at Manchester University (to 1922) Became Recorder of Section E (Geography), British Association to 1925: was President of Section E in 1926

3. ARCHIVES The archives of the Scott Polar Institute, Cambridge, include many letters and other data of interest and the author is indebted to Miss Marguerita Oughton for work on these sources from 197^-6 when she was a Research Associate on a grant from the Social Science Research Council at the University of Manchester. Thanks are offered to Professor Alice Garnett for comment on this paper. The author is also grateful for the useful information courteously provided by Ms Edith Stewart of the Secretary 's Office, Aberdeen University, Mr K.E. Kitchen, Registrar of Manchester University and Mr David Wood, Administrative Assistant in the Registrar's Department, Sheffield University. T.W. Freeman is Emeritus Professor University of Manchester.

of

Geography,

16

Robert Neal Rudmose Brown

192U

Geography Honours course established in the Faculty of Pure Science, Sheffield University: Dr Alice Garnett joined the staff

1925

Served on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society (to 1928)

1928

Geography Honours course in the.jj'aculty of Arts initiated at Sheffield University

1931

Chair of Geography established to which he was appointed

1932

President of the Antarctic Club

193**

Became a founder member of the Institute of British Geographers (established 1933)

1937-8

Was President of the Institute of British Geographers following the initial presidency of Professor C.B. Fawcett

1939-**5

With Dr Garnett continued the teaching work at Sheffield through the war years, though both were attached on a parttime basis to the Naval Intelligence department in Cambridge. Unfortunately, the contributions made by Rudmose Brown were for a handbook never published

19^5

Given the insignia of a Commander of the Order of St Olaf by King Haakon of Norway Retired from university service after 37 years at Sheffield

19**9

President of the Arctic Club

1957

Died in Sheffield, 27 January

Robert Eric Dickinson 1905-1981

LELAND R. PEDERSON Courtesy of the Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley For more than half a century Robert Dickinson studied, taught, talked, and wrote geography with extraordinary vigour and enthusiasm. His active teaching career covered exactly fifty years, beginning with his appointment in 1926 as Assistant Lecturer in Geography at University College, Exeter, and ending in 1975 with his retirement to emeritus status as Professor of Geography at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He was a genuine Anglo-American, familiar with both Britain and the United States, but in his maturity he was neither typically British nor typically American, and he attributed the distinctive continental flavour of his ideas to his long association with French and particularly German geography and geographers. Throughout his career Dickinson explored and explained geography as a disciplined way of examining the world; the first and last books that he published deal with the history and nature of geography itself. But he also explored, through extensive travel and intensive field study, the continuously variable landscape that he took to be the subject matter of geography, and he interpreted its form and functional organization in terms of the human groups that occupied and shaped it. At one time or another Dickinson dealt with most aspects of human geography, but he is especially recognized for his pioneer contributions to urban geography and for his comprehensive work on Germany. He was socially aware and socially motivated, and he firmly believed that the disciplined study of geography could contribute not only to understanding the world, but also to remaking it for the better through applications in planning, regional development, and education. Geographers

Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

1. EDUCATION, LIFE AND WORK Robert Eric Dickinson was born on 9 February 1905 in Manchester, an only child in a family of humble circumstances. His father, a commercial traveller turned shopkeeper, died while Robert was quite young, leaving a penniless widow who supported her son and herself as. a singer. As a small child Robert became familiar with the vaudeville circuit and its stars, and he developed an enthusiasm for theatre and music that endured throughout his life. Whenever he could and wherever he was - Gatlinburg, Tanglewood, Paris or Berlin - he attended plays, oneras and concerts. Soon after moving to London he bought a cello and took a few lessons, but he found little time for serious study with a truly professional teacher until after he moved to Arizona. At the age of nine Dickinson was sent to Upholland Grammar School near Wigan in Lancashire from which he emerged in 1922 with a distinction in geography, a County Scholarship, and a determination to attend a university. Dickinson attributed his early interest in geography to C.H. Cox, teacher and headmaster, who directed him first to the University of Liverpool, where he was denied admission because he had not yet matriculated in Latin, and then to the University of Leeds, where he was accepted as a student without Latin. Geography had only recently become an independent department at Leeds under C.B. Fawcett (1883-1952), and Dickinson was among the earliest to pursue a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in geography. He achieved a first in 1925, and stayed at Leeds for a fourth year to obtain a diploma in education in 1926. Then, anxious to take responsibility for supporting his mother,

18

Robert Eric

Dickinson

Dickinson declined a fellowship at Leeds to accept an appointment as Assistant Lecturer, University College, Exeter. Fawcett's influence on Dickinson's ideas and career was substantial and enduring. Dickinson's B.A. honours thesis on 'Leeds as a Regional Capital', reworked under the same title for the M.A. degree from Leeds in 1928, obviously derived its theme from Fawcett's concern with the relations between administrative centres and the areas for which they provided commercial, professional and other services, and was related to Fawcett's classic Provinces of Britain, first published in 1919. Fawcett brought Dickinson with him as Assistant Lecturer when he was appointed Professor of Geography at University College, London, in 1928, and saw him promoted to Lecturer in 1932 and to Reader in 19^1. He supervised Dickinson's Ph.D., awarded at London in 1932 for a thesis on "The Distribution and Functions of Urban Settlements in East Anglia', for which P.M. Roxby (1880-19^7) of Liverpool was the external examiner. Both at Leeds and London, Fawcett was a diligent advocate and interpreter of the ideas of Patrick Geddes (185U-1932), to which Dickinson was thoroughly exposed, and for a time he drew Dickinson into the activities of the LePlay Society, with its programme of regional surveys based on the ideas of Geddes and Frederic LePlay (1806-1882); The Sociological Review, which carried Dickinson's first and several subsequent papers, was published by the LePlay House Press. The strong social conscience, the sense of purpose, and the great faith in planning that T.W. Freeman attributes to Fawcett (Geographers, Vol. 6 (1982), 39-^6) were also characteristics of his student and junior colleague. The early London years provided abundant opportunities for an ambitious young scholar to study, travel and publish, and Dickinson made the most of them. In his third year at London he was awarded a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship, which allowed him a splendid and/exciting year of travel in the United States. His diaries, selectively edited many years later, still reveal his youthful fascination with 'American' culture, from fraternities to iced cold drinks, and describe his professional preoccupation with the layout and internal zonation of Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Seattle, New York and other large cities that he visited and explored intensively. In St. Louis he rode a horse for the first time, in Boulder he skied for the first time, and in Ypsilanti, Michigan, he attended an annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers for the first time, 29 December 1931 to 1 January 1932. There he presented a paper on 'Some new features of the growth and distribution of population in England and Wales', which was published in The Geographical Review for 1932 and for which he was sponsored by C.C. Colby (188U-I965). He met Mark Jefferson (1863-19^9), whose work he admired and often quoted, took a 'physiographic excursion' through New England with A.K. Lobeck (1886-1958) of Columbia, and travelled by motor car for three weeks, from California to Vicksburg, with William J. Talbot (1908) , later Professor of Geography at Cape Town. Out of this sampling of the American scene Dickinson drew material for two papers that he

published in 193^, one on Chicago for a European readership and the other on the metropolitan regions of the United States. Both contributed to his topical or systematic specialization in urban geography, but in spite of his long residence and considerable subsequent travel in the United States and Canada, Dickinson never developed a strong regional specialization on the Americas. Instead he turned to the European continent, and especially Germany, where he began in the early thirties to study settlement and particularly urban places, their 'catchment orbits', their ground plans, and what he came to call their 'build', In common with most British students Dickinson had learned some French in school; unlike most British scholars he also took up the serious study of German. In the early thirties he studied both languages on his own and he practised them by writing his diaries in one or the other. He spent several summers in Bonn, studying German and studying geography in the university library, and for another full year, September 1936 to September 1937, was supported by a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship 'to study current trends of growth and research in the field of urbanism' on the continent. Dickinson spent the first several months of his travel year in Germany, where he made many 'long and carefully chosen traverses', sometimes in someone's motor car or by bus, but more often by rail, studying the landscape and selected towns, talking with residents , always learning German and geography and especially the geography of Germany. He was focusing his study on settlement, and in Germany in the thirties this meant form much more explicitly than in Britain: the 'consistent common features of layout and architecture' of German towns; the repeated versus the variable elements in farmsteads; the relationship between rural settlement forms and field plans; the manner in which cities grow and the forms that growing cities take; and the way in which morphology reflects function. Everywhere he visited university geography departments and met at least some members of their faculties. He attended lectures, and admired the free-for-all discussions of the German colloquia 'unthinkable in Britain or France' - and the German custom of friendly association and discussion over beer. He attended a larger conference at Jena in October 1936, of which the main theme was putting geography into the service of National Socialism, and in Berlin and elsewhere he heard German scholars debate the meaning of Kulturlandschaft. Twice in that year Dickinson joined Walter Christaller (1893-1969) on excursions in Christaller's motor car, once after the Jena conference in October through Erzgebirge, and again in April of 1937 from Heidelberg to Stuttgart, with stimulating discussions of the distribution and function of towns as they passed through them. Dickinson also spent one month of his travel year in Holland, and several months in France. After improving his initially inadequate oral French and insulating himself against what he perceived as the French antipathy to foreigners Dickinson travelled extensively, examining and interpreting for himself the French countryside and cities, and attempting to define regional boundaries from observation of the

Robert Eric Dickinson visible landscape. A high point of his French adventure was a seven-day walking tour of the Bauges with Raoul Blanchard (1877-1965) of Grenoble, whom Dickinson greatly admired for his stamina and verve, for his enormous skill in informal interviews with common folk, and, one senses, for his considerable self-esteem. France provided Dickinson with a good many observations and the French material fed his systematic specialization in urban and settlement geography, contributed to his later courses on Western Europe, and stimulated his methodological interests. However, except for a paper on 'Urban Morphology in France' that Dickinson delivered to the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in 1951 and the small piece that he compiled for the LePlay Society c. 193**, Dickinson never wrote specifically about France. He continued to monitor trends in French geography, which he discussed at length in

The Makers of Modern Geography (1969), but Germany and German geography drew his more active participation and interest.

Dickinson published three papers on Germany in 1938. One dealt with medieval German towns. Another reviewed the history of geopolitical thought from l Ratzel (18UU-190U) to Haushofer (l869-19 *6), and reported to a mostly British audience on German efforts to redirect geography to the practical service of national socialism, which Dickinson had observed at the Jena conference in 1936. The third, in the Geographical Review, dealt not only with economic regions of Germany but also with concepts of regionalization relevant to Germany and elsewhere; in it, Dickinson commented favourably on the work of Christaller and Otto Schlier (1899) with central places, and reviewed the new regions formulated for planning and political purposes in the Third Reich by the dominant Nazi party. He was emerging as a British authority on Germany when the war struck and he continued to publish original material on Germany during and after the war, and well into the 1960s. The enormous depth and breadth of Dickinson's knowledge of Germany and his mastery of the geographical literature on Germany are perhaps most impressively revealed in his monumental and comprehensive Germany:

A General and Regional Geography, first published in

1953 with a second edition in 1961. But Dickinson was a student of geographical thought and method as well as substantive geography. He had established his credentials as a historian of geography in 1933 when, with O.J.R. Howarth (1877-1951*)

as co-author, he published The Making of

Geography,

his first book. In that compact and competent volume the authors concluded that the distinctive field of geography was the region, a notion that they took to be at variance with the prevailing view in Britain, and that modern German geographers had done the most to develop regional study, involving the description and interpretation of physical and cultural landscapes (p. 250-1). Dickinson's travels, conversations, reading and field observations during the thirties reinforced his belief that British geography was out of step with both continental and American geography. Apparently and ostensibly in response to P.R. Crowe's criticism of the concept of the cultural landscape,

Dickinson published in The Scottish

19

Geographical

Magazine (Vol. 55 (1939), l-l1*) under the title 'Landscape and Society' a careful explication of the morphological study of landscape, which he believed that the 'great majority of leading geographers abroad' accepted as 'an integral part - according to some the central objective - of geography'. He invoked the names of Otto Schluter (1872-1952), Jean Brunhes (1869-1930), and Carl 0. Sauer (1889-1975) as the major formulators of the modern concept in their respective countries, and in his own critique and restatement he offered some modifications and amendments that broadened the concept and incorporated and gave significance to functional studies, such as his own early work with British towns. Dickinson believed then, and he still believed in 1970, when his Regional Ecology was published, that the concept of landscape morphology fits squarely within the regional concept (p. l8l), which to him was the essence of geography, but that 'In Britain, the landscape concept made no impact whatever before World War II', as he personally could 'testify by the cold reception given to (his) studies of urban morphology' (p.27). Dickinson may well have overdrawn the British reaction to landscape morphology, for he was often notably sensitive to criticism, but his statements clearly indicate that British regional geography was • something different from regional geography as practised on the European continent. Throughout the thirties Dickinson maintained a home for himself and his mother twenty miles north of London in Welwyn Garden City, one of the 'new towns' of Britain, planned and founded in 1921 according to the principles of Ebenezer Howard. In 191*1 Dickinson'a mother died, and in the same year he married Mary Winwood, a nurse who had cared for his mother during her terminal illness. For the remaining forty years of his life, Mary accompanied him on his travels and in the field, often as chauffeur, and when time permitted pursued her own interest in painting. The year 19**1, of course, was wartime, and Dickinson was drawn into uniform as a member of the ISTD, the Inter-Services Topographic Department, where he served until demobilized in 19**5. According to an interview that Dickinson gave the student newspaper, the Arizona Daily Wildcat, 2 March 1973, the ISTD was a top-secret intelligence organization that was obliged to analyze terrain and make maps for military purposes, often under great pressure. Dickinson was stationed at Oxford during the war and returned to University College, London, in October 19**5. Dickinson spent two more years at London and then, in 19^7, accepted an invitation to join the faculty of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, first as a Visiting Professor and then, after 19^8, as Professor. In a letter dated h May 1982, Preston James (1899) reports that it was department policy at the time to have a specialist on each major area of the world and that George Cressey (1896-I963), who was then chairman at Syracuse, was encouraged to invite Dickinson to fill the vacant slot for Europe. Dickinson also became the resident specialist in urban geography and in the history of geographical thought. At least once, probably in the summer of 19**8, Dickinson participated in the joint Syracuse-Northwestern field course held annually in

20

Robert Eric

Dickinson

southern Wisconsin (John H. Thompson C1919], letter dated k April 1983), and in the summer of 19^*9 the Dickinsons guided four graduate students on an intensive study tour of Europe, froni Italy's Mezzogiorno to Britain (Robert B. McNee C1922D, letter dated 3 June 1982). From this trip McNee gained material and inspiration for the further study of the Italian Mezzogiorno, on which he wrote both his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation under Dickinson's supervision. A dozen other students wrote theses or dissertations under Dickinson at Syracuse on a variety of political, economic and settlement topics. In the early fifties Dickinson embarked on a new and large research programme in southern Italy. Agrarian reform and economic development were popular issues in post-war Europe, and the need for both was perhaps nowhere more apparent or more genuine than in Italy's Mezzogiorno. When the Italian government initiated a programme of reform and regional development, Dickinson established his own programme of research to assess both the problem and the solution. With support from the Social Science Research Council and the Office of Naval Research, the Dickinsons spent the year 1951-2 in Europe and the Mediterranean area, focusing on the Mezzogiorno, but managing also to review rural development in the eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel), and to spend a month intensively studying Italian, a language essentially new to them, in Florence. Dickinson aimed to 'measure the regional variants of poverty' and to 'assess the measures and prospects of regional development'. The first major product of the Italian research was his essay on

The Population

Problem of Southern Italy

(1955), in

which he bluntly identified an 'obsolete social system' as causative of the 'enormous population problem', and described both the Mezzogiorno and the Italian programme for reform and development of it. He continued to follow the programme and to publish on it and he returned to assess the results some years later, reporting in 19, James, P.E. and Martin, G.J., The Association of American Geographers: the first seventy-five years, 1904-1979, Assoc. Am. Geogr. (1978), 279 p. Manning, T.G., Government in Science: the U.S. Geological Survey, 1867-1894, Univ. Kentucky Press (1967), 257 p. North, S.N.D., 'Henry Gannett', Natl. Geogr. Mag.t vol 26 (191M, 609-13 Pinchot, G., Breaking new ground, Univ. Washington Press American Library edition, Seattle and Washington (1908), 522 p. Pyne, S.J., Grove Karl Gilbert: a great engine of research, Univ. Texas Press (1980), 306 p. Rabbitt, M.C., Minerals, Lands and Geology for the common defence and general welfare, vol 1 Before 1879, Washington (1979), 331 p. Stenger, W., Beyond the Hundredth Meridian, fourth printing Sentry edition, Boston (195*0, U38 p. Wright, J.K., Geography in the making: the American Geographical Society 1851-1951, New York (1952), 1*37 P. 2. SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY HENRY GANNETT 1878 'Report on the arable and pasture lands of Colorado', U.S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. of the Territories, 10 Annu. Rep., Washington, 313-^7 1879 'Report on the geographical work of the Green River Division during the field season of 1877', U.S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. of the Territories, 11 Annu. Rep. , 673-710 188H 'A dictionary of altitudes in the United States', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., no 5, Washington 1885 Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States showing by graphic methods their present condition and their political, social and industrial development, with Hewes, F., New York, 120 p. 1892 'The Mother Maps of the United States', Natl. Geogr. Mag. , vol h, 101-16 1893 'A manual of topographic methods', U.S. Geol. Surv. Monogr., no 22, Washington 189^ 'A geographical dictionary of Connecticut', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., no 117 1895 'A dictionary of geographic position in the United States', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., no 123 1896 'The work of the United States Board on Geographical Names', Natl. Geogr. Mag., vol 7, 112-15 'Magnetic declination in the United States', U.S. Geol. Surv. 17 Annu. Rep., 1895-6, part 1, 211-UU5 1899 'Forests of the United States', U.S. Geol. Surv. 19 Annu. Rep. 1897-8, part 5, 1-66 1901 'A gazetteer of Puerto Rico', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull, no 183

1901 1902

190U 1905 1906 1908 1909

1910 1911

'Profiles of rivers in the United States', Water Supply and Irrigation Papers of the U.S. Geol. Soc. no 44 'The origin of certain place names in the United States', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull, no 197 'The forests of Washington: a revision of estimates', U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. no 5 'A gazetteer of Indian territory', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull, no 248 Commercial Geography (with Carl L. Garrison and Edwin J. Houston), New York and Cincinnati, Ul5 p. 'A gazetteer of Colorado', U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull, no 291 'Conservation League of America', Natl. Geogr. Mag., vol 19, 737-9 Cuba: Population, History and Resources 1907, Washington, 275 r>. 'Farm tenure in the United States', Ann. Am. Acad. , vol 33, 61+7-57 'Great Ice Barrier', Natl. Geogr. Mag., vol 21, 1T3-U 'Population of the United States', Natl. Geogr. Mag. , vol 22, 3lt-U8

3. UNPUBLISHED SOURCES ON HENRY GANNETT Gannett's personal papers and library are not conveniently located in one accessible collection. His library appears to have been widely dispersed after his death in Washington, D.C. because a few of his personal books have turned up as far away as Colorado, now part of college library collections in what was once the locale for some of his most important field work. His letters have suffered a similar though more traceable fate. They appear in small numbers in collections located throughout the United States, such as at the Bancroft Library in Berkeley and at the Yale University Archives in New Haven. Because of his official connection with government and national organizations, the greater part of Gannett's correspondence is concentrated geographically in the Washington, D.C. area at the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Geological Survey Archives.

Dr. Robert H. Block in Colorado Springs,

is

a historical Colorado

geographer

living

Chronology 18U6

Born in Bath, Maine, 2h August

1866-70

Attended Harvard University and received degrees from the Lawrence Scientific School and Hooper Mining School

1871

Joined the Hayden Survey as an astonomertopographer

187U

Married Mary E. Chase of Waterville, Maine

Henry Gannett 1879

Became member of the United States Geological Survey

1880

Began association with United States Census Office

1882

Appointed chief geographer of the United States Geological Survey

1888

Co-founded the National Geographic Society and the Geological Society of America

1890

Co-founded the United States Board of Geographic Names; geographer of the Eleventh Census

1897

Director of a Division of Forestry in the United States Geological Survey

1900

Geographer of the Twelfth Census

1903

Geographer and editor for the National Conservation Commission Secretary of the Eighth International Geographical Congress; co-founded the Association of American Geographers

190H

1907

Directed statistical census of Cuba and Puerto Rico

1910

President of the National Geographic Society and vice president of the Association of American Geographers

191^

Died in Washington, D.C., 5 November

49

John Paul Goode 1862-1932

GEOFFREY J. MARTIN 1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Born on the pioneer fringe near Stewartville, Minnesota on 21 November 1862, J. Paul Goode knew hard work and developed a keen sense of responsibility in the harsh environment. His grandfather came from Frankfort-am-Main in the 1780s and settled in New York City. His father, Abraham John Goode, was a contractor and builder who came from Eastern Pennsylvania, and his mother, Huldah Jane Van Valkenburgh, came from a well known New York family: John Paul consequently enjoyed some social and economic advantages in upbringing not common to frontier living. Even so he helped to finance part of the cost of his education by singing in choirs and quartettes, for he had a beautiful voice and one which would stand him in good stead for the profession which he was to enter. Preparatory study was undertaken in the public schools of Olmstead County and in the Rochester Seminary, Rochester, Minnesota. This was followed by four years at the University of Minnesota (1885-9) where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1889 he accepted a position at the newly opened Minnesota State Normal School, Moorehead, Minnesota, where he taught classes in chemistry, physics, zoology, botany, geography and astronomy. When the president of the Moorehead Normal School, Livingstone C. Lord, accepted the presidency of the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, Goode went with him as professor of physical science and geography. In 189^ Goode began his graduate study. In that year he studied in the Harvard Summer School; in the summer of 1895 he studied geology at the University of Geographers

Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198*0

Chicago and during the summer of 1896 he was instructor in geology at the University of Minnesota. From 1897 to 1898 he was fellow in geology at the University of Chicago. During the four summers from 1897 to 1900 he was instructor in r>hysiograr>hy and meteorology at the University of Chicago. It was at this time that Goode worked with Henry J. Cox, of the Chicago office of the U.S. Weather Bureau, to produce Lantern Illustrations for the Teaching of Meteorology which was accompanied by 269 lantern slides. On 1 October 1900 Goode entered the Department of Philosophy of the University of Pennsylvania and remained in residence until 5 April 1901. Goode's choice of courses showed a major concentration on economics with geology and sociology as secondary subjects. Already at Chicago he had completed fifteen courses in geology, two in mineralogy and eight in economics, passed written examinations in physiography, economics, economic geology and sociology, and then presented a thesis entitled 'The Influence of Physiographic Factors upon the Occupations and the Economic Development in the United States'. A doctorate was bestowed on Goode in 1901 for a rambling thesis which included material on the distribution of mineral wealth, drainage, formation of soils, physiographic provinces of the United States, classification of harbours, and a study of climate and ocean currents, forests and cereals! It seems to be the second doctorate only in the history of American academic geography to have broken away from the geologic or physiographic tradition (though the degree was awarded in the Faculty of Economics). Interestingly the first such was also

52

John Paul

Goode

awarded at the University of Pennsylvania, to Emory R. Johnson for his 'Inland Waterways: their relation to transportation' (l8°3). Much of Goode's work was accomplished under the direction of Simon Patten. Emory Johnson, in charge of the development of transportation economics and an emerging core of economic geography, was at work on a cost-benefit study for each of two proposed routes for the Isthmian Canal, one through Nicaragua and the other through what was later to be called Panama. Johnson's student, J. Russell Smith, was his assistant. In 1901 Goode received an appointment as instructor of Commerce in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. During 1901-02 he taught classes in 'Physiography' and 'Economic Geography of America'; and in 1902-03 he offered 'Geomorphy (sic.) with Economic Applications', 'Climatology with Economic Applications', 'Political Geography', and 'Economic Geography of America'. In 1903 the University of Chicago established a Department of Geography under the leadership of Rollin D. Salisbury. Salisbury had apparently invited Goode to prepare the 'outline and argument' for the Geography courses to be included in the departmental offerings. Goode did what was asked, then resigned his nosition at Pennsylvania and joined Salisbury at Chicago, where he established the initial courses to be developed later by other faculty members, as W.D. Pattison has explained {Prof. Geogr. , vol 30/1 (1978), 3-8). Within the department Goode concentrated on offering courses relating to meteorology and climatology, economic geography and cartography. He lectured extensively in the university extension division and was promoted to associate professor in 1908 and to professor in 1917. As the years passed he concentrated more and more on his beloved cartography. Although he was able to help numerous graduate students he did not supervise graduate theses or dissertations in cartography: apparently the first U.S. dissertation dealing exclusively with cartographic matters was completed many years later, in 19^3. Goode's interest in the Far East led to two significant engagements. In 1909 President Taft appointed him as a government escort to assist in conducting a distinguished group of Japanese financiers — the Honorary Commercial Commissioners — in a tour of North America, visiting fifty-five leading cities. Two years later, in 1911, Goode was invited by the Philippine government to lecture to the Educational Assembly at the Summer Capitol at Baguio. Having given a series of lectures there he spent the remainder of the year travelling in the Philippines, China and Japan. During his career Goode held a number of significant offices. In 190U he was a founder member of the Association of American Geographers, councillor in 1907 (and 1927 and 1928), second vice president in 1916, chairman of the Committee on the Spelling of Foreign Geographic Names for American Use, 1921, and president in 1926. He served as co-editor of the Journal of Geography from 1901-0U, helned to organize the Geographic Society of Chicago, was its third president in 190lt-06, a director until 1929 and recipient of the Helen Culver Gold Medal for 'distinguished achievement in cartography' (1923). He was a fellow

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and general secretary for that Association 1907-08. Goode married Ida {Catherine Hancock, at Crookston, Minnesota, 12 September 1901. Mrs Goode was to become Chicago's first woman represetative in the General Assembly at Springfield. A son, Kenneth Hancock Goode, was born to the couple. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT J. Paul Goode was a man of independent mind. His first article, 'An item on ballot reform' {The Nation 1889), was published the same year in which he graduated from the University of Minnesota. 'An explanation of the so-called pseudo aurora' {Science 1895) and 'Injuries to the eye, caused by intense light' {Science 1902) typify his darting type of intellectual curiosity. In 190H a patent was granted to him for inventing the sunboard, an apparatus permitting laboratory work with the sun's shadows. A laboratory in the basement of his home permitted a great variety of experimentation. Nevertheless Goode must be remembered for his contributions to economic geography, ontography and human ecology, and cartography. It is also of interest to recall that he offered one of the first courses in the 'history of geographic thought' in the U.S. (Goode had a particularly wide knowledge of Greco-Roman geography). Incidentally others who offered courses in the history of thought in the U.S. during the 1920s included C O . Sauer, E.C. Semple and E. Van Cleef. At the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, he had offered 'Geomorphy' (not a misprint — note the independence of mind in coining the term) and 'Climatology' , both 'with economic applications'. Additionally he had offered a course on the 'Economic Geography of America'. In his first two years at Chicago 190305 he was to offer courses on 'The Geography of Commerce', 'Commercial Geography', 'Economic-Geography of Europe', 'Economic Geography of Tropical Countries', 'Economic Geography of North America', and 'The Geographic Problems of the Orient'. This was almost certainly the largest university concentration of courses in economic geography in the United States at that time. Practical consequences were to flow from this development: in particular the Chicago Harbor Commission invited him to study some of the seaports of Europe and report back to them concerning the feasibility of developing the Chicago waterfront. In 1908 Goode visited the ports of Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Leith (Edinburgh), Newcastle-on-Tyne, London, Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg. He wrote What the ports of Europe are doing... Chicago's Commercial Opportunity (1908). Later in his enthusiasm for Chicago and its opportunity, he wrote The Geographic Background of Chicago (1926). The economic geography motif of these publications was explicitly revealed in numerous articles including 'Story of the Manchester Ship Canal' (1909), 'Commercial geography as an element in business education' (l9l6), 'A course in economic geography' (1918), 'A course in economic geography for the high school' (1919), and 'Geography in industry and business' (1920). In 1907 Goode delivered a paper before the

John Paul Goode Association of American Geographers entitled 'A College Course in Ontography'. Goode's abstract of the paper reads 'Outlines of a course in the principles of geography, with the purposes of emphasizing the inter-relationship of life and its physical environment. Essentially an elementary course in plant, animal and human ecology'. That may well have been the first time the term human ecology was adopted in the history of U.S. geography. Significantly Goode began to substitute the notion of earth-organism reciprocity for the one way environmental causality of W.M. Davis. When E.C. Hayes wrote to Goode c.1907 asking for his ideas concerning the content and objectives of the then 'new geography' Goode in reply wrote that it was 'Human ecology, a study of the geographic conditions of human culture...'. It is probable that Goode borrowed the term from Henry C. Cowles, a plant ecologist at the University of Chicago, who was a founding member of the Association of American Geographers, and who offered an elementary course in 'Ecology' and another in 'Physiographic Ecology' within the Department of Botany. Shortly thereafter Park, Burgess, and McKenzie, also of Chicago, exploited this theme in sociological studies and in 1922 H.H. Barrows took the term and theme to a wider audience in his presidential address to the Association of American Geographers, 'Geography as Human Ecology'. Yet it is in the field of cartography that Goode has left his most enduring contribution. From an early age he had a keen appreciation for beauty in art and photography which extended also to maps. Shortly after arriving in Chicago (1903) Goode acted as general adviser to Rand McNally and Co. He suggested that they develop a map institute comparable in quality and scope to such firms as Bartholomew in Scotland, or Justus Perthes and Wagner and Debes in Germany. He also urged that the company should issue a series of wall maps. Accepting Goode's recommendation of Eugene Van Cleef, the first student at Chicago to complete a geography 'major', Rand McNally hired him to make a survey (1908-11) of the demand for the maps proposed by Goode. Van Cleef ascertained that the demand existed so Goode produced a series of eighteen maps for school use, published from 1913 to 1917. The series brought the wall map into the classroom in a manner not previously accomplished in the U.S.A. Goode showed Rand McNally on this occasion a way to produce colour register with copper plates comparable in neatness to those produced by European map makers who printed from lithographic stone. He also urged the company to take the elasticity from paper before printing maps; this was a simple notion, but one that had previously eluded American map makers. In the years 1908-10 Goode developed a series of thirty-six maps and charts, each available in one or more of five sizes, which were copyrighted and sold by the University of Chicago Press. These were frequently revised, and redrawn, and were used extensively in North America (on Goode's death in 1932 Henry M. Leppard assumed the editorship of the Series). Dissatisfied with the 'evil Mercator' he sought to develop a map projection whereby a flat map of the globe would demonstrate shapes of land masses without

53

distortion. In 19l6 he advanced work on the problem when he designed the interrupted homolographic projection, of which a weakness was that the shrunken equator and expanded low latitudes produced an elongated Africa and South America. In 1919 he published an interesting paper on the interruption of the homolographic projection, 'Studies in Projections: adapting the homolographic projection to the portrayal of the earth's surface entire'. Goode persevered with the problem and adopted the sinusoidal 'grill' (his word) for the low latitudes, and beyond that the homographic projection (the point of concidence being U0*UUf 11.8"... computed by Richard Hartshorne, 192*0. By combining the sinusoidal and the homolographic projections Goode designed a projection for which he claimed 'more truth and less error...than in any alternative projection which carries the earth's surface entire'. This was the homolosine projection: homolo (from homolographic) plus sine (from sinusoidal). It was much favoured in American geography and became the precursor for other interrupted projections. Each of these map projections was published and copyrighted by the University of Chicago Press. He had taught a course'Cartography and Graphics' at the university since 1908 (the first such university course in the U.S.A.) and had frequently shared his cartographic enthusiasm with colleagues at annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers in a series of papers: 'The requisites of a school wall map' (1908); 'A new series of wall maps for schools' (191*0; 'A new idea for a world map: A substitute for Mercator's Projection' (1916); 'The evil Mercator' (1922); 'The homolosine projection' (1923); 'Progress in cartography in Poland' (192*0; 'An atlas of economic geography: report of progress', co-authored with O.E. Baker (1925); 'The map as a record of progress in geography' (presidential address 1926); and 'A new projection for the world map: the polar equal area' (1928). Yet it was Goode's School Atlas which was to perpetuate his name. For some years his classes and those at many other schools, colleges and universities had studied the Dieroke Sohul Atlas by C. Diercke and E. Gaebler. Of Goode's new production Bowman wrote that 'we can substitute it for the atlases of foreign manufacture upon which we have had hitherto to depend'. A revised edition of the atlas was published in 1932, only days before Goode died at Little Point Sable, Michigan on 5 August 1932. The atlas was to live on for sixty years and go through sixteen editions after its initial appearance, and with its name changed to Goode's World Atlas (9 ed 1953) the atlas functions as a posthumous tribute to a cartographic craftsman. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS In developing such a strong emphasis on economic geography at the University of Chicago by both offerings and publications it seems probable that Goode encouraged other institutions to offer similar courses. And the practicality of economic geography permitted the development of geography departments which were not viewed as extensions of geology departments. Goode was an enormously successful speaker whose services were requested by teachers' associations, community assemblies, business groups and chambers of

54

John Paul Goode

commerce. He developed his presentation to a fine art and with his melodious voice and choice illustrations (he was a fine photographer) became one of the known lecturers of his day. C.C. Colby has claimed that he lectured in practically every state and large city in the country bringing geography, and especially economic geography, to the attention of large numbers of people in all walks of life. Occasionally Goode would undertake a lecture tour, managed by a professional lecture company; these could be so successful that with the income generated he could finance his own leave from the university. It is difficult for us to realize today the size of audience attracted and the degree of enthusiasm aroused by such a speaker in a pre-radio and television age. Some of the titles of his more popular lectures include: 'When the coal is gone, what then?'; "The significance of the forest'; 'The Prussian dream of world conquest'; and 'Chicago, a city of destiny'. There were many more of these lectures, several of which related to Chicago and its opportunity. Goode was a noted Chicago-booster and friendships developed with businessmen were to help geography. It is not now possible to assess with accuracy the impact of Goode's exploitation of the term 'human ecology' (his correspondence and archival remains are few and scattered). Yet the concept of an ecological component persisted in American geography displaying linear descent through Barrows and Renner to enjoy a renaissance in the sixties and seventies. Although Goode evinces determinism in some of his earlier writing, his thrust towards an ecological perspective reveals an appreciation for the power of physical environment as an agent of selection. Yet Goode's most lasting influence may have been exerted in his cartography. He passed his skills to a large number of students. Nevertheless in his twenty-five years of service at Chicago he had charge of only one doctoral dissertation (Frederick V. Emerson, 'A Geographic Interpretation of New York City', 1907). In these years dissertations in cartography were not considered acceptable, yet it is hard to fathom why Goode did not supervise dissertations in economic geography. In part the work of colleagues such as H.H. Barrows, W.S. Tower, C.C. Colby and W.D. Jones explains this. Each of these men developed a special line of enquiry in economic or regional geography, while Goode remained a generalist. And perhaps Visher's notion that students prefer to work with younger members of faculty may be relevant. The fact remains that Goode did not develop the student following that flows from multiple dissertation supervision. Nevertheless, Goode's name in American geography is known universally through his atlas of 1923. Edward Espenshade, the long-time revisionist of Goode 's World Atlas, calculates that perhaps 1,250,000 copies of the atlas have been sold to date. Additionally Japanese, Italian, Spanish and British editions have been produced; no other world atlas in North America has enjoyed comparable success. His projections have been adopted in atlases, as base maps, by government agencies, in the State Department (one of Goode's students, Sophia A. Saucerman, worked for Whittemore Boggs in that department), and even in numerous television news presenta-

tions. The concept of interruption, introduced into the U.S. by Goode, was.emulated by V.C. Finch who modified the Aitoff Projection, and S.W. Boggs who modified the Eumorphic Projection. Curiously the concept of interruption proved far more popular in North America than in Europe. Goode died in 1932, the same year in which A.P. Brigham, W.G. Reed, E.C. Semple and F.J. Turner also died. His position at the University of Chicago was assumed by Henry M. Leppard.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON JOHN PAUL GOODE Colby, C . C , 'John Paul Goode', J. Geogr. , vol 31 (1932), 3H7-8 Haas, W.H. and Ward, H.B., 'J. Paul Goode', Ann. Assoo. Am. Geogr., vol 23 (1933), 2U1-6 anon., 'Goode, John Paul', Natl. Cycl. Am. Biog. , vol 33 (1933), 386-7 Pattison, W.D., 'Goode's proposal of 1902: an interpretation', Prof. Geogr., vol 30/1 (1978), 3-8 2. 1899 1902

1903 1901*

1905

1906

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WORKS OF JOHN PAUL GOODE 'Foucault's Pendulum', J. School Geogr., vol 3 (1899), 298-303 'Injuries to the eye, caused by intense light', Sci. n.s., vol 15/376 March Ik, 1+33 'A Geographical Society of America', Sci. n.s., vol 15/380 April 11, 592-3 'Geographical societies of America', J. Geogr. , vol 2, 3^3-50 'Function of map-drawing in the teaching of geography', School Rev., vol 12, 67-9 'The human response to the physical environment', J. Geogr., vol 3/7, 333-^3. Re-printed from The Elementary School Teacher, January 190^ 'A new method of representing the earth's surface', J. Geogr. , vol k, 369-73 'A model series of Base maps', J. Geogr., vol h, 373-7 'Laboratory work with the sun', J. Geogr., vol 5, 97-108

Lantern slide illustration

for the teaching of

meteorology, ed. J. Paul Goode and Henry J. Cox for the Geographic Society of Chicago, 130 p. 1908 The development of commercial ports, Ret>ort to the Chicago Harbor Commission, Chicago, 103 p. 1909 'Story of the Manchester Ship Canal', World Today, 16 June, 617-25 1910 'Fundamental principles of Japanese education', School Rev., November, 63U-6 1912 'The forests of the Philippines', Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc. , vol kh/2, 81-9 1913-17 Physical and Political Wall Map series, 18 maps, for 9 areas, political and physical, Rand McNally, Chicago

John Paul Goode 1918 1919

1923

1925 1926 1927

1929

'A course in economic .geography', School and Society, vol 7, February 23, 216-22 'Studies in projections: adapting the homolographic projection to the portrayal of the earth's surface entire', Bull. Geogr. Soc. Philadelphia, vol 17/3, 103-13 Goode's School Atlas, physical, political and economic, for American schools and colleges , xii and 96 maps, hi p. index. Rand McNally, Chicago, New York 'The homolosline projection: a new device for portraying the earth's surface entire', Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr., vol 15, 119-25 The geographic background of Chicago, Univ. Chicago Press, xi and 70 p. 'The map as a record of progress in geography', Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr., vol 17/1, l-l1* 'Geography and world citizenship', School and Society, vol 26, September 2h, 377-81 'The Polar Equal Area: a new projection for the world map', Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr., vol 19/1, 167-61 'The Doctor of Philosophy and his business', Sci. , vol 69/1786 March 22, 318-21

Geoffrey J. Martin is professor of geography at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Conn., U.S.A.

Chronology 1862

Born 21 November, Stewartville, Minnesota

1885-89

Undergraduate at the University of Minnesota

1889

Teacher at the Minnesota State Normal School, Moorehead

189^

Began graduate study at Harvard University

1895

Graduate student at the University of Chicago during the summer

1900

Further graduate study at the University of Pennsylvania

1901

Awarded a doctorate for 'The influence of physiographic factors upon the occupations and the economic development in the United States'

1901

Instructor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

1901-0U

Co-editor, Journal of Geography

1903

Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Chicago

55

190U-06

President of the Geographic Society of Chicago

1908

Published What the ports of Europe are doing... Offered the first course in the U.S.A. on 'Cartography and Graphics'

1913-17

Produced the series of eighteen wall maps

19l6

Designed the interrupted homolographic projection

1923

Designed the homolosline •projection First publication of the Goode 's School Atlas Awarded the Culver Gold Medal by the Geographic Society of Chicago

1926

President of the Association of American Geographers

1927 1932

Published The Geographic Background of Chicago Died, 5 August,Little Point Sable, Michigan

Oscar MacCarthy 1815-1894

SANFORD H. BEDERMAN Drawn from a photograph, by Olive E. Freeman It is hard to classify Oscar MacCarthy, for although he considered himself to "be a geographer, he was an equally talented scholar in history and archaeology. MacCarthy was a dauntless and indefatigable traveller, a prolific writer of descriptive geography, an early student of climatology, and a mapmaker of some repute. A large portion of his active life was spent in Algeria. He filled no academic posts there, but he significantly influenced scholarly activities and cultural life in the French colony during his twentytwo years of service as Librarian of the Algiers Library and Museum.

1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Louis-Alfred Oscar MacCarthy was born in Paris on 2 July 1815, several weeks after the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. That he became a geographer of wide interests is not surprising. His father was Jack (later to become Jacques) MacCarthy, an Irish emigre from Cork who went to France to fight with Bonaparte. After Waterloo, Jacques MacCarthy was appointed Director of the Statistical Section of the Ministry of War, a position that allowed him to pursue an illustrious career of geographical research and writing. When Jacques MacCarthy died at the age of fifty on 11 December 1835 he left two significant legacies. The first was a corpus of published materials that included over fifty volumes specifically relating to elementary geography, statistical geographical description, exploration and discovery, and military history. The second was a son who not only was

Geographers

Biobibliographical

Studies>

volume 8 (198*0

trained to continue in his footsteps, but also was determined to do so. Not very much is known about Oscar MacCarthy's early life, and unfortunately no record can be found which details the type of education he received. There is little doubt, however, that his father's profession greatly appealed to him. As a youth he did basic research and collected statistical data for his father's books. This apprenticeship proved to be exceptional, because by the time he was twenty-five years old he had already earned three medals and a prize of Fr. 1000 for producing two high-quality regional statistical studies of Wiirtemberg and Brazil. With the death of his father and continuing until 18H8 Oscar MacCarthy developed into a savant of seemingly unlimited energy. Residing in Paris, he wrote numerous articles and prepared a variety of maps for current periodicals and also produced an untold number of entries for encyclopedias and other compendia. Of these, the best known were I'Encyolopidie du XIX sieole, and Didot's Dictionnaire de Biographie universelle. In 18^7-8, he served as editor of Revue de I'Orient et I 'Algirie. Rather than write about places second-hand he decided in 18U8 to move to Algeria, a French colony since 183*+, where huge portions of the territory were still unexplored and unmapped. MacCarthy was determined to fill in the map of Algeria; not an easy task for someone who was described as possessing a 'delicate and frail appearance'. In 18U8 MacCarthy edited a short pamphlet for use by emigrants, and in early 181*9 he was appointed the leader of over eight hundred colonists. At the same time he obtained from the

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Oscar

MacCarthy

Minister of War a formal commission to explore the Algerian interior. During the next fourteen years MacCarthy became a legend in Algeria. He took two years to toughen his body (which in his own words he wished to be 'impenetrable, insensitive and as hard-wearing as cowleather') and to perfect his fluency in Berber and Arabic before he began his second career, that of a desert vagabond. From 1851 until 1863 he wandered everywhere in the colony, spending most of his time, however, in the desert areas south of the Atlas Mountains. He travelled alone and was often away from Algiers for months at a time. On one occasion there was no news of him for a whole year. He rode an old mare and carried only a notebook and a few scientific instruments, including a thermometer and a barometer. His limited baggage contained no valuables and his clothes were little better than rags. This was done on purpose, for MacCarthy said many times that 'a thousand horsemen cannot strip a naked man'. He constantly passed on intelligence reports about the interior to officials in Algiers, and he stopped travelling whenever he needed to consolidate and prepare his notes for publication. He provided the colonial government with yet another valuable service during this time by personally conducting preliminary topographical surveys for a railway system which he envisaged. As a culmination of his travels MacCarthy had obtained permission to attempt a journey to Timbuctoo. He wished to become the fourth European to gain entry there. After several years of preparation (including corresponding with Heinrich Barth), he decided in 1859 not to attempt the exploration because it was too dangerous an undertaking, even for an experienced desert hand. As late as 1882 MacCarthy showed friends the desiccated remains of the provisions he had collected for his adventure, and suggested to them that he would soon begin his trek across the Sahara Desert. In I863 MacCarthy settled down in Algiers where he continued to write and to produce mans. He was the first to publish a map depicting the arduous route taken in the Sahara Desert by Henri Duveyrier in l859-6l. When Napoleon III visited Algeria in I865 MacCarthy presented him with a lengthy memoir (750 pages and ho maps and drawings) on Julius Caesar's African wars, and in return the monarch named him Knight of the Legion of Honour. Napoleon III also commissioned MacCarthy and Adrien Berbrugger to excavate an archaeological site near Tipasa, just west of Algiers. Their task was to determine if it contained the remains of the Mauretanian king, Juba II. Unfortunately, after nine months of work, little of worth was uncovered because the tombs had been pillaged. This excavation was only one of many that MacCarthy conducted during his lifetime. Oscar MacCarthy entered his third, and perhaps most significant, career in 1869. When his friend Adrien Berbrugger died MacCarthy was appointed to replace him as Librarian of the Algiers Library and Museum, which at the time perhaps was the finest repository of modern knowledge south of the Mediterranean Sea (it contained over 25,000 books). A better choice could not have been made, for as Adolphe de Calassanti-Motylinski remarked Oscar

MacCarthy knew more about North Africa than any man alive. For the next twenty-two years the European community in the Maghreb was admirably served. Those who had an interest in the Sahara region, whether they were scholars, priests, soldiers, or businessmen, visited the Algiers Library to seek help from MacCarthy. Over the decades he probably met every major personality who lived in or visited the colony. Some developed strong ties with MacCarthy, particularly General Jacques Randon, Eugene Fromentin, Henri Duveyrier, Paul Flatters, Charles de Foucauld, and Edouard Cat. Throughout his life MacCarthy was a dedicated proponent of French colonial expansion. He firmly believed that it was in France's national interest that both exploration and exploitation of the interior of Africa be carried out. Some writers claim that it was MacCarthy, not Adolphe Duponchel, who first suggested that the trans-Sahara railway be constructed. Many people respected MacCarthy not so much for his scholarly pursuits as for his humanitarian activities. After the Franco-Prussian War the French government relocated in Algeria large numbers of people from Alsace-Lorraine who did not wish to remain in the German-annexed territory. From I87I to 1873 MacCarthy was assigned the delicate mission of helping these refugees with their re-settlement problems. In fact the Algiers Library became a rallying place for the new colonists. Finally, MacCarthy retired from his position at the Algiers Library (regrettably now destroyed) in 1891. He died on 28 December I89I+ at the age of seventy-nine, revered by all those in Algeria who knew him. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Oscar MacCarthy seems not to have been a theoretician. Both during his years as a literary savant in France and during those spent as a desert vagabond he was a collector, organizer and publisher of data. This approach was an admirable basis for his work as a librarian for MacCarthy, more than anyone else, attempted to provide a spatial inventory of what was contained in Algeria. He did this through extensive travel and writing, through archaeological excavations and with maps. Although much of his geographical work lacks interpretation and analysis, it was an essential basis for his successors: in fact MacCarthy provided nineteenth century Algeria with vital information relating to such things as elevations of topographical features, climatic data for many of its places, and a variety of spatially organized demographic, economic and ethnological statistics. No one could say with such certainty that he 'had seen, experienced and touched everything of which he spoke'. Maps were a crucial element in his quest to describe Algeria, for dozens of them were produced on a variety of scales over a period of thirty years. Some depicted where the railways were, while others showed where else they should be. There were small-scale regional maps and largescale town plans and he took particular pleasure in compiling maps that showed the routes taken by some of the contemporary explorers of North Africa. In addition to his geographical contributions, MacCarthy was also an acknowledged expert on Berber and Tuareg

Oscar MacCarthy ethnology, and on North Africa during Roman times. Of special interest to him were the African wars of Julius Caesar. If Oscar MacCarthy was a disciple of anyone, it was of his father, Jacques. Both he and his father produced geographical work reminiscent of Anton Biisching's Political-Statistical School, as for example in his Geographie physique, iconomique et politique de I'Alg&rie (Algiers, 1858). This volume is a lengthy, straightforward general descriptive geography in which many topics are covered and numerous statistical tables included, though inexplicably MacCarthy failed to include any maps in this important study. Although not a theoretician MacCarthy had a grand vision of how France could expand its colonial empire in Africa. He was Algeria's most vocal advocate of railway building. In 185^, he prepared a document (including maps) which projected a series of rail lines from Morocco to Tunisia. Designed to aid the colonization process, the routes he proposed were identical to those that were constructed later by French and Algerian authorities. Along with many others, he too fervently wished to see the construction of a railway across the Sahara, which would enable France to take advantage of the huge potential market for its goods in Black Africa. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS During his lifetime Oscar MacCarthy's influence in Algeria was considerable. Outside the colony few knew him and in Europe his death was reported by a brief notice in the Bulletin de la Society de Geographie. No obituary ever appeared in any major European or American journal. Despite his long and successful careers as a literary savant, a desert vagabond, and as a librarian-geographer, MacCarthy is best remembered for being the person who guided Charles de Foucauld's preparations for his remarkable exploration of Morocco in 1883-^. For two years, MacCarthy was de Foucauld's mentor, and a close relationship developed between them. Viscount de Foucauld later dedicated Reconnaissance au Maroc, 1883-1884 (Paris, 1888), his highly acclaimed account of the dangerous journey, to Oscar MacCarthy. Charles de Foucauld has been the subject of many biographies, and each and every time Oscar MacCarthy is mentioned he is treated with praise and respect. MacCarthy also has a place in literature (though few people are aware of it). On the last of three visits to Algeria in 1853 the artist-writer Eugene Fromentin befriended the desert vagabond. Impressed with his indomitable spirit, energy and intellect, Fromentin made MacCarthy an important character in his book,yne anne'e dans le Sahel (1859). In it, however, MacCarthy is given a pseudonym — Louis Vandell. Fromentin claimed that MacCarthy (a.k.a. Vandell) knew everything an encyclopedic mind could retain. Many have rightfully claimed that they were authorities on the Saraha but in the middle of the nineteenth century no one had more experience nor was more knowledgeable than Oscar MacCarthy. As is the case with those who spend long months alone in the

59

desert, they become imbued with a 'mystique' that results in unrealistically romanticizing everything related to it. MacCarthy was infected with the Saharan mystique arid his passion for the desert was passed on to both Henri Duveyrier and Charles de Foucauld, his two most famous proteges. Duveyrier ultimately lost his reputation and de Foucauld his life because of it. Duveyrier had publicized the Tuaregs, the largest tribe in the Saraha, as being noble cavaliers of the desert: this was believed until two tragedies occurred. In 1876, a group of priests were murdered, and five years later, the Flatters Mission (conducting a reconnaissance for the Trans-Sarahan Railway) was massacred in southern Algeria. The Tuaregs were responsible both times and Duveyrier received much of the blame for having misled his countrymen. After his exploration of Morocco, de Foucauld entered the priesthood and was ordained in 1901. Also smitten with the Saharan mystique, he moved to the Sahara Desert and spent the rest of his life there as a hermit priest but he too was murdered by the Tuaregs in 19l6. There were few scientific organizations founded in Algeria in which Oscar MacCarthy was not involved. Among others, he was a founder and president for many years of the Society de geographie d'Alger, He served as president of the Soci&tt des Sciences physiques et climatologiques d'Alger, and in 1856 he was one of the founders of the Society historique Alg£rienne. He was not completely parochial for he also held memberships in a variety of scientific organizations (archaeological, historical, and statistical) in France, Belgium, Egypt and Canada. MacCarthy also considered the Algiers Library to be a scientific establishment. He wrote in 1871 that 'located in the centre of one of the most historic countries of the ancient world, in the heart of a vast geographical and ethnographical region...at the doorway to the mysterious lands of central Africa, the Library must be, for the peoples of Algeria as well as for European travellers, a rich depot of knowledge and information of all nations'. Although virtually unremembered today, Oscar MacCarthy certainly made his mark both on the intellectual life and the economic development of ninteenth century Algeria. Few of his contemporaries were as broad in their interests or as deep in their abilities.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON LOUIS-ALFRED OSCAR MaaCAFTHy Fromentin, Eugene, Une anne'e dans le Sahel, Michael Levy freres, Paris (1859). (Fromentin writes about Louis Vandell, a pseudonym for MacCarthy). 'Oscar MacCarthy', Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIX3 Steele (vol 10), Paris (1873), 851 MacCarthy, Henri, 'Notice biographio.ue sur 0. MacCarthy, Geographe', Rev. Afr. , vol 57 (1913), 191-217 Fremantle, Anne, Desert Calling: The Life of Charles de Foucauld, Hollis and Carter, London (1950), 57-8; 70-5

60

Oscar MacCarthy

Bederman, Sanford H., Oscar MacCarthy, Charles de Foucauld, and Geographical Exploration in North Africa, Georgia State University Department of Geography Research Series no U, Atlanta (1983), 1-28 2.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY LOUIS-ALFRED OSCAR MacCARTHY The only known bibliography of Oscar MacCarthy's Algerian writing and cartography appears in Henri MacCarthy, 'Notice biographique' 213-17. The Catalogue Generale des Livres Imprimis de la Bibliotheque Rationale (Auteurs), Tome 102 (1930) includes a partial list of MacCarthy's publications. Throughout his lifetime, MacCarthy published hundreds of articles, notes, monographs, books and maps. He wrote for a variety of journals and compendia including I'Encyclop&die du XIX Sie~cle, Didot's Dictionnaire de Biographie universelle, Journal de la Sociiti frangais de Statistique universelle, Revue de I'Orient et d.e I'Algerie, I'Illustrations, Magasin Pittoresque, Revue Britannique, Bulletin de la Socittt de Gtographie de Paris, and Revue Africaine. a. Books, Articles, Monographs and Pamphlets 18^9 (ed.) Almanach de I'Algerie pour I'ann&e 1849, Paris 1856 'Les Touareg', Revue de I'Orient et de I'Alg&rie, vol 3 (n.s.), 135-^1 1857 Algerie Romana, Bastide, Alger, 76 p., with map 1858 Giographie physique, iconomique et politique de I'Algirie, Dubos freres, Alger, 1+70 p. 1859 Notes et notices Algtriennes , Bastide, Alger, 188 p. 1867 L'Alg&rie a I'Exposition universelle de Paris en 1867, Bureaux de la 'Revue de I'Orient et de I'Algerie', Paris, 26 p. I878 Considerations sur le chemin-de-fer Sidi-BelAbbes a. Tlemcen, Imprimerie de Chaix, Paris, 25 p., with map I878 Etude critique sur la gtographie comparte et la geographie de la guerre d'Afrique de Jules Ce'sar, Alger 1881 'Alger et ses environs', Notices scientifiques, historiques et e'conomiques sur Alger et I'Algirie, vol 2, 305-28 1885 Les Antiquifes alg&riennes , A. Jourdan, Paris, 18 p. b. Maps 1862 'Plan de la Ville d'Alger a l'echelle du 5,000e', Alger 1862 'Carte de I'Algerie au l,500,000e, avec ses grandes divisions politiques et naturelles, ses cours d'eau les plus importants, ses principales voies de communication, ses chemins de fer at ses ports, publiee par ordre de Marechal Pellissier, pour accompagner une brochure intitulee', Alger 1862 'Carte du Sahara central et du pays des Touareg du Nord, d'apres les explorations et recherches de Henri Duveyrier', Alger 1865 'Carte de la province d'Alger, carte de la province d'Oran et carte de la province de Constantine a l'echelle du 3,000,000e', Alger

'Le chemin de fer d'Alger a. Oran, carte a. l'echelle du l,500,000e, avec 1'indication de toutes les stations, de tous les arrets et des distances en kilometres qui les separent', Alger 1871 'Colonisation de la Grande Kabylie — carte au 1*00,000 dressee pour l'ouvrage du cornice agricole d'Alger', Alger , 1872 'Le chemin de fer de Constantine a. Philippe ville, carte au 800,000e, Alger

1872

Dr Sanford H. Bederman is Professor of Geography at Georgia State University3 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

Chronology 1815

Born at Paris, France, 2 July

1835-1*9

An active period of research and writing in Paris. He was geography editor for several compendia, and he served as editor of Revue de I'Orient et de I'Algerie in 181*7-8

18U9

Charged by the Minister of War to conduct a mission of exploration in the Algerian territory. He migrated to Algeria, leading over 800 other colonists

1851-63

As a desert vagabond, he travelled throughout Algeria, particularly exploring the desert area south of the Atlas Mountains. In 1853, he befriended the famous artist-writer, Eugene Fromentin. In 1859, after years of planning, he decided not to attempt the journey to Timbuctoo. This was also a period of very active writing.

1865

On 7 June he was named Knight of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon III during the monarch's second visit to Algeria

1867

He was appointed to the commission sent to France to celebrate the Paris Exposition

1869

Named as Librarian of the Algiers Library and Museum

1871-73

Given the delicate mission of relocating in Algeria people from Alsace-Lorraine who were uprooted by the Franco-Prussian War

1881

Met and became the mentor of Viscount Charles de Foucauld: subsequently helped de Foucauld to plan his remarkable exploration of Morocco, which occurred in 1883-U Retired as Librarian of the Algiers Library and Museum

1889 1891*

Died in Algiers, 28 December

Vintila Mihailescu 1890-1978

DAVID TURNOCK Courtesy of Professor V. Tufescu In 197*+ Vintila Mihailescu attended a residential meeting of the Commission on the History of Geographical Thought held in the University of Manchester. He was accompanied by a devoted grandson, equally welcome as a charming Romanian visitor. At that meeting the form of the biobibliographical studies series published annually from 1977 was worked out and plans were made for the acquisition of papers. Mihailescu was clearly enjoying himself enormously and in his own gentle way made several useful suggestions on what could be achieved. On his return to Romania he arranged for studies of his country's past geographers to be written and himself wrote what was to be his last paper, the study of Simion Mehedin£i which appeared in Geographers vol 1 (1977), 65-72. He was a man of charming personality and in Manchester was an eager participant in all the informal discussions and also at a party to which a number of local geographers and their wives were invited. In 1976 he became an Honorary member of the Commission. 1.

EDUCATIONs

LIFE

AND WORK

Vintila Mihailescu was born on 19 April 1890 in Bucharest. He was brought up among a family of intellectuals and satisfied a thirst for learning thanks to innate intelligence, a particularly strong constitution and good educational opportunities in the capital city. His greatest interest at high school lay in history and he went on to Bucharest University to attend history courses given by such contemporary experts as N. Iorga and V. Parvan. Geographers

Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198*0

However, a deepening fascination for geography arose out of the lectures by Simion Mehedinti who viewed the discipline as a science of relationships between the geospheres with scope for correlative syntheses and even causal connections. One of Mihailescu's closest colleagues, Victor Tufescu, argues that the tangibility of a complex present-day landscape 'full of life, thrilling and perceptible' seduced him away from history where it seemed as if the documentary evidence was scarcely able to throw light into the darkness. The transition was marked by an appreciation of history as an aid to the understanding of the present landscape and so the bridge towards a new preoccupation in geography was provided by historical geography. His first publication appeared in 1915 and dealt with Bucharest (Bucures.ti din punt da vcdcrc antropogeografio qi etnografic) and was an attempt to complement the earlier study of 1911 by 0. Valsan (Temelia Bucures.tilor) which was concerned with physical geography. The project grew out of an essay which was scrutinised by Mehedinti who apparently voiced reservations over the lack of a clear spatial framework. Needless to say the criticism was quickly heeded and Mihailescu found himself venturing deeper into a subject which was to provide the passion of a lifetime. Because Romania's entry into the First World War in 1916 on the side of the entente led to the occupation of Wallachia by the Central Powers Mihailescu was forced to seek sanctuary awhile in the north Moldavian town of Botosani. Tufescu regards this as 'a period of germination' for the heavily eroded hill slopes of the Moldavian Plateau seemed to cry out for

62

Vintila

Mihailescu

research on the evolution of land forms and the influence of man on the physical environment. Survey and contemplation of the local landforms eventually gave rise to a paper in the local journal Revista Moldovei in 1922. By this time his interest in physical geography had been further stimulated through fieldwork carried out in the Carpathians and other parts of the country under the leadership of Emmanuel de Martonne from the Sorbonne in 1921. This experience, in interpreting landscapes through rigorous methodology, rounded off his training and left Mihailescu an accomplished scholar well able to pursue research in many branches of the subject. For some years his activity back in Bucharest was dominated by his doctorate on the capital city and its immediate hinterland (Vlasia §i Mostis.tea) published in 1925, but during the 1930s physical geography came to occupy most of his time. Regional studies in areas with stimulating relief problems,

such as Podiqul inalt din vestul Botoijanilor (1930), Depresiunea Botoqani-Hirlau (1931) and Platforma Someqaria' (193*0 led on to the production of a major text on the physical geography of Romania (1937, reissued 1969) and a valuable contribution to the

Enciclopedica

Romaniei in 1938.

Meanwhile Mihailescu had been working rapidly up the academic hierarchy in Bucharest. After some experience in school teaching he was appointed assistant to Mehedin-fci at the university and became a lecturer in 1936. When Mehedinti retired in 1938 Mihailescu was the one chosen to take his place. As a professor he was active not only in university teaching but also in liaison with the high schools: congresses were organized and later, under the privations of renewed war, more modest colloquia were held under the aegis of the university. Equally important was Mihailescu's contribution to the Romanian Geographical Society. As part of a general reorientation of the society's affairs Mehedinti appointed him editorial secretary of the prestigious Buletin. The journal became a much livelier publication, well able to guide the geographical movement in the context of the greatly enlarged frontiers. His work for the Society was recognized formally in 19**1 when he became vicepresident, following the retirement of Mehedin-fci. As a fervent patriot Mihailescu saw it as his duty to bring the resources of geography to bear on the sensitive question of frontier lines in areas of ethnic ambivalence, especially Transylvania where Hungarian claims remained strong. The most explicit contribution with a political inspiration came in 19^0-1 following the traumatic frontier revisions (made at German and Russian insistence) involving the loss of Bessarabia, northern Bucovina, northern Transylvania and southern Dobrogea. Ethnic maps of Transylvania and subsequently of the whole country offered conclusive evidence in support of the Romanian claim to the Carpatho-Danubian territory. But his work for the defence of the state was soon to win a remarkable success from which Romanian geography has benefitted ever since. His most important contribution to the organization of research came through the establishment of

an institute [Institutul

Romaniei)

in 19^^.

de cercetari

geografioe

al

The Romanian Geographical Society

had previously published research through the various editions of the Buletin and special publications for doctorates. A series of geographical dictionaries was also introduced. However, the Society's financial position was eroded by inflation during the Second World War and publication stopped in 19^2. Fortunately at this juncture Mihailescu was able to use his position as secretary-general at the Ministry of Education (19^1-M to win the support of his minister (the philosopher Ion Petrovici) for a research institute and this was set up in 19*+** with premises in the small town of Pucioasa in the Subcarpathians north of Tirgovi§te. Mihailescu organized the work of the new institute and edited the journal {Revista I.C.G.R.) which first appeared in 19^5. Important field studies were undertaken, notably the lava Oltului project for the Ministry of Construction in 19*+8 and the massive series of monographs was started the following year. However the political climate was changing rapidly. Mihailescu lost his position in government with the coup of August 1 9 ^ which started the four-and-a-half year transition from the Antonescu regime to the communist system. Since he had been a civil servant rather than a party activist, post-war governments left him free to continue his scholarly work. However he was obliged to leave the university in 19*+9 and the institute in 1950 and for some years worked in planning. At the town planning institute I.C.S.O.R. he collaborated with other leading social scientists in locating new industrial projects. Most notable here was the enlargement of the village of 0ne§ti in the Trotus Valley (Eastern Carpathians) to become the new town of Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej with a large chemical industry based on local salt and Transylvanian natural gas. Meanwhile the I.C.G.R. continued to operate under the Ministry of Education, but its work was complemented by the Colectiv de geografie at the Romanian Academy which had greatly increased its scientific activity in connection with the communist economic programme. The development of geographical work at the Academy owed much to the Director T. Savulescu and it was through his support for the discipline that the colectiv of 1956 was amalgamated with the institute in 1958, at the time of administrative change when the Ministry wished to transfer responsibility for various institutes under its control. The result was the establishment of Institutul

geologie

geofizica

%i geografie

at the Academy with

de

V. Ianovici as director and two deputies one for geology and another for geography. Mihailescu, who had joined the colectiv in 1956 was appointed deputy director. He left his post at I.C.S.O.R. and spent the rest of his life working at the institute he had been instrumental in founding in 19****. The link with geophysics was terminated in 1965 (and Mihailescu incidentally lost his post of deputy director as a result of the reorganization) and five years later a purely Geographical Institute was established. Nevertheless the publications still appear as a geographical series

under the title Studii si cercetari de geologie fizica geografie (or Revue roumaine de Gtologie

geoGeo-

physique et Giographie for articles published in foreign languages). Apart from a change of subordination from the Academy back to the Ministry of Education in 197** and to the University of Bucharest the

VintilS. Mihailescu following year (part of a plan to combine research with education) the institute has continued its work without interruption to the present. When Mihailescu regained his position at the institute he was approaching the age of seventy. Yet he retained much of his youthful energy and continued to inspire Romanian geography for another two decades. Although he gradually withdrew from routine administrative work he had a full part in guiding the academic work of the institute and participating in a range of protocolary duties, in the course of which many foreign visitors to the institute had the pleasure of meeting him. He gave strong support to the fulfilment of various projects that had been taken in hand in 1 9 ^ . The immediate priority was the geographical monograph Monografia geografica a R.P. Romane published in i960 in two volumes each with its own collection of maps printed separately. Work had begun at the institute in 1955 but without conspicuous success until the merger of 1958 brought Mihailescu to the helm. Another major necessity was the production of a national atlas. This was always viewed as a longer-term project on account of financial, technical and research implications. However the groundwork was laid during the late 1960s and official approval was gained in 1969. Over the following decade almost 500 maps were produced at various scales and arranged in a total 77 plates. Mihailescu did not live to see the atlas complete but he was able to assist with all but the final instalment. His work was by no means limited to the institute however. He was always ready to give young geographers the benefit of his experience and many doctorate theses benefitted from his supervision. There had been little opportunity for a geographical society to re-emerge in the early post-war period in view of the dogmatic separation of man from the physical environment. But in 1968 a new organization

emerged: Societatea

de %tiin%e geografice

din Romania.

Although Mihailescu could hardly have been pleased by the decision to establish a society for 'geographical sciences' rather than 'geography' he nevertheless accepted the presidency in 1968 (and honorary presidency in 1972) and did not tire to emphasize the essential unity of geography from this new platform. A further domestic honour was bestowed through membership of the Romanian Academy (he was a corresponding member in 1939) while various foreign geographical societies (those of Italy, Poland and Serbia) included him among their honorary members. For although he did not carry out extensive field work abroad (though travel books were produced for Albania and Yugoslavia in 1939 and for Yalta-Sochi-Batumi areas of the U.S.S.R. in 1962) he was an active member of the I.G.U. and participated in the Warsaw (l93^t) and Moscow (1976) congresses and at various other scientific events like the European Regional Conference in Budapest 1971. As corresponding member (1968) and from 1977 honorary member of the I.G.U. Commission of the History of Geographical Thought he was able to stimulate interest in the careers of leading Romanian geographers of the past and Romanian contributions to previous editions of 'Geographers' arose out of his interest and encouragement. He died in Bucharest on 27 May 1978.

63

2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Mihailescu followed the teaching of Mehedin-fci in approaching geography as the study of complex patterns on the earth's surface. The problem could certainly be broken down into different components but there could be no escaping the responsibility of achieving synthesis within discrete regions. He therefore differentiated between 'geographical regions' which were sections of the terrestrial envelope (tnveli§ul terrestru) or earth shell and other spatial units that might be identified on an ad hoc basis for an analytical study in systematic geography. As a result of this fundamental distinction (and no doubt assisted by the striking topographical contrasts within the country) Romanian geographers reached a high level of consensus over the boundaries of geographical regions, like the Carpathians, and the major subdivisions of this mountain range, to the point where any innovations (such as the recognition of the Curvature Carpathians sandwiched between the eastern and southern sections where there is a sharp change in alignment) attract animated discussion. Some of this work was of a semantic nature, as for example with the use of the term piedmont, as in Getic Piedmont which harmonized with the label Getic Depression already in use among geologists. Following Demangeon's work he preferred the term plateau {podi§) to platform {platforma) and this is now reflected in the labelling of tablelands throughout Romania. But it is also important to stress that Mihailescu was always ready to express basic principles in new forms and so deepen the links between Romanian geography and developments further afield. A good example of this is the adoption of system theory and the use of the term geosistem as an alternative to the notion of terrestrial envelope that Mehendi-fci had favoured. Mihailescu extended his role in assimilating new ideas from broad philosophical issues to methodology in various branches of systematic geography. Of great interest for the essential unity of physical geography is the idea of topoclimat which Mihailescu developed independently of similar work in the Americas. The linkage of climatology to terrain was demonstrated most effectively in the Carpathians with the temperature inversion associated with many of the intermontane depressions. He always retained an interest in settlement patterns, the interpretation of which had first led him away from history and into geography. He carefully differentiated between the various levels of settlement in the Carpathians and applied the ideas of A. Demangeon (outlined at the I.G.U. meeting in Cairo in 1925) to the classification of villages throughout the country. After several years' work a definitive map was published in 193^, appropriately for the I.G.U. Warsaw conference. Such projects represented the more analytical approach which Mihailescu was trying to assimilate as a result of his appointment as editor of the Buletin in 1922. Even more sustained however was his interest in towns which began with studies in Bucharest encouraged by Mehedinti. Work on his home city was followed by a case study of the Danube port of Calarasi where functional zones were recognized. This was the first time in Romania that an urban study had looked beyond the limits of the town itself. It seems to have been the wartime years in Botosani that stimulated him to

64

Vintila

Mihailescu

look beyond morphology, although work in France on Grenoble and Rouen was also important. Functional relationships with the hinterland were again emphasized in Mihailescu's doctoral dissertation on the Bucharest area. Work then shifted to the classification of Romanian towns and a substantial base was created for the development of urban studies in the post-war period, already referred to a major preoccupation of the Geography Institute in the late 19^0s. He was very much aware of the importance of the physical basis, not only through the chosen site but the wider raison d'etre for the town in terms of commercial exchanges between complementary natural regions, perhaps supplemented by strategic considerations in the intermontane depressions and the Carpathian passes. Hence the frequent occurrence of 'contact towns' and the phenomonon of ora§e dublete at either end of the major transmontane routes. Some minor conflicts arose as younger workers sought to give priority to functional classification by employment (the relative importance of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors) over the various other criteria which had been included in the traditional synthetic approach. It was a subtle expression of the trend towards a more rigorous systematic geography breaking free of the physical base evident in Europe in the late 1950s. Of course the functional approach was undeniably relevant and the growing emphasis on industry rather than commerce introduced striking variations which geographers had to recognize. Mihailescu's reservations however concerned the need for a distinctive geographical approach, separate from the contributions of economists and sociologists: hence the preference for economic structure to be integrated with other themes to project the towns more broadly as areas of urban convergence. The controversy smouldered for some years in the middle 1960s and was resolved very much to Mihailescu's satisfaction by a general reaffirmation of the importance of broad-based studies. Vintila Mihailescu gained outstanding respect for his vast work, particularly for its creative impact in every field of geography and for his 'permanent concern to promote a spiritual effervescence, to update his knowledge at world levels and apply it to the specific coordinates of Romania' (V. Tufescu (1979) p. 157). His academic work continued right up to his death. He maintained his interest in the publication of the Institute's journals, assisting in its editorial work and contributing numerous papers of a philosophical and methodological nature. It is particularly interesting that his last major work was concerned with the changes in the urban geography of Bucharest. He left a complete manuscript Evolu£ia geografica a unui oras,: Bucureqti and this is now being published, almost seventy years after his famous essay of 19153. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS It is not possible to write at length on these matters, but plainly there was a strong influence from France and from Emm. de Martonne in particular. The links with German scholarship through Mehedin-fci were certainly maintained but in the political climate of the

1920s French support was very highly valued. De Martonne performed great services to Romania both academically and politically: his great affection for Romania and the great inspiration he found in the terrain of the country, especially the Carpathians, must have impressed Mihailescu since the young Romanian had moved into geography through a fascination with landscape. And it is conceivable that the subtle political component in de Martonne's work was also appreciated by Mihailescu whose own desire to serve the country was made clear through involvement with government, along with many of his fellow academics, in the critical period from 1939-^0 onwards. Mihailescu's distinguished activity during a lengthy 'retirement' was a measure not simply of his great energy and enthusiasm but also of his formidable intellectual and diplomatic talents. Romanian geography was greatly stimulated by his wide-ranging activity and there has certainly been a powerful response — both methodologically and philosophically — to trends in geography taking place in the wider world. Yet experience of Romanian geography in the years immediately after his death would suggest that the spiritual content of his work will be remembered with just as much appreciation as his formidable literary contribution.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON VINTILA MIHAILESCU Gastescu, P., 'Institutul de Geografie, Bucure§ti: retrospectiva si perspectiva la 35 de ani de la infiin^are' ("The Institute of Geography, Bucharest, 35 years after its opening: past activity and future prospects'), Stud, cere, geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr. , vol 27, (1930), 11-17 Mihailescu, V., Drumul rneu tn geografie {My way in geography), Bucharest, Stiiniifica, 1970 Mihailescu, V., 'La societe roumaine de geographie a. son centennaire' Rev. roum. giol. geophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 19 (1975), 7-2** Oancea, D.I., 'Atlasul geografie national al Romaniei intre-o noua etapa' ('The national geographical atlas of Romania enters a new stage'), Stud, cere. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr., vol 18 (1971)1, 207-16 Tufescu, V., 'Vintila Mihailescu: creator de frunte al geografiei romanegti' ('Vintila Mihailescu: a leader of Romanian geography'), Stud. cere, geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr., vol 26 (1979), 113-25 Tufescu, V., 'Vintila Mihailescu: a great Romanian geographer', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. geogr., vol 23 (1979), 157-62 Turnock, D., 'The national atlas: a new achievement of Romanian geography', Society of University Cartographers' Bulletin, vol 10/2 (1976), 2U-8 Turnock, D., 'Vintila Mihailescu 1890-1978: an appreciation', Area, vol 10 (1978), 377-8 Turnock, D., 'Romanian geography reunited: the integrative approach demonstrated by the conservation movement', GeoJournal, vol 6 (1982), U19-31

Vintila 2.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY VINTILA MIHAILESCU

a. 196U

Philosophy 'Regiune geografica si regiune economica' (Geographical regions and economic regions'), Stud. aero. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr.3 vol 1 1 , 3-lfc 'Validite du concept de region en geographie', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr., vol 8, 2U9-53 'Societatea romana de geografie §i dezvoltarea geografiei romanegti CThe Romanian Geographical Society and the development of Romanian geography' ) , Natura Ser. geogr.-geol. , vol 17, 1+-6 ' ' 'Geografia romaneasca in a doua jumatate a secolului al XVII-lea' ('Romanian geography in the second half of the seventeenth century'), Stud. cere. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr. , vol lU, 113-9 'La pensee geographique roumaine dans les derniers cent ans', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 11, 3-8 'La region geographique comme methode de travail dans les recherches geographiques', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Ser. giogr., vol 12, 3-7 Geografia teoretica {Theoretical geography), Bucharest, Academia R.S.R. 'L'Institut de Geologie et de Geographie de L'Academie de la R.S.R.',Rev. roum. geol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 13, 105-09 'Simion Mehedin^i: sa vie et son oeuvre', Rev. roum. aiol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr., vol 13, 3-6 'Ce a insemnat "Buletinul societafcii romane de geografie" pentru miscarea geografica romaneasca', CThe importance of the R.G.S. Bulletin for the progress of Romanian geography'), Bui. S.S.G., vol 1, 7-12 'Dimitrie Cantemir: precursor al geografiei moderne' (/*Dimitrie Cantemir: precursor of modern geography') Stud. cere. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr., vol 2 0 , 165-73 (with collaborator) 'Le geosysteme: object non dissocie et non dissociable de la geographie', Rev. roum. geol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 17, 3-8 Lecturi geografiee {Geographical readings), Bucharest, Albatros 'Gindirea geografica romaneasca in socolul nostra' (*Romanian geographical thought in the twentieth century'), Stud. cere. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr. , vol 22, 9-l8 'Evolufcia gindirii geografiee in Romania' ('The evolution of geographical thought in Romania'), Terra, vol 7, 32-9 'L'ecole geographique roumaine: vue gen§rale', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 2 0 , 5-13 ' '

196h 1965

1967

1967 1968 1968 1969 I969 1971

1973

1973 197*+ 1975

1975 1976

b. Human Geography 1915 'Bucuresti din punct de vedere antropogeografic si etnografic' (*Bucharest, considered from the anthropogeographical and ethnographical^points of view'), Anu. geogr. antropogeogr. , vol 1+, 11+5-226

Mihailescu

65

'Doua momente din inaintarea araturilor in Baragan' ('Two phases in the advance of ploughing in the Baragan'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr., vol 1+0, 260-72 1921+ 'Vlasia §i Mosti§tea' ('Vlasia and Mostisjtea'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr. , vol 1*3, 1-200 1926 'Un chestionar privitor la studiul geografie al agezarilor rurale' ('A programme for the geographical study of rural settlement'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr. , vol 1+5, 102-01+ 1927 '0 harta a principalelor tipuri de agezari din Romania' ('A map showing the main types of rural settlement in Romania'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr., vol 1+6, 62-75 1928 'Citeva observari asupra geografiei oragelor' ('Some observations on the geography of towns'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr., vol 1+7, 331-1+ 1928 'Model de grupare al popula^iei in Dobrogea' ('Distribution pattern of population in Dobrogea'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr., vol 1+7, 373-6 193^ '0 harta a asezarilor rurale din Romania' ('A map of rural settlement in Romania'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr. , vol 53, 372-81 193*+ 'Modul de grupare a popula^iei din Romania in anul 1930' ('Distribution pattern for the population of Romania in 1930*), Bui. soe. rom. geogr., vol 53, 1+02-05 1937- 3 'Oragul ca fenomen antropogeografic' (*The town as an anthropogeographical phenomenon'), Cercet. stud, geogr. , vol 1, 29-1+1 19^0 'Dealurile Romaniei §i rolul lor in via^a poporului nostru' ('The hill country of Romania and its significance in the life of the Romanian people'), Natura, vol 29, 368-71+ I9I+O 'Harta etnica a Romaniei transcarpatice' ('Ethnic map of transcarpathian Romania'), Bui. soe. rom. geogr. , vol 59, 111-31 §i func^iunile pZbnantului §i poporului 19^3 Unitatea romanesc {The functional unity embracing the Romanian land and people), Bucharest, Societatea de Geografie 196I+ 'Contribution de la geographie a 1'Elaboration des projets de systematisation territoriale en Roumanie 19I+8-I963', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 8, 219-22 1965 'Methods of geographical research of towns in Romania', Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr. , vol 9, 93-111 (with collaborators) 1965 'Citeva considera£ii asupra geografiei satului' ('Some thoughts on the geography of villages'), Stud. cere. geol. geofiz. geogr. Ser. geogr. , vol 1 2 , 163-70 (with collaborator) 1965 'Contributii la studiul relatiilor dintre factorii economico-geografici §i func£ii oragelor' ('Contributions to the study of the relationships b e tween the factors of economic geography and the functions of towns'), Comun. de geogr., vol 3, 185-91 (with collaborators) 1967 'Sur la geographie des villes en Roumanie': in Sporck, J.A. ed. Milanges de giographie offerts a Omer Tulippe, Glembloux, Ducolot, vol 1, 1+92-501 1970 'Die Wirtschaftsregionen Rumaniens' (The economic regions of Romania'), Rev. roum. giol. giophys. giogr. Sir. giogr., vol lit, 197-207 1972 'Geografie §i sistematizare teritoriala' ('Geography and the planning of land u s e ' ) , Bui. S.S.G., vol 2 , 21-5 1926

66

Vintila

Mihailescu 1969

1977

'Locul §i vechimea satului §i tirgului Bucure§ti' ('The position and age of the village and market

of Bucharest'), Stud. cere. geol. Ser. geogr. , vol 2k, 165-70 c.

Physical

geofiz.

geogr.

Geography

1922

'Citeva observa£ii asupra formelor de teren din partea nordica a podigului Moldovei' ('Some observations on the landforms in the northern part of the Moldavian plateau'), Rev. Mold., vol 2/7, 17 p. 1928 'Asupra reliefelor policiclice' ('On the subject of polycyclic relief), Bui. soc. rom. geogr. , vol 1*7, 322-8 1928-9 'Depresiunea Boto§ani-Harlau §i zona ei de contact cu podigul inalt dinspre Siret' ('The Boto§ani-Harlau depression and its contact with the plateau drained by the Siret'), Lucr. Inst,

1931 1931* 1935 1936 1937

1939

19M 19^5 19^5 1957 1959

1963 1965

geography

David Turnock is Reader in Geography, University Leicester

of

Chronology Born in Bucharest, 19 April

1915

First publication, on the human geography of Bucharest

1916

Evacuation to Botogani, leading to studies on the physical geography of the Moldavian Plateau

1921

Joined the excursion to the Carpathians organized by Emm. de Martonne

1922

Appointed editorial secretary of the Romanian Geographical Society's Buletin

1925

Doctorate published

1926

Application of de Martonne's ideas on settlement analysis to Romania, in connection with the I.G.U. meeting in Cairo

1931

Published a paper on the regionalization of Romania's relief

1936

Appointed lecturer at Bucharest University

1937

Publication of a major work on physical geography

1938

Promoted to a chair on the retirement of Mehedin^i

19^1

Publication of an ethnic map of Romania

19^2

Appointed vice-president of the Romanian Geographical Society

'Porniturile de teren de la Pucioasa' ('Investigation of the terrain around Pucioasa'), Probl. geogr. , vol 6, 57-85

19UU

Appointed director of a geography research institute founded largely as a result of his representations

('The southeastern Carpathians in Romania'), Bucharest, §tiin£ifica 'Microclimat si topoclimat' ('Microclimate and

19^9

Retired from the university

1950

Left the institute to take up work in regional planning

1956

Joined the colectiv of geographers working at the Romanian Academy

vol h, l6l-82

'Podisul inalt din vestul Botoganilor' ('The high plateau west of Botosani ' ), Bui. soc. rom. geogr. , vol U8, 135-83 'Marile regiuni morfologice ale Romaniei' ('The major morphological regions of Romania'), Bui.

soc. rom. geogr. , vol 50, 31^-32

'Platforma Somegana' ('The Somes platform'),

Bui. soc. rom. geogr. , vol 53, 363-71

'Asupra geomorfologiei Dobrogei' ('On the geomorphology of Dobrogea'), Bui. soc. rom. geogr., vol 55, 262-70 'Terasele fluviatile' ('Fluvial terraces'), Bui.

soc. rom. geogr. , vol 56, 326-^

'Grohotisurile de pe valea superioara a Slanicului Moldovenesc' ('Detritus in the upper valley of the Moldavian Slanic'), Bui. soc. rom. geogr., vol 57, 225-^6 'Porniturile de teren §i clasificarea lor' (The investigation and classification of terrain'),

Rev. geogr. rom„, vol 2/2-3, 106-13 19^+2

a Romaniei {Physical

1890

geogr. Univ.'Cluj,

1929

1973

'Geografia fizica

of Romania), Bucharest, §tiinlifica 'Echilibre si dezichilibre naturale' ('Equilibrium and disequilibrium in nature'), Terra, vol 5 5, 33-36

'Alunecarile de teren de la Strambu' ('Landslips

at Strambu'), Bui. soc. rom. geogr.,

vol 6l,

330-6 'Tara. Praidului' ('The Praid region'), Rev. geogr. I.C.G.R., vol 1/1-3, 5-23 'Unitatea re£elei hidrografice romanesti' ('The unity of the Romanian drainage system'), Natura, vol 31*, 266-9 'Piemontul Getic' ('The Getic Piedmont'), Rev. geogr. I.C.G.R. , vol 2/1-U, 27-36 'Schi'ta topoclimatica a R.P.R.' ('Topoclimatic

map of Romania'), Bui. st. Acad. R.P.R. geol. geogr. , vol 2, 605-1^

'Carpaiii

sud-estici

de pe teritoriul

R.P.R. '

topoclimate'), Rev. roum. g&ol. gtophys. Ser. geogr. , vol 9, 173-7 1966 Dealurile si cimpiile Romaniei {The hills plains

of Romania),

Sect.

gtogr.

and

Bucharest, §tiin^ifica

Vintila 1950

Regained a position at the research institute through the amalgamation of the institute and the coleativ

1968

Appointed president of the Romanian Society for Geographical Sciences Published a major work on theoretical geography

197*+

Attended the Manchester meeting of the I.G.U. Commission on the History of Geographical Thought. Also admitted to full membership of the Romanian Academy

1978

Died in Bucharest, 27 May

Mihailescu

67

Helge Nelson 1882-1966

KARL-ERIK BERGSTEN In l°l6 Helge Nelson became professor of geography at the University of Lund and for more than thirty years to his retirement in 19^7 his driving force and organizing skill gave the subject greater significance and breadth than it had possessed before. Before his time the main theme had been the history of geography but Nelson showed the significance of regional geography and encouraged its teaching in Sweden's schools and universities. Especially he encouraged research and teaching on the geography of Sweden and wrote constantly on his home country, though that was not the limit of his interest on his people for he was particularly interested in Swedish emigration to the American continent and himself sought out their new homes and activities in both Canada and the United States. It is good that this work was done by Nelson at a time when many emigrants to the American continent favoured rural areas for settlement and, it was widely believed, rural areas not unlike those they had known in the areas in which their earlier life had been spent. 1.

EDUCATIONs

LIFE

AND WORK

Helge Nelson came from a home where writing was a respected craft, and moved with his family as a child from Ystad in the south of Sweden to Lindesberg, central Sweden. There his father became editor of a small newspaper and Helge went to school at Orebro, the central town of the region. As a writer he had something of the fluency of his father and an appreciation of writing as a craft. His initial research interest was rooted in the local region for his morphoGeographers

Biobibliographical

Studies^

volume 8 (198U)

logical studies began with what he saw in the forests of the mining districts in the vicinity of his home, and as he came to know the local area he began to see the imprint on the landscape of the long established iron industry, especially on the distribution of settlements. Through this experience he developed a form of historical geography that was based in the geographical environment he knew so well. Having matriculated in 1899, he went to the University of Uppsala and graduated in 1905. There he received a broad education which included history, nolitical science, geography, mathematics and geology. Several members of the teaching staff at Uppsala were stimulating and effective, and Nelson remembered them with gratitude. Among these was Arvid Hogbom, a geologist of broad views and interests, whose research included fine work on problems of physical geography. He also spoke warmly of Harald Hjarne, 'the most scholarly historian Sweden has known'. Among the geogranhers of the time was the first professor of the subject in Uppsala, Karl Ahlenius (who died regrettably early), an eager advocate of the views of Friedrich Ratzel. His teaching gave Nelson a strong basis of understanding of the relation between the physical landscape and human occupation though in time he looked to many other major geographers for inspiration. The .historical cartographer, Sven Lonberg, was often mentioned by Nelson as a teacher who had given him strength and understanding in his own research work. It would seem that Nelson loved his years of study at Uppsala and was in fact the type of eager, receptive student that draws the best out of a university teacher. Having graduated, Nelson went to teach at the Folk

70

Helge Nelson

High School on the island of Oland and while there continued his study of geography and geology for the Master's degree from 1905 to 1909. Through the influence of Arvid Hogbom he became concerned with the glacifluvial landforms of the forest areas near his family home near Orebro, and particularly with the large masses of sediment accumulated in gravel fields at the highest (former) marine limit. These were vividly apparent in the large valleys of the Norrland terrain but as his work went on he also studied the numerous marginal deltas to be found in the southwest of Sweden. Happily his research was contemporaneous with the famous work of Gerard de (leer on the Dais-Ed glacifluvial delta. One result of these pioneering enterprises was the publication later of a number of valuable studies of such deposits in south and central Sweden. The presentation of this new material, rewarded by a doctorate from Uppsala University in 1910, introduced problems but Nelson was helped by his capacity for writing and also by a study of the papers written by W.M. Davis from 1890-2 and by W.O. Crosby from 1903-OU. There were in the early stages of his work no Swedish papers to provide a model for presentation of such material. Meanwhile Nelson's career as a teacher continued, and he became headmaster of a Folk High School at Stenstorp in the west of Sweden and in 1915, for the last year before he entered university service, head of the training college for teachers in Stockholm. Later, from 1917, he became concerned with the effects of glacial erosion of the preglacial fissure valleys of the primary rock terrain in the south of Sweden. A crucial pioneer study was carried out in the summer weeks from 1917 to 1922 in which he dealt mainly with the detailed morphology of the slopes and bottoms of the fissure valleys. With various assistants he made lake soundings from rowing boats with lead weights. This simple method was a well known and much enjoyed activity of students of physical geography. Much was to come from this work for many doctorate theses were in time to be written in Lund University on the morphology of the South Swedish Highlands, though Nelson himself wrote only the two essays of 1910 and 1923 on morphology and was steadily drawn into broader fields of regional and human geography, always strengthened by his primary training in physical aspects of the subject. Emigration from Sweden became a concern of Nelson while he was still working in Oland, for the central government commissioned a number of local studies to reveal economic and social conditions in the areas from which there was a large outward movement to America. These were collected together in the government's Emigration Report (Emigrations-utredningen) of 1907. Nelson was commissioned to study the areas of Oland from which emigration had been particularly heavy and this gave him a life-long interest in practical aspects of economic geography and demography. He found that in much of Oland farming was practised with much difficulty as the soil and other natural conditions were unhelpfully meagre and the inhabitants were far too numerous for the natural resources, with low standards of living. Many of the people were obliged to migrate seasonally in search of work to supplement their incomes and this gave knowledge of

other areas and opened people's minds to the possibility of permanent emigration, however eager they might be to retain a link with their island homes. In time Nelson was able to visit in America some of the migrants who had come from Sweden. After he had carried out this work in Oland Nelson turned again to his earlier interest on the mining districts of central Sweden which he knew as a boy and a young man. He saw this study as economic geography but was impressed by the thought of Sven Lonborg of Uppsala, who was opposed to the apparent simplicity of the parallelism drawn by Ratzel between natural conditions and socio-economic or general cultural standards. Lonborg advocated a deeper study in which the genesis and development of the cultural landscape would be studied with a sound historical method strengthened by the presentation of maps. This appeared to be more than an aspiration for Lonborg was convinced that no country had such reliable material for map presentation of historical material, though at the time practically nothing had been done. Nelson saw Lonborg's paper of 1913 as an inspiring call to action, for there was a vast source of material available in the Swedish Record Office which could reveal the geographical development of the countryside. Much of the material could be made the basis for cartographical mapping. Here then was a possible research programme, in which many people might be involved, that could well provide themes for higher degrees in a university setting. In 1913 Nelson applied for the vacant chair of geography at Lund University held by Hans Hugold von Schwerin to his death in 1912. By this time Nelson's research experience comprised studies of morphology, the economic and social geography of Oland and the historical geography of mining districts of which he had a long-developed knowledge. Long discussions followed at the University of Lund and the impact of the First World War delayed an appointment. Much of the difficulty lay in general uncertainty among academic people on the content and method of geography and its suitability for university study and research. In all there were seven applicants for the chair, of whom one was a geologist, two (one from Sweden and one from Denmark) were botanists and the remaining four were geographers. As it happened the geologist withdrew and in May 1915 the Swedish experts on the committee favoured both Sten de Geer, then known as an urban geographer and as a student of population distribution experimenting with dot maps, and also a Danish In June 191^ Albrecht Penck of botanist, Martin Vahl. Berlin had given an incomplete written assessment of the candidates but in August 1915 he sent a more definite report in which he expressed disapproval of all the non-geographers and ranked Nelson ahead of Sten de Geer and also of Otto Stogren, the glacial morphologist. Penck explained that he had only recently had the opportunity of reading Nelson's study of the old mining districts, but this paper had impressed him deeply. The members of the university council were naturally impressed by the international prestige of Penck and most of them voted for the appointment of Nelson who began tiis professorial work in the autumn of 19l6. This was to prove crucial in the general development of geography at the Swedish universities for many years. The complex nature of geography, having physical

Eelge Nelson and human aspects that were inevitably closely linked, was well understood in the Swedish universities. Between 1916 and 1958 eight professors of geography had been appointed and all of these had what was regarded as the essential 'double qualification' of publication in both the physical and human aspects of the subject. All except one of the new professors had first published a major work on physical geography, based on fieldwork, followed later by work on some human aspect of geography. For several decades it was the practice for students to write some form of dissertation on a limited area of the country and those dealing with human geography all began with an introductory chapter on the physical geography of the region. Having been appointed to the Lund chair, Nelson at once began to strengthen the resources of the geography department and was an eager seeker of financial support. He soon collected together a considerable library of maps and books, many of them from various government and other authorities. The ethnological collections accumulated by Schwerin were removed from the department, then located in the old King's House north of the Cathedral. Nelson saw the need for the department to become known and initiated the publication of papers which were to be issued from Lund and became widely studied by geographers of many countries. For the first time in Lund the geography of Sweden was to become a major element in both the teaching and the research of the department and much respected in geographical circles elsewhere. There was, for example, to be detailed work on Swedish cities and on the home region of Scania. For the students the training was to include map drawing and fieldwork and a full programme of field excursions in the vicinity of Lund. Nelson was clearly meeting an interest, and no doubt also a need of the times, and his former competitor Sten de Geer at Goteborg was working on comparable lines, notably as a pioneer of urban geography with special concern for town plans and also on population distribution. Nelson too cared very much for aspects of urban geography as his lectures of 1917, published in 1918, were to show. Gradually the vast possibilities of urban study were to be revealed, but the interest of Nelson lay primarily in their topographical situation, their environment and spheres of influence and the influence of historical development on their present form and functions. In time increasing attention was to be given to urban morphology, which provided rewarding dissertation work for students. Other earlier interests of Nelson also proved to be fruitful. There was continued research in Lund on the historical geography of south Sweden, using old maps and taxation documents as primary source materials. This led to efforts to reconstruct the old landscapes of Scania, on which the first thesis was defended in 19?.k: approximately half the theses in human geography presented for the next twenty-five years to 1950 in Sweden were on this topic, when there was the impression that a rich vein of research was perhaps exhausted. The material was easily accessible but not easily interpreted and most of the work dealt with conditions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A source of regret to Nelson was

71

that little was done to bring the story forward to the present time and therefore to show the real influence on current conditions. As an educationalist Nelson was eager to arouse interest not only among his students but also teachers and the general public and he also wished to give teachers and young students the opportunity of publishing their work. In 1921 he founded the Geographical Association of Lund and four years later the South Swedish Geographical Society, which had members living all over the country. He chose the right time to found this new organization, which had sufficient funds to

publish the Swedish Geographical Yearbook, which ever

since then has been a forum for publication of geographical work carried out at Lund. He was himself the editor until 1950. In 19*+3 he established the Society for Teachers of Geography, which from its inception has published useful geographical notices. Meanwhile, in 1930, the Geography Department moved into a new and well equipped building, at the time the largest in northern Europe except for the Institute at Leningrad. As mentioned earlier Nelson was eager to see the emigrants who had gone from Sweden, notably from Oland where his initial work was done, in America and between 1921 and 1933 he made long visits to the United States and Canada. The total duration of the four visits was two years and he brought back a mass of material on which he worked until 19^3, when it seemed that any further visits to America would be unlikely and therefore it would be wise to finish this line of publication. In all there were some thirty papers, most of which dealt with Swedish settlements in the United States of which he had personal knowledge. However his first journey was to Canada where he was eager to see the pioneer fringe. He held the view that Canada had obvious resemblances with Sweden and that emigrants are likely to seek the kind of environmental conditions they knew at home. He found many Swedish settlers on the pioneer fringe as it then was and this strengthened his view that emigrants sought what was comparable with their homeland. However he was also impressed by the agricultural depopulation of the New England states, as other travellers have been through experience, and in time he modified the apparent rigidity of his earlier judgement, for people do not ignore more favourable opportunities than those provided in infertile lands with poor soils and perhaps a hard climate also. Two long visits in 1925 and 1926 broadened his vision of the Swedish settlements in North America. Now he was ready to publish a two-volume work, of which the first volume was a general regional geography of the continent and the second a series of detailed studies of particular areas, mainly those with a considerable Swedish settlement. He was fully aware of the social and political consenuences of the rapidly developing industrial growth in America on the Swedish immigrants. Following his fourth and last long visit in 1933 he published his two-volume work on America in a revised edition. Finally, in 19^3, he issued a further volume with a comprehensive map supplement based on Census data. This was a fine contribution to demography based on his long research and a notable feature was the discussion of the settlers in Minnesota, Chicago and other areas of Illinois. As an introduction

72

Helge Nelson

to this last part of the North American work he emphasized the ideas on which it was based, the attraction of forested areas for Swedish settlers rather than the prairies, the emigration policy worked out in America, the general westward movement ('Go west young man') and other aspects of migration. Apart from its great interest for readers at the time, this work is of historical significance as a revelation of conditions when it was written. Through the years immigrant populations have been assimilated into a general American culture, though that is a gradual process and not by any means complete. He looked deeply and sympathetically at American life and the place of his own people in its complex society. Throughout his active life his other great interest was study of the industrial and commercial conditions in the countryside of Sweden. This was first seen in his essay on Oland and was continued by archival research and fieldwork in southern and central Sweden. Nor was that all for he collected newspaper articles, correspondence, and interviews with workmen. Constantly interested in migration he was always aware of seasonal as well as permanent movements of people for work and of the challenge to people who as migrants had to adjust to life in different regions and social conditions from those of their earlier home-based years. Nelson's years from 19^7 were marked by continued activity as an emeritus professor, culminating in the publication in 19&3, when he was eighty-one years of age, of his work of more than 600 pages, Studies

on economic geography t seasonal work and movements in Sweden during the nineteenth

population and

twentieth centuries. This book involved at least as much devotion as the final summary volume on America of 19^3 and in the introduction he states his aim in these terms: he wished to treat the revolution in time and space in Swedish industrial life and handicrafts, the distribution of occupations, the social structure and the changes in the cultural landscape through the redistribution of farm holdings, and the growth of industry, communications and commerce. Emigration and internal migration have caused marked changes in population distribution.

He goes on to explain that his investigations were carried out at a time yhen the working life and culture of the people had made a marked imprint giving individuality to the settlements of the country, a large number of which were isolated and remote in their location. Throughout this work Nelson adopts a regional approach and uses the old agricultural regions as a foundation. He asks for light on fundamental questions, such as the variety of seasonal movement from one part of the country to another, the relative importance and esteem given to various types of work, the economic and social significance of different occupations, and the increase of skills demanded from workers with modernization and the use of machines rather than the physical resource of powerful labourers. Given the influence of market conditions throughout the world, what geographical factors had influenced

the changing Swedish economy and stimulated so massive an internal migration during the previous century and a half? Though agriculture was a basic occupation at all times, it had through the years been supplemented by many other economic activities, including mining, forestry, timber floating, charcoal burning, carting goods, railway building, building of expanding towns as well as on the farms the cultivation of new crops such as sugar beet. All these activities and many more gave opportunities for the people, and stimulated mobility to an increasing extent, but for the seasonal worker there was still the return to the home with its tradition of handicrafts during the dark and cold winter months of the year. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT The effective beginning of Swedish university geography round the turn of the century was marked by an analysis of the geographical inheritance and this included geographical exploration, the history of geography and cartography and the influence of Herman pioneer geographers such as Ritter and Peschel. The possibilities and methods of an academic subject regarded as 'new' were not yet clear though there was the strong influence of Ratzelian doctrines and, for Nelson, the stimulating activity of Karl Ahlenius and Sven Lonberg whom he encountered in Uppsala. Nelson gave a short definition of geography in these words Geography in its modern form treats the earth's surface, its natural regions and its landscapeforming phenomena. Geography deals with these phenomena in terms of their situation, distribution, form and composition, but only if they are of such a size that in some degree they are constituting the character of a landscape. First and foremost the geographer looks for interaction. This definition could refer to conditions of the present time and also of any earlier time chosen for study. What happened in former times was of interest not only for itself but also because it enlightened the vision of the geographer on present times, particularly in the study of human settlement. Throughout his career as a geographer Nelson was supported by his broad education covering both sciences and the humanities in Uppsala university. He had a strong appreciation of the mathematical basis of geography and used statistical material thoroughly in his lectures along with 'size orders', for example in considering regions and towns. But like many more geographers of his day in many countries he was convinced that regional geography was the core and centre of geography, its essential synthesis combining many apparently disparate but related elements — in short, its crowning achievement. In 19l6 he made a statement that became his academic creed for the remainder of his life Geography is a chorological science. The geographer is not satisfied with the mere knowledge of the distribution of phenomena but also wishes to know their causes and the distinctive imprint they make on the earth's surface and its

Helge Nelson regions. He lays stress on the integration of varied phenomena and their causal relations. This study is geographia generalis, general or systematic geography. But he also studies the inter-relations of all geographical phenomena, the complex of related features in an area and this study is geographia specialis regional geography. Regional geography is the kernel and unique field that geography possesses, unmatched by other sciences, but systematic geography is also an essential and indeed indispensable element of geographical science. Nelson throughout his career spoke of regional geography with the fervour and belief of a preacher. This was especially the case in his later years, when he felt that his outlook was threatened and he must therefore defend it against the criticisms of other workers. Some of these critics said that much that was written of man's relation to nature was nonsensical in its search for correlations and that the regional concept should provide problem solutions based on systematic thought. Nelson held that the synthetic approach in regional geography must be guarded, as without it geography would disintegrate into fragments. In the synthetic approach lay the vitality of geography as a discipline. To him it was a severe blow when geography disappeared as an independent subject in the upper secondary schools and was divided between the sciences and the humanities. This meant that the synthetic approach was lost and the regional idea weakened. Regrettably the young people who came to the universities had not studied geography as a unitary subject during the last three or four years of their schooldays. In his view, this tendency to foster disintegration in geography had even invaded the universities, for professorships were given to people whose specialisms were in systematic aspects of the subject and the regional concept became less favoured. Try as he would, he could not regard such developments as desirable. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS The span of Nelson's career as a university teacher covered thirty-one years, and in this time his influence and scholarship gave him a position of increasing power and respect. It was crucial that geography should advance with vigour in the Swedish universities and gain academic recognition and Nelson was a man well equipped to meet the challenge of the time. He had a fine presence, the capacity to deal with a great deal of work, and considerable organizing ability. He was fortunately well aware of the need to carry his work outside the universities and in this side of his activity he was aided by his earlier experience of teaching. Having been a teacher in Folk High Schools and also in a teachers' training college, Nelson retained an interest in education at all stages. He believed that the real basis of geographical education lay in the schools and that it should be spread through the whole population, which naturally included the multi-

73

tudes who never entered the universities. He wrote textbooks for students at all levels and ages and edited a number of school atlases, mainly during the years from 1927 to 1933, wisely engaging the help of teachers familiar with the various age-groups. These books dominated geography teaching in Swedish schools for more than a quarter of a century. When he saw any development that might threaten the position of geography he wrote appropriate memorials to the relevant authorities. For many years he was a commissioner for the matriculation examination and this involved visiting almost all the schools for senior pupils throughout the country. His commanding figure was seen at many meetings and at courses designed for teachers and he gave many popular lectures, with talks on the radio when broadcasting developed. To the geographical journals he contributed a number of discussion papers and his influence was marked in the publications of the South Swedish Geographical Society, especially through the Swedish Geographical Yearbook. In the life of the geography department at Lund some said that the week before a meeting of the society was marked by the 'South Swedish disease'. Of his early works two were particularly significant as models for the dissertation work of students in the universities. These were his dissertation on glacifluvial deposits of 1910 and his essay on the mining districts of 1913, both rooted in local fieldwork. The continuing concern in his work for migration naturally led to his North American studies, of international interest to geographers, but the students had to find subjects near their homes for obvious economic reasons and he showed them that this was practical and rewarding, both for those whose major interest lay in physical or in human aspects of geography. Various phrases he used showed his determination that the young aspirant geographer should see things for himself, should as an investigator 'go through the mill', 'feel the terrain in his legs' or even grovel in the gravel. He was a man of the landscape for The geographer moves in a concrete and visible world. Whether he turns his attention towards a landscape which seems to be almost unaltered by human hand or wanders in a scene where man has left a dominating mark and demonstrated his remoulding of the landscape, it is not through literary study initially the geographer develops his understanding but rather through observation and gaining knowledge at first hand. The geographer ought to range over the terrain, to look and inspect it, even to use the plane table and other instruments when needed. He ought to work with the sharp inductive method of the natural scientist, to seek laws in the wonderful complex of natural and human imprint that geography embraces. (1916) This guide to action as a geographer was intended to serve a student dealing with an area of limited dimensions. The hope was that it could give life to the work a student himself did. And in fact Swedish students, though made thoroughly aware of the significance of physical geography, also found in the field the fascination of urban morphology, the areas served

74

Helge

Nelson

commercially by a town, the settlement or the economic geography of a small area such as a parish. Some acquired a special interest in climatology and Nelson realized that the possibilities of research were wide. Even so, as it happened there were about twice as many doctorate dissertations in some aspect of human geography as in geomorphology during the long and distinguished service given by Helge Nelson to the University of Lund.

Bibliography and Sources 1. OBITUARIES AND REFERENCES ON HELGE NELSON Studier tilldgnade Helge Nelson den 15 April 1942 (Festschrift ... ) , Sven. Geogr. Arsbok, vol 18 (I9fc2), 575 p. Lunds universitets matrikel (Members of ... ), 191^-51, Lund (1951), 368-72 Bergsten, K.E., 'Helge Nelson', Sven. Geogr. Arsbok, vol U2 (1966), 109-20 Hagerstrand, T., 'Helge Nelson', Vetenskapssocietetens i Lund Arsbok, Lund (1967), 131-7 Tuneld, J., 'Helge Nelson', K. Gustav Adolfs Akademiens Minnesbok 1957-1972, vol 2 (l98l), 89-131 Contains a bibliography of Helge Nelson's work, 535 items, including 180 major papers and books, 30 on North America and its Swedish settlement, 3I+ on the economic and urban geography of Sweden, 28 biographical studies of geographers, 22 on school and university education in geography and 3** school textbooks and atlases with various collaborators. Hagerstrand, T., 'Proclamations about geography from the pioneering years in Sweden', Geogr. Ann., vol 68B (1982), 119-25 2.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY HELGE NELSON

Geomorphology a. 1910 'Om randdeltan och randasar i mellersta och sodra Sverige' ('On marginal deltas and eskers in central and southern Sweden'), Sveriges geologiska undersdkning, ser. C no. 220, Stockholm, 252 p. 1923 'Om forhallandet mellan tektonik och glacialerosion inom Saveans flomorade' ('The relation between tectonics and glacial erosion in the Save river basin'), Lunds Universitet Arsskrift, 35 p., 3 plates, 5 coloured maps of lakes with depths b. 1935

Cartography 'Den skanska rekognosceringskartan 1812, 18151820. Ett marktligt svenskt Kartverk' ('The reconnaissance map of Scania: a notable Swedish map'), Sven. Geogr. Arsbok, vol 11, 191-207

and economic geography c. Historical 1909 Oland, Emigrationsutredningens

of

Sweden bygdeundersokningar

(Oland report on emigration), Stockholm, 95 p. 'En Bergslagsbygd. En historisk-geografisk overblick' ('A mining district: a study in historical geography"), Ymer, vol 33, 278-352, 3 maps 1918 Geografiska studier Over de svenska stddemas och de stadslika orternas lage {Geographical studies on the site of Swedish cities and other places), dedicated to Lund University on its bicentenary, 109 p., 1 map 1928 'Den svenska stadsbygden och dess ekonomisk-geografiska karaktar. Nagra fakta och nagra synpunkter' ('The character of the economic geography of Swedish towns and other urban agglomerations'), Sven. Geogr. Arsbok, vol h, 7-19 (French abstract 18-19) 19U9 Simrishamn med omland. Studier i omrddets ndringsliv, befolkningsrdrelser, yrkes och-socialgrupper {Simrishamn and. district: its industrial and commercial life, population movements, social groups and trade), 1-73, 112-73 1959 'Some remarks on seasonal wanderings, internal migration in and from Sweden in the 19th century', Folkliv, Stockholm, vol 21-22, 85-99 (dedicated to Sigfrid Svensson on his seventieth birthday) 1963 Studier over svenskt arbetsliv, provinser, s'dsongarbete och befolkningsrOrelser under 1800- och 1900- talen {Studies on economic geogravhy, seaonal work and population movements in Sweden during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) Acta Reg. Soc. Hum. Litt. Lundensis , vol 63, 628 p. 1913

Swedish settlement in North America d. 1922 Canada. Nybyggarlandet (Canada: the land of pioneer settlers), 180 p. 1923 'The interior colonization in Canada at the present day and its natural conditions', Geogr. Ann., vol 5, 2UU-308 1926 Nordamerika, part 1, Natur, bygd och svenskbygd (Nature, countryside and Swedish settlement regions) ,..1-258; part 2, Geografiska landskaps -och miljdskildringar (Geographical landscape and environmental descriptions), 259-352 (2 enlarged ed., 1935, 715 p.) 193^ 'Kolonisation och befolkningsforskjutning inom Kanadas prarie-provinser' ('Civilisation and population movement in the prairie provinces of Canada'), Ymer, vol 5^/3, l6l-80 191+3 'The Swedes and the Swedish settlements in North Lundensis, America', Acta Reg. Soc. Hum. Litt. vol 2, Atlas, 75 maps vol 1, Text, UUl p. e. Geographical theory 191+U 'Oeografien som vetenskap. En overblick av dess utveckling till 1900-talets borjan' ('Geography as a science. A retrospect of its development up to 1916'), Sven. Geogr. Arsbok, vol 20, 208-22 (inaugural lecture of 1916) 1957-9 'Kulturgeografien vid Lunds universitet' ('Human and social geography at the University of Lund'), Fortid og nutid, Copenhagen, vol 20, 80-91 f.

Editorial work Nelson edited vols 1-26, 1925-50 of Svensk geografisk Arsbok (Swedish geographical yearbook) and from 19^3-5 the Geografiska notiser. Med-

Helge Nelson lemsblad for geografil'dramas riksforening {Geographical news: journal of the Society for Teachers of Geography) K.E. Bergsten is Emeritus Professor Geography3 University of Lund

of

Physical

Chronology 1882

Born at Ystad, southernmost Sweden 15 April

1888

His family moved to Lindesberg in central Sweden

1899

Matriculated at the University of Uppsala after university entrance examination at Orebro

190^

fit. kand. degree (equivalent to B.A.) at Uppsala

1905-15

Taught at the Folk High School on the island of Oland and later headmaster of the Folk High School at Stenstorp in western Sweden

1910

Awarded the doctor's degree in Uppsala

1915

Became principal at the teachers' training college in Stockholm

1916-^7

Professor of geography at the University of Lund

1921-33

Travelled in the U.S.A. and Canada (1921, 1925, 1926, 1933 - in all about two years)

1925

Founded Sydsvenska Geografiska Sallskapet (the South-Swedish Geographical Society)

1926

Visiting member of the Faculty at the University of Chicago

1930

Opening of the newly-built Department of Geography in Lund

1933

Founded the Society for Teachers of Geography

1937-^*8

Was a member of the chapter of Lund diocese (for school matters)

1966

Died in Lund on 23 January

75

Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev 1874-1928

R.L. YUGAI Neustruev was an outstanding Russian and Soviet soil scientist and geographer who identified the grey soil types, was the first pedologist to describe the soils of the arid and desert areas of the U.S.S.R. and founded a progressive school of thought of soil scientists-geographers . 1. EDUCATION, LIFE AND WORK Sergei Neustruev was horn into the family of a wellknown Volga-river captain in Nizhny Novgorod (now Oorky) on 23 September 187^. From childhood he felt the beneficial influence of his father Semyon Neustruev, a purposeful and industrious man who loved and knew the area he lived in, and above all the great Volga river. Captain Neustruev gave much time and attention to the upbringing of his son: often he would take him on a voyage which would always leave an indelible impression on the child awed by the mighty river and by the life of the people along its banks. Those were probably the years when Sergei conceived a passionate love for nature and the thirst to know the world around him. From 1883 to 1893 Sergei Neustruev studied in a Nizhny Novgorod secondary school, and immediately on graduation he entered the natural sciences section of the physical-mathematical department of the Moscow University. There he op>ed for chemistry as his specialization, and was especially attracted by organic chemistry: he worked in the laboratory of the young Professor N.D. Zelinsky who later became one of the greatest representatives of Russian and Soviet chemical science. On his university graduation (in

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studiesj

volume 8 (198U)

1898 with a diploma of the 'first degree' of excellence), however, Neustruev chose for himself what was then a new specialism as a pedologist and geographer in a broad sense of the word. In the opinion of Academician Berg, such a sudden turn in life and scientific pursuits of Neustruev was due to a fortuitous occurrence, his appointment as a conductor in a study tour by International Geological Congress participants to Kashpir on the Volga, led by the prominent geologist S.N. Nikitin. 'In all probability* wrote L.S. Berg, 'this study tour turned out to be crucial in Neustruev's life: he realized that his vocation or calling was not chemistry but soilgeology, geomorphology and pedology' (Berg L.S., 'Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev (l871*-1928)', in

Otechestvennye fiziko-geografi i puteshestvenniki national physical geographers and travellers).

{The

From the university, Neustruev went at once to Samara (now Kuibyshev) and began teaching physics and cosmography at the first women's secondary school. From June 1898, he embarked on a path that was to take him into the new field of soil science. He becomes an assistant soil scientist at Samara under the guidance of L.I. Prasoloc. The young soil scientists A.I. Bessonov and P.I. Datsenko also began their careers there with him. The Samara soil science group embarked on a detailed study of the soils of the Samara district, aided and encouraged by the work of V.V. Dokuchaev, whose comprehensive methods had already been developed and applied in soil studies expeditions in the Nizhny Novgorod and the Poltava government districts (in 1882 and 1888). Sergei Neustruev studied the soils of the south-

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Sergei Semyonovich

Neustruev

eastern steppe districts of the Samara government — Buzuluk, Nikolaev, Novouzensky and others. The plentiful field observations were processed without delay and published in a number of editions as essays and articles. The findings were prepared jointly with Prasolov, Bessonov and Datsenko and published in the journals or as separate editions in the first years of the twentieth century. During his stay in the Samara government area Sergei Neustruev was engaged in geological and general geographical observations as well as in pedological studies. His findings made it possible to refute the opinion that the Caspian sea had at one time extended far to the north, to Kama. In actual fact, however, it turned out that the Quaternary sediments of the Caspian sea cover spaces to the river called Bolshoi Irgiz. The young scientist also discovered an original cover material, a variety of clay that is never found higher than 170-180 metres above sea level. In Neustruev's opinion this clay was a water sediment deposited in non-flowing lakes and swamps during the most vigorous period of thawing of the Quatenary glacier. Posted in the same year 1908, to the Resettlement department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sergei Neustruev was entrusted with studying the vegetation cover and the water resources of the vast and insufficiently known Turkestan territory. This began his so-called Turkestan period of scientific activities, which lasted till 19lU. In the summer of 1908 Neustruev was already working in the district of Chimkent. Of special note is that participants in the expeditions of the Resettlement department included several outstanding Russian soil scientists who were Dokuchaev's followers. Directly in charge of all the pedological studies was K.D. Glinka, the closest disciple of the great Russian soil scientist V.V. Dokuchaev. Besides pedologists, participants in the expeditions included botanists B.A. Fedchenko, O.E. Knorring and Z.A. Minkvits. Especially fruitful were soilbotanical studies carried out in the district of Chimkent (the slopes of the Talassky Alatau, the basins of the rivers Arys and Boroldai, the eastern slopes of the Karatau mountains and the central part of the Muyunkum desert). The results of the work were analysed in the remarkable work of S.S. Neustruev entitled 'Pochvenno-geografichesky ocherk Chimkentskogo uyezda' ('An essay on the soil and geography of the Chimkent district') published in 1910. For the first time, the book described soils of grey type widespread in the foothill areas of the deserts of Central Asia. Identification of the new types of soils is one of the most brilliant achievements of Sergei Neustruev. By his discovery of grey soils he made a definite contribution to the doctrine of loess. In Neustruev's opinion, the Turkestan loess could only have been formed at the expense of alluvial sand and not of other types of sand. At later periods Sergei Neustruev, according to L.S. Berg, adopted even more resolutely the soil theory of loess formation. In subsequent years Neustruev studied the soils of the Aulieatinsky (1909) and the Perovsky districts (1910), including territories of Northern Kyzilkum and of the lower reaches of Syrdarya. There he was

especially interested in the old valleys of the rivers Janadarya and Kuvandarya where he described the 'takyrs' — original soil formations. In the same year he made a number .of 'reconnoitering' trips to the Kazalinsky district. Beginning with 1911, Neustruev's expedition activities switched over into the confines of the Fergana valley, including the Andjansky, Namangansky and Oshsky districts as well as the Pamir. In 191^, having completed work in the central and southern areas of the Fergana valley, Neustruev moved to the northern regions of the valley and beyond — the Djizak district where his disciple A.V. Prokhorov was engaged in the study of soils. Identification of ten soil and geographical regions in the two districts noted above may be regarded as an important result of these activities. Neustruev took part in the search for soil areas fit for cotton growing in the Shirabad valley in the south of the Bokhara emirate (1912). It was necessary to study in a brief period an area of 2,000 square km, covering a 500 km long itinerary from Shirabad to the Amudarya river. While during his 'Samara period' S.S. Neustruev, besides field activities, gave much attention to selfeducation in order to understand all the intricacies of his novel profession of a pedologist-geographer, during his stay in Turkestan he became a well-known scientist in the field of pedology and geography — in fact one of the best researchers on the soils of that area. In the period between the field activities in Turkestan Neustruev, who in 1908 had moved back to St. Petersburg, was active in the public life of the capital and taught at higher education establishments; for example in 1912 he was appointed secretary of the newly established Dokuchaev soil committee headed by K.D. Glinka. Neustruev taught at the Polytechnical Institute and the higher geographical courses, where there was a course on soil science. To-Sergei Neustruev's credit, with the other members of the Dokuchaev committee (L.S. Bagrov, A.A. Kaufman, V.N. Komarov, V.N. Sukachev and others), he actively participated in implementing the beginning of higher geographical education in Russia. This initiative was the idea of setting up a geographical institute, after which the higher geographical courses were initiated in 19l6. The professors giving these courses included such outstanding Russian scientists as A.I. Voyeikov, I.D. Lukashevich, B.A. Fedchenko, K.D. Glinka, L.S. Berg, Yu. M. Shokalsky and many others. Sergei Neustruev was one of the first teachers at the courses and stayed over after they had been taken over by the Geography Institute in 1918. To return to Sergei Neustruev's expeditions, from 1915 to 1918 he was in charge of the soil studies conducted in the Orenburg government area. Neustruev's assistants included representatives of related scientific disciplines, notably geobotanists and geologists: I.M. Krasheninnikov, K.P. Gorshenkin, D.N. Sokolov, M.I. Rozhenets and others. The chief result of the field activities in the Orenburg area was the remarkable book called Yestestvennye rayoni Orenburgskoi

guberniyi

{The natural

areas of the Orenburg government

district). That geographical essay was published in Orenburg in 1918. In Krasheninnikov's opinion, the book was 'the first real geographical description of a

Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev large part of the southern Urals and a brilliant combination of popularised material presentation with a purely scientific concept'. (Krasheninnikov I.M.,

Fiziko-geograficheskie physical-geographical

rayoni Yuzhnogo Urala {The areas of Southern Urals),

Moscow-Leningrad, 1939, p. 6 of the Russian version). From 1919 to 1921 Neustruev lived in Omsk and engaged in soil and geological studies of Western Siberia and Kazakhstan. Forced to stay in Siberia for some time due to the Civil War, Neustruev still found strength to pursue intense scientific activities. There he became Professor of the Siberian Institute of Agriculture and Industry and organized the first pedology chair in the eastern part of the young Soviet Republic. As before, in Siberia he was surrounded by his colleagues and disciples I.M. Rozhanets, M.M. Mazyro; geologists Ya.S. Edelstein and Neiman, botanists V.V. Sapozhnikov, P.N. Krylov, O.Ye. Knorring and others. Neustruev spent the last period of his life and activity (1921-8) in Petrograd (Leningrad). This period may perhaps have been the most fruitful and significant. Sergei Neustruev, then unfolding a truly titanic range of activities — pedagogical, scientific and social — taught at the Geographical Institute (from the year 1925 the geographical department of the Leningrad State University), worked in the State institute of experimental agronomy of the Academy of Sciences where jointly with L.I. Praslov he prepared for publication a soils map of the Asian part of the U.S.S.R. with the scale of a hundred versts (one verst is 3,500 feet). At that time expeditions also continued in the Mozdok steppe, the Leningrad region, the near-Caspian flatland and in the lower reaches of Amudarya. These are the major milestones in the life and scientific activities of Sergei Neustruev.

2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Of his thirty years in science, Neustruev devoted twenty-five to field activities. Despite this his theoretical contributions in the field of soil science and geography were of great value to science. His contribution to pedology was enormous, above all to the explanation of the soil-formation factors. In Neustruev's opinion soil is an inalienable part of the natural landscape. His ideas concerned combinations of interlinked climatic, geological, aquatic and vegetational factors, the impact of animals on the soil-formation process. Neustruev put forward a number of new ideas on soils classification — a fundamental problem of soil science. His classification was mainly based on the genetic principle and reflected the objective soilformation patterns. Like his teacher K.D. Glinka, Neustruev identified the development of the main groups of elementary processes and the related development of the main soil-formation types: laterite, podzol, steppe, solonets and swampy. All the soil types were subdivided by him into two classes or sections: automorphous and hydromorphous soils. Neustruev made a major contribution to the problem of soil-geographical patterns. He noted that the main types of soil-formation were closely linked with

79

changes in climate and other natural components. For instance, the black soils (chernozems) differ within the various' regions in the U.S.S.R., and because of the dry climate Central Asia lacks the zonal type of soils. In the meantime, however, Neustruev offered his experience of linking classification groups and types of soils with the soil and geographical break-up into zones, subzones and belts. Also notable is Neustruev's contribution in the field of the theoretical problems of physical geography. He dealt with purely geographical problems of vast scope. His ideas were of relevance to physical geography, physical-geographical zoning, landscapes, geographical zones, physical and geographical borders and some others. On all of these questions, as a scientist and traveller, he had something to say and thus contributed to the development of geography. Let us quote but a few of the scientist's ideas. He wrote that The study of the landscape of the earth surface, and of their regular distribution on the earth constitutes the subject of the science — geography ... The science strives to identify the regularities of the distribution of things and phenomena on the earth's surface in their reciprocal linkage, to demonstrate and explain the variety and the law-governed patterns underlying the development of the landscapes ... even if one cannot accept the whole of the view of geography, still one cannot fail to recognise that the study of the earth surface landscapes constitutes a major component of geography. (Neustruev S.S., Estestvennie

rayoni Orenburgskoi guberniyi {The natural regions of the Orenburg government district) (See Orenburgskie stepi v Trudakh P.I. Rychkova, Ye.A. Evermannaj S.S. Neustrueva {The Orenburg steppes in the works of ..., Oeograficheskaya Literatura Publishers, Moscow, 1959» p. 329)

Modern geographers are inclined to think that Sergei Neustruev, in the definition of the landscape, went further than L.S. Berg. In Neustruev's opinion landscape is not a unit of zoning but a general notion. His definition of the landscape follows. And so, each given landscape constitutes a combination of conditions: the structure of the earth surface (geomorphology), climate (warmth, light and moisture) of aquatic conditions, vegetation, wild life and human culture. All these conditions are linked with each other 326). and influence each other {ibid., In giving a definition to the landscape, Neustruev cites the idea of the genesis and man's participation in its formation: For the distribution and adaptation in Nature of plants, animals and man of importance are not only the present-day conditions but also those which had existed previously long before the present generation, i.e. their history the origins, resettlement, cross-breeding and change in a new situation for them for resettle-

80

Sergei

Semyonovich

Neustruev

ment or for switching over to a previously unknown habitat (ibid. ) . It is also important to stress that Neustruev divides landscapes into natural and man-made; in his opinion, the latter develop on the basis of the former. Neustruev regarded as one of the central tasks of geography the zoning, or 'dividing the country into natural areas' as he wrote in one of his manuscripts (Neustruev S.S., Geografia kak nauka o landsohafte {Geography as the science of the landscape), All Union Geographical Society archive, f. 15, op. 1, d. 7l). The zoning is the result of the understanding of the landscapes, and it is of enormous practical importance, for 'life necessitates that account must be taken of the natural resources ... Without knowing the landscape and its resources, one cannot harmonise economic activities with the natural conditions', he went on to say in that same unpublished work. The accepted approach regards Neustruev as the founder of the zoning school of thought in the Soviet science of landscapes: after zones, he proposed to identify natural physical-geographical regions and areas, also putting forward the idea of 'provincialism' or 'regionalism' in zoning. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS S.S. Neustruev founded a new school of thought of pedologists-geographers and his ideas are being developed by the modern Soviet soil scientists and geographers. Among his direct disciples we find the names of the well-known soil scientists-geographers I.P. Gerasimov, Ye.N. Ivanova, Ye.V. Lobova, N.L. Blagovidov and many others. His 'vicarious' disciples may be noted especially in those areas of the Soviet Union where Neustruev carried out his scientific activities, in Central Asia, Siberia and the Volga area. Sergei Neustruev wrote a number of methodological manuals and textbooks for students and participants in different kinds of scientific societies. These include Elementi geografiyi pochv (The elements of soil geography), Moscow-Leningrad, 1930, 1931; Geografia kak nauka o landschafte (Geography as a science of the landscape) a manuscript, 1918; Kak isuchat pochvi svoego kraya (How to study the soils of your land) 1926 and others. Neustruev's ties with foreign colleagues were broad and numerous. In 190U he made a tour of the countries of Western Europe, visiting scientific institutions in Warsaw, Vienna, Rome, Venice, Naples, Marseilles, Paris, Cologne and Berlin. In 1927 Neustruev presented a large report about the achievements of the Russian soil science to the 1st International Soil Science Congress in Washington, D.C. During his stay in the United States he familiarized himself with the methods of research activities in the scientific research and educational institutions of the United States and participated in the study tours organized within the framework of the congress. Sergei Neustruev referred with praises and gratitude to the organizers of the 1st International Soil Science forum. At the last meeting of the Congress Neustruev was placed in charge of the commission to compile a soil map of the entire Asian continent. This repre-

sented a worldwide recognition of Neustruev's merit as a soil scientist. For his outstanding scientific achievements, Sergei Neustruev was twice presented with the chief awards of the Russian geographical society: in 1912 with the Gold medal of Przevalsky and in 1925 with the Semenov Gold medal. Sergei Neustruev died on 2U May 1928 in the town of Syzran at the age of 5*+. He was buried in Shuvalov near Leningrad.

Bibliography and Sources 1. BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON SERGEI NEUSTRUEV Milkov F.N., Yestestvoispytateli Orenburgskogo kraya (Nature's researchers of the Orenburg territory), Moscow, (19^8) Pamyati S.S. Neustrueva (Appreciation of Neustruev). An anthology edited by L.I. Prasolov and I.P. Gerasimov, issued by the publishing house of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow-Leningrad (19^9) Dontsova Z.N., Sergei Semyonovich Neustruev (l871+-1928), Nauka Publishers, Moscow, 1967, 200 p. Sokolova N.N., 'Pamyati S.S. Neustrueva', Izv. Russkogo. Geogr. Obshch., no 1 (1975) 2. SERGEI NEUSTRUEV'S MAIN WORKS 1902 'Ob otnosheniyi plastov k aralokaspiiskim otlozheniyam v Samarskoi puberniyi' ('On the relation of layers to the Aral-Caspian deposits in the Samara government') Izv. of the Geological Committee, vol. 21/70 1910 'K voprosu o normalnikh pochvakh i zonalnosti kompleksa sukhikh stepei' ('On the question of normal soils and zonality of the complex of dry steppes'), Pochvovedeniye (Soil science), no 2 1911 '0 pochvak pustynnikh stepei Turkestana' ('On the soils of the desert steppes of Turkestan'). A diary of the 11th congress of the Russian natural scientists and physicians, Moscow

R.L. Yugai is acting State Pedagogical

professor Institute

at the

Tashkent

Nizami

Hans Hugold von Schwerin 1853-1912

KARL-ERIK BERGSTEN Baron Hans Hugold von Schwerin became Sweden's first professor of geography in the year 1902 and spent all his professional life at the University of Lund. He was trained in history and political science but his later studies were on the history of geography and cartography, with travels in the newborn Congo State. 1. EDUCATION3 LIFE AW WORK Baron von Schwerin was born on IT September 1853 at Skarhult Castle, an extensive estate 15 km northeast of Lund in southernmost Sweden, and belonged to a widely ramified German noble family of which a branch had moved to Sweden in 1717. Hans Hugold's grandmother, Martina von Schwerin, was in her time one of the best known Swedish women for her marked literary talent. His father was a cavalry captain, landlord and later a politician. He bought Skarhult Castle in l&hk from King Oscar I. Hans Hugold's father and elder brother both had strong connections with German branches of the family. Hans grew up in the castle and had the privileged education of a nobleman. A large and famous library was collected in the castle but as a younger son he could not inherit the castle with its land, though he had an estate in its vicinity. During his school years he was a boarder at the Cathedral School in Lund, where he received a solid teaching in classical languages. In Swedish upper secondary schools geography was represented as an independent subject from the first half of the eighteenth century, even though the subject was not taught at the university. Having matriculated at the University of Lund he at first studied history and polit-

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

ical science. His first university teacher, Processor Martin Weibull, was very interested in geography and on occasion might devote as much as half his lecturing time to political geography, and so it is -fair to say that he paved the way for geography at Lund University. Mathematics and astronomy contributed to what has now become physical geography. After graduating as a bachelor in I878 Schwerin became an assistant at the University Library and there he stayed until his doctoral thesis was finished in 188^. He already knew something of the possible range of geographical study by this time. Even before Immanuel Kant lectured on physical geography in Konigsberg during the latter part of the eighteenth century, German geographers distinguished between 'old' geography, that is especially of the ancient Mediterranean countries, and 'new' geography. There was a very rich literature available of 'old' geography about Herodotus and his time, which Schwerin chose as his speciality and for which his •oosition as a librarian was favourable to careful study. Very soon he acquainted himself with the rich libraries and collections of old maps in England and France. Because of his favourable financial circumstances he could satisfy his taste for travelling, and in l88l he attended his first International Geographical Congress in Venice as a young Swedish delegate and assistant commissioner at its exhibition. Following the public defence of his thesis he was ready to start the long journey that was to determine much of his work for the rest of his life. The 'scramble for Africa' was at its height and in 1885 Leopold I of Belgium proclaimed the existence of the Congo State

82

Hans Hugold von Schwerin

after nearly a decade of international political discussions. From 1880 until 188U thirty-three Swedes had seen service in the various administrative organizations of the Congo region, especially on the river. Indeed Swedes made up eighteen per cent of all European employers. By the end of 188^ fourteen of the thirty-three Swedes had returned home, nine were left in the new Congo state and ten had died there, many from malaria. In 1885 an International Congo Exhibition was held in Antwerp at which Schwerin was present and made observations. He also made preparations for his journey by providing himself with a mandate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study the situation of the Congo Swedes and the possibilities of finding a market for Swedish products, and the Anthropological and Geographical Society in Stockholm asked him to study the hydrology of the Congo River and its tributaries. On 11 November 1885 he sailed from Liverpool and on 20 April 1886 he reached the mouth of the Congo. He travelled on a steamer of the Congo State to Stanley Pool and further up the Kasai and Lulua Rivers to the mouth of the Luebo, 800 km up the river. He met two well-known Congo experts, Lieutenant Wissman and Dr. Wolf, who had explored tributaries of the Congo River. On his way back he met a Swedish lieutenant, C.R. Hakansson, who was visiting mission stations south of Leopoldville and mapping the region. Hakansson wrote a lively account of the journeys and notes that on his return to the mouth of the Congo Schwerin spent some time in the regions north and south of Banana, then joined him on a voyage to the Biafra Islands and finally travelled alone to the south by sea, calling at the Portuguese settlements on the coast. All this was described in a lecture by Schwerin at the Paris International Geographical Congress of 1889. By the autumn of 1887 Schwerin was back in Lund after the journey which had aroused his interest in African matters and above all in the history of discovery, but he never published any report on his travels, though on 11 November 1887 he lectured on these to the Anthropological and Geographical Society. He also gave a large collection of objects collected during his tour to the Ethnological Museum in Stockholm. After the return from Congo Schwerin became a senior lecturer at the university, at first in history and political science and during the following years increasingly in geography, a subject established for several decades in German universities and also recently introduced at Copenhagen. In Lund University there were discussions within the Faculty of Arts on whether geography should be classified with history or with political science. During the years 1892-7 Schwerin lectured and examined students of geography and the position of the subject in the university became the concern of the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament). In 1891* the Riksdag presented their conclusions with due solemnity and said that 'such a distribution among the subjects should be made as circumstances called for, in such a way that teaching and examination in geography thereby should be supplied in a satisfying manner'. In I896 an associate professor's chair in geography and history was declared vacant at the Univers-

ity of Lund. There was already a long-established appointment in history, but it was now expected that the man appointed should be responsible not only for all the geography taught in the university but also for the historical elements in the basic courses of theology and law. Four applicants applied, of whom three withdrew later so only Schwerin remained. He was declared fully qualified by five experts from Sweden, Denmark and Norway and was appointed. At this time his foremost works were on Herodotus (l88U) and Helgoland (1896). One of the experts consulted was Ernst Loffler, the first geography professor in Denmark from 1888 and a renowned geomorphologist. Loffler tells in his memoirs how Schwerin later visited him for he 'wished to learn what a geographer looked like'. And later — in 190^ — Loffler visited Lund as lecturer and was Schwerin's guest at Skarhult Castle. He tells about the aristocratic circle he met and how he 'helped the baronesses, in spite of a downpour, to pick mushrooms in the wood'. In August 1902 the historical group at the university was organized with three chairs: one full professor in history, and two associate professors, in political science and in geography. Schwerin's appointment gave Sweden its first professor responsible solely for geography. In a reorganization of 1909 Schwerin became a full professor. In much the same manner a couple of years later similar appointments were made in Uppsala and Goteborg. In his teaching at the university Schwerin kept to his old interests. He gave lectures on the regional geography of different continents and especially on their palaeogeography, history of discovery and economic geography. He also lectured on general physical geography, with meteorology and oceanography. According to the university catalogues he never, until his death, gave any series of lectures on the geography of Sweden, though in the discussion on his professorial work it was explicitly stated that teaching on Sweden would be valued at the university. Naturally the examination standards of the students were varied. During his time the number of students choosing geography was between twenty-five and fifty a year. From his younger days he was described as a man of 'well-intentioned aggression but overflowing kindness'. He had an engaging sense of humour, apparent to posterity in many sections of his minor papers. He also, when he found it necessary, used an eagerly polemic and personal, sometimes pungent, tone. The students' anecdotes about him were numerous and have survived in Lund for fifty years after his death, especially/ the famous 'catechism' in his oral examinations. To give just one example, he asked 'Why is it not possible to take a rest in a hammock in Argentina?' and the correct answer is 'It is too long a distance between the trees'. In later years he lived quietly in his department and his study, and his travelling was reduced. Of distinguished military bearing, he became a familiar figure often seen taking leisurely strolls with friends in Lundagard, the park between the Cathedral and the old King's House dating from the sixteenth century, where in 1909 geography was assigned a couple of rooms as a small department and where he had a limited collec-

Hans Hugold von Schwerin tion of ethnographica. In 1901 Schwerin married a farmer's daughter from the parish in southeast Scania where his mother was born. Of this marriage there were two children. He was at one and the same time a university man, owner of an estate near Skarhult Castle and from the time of his African travels Congolese Consul for Sweden and Norway, later also for Denmark. His last years were saddened by illness and he died on 19 December 1912 at Lund where he had lived since his school days. His library was deposited in Skarhult Castle. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Only a couple of months after the public defence of his thesis in 188U Schwerin went to Toulouse as a Swedish delegate at the great world exhibition of geography. He had his interest in and his conception of the unity of geography firmly considered and he walked through the exhibition rooms in a critical mood. Does this show what is meant by geography? It must be a very difficult, not to say impossible, task to analyse from the evidence of materials gathered here the idea of geographical science, to understand correctly its contents and to set limits to its domain. Indeed we may be excused if we, on the whole, doubt the scientific character of geography, when as we see it exhibited here it indisputably suggests the. conception that it is merely an agglomeration of materials raked together and lacking any inner principle to make them consistent. Even so, the term les sciences geographtques is not used but always g&ographie. He maintained the same attitude nine years later when he undertook a minutely detailed scrutiny of the Swedish schoolbook on geography by E. Carlsson, which later on was to be an almost obligatory text right up to the 19*+0s. He criticised in stern words its 'ungeographical' style, by which he meant one reminiscent of an encyclopaedia, and he says he is doing so 'for the sake of the still tender geographical science in Sweden'. It is uncertain when Schwerin first began to conceive geography not only as a branch of history but also as an independent study. As Swedish books were lacking, German works were used. His immediate collaborator during his later years was Arnold Norlind, and this ensured that Schwerin learned much on the problem of the dependence of man on nature from the works of Oskar Peschel, one of the German geographers who worked in the 1860s and 1870s and gave geography a fixed theoretical profile. In the Anthropological and Geographical Society around the turn of the century there were heated debates about the position geography ought to adopt as a science. From Germany came the controversy on whether geography should be a 'unit' founded on natural science or if it should be 'dualistic' and look not only on nature but also on man's dependence on nature. Schwerin was an eager spokesman for the latter theory, but was convinced that it should be used with modera-

83

tion, and applied also to the historical background of geography to which from interest and experience he always returned. World history must rightly by understood as a picture of an intense and never ceasing interaction between nature on one side and mankind on the other, for it is untenable to explain the changing 'historical' phenomena exclusively as a result of the supposed omnipotence of physical-geographical circumstances. Those peoples who have not been able to emancipate themselves from the influence of nature - we may call them natives - lack what is meant by history. In this attitude there was also scepticism against Friedrich Ratzel, whose thought in Schwerin's judgement was too doctrinaire. Schwerin began and ended his work as an author with a detailed scrutiny and textual assessment of the words in classic works (Herodotus and Ulysses) and their descriptions of travels on land and water, of solstices,of coasts and rivers, o^ names of countries and people in order to draw conclusions about the world picture of their times and from this draw a mental map. He worked on through the years, full of ideas, very critical and with an impressive knowledge of the literature. But at the same time it was inevitable that his studies should be to a considerable degree speculative and concerned with mere possibilities without drawing any conclusions. This is especially true of his last works, for example in the paper of 1903 where he dealt with Herodotus' treatment of the Phoenician voyages round Africa on the supposition that the earth was a disc. He wished to show that Herodotus was a reliable geographer with a conscientious method of research. In the fairyland of Ulysses (1908) Schwerin tries to extricate the 'practical-geographical reality behind the epic without any mythological hypotheses'. In his earliest research Schwerin devoted much time to ancient cartography as well as to speculative conceptions of the world. On this subject, however, he only published a few papers. The first, concerned with the history of the zero meridian, finished with a plea for the general acceptance o"f the Greenwich meridian. His most important work in this field dealt with Helgoland (l893), and in this book his cartographical studies reached his most distinguished standard, though the experts in 1896 thought that his literary presentation was needlessly long. The work on the coasts of Southwest Africa is also mainly cartographical, though intermingled with a few comments on his own voyage in 1886. Schwerin used both his knowledge acquired through reading and through his own research for lectures at the university in the course of years and he collected his lectures in two voluminous works as popular science. Of great interest is his own view in his work on the classical times and the Middle Ages (1905). As already noted Schwerin's research is imbued with the historical aspect, which is very pronounced in the above mentioned works. And his African research, which in its scientific theory is based on Peschel (1826-75) and the Ritter-disciple Elisee Reclus (1830-1905), also

84

Hans Hugold von

Schwerin

has this historical background. During his journeys he was especially fascinated by slavery and by Mohammedanism and the enormous influence these had exerted on the Continent, owing to the psychologically unimaginative behaviour of Europeans when exploiting African countries. There was a quickening movement among the people of Europe, all of whom want a share of the prey: Machiavellism, protectionism, and maps showing new political units flourished. Africa became the land of the big phrases. Obstacles to the Europeans were the killing climate, firearms which they had themselves put in the hands of the natives and Mohammedanism, the hereditary foe of European civilisation. Schwerin held that slavery, the slave trade and polygamy were the circulus vitiosus of Africa and that Mohammedanism, which has existed in Africa for a thousand years before Christianity, had become dominant because its less rigorous principles attracted the natives. Conversely, Christianity had a bad social influence in Africa and workers at mission stations could be criticized for their lack of judgement. In fact it is not possible to 'Europeanize' African culture. Historically Schwerin saw slavery as a great step forward in humanity, as the defeated were spared instead of being killed. Without slavery, that is the denial of human rights of the masses, classical Mediterranean culture would not have reached its height of development. At all times and in all cultures slavery has been a natural phenomenon. Even the European Church had accepted slavery. Slavery had probably flourished for thousands of years as a natural element in African societies, and was a stimulating factor in the discovery of Africa. But both the dimensions and the character of the slave trade through the transports to the East by the Arabs and in enormously growing degree to America by Europeans and the consequent reduction of Africa's population has of course to be firmly resisted, though efforts to abolish slavery had generally been ineffective and had brought unfortunate consequences to native populations. In the education of the natives at missionary stations the acquisition of knowledge, not religion, ought to be the leading principle. Schwerin agrees with Emin Pascha's statement, 'I have no faith in that type of mission that only imparts to its pupils skill in mechanical reading of the Bible and furnishes them with chequered trousers, paid for by pious souls in Europe'. But he regarded European colonialism as a necessary development. The 'wild' Africa (Schwerin's quotation marks) always appeared to be at once reluctant to and incapable of the achievement of self-government. African home-rule would under existing circumstances lead to absolute despotism and wild anarchy, so Europe must intervene and act with sensible moderation and understanding of the potential consequences of policy.

last study (1908) was furnished with a summary in German and only his work about the history of discovery (1900) was translated into Danish. His research therefore became of very limited importance abroad. He was a pioneer of his field in Sweden, but unfortunately he happened to be active, from an international point of view, at the end of the era when the history of geography dominated human geography. When the journal of the Anthropological and Oeographical Society was founded it published papers on discovery and the history of geography. As research from a university Schwerin's dissertation was a pioneer enterprise in separating human geography from history. The interest in the history of geography in Sweden grew to its maximum and culminated with the explorer, geologist and Finnish Swede A.E. Nordenskiold's imposing cartographical works, the Facsimileatlas 188Q and the Periplus 1897 and was completed by the works of the librarian E.W. Dahlgren. The first two dissertations in human geography at the University of Lund and the first six in Uppsala dealt with this subject. The last ones appeared in 1910 and 1912 respectively. In Lund the traditional history of geography teaching survived until 1916 when it was swept away as by a hurricane for this study, especially its work on explorations, was regarded as outdated. From 1913 Lund had a geographer from Uppsala who assisted in the teaching of physical geography, but the history of geography teaching had been dominant there for some thirty years. The transition happened in much the same way at other Swedish universities. When Lund was assigned its professor in 1902, Uppsala made an appointment which was filled on a temporary basis by a lecturer in political science and economic history, but the new professor chosen was Karl Ahlenius of the historical geography school who in 1903 published his most important work, which he declared explicitly to be an attempt to apply the ideas of Friedrich Ratzel to Swedish circumstances. In 190H and 1905 positions in Uppsala and Ooteborg were filled by a field morphologist and a polar explorer respectively and it is ironic that Lund, though the first university to provide teaching in geography, was the last to provide courses in the then 'new' geography. There is something logical in the fact that the other two remaining most important defenders of the history of geography in Sweden, both famous humanists, wrote substantial works: Arnold Norlind of Lund became an expert on Dante's medieval world and translator of his epic and Sven Lonberg of Uppsala and Goteborg, at first an expert on the history of cartography, was eventually known as an author writing about Grecian religion and philosophy, while still remaining a radical pedagogue.

Bibliography and Sources 1.

3.

INFLUENCE

AND SPREAD OF

IDEAS

Schwerin wrote all his papers in Swedish.

Only his

OBITUARIES SCHWERIN

AND REFERENCES

ON HANS HUGOLD VON

Dahlgren, E.W., '0m svenskar i Kongo' ('On Swedes in Congo'), Ymer, vol 6 (1886), 180-237

Hans Hugold von Schwerin Hakansson, C.R., 'En rekognoscering af landet mellan Ikissi-strommen och Lutete' ('A reconnaissance of the land between the Ikissi Stream and Lutete'), Ymer, volo8 (1888),^123-37

Sakkunniges.utlatande angaende sdkanden till den lediga e.o. professuren i geografi och historia vid Lunds universitet (The expert reports concerning the applicant to the vacant associate professorship in geography and history at the University Lund),

Slafveri och slafhandel i Afrika (Slavery and the slave trade in Africa), Lund, 80 p. I. Muhammedanismen i Afrika. 1892 Afrikastudier. Antropogeografisk studie (African Studies. I. Mohammedanism in Africa. Anthropogeographical 1891

studies),

matrikel

1899 (The directory

of the

Sydv'dst-Afrikas kust. Ett bidrag till Afrikas fysiska geografi (The coast of South-west Africa. A contribution to Africa's physical geography),

1898

Fran Kairo till Kap. En kolonialpoliti.sk fraga (From Cairo to Cape. A question of colonial politics), Lund, 36 p.

Lund, 28 p.

University of Lund), Lund (1898-1899), 122-3 Norlind, A., 'H.H. von Schwerin', Ymer, vol 33 (1912), 77-81, (photo and bibliography)

von Schwerin, Hermann, Dritter Nachtrag zur Geschichte des Geschlechts von Schwerin (Third appendix to the history of the family von Schwerin), Gorlitz

c.

1881*

(1928), 128-9", (photo)

Weibull, J., Lunds universitets historia (History of the University of Lund), IV, 1868-1968, Lund

1893

THEMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY VON SCHWERIN

OF THE WORKS OF HANS HUGOLD

a. History of geography and cartography 188U Herodotos' framstallning av Europas geografi (Herodotus ' description of the geography of Eur-

ope) , Lund, 207 p., 1 map, (diss.) 1886-7 'Initialmeridianens historia' ('History of the zero meridian'), Ymer, vol 6, 130-^7; vol 7, 201-08 I896 'Helgoland. Historisk-geografisk undersokning' ('Helgoland. Historical-geographical survey'),

Lunds universitets arsskrift (Yearbook of the University of Lund), 2jh + 33 p., 2 maps 1900 De stora upptackternas tidevarv {The age of the great discoveries), Stockholm, hoh p. (Danish 1900 1903

translation: De store opdagelserejser, Copenhagen, 1905) 'Om kustfolks olika sjoduglighet' ('The different navigation skill of coastal peoples'), University programme, Lund, 10U p. 'Feniciernas kringsegling av Afrika omkring ar 600 e. Kr.' ('The Phoenician circumnavigation uniof Africa about the year 600 A.D.'), Lunds

versitets arsskrift (Yearbook of the University of Lund), 58 p. 1905 De geografiska upptackternas historia. Forntiden och medeltiden (The history of geographical discoveries. The Prehistoric Age and Middle Ages), 1908

Stockholm, h"jh p. 'Odyssevs' irrfarder. Oeografisk undersokning' ('The roving of Ulysses. Geographical survey'),

Lunds universitets University 51

b. 1885 1886

African

of Lund),

arsskrift

Miscellaneous 'Geografiska utstallningen i Toulouse' ('The geographical exhibition in Toulouse'), Ymer, vol l*,o238-58 'Nagra ord om Prof. E. Carlsson's skolgeografi' (Comment on Prof. E. Carlsson's school geography'),

Pedagogisk tidskrift,

(1968), 300-02 2.

of Physical

Geography

Chronology 1853

Born 17 September in Skarhult Castle, Sweden

1871

Left the Cathedral School and entered the University of Lund

1878

Bachelor of Arts (equivalent) in Lund

1879-87

Assistant at the University Library in Lund

1881

Attended the international geographical congress in Venice (also Paris 1889)

1882

Studied old maps in libraries in Paris and London

1883

Master of Arts (enuivalent) in Lund

188U

First publication, his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation; became university lecturer in geography and political science

1885

Lectured and examined in political science

1885

Attended the Congo exhibition in Antwerp

1885-87

Travelled in the Congo State

1887

Congolese consul for Sweden and Norway (1897 also for Denmark)

(Yearbook of the

'Kongostaten pa varldsutstallningen i Antwerpen' ('The Congo State at the International Exhibition in Antwerp'), Ymer, vol 5, 223-8 'Oarna i Biafrabukten' ('The Islands in the Biafra G u l f ) , Ymer, vol 6, 76-82

vol 29, 217-61

K.E. Bergsten is Emeritus Professor at the University of Lund, Sweden

155 p. German summary, lU2-

surveys

Lund, 216 p., 1 map

1895

Lund (1896)

Lunds Universitets

85

86

Hans Hugold von Sohwerin

1888-95

Served intermittently as associate professor of history and political science

1892-97

Lectured and examined in geography

1892

Attended the Columbus solemnities in Madrid: travelled to German universities to study educational methods in geography teaching

1897-1902

Was associate professor of Geography and History in Lund

1Q02

Appointed as associate professor of Geography

1909

Became a full professor of Geography in Lund University

1912

Died 19 December in Lund

Ellen Churchill Semple 1863-1932

ALLEN D.BUSHONG Ellen Churchill Semple was one of the founders of modern academic geography in America, to which she introduced human geography through her interpretation of Friedrich Ratzel, her teacher and mentor at the University of Leipzig. During a career that spanned four decades, she contributed to the growth of geography as an intellectual discipline through writing, teaching, and public lecturing. Her publications, which included three books, were hallmarks of literary as well as scientific merit. Most of the second generation of modern American professional geographers were her students. Semple was recognized in her lifetime with various awards and honours and was invariably the first of her sex to receive these symbols of achievement. In a heavily dominated male discipline Ellen Churchill Semple was unquestionably the most visible and eminent American woman geographer of her day, by accomplishment and intellect the peer of her most gifted male colleagues.

1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Ellen Churchill Semple, born during the American Civil War in Louisville, Kentucky, on 8 January 1863, was the last of seven children born to Alexander Bonner and Emerin Price Semple when her father was 58 and her mother hi. This was the father's second marriage. Mr. Semple established a business in Louisville dealing in hardware, cutlery, and guns and it came to be a considerable success. That success rested largely on the circumstances of the Civil War and Louisville's border location in that war. The merchants of the Geographers

Biobibliographies

Studies,

volume 8 (198H)

city trafficked with both the North and the South and businesses such as Mr. Semple's profited greatly from that commerce. By the time of Ellen's birth the family was financially secure, an important fact which allowed Ellen in later years the freedom to pursue whatever professional or other activities she desired whenever and wherever she wished. Ellen Semple grew up in a predominantly female household. Her father and mother separated, though they were never divorced, when she was still a child and her older brothers had left home. Mrs. Semple was a strong-willed individual who presided over an argumentative family from whom she expected of each member the best that was in them. In return she gave the best that was in her. The relationship between Ellen and her mother was a close one, which she later formally acknowledged by dedicating the first of her three books to her. Reading was an activity much encouraged in the Semple home and it became one of Ellen's major interests, though she did not learn to read until the age of seven and a half. On the other hand, she recalled that she had a definite idea of causation at the age of four years. Her formal education was obtained in Louisville public schools, then by private tutors for a year prior to beginning college work. Balancing her love of learning was an equal interest in outdoor activities of which horseback riding and tennis were her favourites. At a time when few women went to college, Ellen Semple was the second in her family to do so. Her oldest sister had attended Vassar, a women's college

88

Ellen Churchill

Semple

in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Ellen followed in her footsteps, entering in the autumn of 1878 at the age of fifteen, the youngest among a student body of three hundred. From its inception in 1865 Vassar's academic standards were uncompromisingly high, the equal of the most prestigious men's colleges. Geography was one of the subjects in which Vassar applicants were examined, along with English grammar, English literature, American history, arithmetic (including the metric system), algebra, geometry, and Latin. In addition the applicant could choose from among classical Greek, French, or German for examination in one of those languages. The college curriculum was a demanding one that allowed few choices and offered no geography at all, and majors as they exist today did not prevail in Semple's time. Ellen Semple benefited greatly from her four years at Vassar. She credited the college with developing in her the power of organizing data and drawing conclusions, of intellectual work habits, and of written and oral expression During her years at Vassar Semple's first three published writings appeared, the first at the age of sixteen. Two of the articles were based on travels she made in Europe during her college years. These works are breathlessly collegiate in tone and betray none of the style that marks her later professional writings. Semple's college work was good enough to have her designated one of the Class of l882s ten honour graduates. At the commencement she delivered an address on 'The Conscience of Science', a harbinger of her future work. She was then nineteen years old. The decade following her graduation from Vassar was undoubtedly the most frustrating of Ellen Semple's life. Like many young women of her day returning home from college, she was caught up in a whirl of frequent and elaborate social activities. These she enjoyed up to a point. For her, however, there was insufficient intellectual stimulation to complement the social events, and what intellectual fare Louisville offered paled beside her Vassar environment. She fled to Europe. Within a year she returned, however, and in 1883 began her first of several positions in Louisville girls' schools, where she taught Latin, Greek, and ancient history. She was a highly effective teacher by the account of one of her former students: Despite her youth she had an almost fierce authority. She had a handsome craggy face, piercing blue eyes, but a warm magnetic smile ... she really enjoyed teaching. She loved to see her class catch fire. To me at least she opened many new doors, ... she made Greek and Roman history so interesting and the whole Mediterranean area, its past and its present, so real that I made almost straight for Greece on my first trip to Europe soon after graduation. In the summer of 1887 Ellen Semple was again in Europe where, at the London home of a friend, she first heard of Friedrich Ratzel from an American who had just received his Ph. D. degree in philosophy from the University of Leipzig, where Ratzel had been one of his teachers and a member of his examining committee. It was to be another four years, however, before Semple would initiate the first of two terms of study

with Ratzel. In the interim she returned to her teaching in Louisville and in 1889 she also began to study externally for a Vassar M.A. This required a programme of readings consisting of twenty-two books in sociology and seventeen books in economics, culminating in a written exam and a thesis. In this degree work Ellen began to scent the importance of geographical influence though struck no trail that she found reliable enough to follow until, in 1890, she acquired a copy of Ratzel's Anthropogeographie. Reading it made her determined to study with its author. With the successful completion of her thesis, 'Slavery, a Study in Sociology', Vasser conferred on her its M.A. degree at its June 1891 commencement. That summer Ellen Semple began a year's leave of absence from her teaching duties in Louisville and headed for Leipzig. Leipzig and other German universities were the meccas of scholarship in the 1890s, attracting men and women from many countries. Men were allowed to matriculate and attend lectures and seminars and take a degree at any university. For women this was far less true; conditions varied from school to school. During the time that Semple studied in Leipzig in 1891 and again for a term in 1895, no Ph.D degree had been granted to a woman. Nor would the university allow women to matriculate. However, women could request from a professor permission to be admitted to his lectures and seminars, and many teachers willingly did this for those women who demonstrated seriousness of purpose. Semple was admitted to seminars in geography, in economics, and in statistics. Ratzel was her intellectual inspiration. She worked unstintingly for him, and he expressed great interest in her work. Many of their conversations focused on the philosophy of style, especially on style in geographical writing. Perhaps the greatest beneficiaries of the good academic work of foreign women students like Ellen Semple were German women, who were not allowed to pursue university work. By the late 1890s, however, the barriers to any woman obtaining university degrees were down everywhere in Germany. One of the early beneficiaries was Martha Krug-Genthe, who earned a Ph. D. degree in geography at Heidelberg in 1901 under Alfred Hettner. She and Semple later became the only women among the forty-eight charter members of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Moreover, Krug-Genthe was the only one among that group who had a doctorate in geography. Semple's study at Leipzig gave her the professional focus she had so long sought, ending a decade of frustration. She returned to Louisville and resumed teaching but as the l890s wore on she devoted less and less time to that activity. After her return she received many letters from Ratzel urging her to publish. Her first postgraduate article appeared in 189^, its style a vast improvement over the indulgent collegiate writings that preceded it by more than a decade. All of Semple's writings since her study with Ratzel display a unity of style. She sent Ratzel her articles, which he would criticize, always urging her on to further publication. Ellen Semple's varied writings in the ten-year period beginning in 189^ included translations of nine German-language book reviews. She also reviewed the

Ellen Churchill second edition of Ratzel's Politisohe

Vereinigten

Staaten

geographie

der

von Amerika, his Der Stoat und

sein Boden, and the second edition of volume one of his Anthropogeographie. She also provided a threepart translation of some of his writing under the title 'Studies in Political Areas'. Semple's reviews and translations of her mentor's writings began to make North Americans aware of his work. Semple's first publication in a geographical journal came in 1897, in the first issue of the

Journal of School Geography (now the Journal of Geography) .

That same year she began her first book,

American History

and Its

Geographic Conditions,

pub-

lished six years later. Of it she wrote: 'I did all my first book...out in my neck of the woods in Kentucky, with only my mother realizing what I was driving at. It does not hurt us to be thrown back on ourselves, though we do need periods of contact at intervals, in order to check up our methods and conclusions by comparison with others'. Though Ellen Semple sometimes found Louisville's intellectual support system inadequate to her needs, it came through particularly well in the preparation of her first book, thanks to her access to the 30,000 volume library of Americana of a family friend. 'The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains', her best known article, was published during her first decade as a professional geographer. It appeared in 1901 in the Geographical Journal. The observations in that article were gained during the summer of 1899 when Semple took a 350-mile horseback trip through the Kentucky mountains 'to study their belated population as a product of the segregating mountain environment'. It paints a word picture of this part of her native state just before its landscape was widely altered by coal mining. The publication of her first book in 1903 completed her first decade of geographical writing and firmly established her professional reputation. The following year she became a founding member of the AAG; in the same year the two most important influences on her life, her mother and Ratzel, died. In 190U she also began her second book, Influences of Geographic Environment, which carries the subtitle

On the Basis of Ratzel's

System of

Anthropogeography,

having earlier gained from Ratzel approval of her design. Seven years later the book appeared, although five of its seventeen chapters had been published as articles prior to the book's appearance. In 1906, during the writing of Influences of Geographic Environment, Semple was offered and accepted a position with the new geography department at the University of Chicago. Here she lectured on the average of one quarter term every year until 192U, mainly to postgraduate students. This arrangement reflected her priorities in keeping research and writing as her primary activities. Even when she became Wallace Atwood's first full-time faculty appointment as Professor of Anthropogeography in the new Graduate School of Geography at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1921, she almost never taught in the spring semester, reserving most of that time for research, writing, and travel. Immediately following the publication of Influ-

ences of Geographic Environment in 1911, Semple and

Semple

89

two Louisville women friends began a year long trip around the world. Japan was the first overseas stop; it proved to be a working vacation. In six weeks the women walked 150 miles (250 km) across the central mountain area, and climbed Fuji. Semple's attention was especially directed towards the cultivation of the soil and the phases of intensive agricultural development. Before the round-the-world journey was completed Semple had also retraced routes in the Mediterranean taken by ancient armies. For the next two decades the Mediterranean region was to be her focus of scholarly attention. Like many other geographers during the First World War, Semple worked for the Inquiry, in its headquarters at the house of the American Geographical Society in New York. The Inquiry was charged with preparing papers of direct relevance for the Paris peace talks. Semple's Inquiry work used her knowledge of the Mediterranean region, and she found the war projects interesting and stimulating. She had only two objections about the situation: the rush nature of the work did not give her the luxury of reworking and polishing her writing; and women in research positions on the Inquiry staff, such as herself, were not allowed to travel to Europe to work on final research matters because they were women. Ironically wives of high officials were allowed to accompany their husbands. Semple's expertise on the Mediterranean developed over many years. It would be no exaggeration to say that the foundation for her third and last book, The

Geography of the Mediterranean

Region;

Its

Relation

to Ancient History, lay in her teaching of Latin, Greek, and ancient history to Louisville school children in the 1880s and 1890s. By the autumn of 1929 approximately half the book had been completed, individual chapters having been published as articles. That autumn Ellen Semple was felled by a heart condition complicated by asthma. It was the beginning of a long, painful and final illness. She could manage no more than two hours of writing each day under the best of circumstances, and on days when the pain was so bad that narcotic drugs had to be administered the writing time was drastically lessened or ceased completely. Many times it seemed unlikely that she would survive the night. Breathing was often difficult, especially under humid conditions, and the question of bringing to completion a book only one-half finished was constantly in doubt. She had the faithful assistance of one of her students, Ruth Baugh, to handle technical and editorial details and to serve as liaison with the publisher. By sheer perseverance the manuscript was completed in October 1931 and the 737-page work was published the following month. Immediately upon the book's completion, Semple travelled south from Clark University with a nurse to seek recuperation. They settled first in Asheville, North Carolina during October, then moved still farther south to West Palm Beach, Florida, in the hope that the warmer weather would prove more beneficial. Her condition continued to deteriorate through the winter of 1931-2, and she longed for the release that death would provide. 'Looking back over my life of continuous effort', she reflected, 'nothing seems to count except for my mental integrity and the little acts of kindness I have been able to do along the road'. The end came,

90

Ellen

Churchill

Semple

with only her nurse present, on 8 May 1932. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Semple introduced human geography into America, particularly through Influences of Geographic Environment, the most comprehensive in scope of her three hooks and the most controversial. In this work she tested the principles of anthropogeography enunciated by its founder Ratzel in his Anthropogeographie (vol. 1, 1882 and rev.ed., 1899; vol. 2, 1891). Semple used the revised edition of volume one as the basis for her book. The preface to Influences contains the concepts and methodological guidelines which bear on all of Semple's geographical writing. She expressed her fundamental research strategy in this way: to compare typical peoples of all races and all stages of cultural development, living under similar geographic conditions. If these peoples of different ethnic stocks but similar environments manifested similar or related social, economic or historical development , it was reasonable to infer that such similarities were due to environment and not to race. Thus, by extensive comparison, the race factor in these problems of two unknown quantities was eliminated for certain large classes of social and historical phenomena. All of Semple's books underscore the fundamental importance of the historical dimension in geographical study, a perspective made explicit in the titles of her first and last books. Semple jettisoned the organic theory of society and state that is prominent in Anthropogeographie, written at a time when Herbert Spencer exercised considerable influence upon European thought but generally abandoned by the time she wrote Influences. While Semple recognized that the theory was valuable in impressing upon Ratzel's mind the important connection between land and people, she also saw that it was extraneous to his work. Also, because Ratzel's work did not constitute a complete, well proportioned system, Semple found it necessary to work up certain important themes with a thoroughness commensurate with their significance, to reduce the scale of others, and to fill up certain gaps with original contributions to the science. Always it was necessary to clarify the original statement, where that was adhered to, and to throw it into the concrete form of expression demanded by the AngloSaxon mind. To accomplish this formidable task, Semple tested her mentor's results expressed in Anthropogeographie through wide inductive research supported by extensive documentation and by her own observations gained through extensive travel. This was necessary because 'it was not always obvious that Ratzel had based his inductions on sufficiently broad data; and his published work had been open to the just criticism of inadequate citation of authorities'. The

scholarly underpinnings of numerous and varied temt>oral and contemporary sources supported by judgments based on personal observations which Senvole applied to Influences was a procedure she followed with her other books as well. Finally, because works like Influences were pioneering efforts, Semple sought to avoid 'definitions, formulas, and the enunciation of hard-and-fast rules', and refrained from any effort to delimit the -field or define the relation of this new science of anthropogeography to the older sciences. It is unwise to put tight clothes on a growing child. The eventual form and scope of the science, the definition and organization of its material must evolve gradually, after long years and many efforts of many workers in the field. The eternal flux of Nature runs through anthropo-geography, and warns against precipitate or rigid conclusions. But its laws are none the less well founded because they do not lend themselves to mathematical finality of statement. For this reason the writer speaks of geographic factors and influences, shuns the word geographic determinant , and speaks with extreme caution of geographic control. Though showered with widespread praise immediately following its publication in 1911, Influences was to receive increasing criticism both during its author's lifetime and as recently as the 1980s. Some critics have faulted Semple for failing to include relevant works available at the time she was composing her work; others have accused her of ignoring works that would not support some of the principles she was testing. Still others have noted the ambivalence between Semple's genuine statement of scholarly principles and the many conclusions she offers. The comprehensiveness of her subject perhaps made such criticisms inevitable, and many of the topics she investigated would not be researchable today because of their breadth or because of the way they are stated. Of the many critical assessments made about Influences and its author, Ackerman offers the most temperate while placing her work in historical context: When Miss Semple spoke of her views on methodology she certainly left a properly nualified position. As a scholarly writer, however, the evidence which she used often forced her (or attracted her) to conclusions which scarcely can be described as the operation o"f "influences" in a particular situation. She was in this sense certainly an environmentalist. This was entirely natural; indeed we ignore the intellectual surrounding of both Ratzel and Miss Semple if we attempt to remove them very far from a position of environmentalism. We forget, if we do this, that Miss Semple lived the greater part of her scholarly life in a world in which prevailing scientific concepts postulated an orderly universe of cause and effect which we now find outmoded. Probabilities, random occurrence, and the uncertainty principle, were not in the language of those days. Hers was

Ellen Churchill the last of a distinctly Newtonian world ... Miss Semple's objective ... was more one of isolation of a factor for study and conclusion than indiscriminate and sweeping generalization. This indeed would seem to distinguish her effort, and that of Ratzel's before her, among the many studies of the time of social phenomena ... She wanted to isolate the elements of the natural environment, including the attributes of space, and make them meaningful in the record of history and human progress ... This is the essence of Miss Semple's scholarship. The argument as to whether or not she was an environmentalist, and the apparent contradictions between her methodological statements and her conclusions in research are unimportant matters ... The important thing was the impetus she gave to the description of isolates. If Semple was bothered by criticism, there is nothing in print or among unpublished materials that confirms it. She viewed criticism as the scholarly norm, all the more so in a work breaking new ground, and thought that such works would be modified, even overturned, by others in light of later and better evidence. She made this view of scholarly criticism explicit in speaking of her Mediterranean book: Personally I regard it as a fairly good model for the study of any region; and as such it will serve for the present. But when a better book or better model appears to supersede it, I should be the first to throw my book to the scrap heap, lest it retard the progress of the science that I love. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS The dissemination of Semple's ideas was accomplished through writing, public lecturing and teaching, but it is not possible to say with any precision which one of these reached the greatest number of people or which one was most effective in transmitting those ideas. Semple undoubtedly intended her writing to be the principal vehicle for conveying her thoughts because she gave it priority among her professional endeavours. She did not seek a mass audience for her writings, however, for her three books were not conceived as textbooks but were directed to the academic community and to an educated lay audience. Writing, in Semple's view, was a necessary complement to scholarly thoroughness and she always insisted for herself and for her students on effective communication of the research results. When the research student has collected all the necessary material and has deduced from it the scientific principle, the problem is to put it all, both data and conclusion, into literary form ... The scientist, barred from the easy-running narrative of the historian, must nevertheless make his style move as smoothly.

Semple

91

In all of her writings, Semple attempted to marry scientific observations and evocative literary style, to create a work that is 'Darwinian in method but Hellenic in form'. She believed that the product of such a union of science and literature 'seeks to establish two claims to immortality; Truth that is eternal, and Beauty that is eternal'. The 'Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains' is an early example in her writings of this union, leading Charles C. Colby, one of her colleagues at the University of Chicago, to assert that this article 'probably ... has fired more Americans to interest in geography than any other article ever written'. Although the article inspired widespread interest in geography on the part of American students, they first read it in a British journal. This was because Semple believed that her subject would have ecmal ap-peal to readers in the United Kingdom and because she wanted to establish a scholarly beachhead there. The article's appearance in the Geographical Journal fulfilled both aims and served to enlarge the audience for her writing. While 'Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains' enlarged her audience, it is because of her second book,

Influences

of Geographic Environment,

that Semple is

most likely remembered. The controversy which Influences generated in her lifetime and after has made it the most widely recognized (if now unread) of her writings. By contrast, her last book, The Geography

of the Mediterranean

Region;

its

Relation

to

Ancient

History, which she considered her best, has been both little known and little read by geographers, few of whom have ever had a substantive interest in the book's time period. Equally important in explaining the book's neglect by geographers may be their perceived association of its author with environmental determinism, a doctrine rapidly going out of fashion in geography by the early 1930s and from which they wanted to disassociate themselves even to the point of ignoring her later work. Classical scholars, on the other hand, have been more aware of The Geography of the Mediterranean Region and two among them, Max Cary and Michael Grant, have acknowledged the intellectual debt their own work owes to Semple's last book. Semple's public lecturing, like her writing, was not directed to a mass audience but was almost always carried out at meetings of geographical societies and state educational associations. The latter groups, in Semple's time, typically contained geography sections which provided the organizational identity for geographers at the subnational level. In speaking to such associations, Semple not only made her own work known to others but also helped to sustain geography in the minds of education officials, thereby securing a stronger position for geography in the curriculum. Her election in 1921 as the sixteenth President of the Association of American Geographers (she was the first woman to hold that office) gave her additional public exposure and influence. Semple was a classroom teacher for almost fifty years, and there are few individuals who could claim as much teaching experience over so wide an age spectrum as she, from classes of six year olds in Louisville schools to graduate seminars at Chicago and Clark. Her affiliation with Chicago and Clark put her in the distinctive position of teaching at the two

92 Ellen Churchill

Semple

universities that produced the largest number of postgraduate geography students. As a result most of the second generation of American-trained geographers were her students. She also taught for a term each at Wellesley College (l9ll+), the University of Colorado (1915)5 Western Kentucky University (1917), Columbia University (1918), the University of California at Los Angeles (1925), and twice at Oxford University (1912 and 1922). At all of these universities she offered her students commanding and tightly organized lectures. And in her time she was the only woman regularly conducting graduate classes in a Ph.D.-granting department of geography, and the first woman at Clark to hold faculty rank (though she was paid less than her male colleagues on the ground that she was not married and therefore did not need as much money). Semple gave generously of her time to the many graduate students who sought her advice about their writing, though she supervised only two M.A. and two Ph.D. theses. She never sought to groom any students to carry on her work and disseminate her ideas, and none did. Ellen Churchill Semple heeded her own advice that the professional critic of a doctor's thesis should drop into the background as much as possible. For a master's thesis he should suggest and criticize at every point, because he is training a novice in method of research In either case he should and exposition. give suggestions to clarify, but not to impose on the student a line of procedure. No scholar was ever made by slavish submission to the ideas of another.

Bibliography and Sources

Bushong, A.D., 'Ellen Churchill Semple', Encycl. S. Hist. (1979), 1092 , 'Women as geographers: some thoughts of Ellen Churchill Semple', Southeast. Geogr., vol 15 (1975), 102-9 Colby, C.C., 'Ellen Churchill Semple', Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr., vol 23 (1933), 229-H0 'Ellen Churchill Semple', in James, E.T. (ed), Notable American Women 1607-1950, Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971, vol 3, 260-2 Gelfand, L., 'Ellen Churchill Semple: her geographical approach to American history', J. Geogr., vol 53 (195*0, 30-1+1 Hawley, A.J., 'Environmental perception: nature and Ellen Churchill Semple', Southeast. Geogr., vol 8 (1968), 5*+-9 Lewis, C.B., 'The biography of a neglected classic: Ellen Churchill Semple's "The Geography of the Mediterranean Region"', Unpublished M.A. thesis in geography, University of South Carolina, 1979 Sauer, C., 'Ellen Churchill Semple', Encycl. Soc. Sci. (193*0, 661-2 Wright, J.K., 'Miss Semple's "Influences of Geographic Environment": notes toward a bibliobiography', Geogr. Rev., vol 52 (1962), 3*+6-6l 2. 189*+ 1896 1897

1898 1899

1. REFERENCES ON ELLEN CHURCHILL SEMPLE Ackerman, E.A., 'Some concepts of Ellen Churchill Semple: their meaning today', Unpublished paper presented at the fifty-seventh annual meeting of the Assoc, of Am. Geogr., East Lansing, Michigan, 30 August 196l Baugh, R.E., 'Ellen Churchill Semple, the great lady of American geography', Unpublished paper presented at the fifty-seventh annual meeting of the Assoc, of Am. Geogr., East Lansing, Michigan, 30 August 196l Berman, M., 'Sex discrimination and geography: the case of Ellen Churchill Semple', Prof. Geogr., vol 26 (197*0, 8-11 Bingham, M.T., 'Ellen Churchill Semple, geographer', Vassar Q. , vol 60 (1932), 236-9 Broc, N., 'Les classiques de Miss Semple: essai sur les sources des "Influences of Geographic Environment"', Ann. Geogr., vol 90 (1981), 87-102 Bronson, J.C., Ellen Semple: contributions to the history of American geography. Unpublished Ph.D. Diss, in history, St. Louis Univ., 1973

1900

1901

1903 190U

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY ELLEN CHURCHILL SEMPLE 'The American Mediterranean and the interoceanic canal', Vassar Misc., vol 2k, 5U—6U 'Civilization is at bottom an economic fact', in Third biennial General Federation of Women 's Clubs, Louisville, 1+19-27 'The influence of the Appalachian barrier upon colonial history', J. Sch. Geogr., vol 1, 33-1*1 'Some geographic causes determining the location of cities', J. Sch. Geogr., vol 1, 225-31 'The Indians of Southeastern Alaska in relation to their environment', J. Sch. Geogr.y vol 2, 206-15 'A comparative study of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans', J. Sch. Geogr., vol 3, 121-0, 172-80 'The development of the Hanse towns in relation to their geographical environment', Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc, vol 31, 236-55 'A new departure in social settlements', Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. , vol 15, 301-*+ 'Louisville, a study in economic geography', J. Sch. Geogr., vol U, 36l-70 'The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky mountains: a study in anthropogeography', Geogr. J., vol 17, 588-623. Reprinted in Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc., vol *+2 (1910), 561-9H 'Mountain passes: a study in anthropogeography', Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc, vol 33, 12U-37, 191-203 American history and its geographic conditions, Boston, U66 p. 'Geographic influences in the development of St. Louis', J. Geogr., vol 3, 290-300 'Emphasis upon anthropogeography in schools', J. Geogr. , vol 3, 366-7*+ 'The influence of geographic environment on the lower St. Lawrence', Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc, vol 36, UU9-66

Ellen 190U 'North-shore villages of the lower St. Lawrence', in Zu Friedrich Ratzels gedachtnis, Leipzig, 3^9-60 1905 'Mountain peoples in relation to their soil; a study in human geography', Geogr. Teach., vol 3, 125-31. Reprinted as 'A study in human geography: mountain peoples in relation to their soil', J. Geogr., vol k, U17-2U 1911 Influences of geographic environment; on the bases of Ratzel's system of anthropogeography, New York, 683 p. 1912 'Influences of geographic conditions upon Japanese agriculture', Geogr. J., vol Uo, 589-603 1913 'Japanese colonial methods', Bull. Am. Geogr. Soc. , vol U5, 255-75 19l6 'Geographical research as a field for women', in The fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vassar College, October 10 to 13, 1915, a record, Poughkeepsie, 70-80 1921 'The regional geography of Turkey; a review of Banse's work*, Geogr. Rev., vol 11, 338-50 1930 'Alzira Ah Fi Buldan Al-Bahr Al-Mutawassit Quadiman' ('Agriculture in the ancient lands of the Mediterranean countries'), Al-Kulliyah {Mid. E. Forum), vol 16, 107-12 1931 'Promontory towns of the Mediterranean', Home Geogr. Mon. , vol 1, 30-5 The geography of the Mediterranean region; its relation to ancient history, New York, 737 p. 1933 (with C.F. Jones) American history and its geographic conditions, Boston, rev. edn., 5^1 p. 3. MANUSCRIPT SOURCES Letters by Ellen Churchill Semple are found in small quantities over a score of institutional collections in North America and Europe with the largest number in the Wallace W. Atwood Papers at Clark University. Only at the University of Kentucky is there a collection under her name; it contains a modest number of letters, some research notes, and memorabilia. Allen D. Bushong is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Chronology 1863

Born 8 January in Louisville, Kentucky

1878

Entered Vassar College

1882

Received B.A. degree from Vassar

1882-91

Travelled, taught at a school in Louisville, and studied for external M.A. degree

1891

Received M.A. degree from Vassar

Churchill

Sample

93

1891-92

First period of study with Friedrich Ratzel at University of Leipzig

189*+

First geography writing published

1895

Second period of study with Ratzel

1897

First publication in a geography periodical (J. Sch. Geogr.), began work on first book (American History and Its Geographic Conditions)

1901

'The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains' published

1903

American History and Its Conditions published

1901*

Mother died, Ratzel died; became charter member of Association of American Geographers; became Associate Editor of J. Geogr. (until 1910); began work on second book (influences of Geographic Environment)

1906

Appointed lecturer in geography at University of Chicago (until lPPH)

1911

Influences published

1911-12

Trip around the world

1912

Began work on third book (The Geography of the Mediterranean Region); taught at Oxford University Summer School of Geography

191^

Awarded Cullum Medal by American Geographical Society; taught at Wollosloy College in the autumn (fall) term

1915

Taught at University of Colorado in the summer term

1917

Taught at Western Kentucky University in the summer term

1917-18

Member of the Incmiry

1918

Taught at Columbia University in the summer term

1921

President of the Association of American Geographers; appointed Professor of Anthropogeography at Clark University (until 1932)

1922

Taught at the Oxford University Summer School of Geography

1923

Awarded honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Kentucky

1925

Taught at University of California, Los Angeles in the spring term

of Geographic

Geographic

Environment

94

Ellen Churchill

Semple

1931

The Geoaravhy of the Mediterranean Region published; awarded Culver Medal by the Chigaco Geographical Society

1932

Died 8 May in West Palm Beach, Florida

1Q33

Revised edition of American History and its Geoaravhic Conditions (with C.F. Jones) published

Shigetaka Shiga 1863-1927

SHOKYU MINAMOTO Shigetaka Shiga's activities as a popularizer and researcher in geography were a distinguished contribution to the establishment of modern geography in Japan during its -formative stages. His achievements place him among the leading Japanese thinkers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Shigetaka Shiga was horn in Okazaki (now Okazaki-shi, Aichi prefecture) on 15 September 1863, just five years before the Mei.ji Restoration. Shigetaka, better known as Juko, was the eldest son of Shigemoto Shiga, a senior official in the Okazaki domain government. Shigemoto also taught at the domain academy for samurai children. Among his pupils were many who later distinguished themselves, such as Kaname Oyaizu (18UU-1932) (third president of Maruzen Co. Ltd., the largest foreign book importer and book dealer in prewar Japan). Shigemoto died when Shigetaka was six years old, and the family moved into the home of his mother's parents. In 1873 Shigetaka entered Okazaki Primary School, established only the previous year with the promulgation of the Education Act of 1872 by which the Meiji government launched a nationwide system of public education. The Shiga family had little money to spare and Shigetaka's school expenses were met by his father's former students. He left the primary school in May I87U, and during the following month went to Tokyo where he entered the navy preparatory school, Kogyokusha. Run by Makoto Kondo (l83186), this school had been founded as the Kogyoku Juku

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198M

in 1869, and trained many of Japan's leading naval officers and sailors. Shiga devoted himself to English and Dutch studies, making excellent grades. In June 1878 he left Kogyokusha, and in September of the same year enrolled in Tokyo Daigaku Yobimon (Tokyo University Preparatory School, founded in 1877). In July 1880, for unknown reasons, he left the preparatory school and entered Sapporo Nogakko (Sapporo Agricultural College) in the following month. Sapporo Agricultural College had been founded in I876 in Hokkaido, then a frontier area of Japan, as the nation's first institution of higher education specializing in agriculture. Among the many Westerners the Meiji government had invited to Japan as advisers on building a modern state was William Smith Clark (1826-86), president of the Massachusetts College of Agriculture at Amherst in the United States. Clark became president of Sapporo Agricultural College in in 1876 and greatly influenced many of the students at the school in its early days, including Kanzo Uchimura (l86l-1930: three classes Shiga's senior) and Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933: same class as Uchimura). Both became Christians as a result of the inspiration derived from Clark. Uchimura became one of Japan's greatest Christian leaders, and Nitobe a professor at Tokyo Imperial University and later -assistant directorgeneral in the League of Nations. By the time Shiga entered Sapporo Agricultural School, Clark had long since returned to the United States. Shiga had had a considerable antipathy for Christianity since before his enrollment, and resisted the strong influence at the school towards conversion. He studied agriculture,

96

Shigetaka

Shiga

English language and mathematics among other subjects. Hoping one day to go to Europe, he also studied French and German. While still a student in Sapporo he travelled in various parts of Hokkaido, observing and exploring the landscape. He surveyed the upper reaches of the Shikotsu River, measured the circumference of Lake Shikotsu, and studied the causes of the eruptions of nearby Mt. Tarumae. Judging from these activities, it seems likely that he had already obtained some basic knowledge of geography while at Sapporo Agricultural College. In July 18UU he graduated and received a bachelor's degree in agriculture. In September ibkk Shiga became a teacher at Nagano Prefectural Middle School, then newly established, where he taught zoology, botany, physical geography, and the English language. But in September the following year, he resigned and went to Tokyo. With the help of his father's former pupil, Kaname Oyaizu, he found a job proofreading A Japanese-English

and English-Japanese

Dictionary

(3 ed., 1886) by James

Curtis Hepburn (l8l5-191l), which was to be published by Maruzen Shosha (predecessor of Z.P. Maruya & Co., Maruzen Co. Ltd.). Hepburn was an American then teaching English in Yokohama who developed a method of romanizing Japanese (the Hepburn system) still used in Japan today. When Britain temporarily occupied Port Hamilton in the Korean Straits in December 1885 to counter the Russian advance, Shiga requested permission to board the warship Tsukuba, crossing to Tsushima Island from where he could observe the occupation close at hand. In 1886 he learned that the Tsukuba was planning to cruise in the South Seas, and inspired by Charles

Darwin's Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by

H.M.S. Beagle3 1832-1836 (l839), he again asked for a passage on the ship, dreaming of becoming Japan's own Darwin with the Tsukuba as his own H.M.S. Beagle. The Tsukuba left Japan in February in 1886, cruised around the Carolines, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Hawaii, and returned to Japan in November of the same year. Shiga published a record of the voyage, his first trip abroad, under the title Nan'yo

jiji

{Affairs

of the Southern Seas)

(1887), which was

widely read. This achievement won him admittance to the Tokyo Chigaku Kyokai (Tokyo Geographical Streiety, founded in 1879) in April 1887. On 17 October 1982 the Yomiuri newspaper reported that when the Tsukuba called at Sydney, a series of signed articles on Japan written by Shiga in English appeared in a local newspaper called The Echo. The report stated that copies of the newspaper containing the articles are in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales; xerox copies were recently presented by the staff of the Australian Embassy in Tokyo to Shigetaka's son, Fujio Shiga. In April 1888 Shiga, together with Yujiro Miyake (1860-19^5, well known by his pen name Setsurei Miyake) and others, organized the Seikyosha (Society for Political Education), opposing the extreme trend toward Westernization and calling for the 'preservation of nationality' (kokusui hozon). They published the magazine, Nihonjin (The Japanese) to spread their views. In the same year Shiga published a book in

English entitled History

of Nations3

Specially

Adapted

for Japanese Students. At that time, he was teaching geography at the Tokyo Eigo Gakko (Tokyo English School) founded in 1885 by Jugo Sugiura (1855-192*0 and others and renamed Nippon Chugakko (Japan Middle School) in 1892. In August 1889 Shiga published his first work

on geography, Chirigaku kogi {Lectures

on Geography).

He married Tetsuchiyo Matsuno in February l80lt. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in August I89I+, Shiga criticized the indecisive stand of the Japanese government, demanding that it adopt a firmer and more independent foreign policy. As time went on he ceased to be simply an observer, and became personally involved in political activities. In October

Nihon fukeiron

(Japanese Landscapes) was published.

In September the following year he began to teach geography at Tokyo Semmon Gakko (founded in 1882 by the statesman Shigenobu Okuma it later became Waseda University, now one of the leading private universities in Japan). Shiga lectured there for some thirty years until his death and became a full professor in 1911. In January 1897 he published Sansui sosho — kawa oyobi

kotaku (Landscape Series:

Rivers and Lakes),

and

around the same time a textbook entitled Chirigaku (Geography). The textbook, of which a number of different editions appeared, was Shiga's manifesto as a geographer. Between August and November 18Q7 he served in the government as the Director of the Forestry Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and from July to October, 1898, as adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In November 1899 he crossed to the Chinese mainland by the Formosa Strait to make a preliminary survey for the construction of a railway in Fuchien, remaining there until March 1900. In 1902 and 1903 he ran for the Diet in the general elections and was elected as a representative of the conservative Seiyukai party. After losing in the March 190^ general elections, he ceased to be directly involved in party politics. When the Russo-Japanese War began in 190U, Shiga went-.to observe the situation at Ichon, Seoul, aboard the naval transport vessel, Manshu-maru. From August 190^ to January 1905 he observed the siege of Port Arthur (Liishun) from the headquarters of the Third Army led by General Maresuke Nogi (18^9-1912). In August-October 1905, in his dual capacity as managing director of the Tokyo Geographical Society and director of the Dai-Nippon Suisankai (Japan Fisheries Association), he led an expedition across the island of Sakhalin. Aboard the warship Matsue-maru, he visited Amami Oshima, Okinawa, Daito and other islands in November and December. From June to November 1906 Shiga participated in the bilateral Russo-Japanese commission set up at Aleksandrovsk Sakhalinski to determine the division of the island of Sakhalin, of which the southern half was to be ceded to Japan as part of the war settlement. Shiga was in charge of surveying the border and preparing the official map. His impressions of the Russo-Japanese war and an account of his participation in the border demarcation project were published in

two works: Daieki shoshi (Sketches of the Great War) (1909) and Ryo,jun koigun (The Besieging Army at Port Arthur) (1912).

When the great Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (18651952) visited Japan in 1908 at the invitation of the

Shigetaka Tokyo Geographical Society, Shiga served on the reception committee. During the months from March to October 1910 Shiga toured the world aboard the warship Tkoma, attending the Argentinian national centennial and the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition in London. In June, at Rio de Janeiro, he delivered a lecture at the Brazilian Geographical Society (founded in 1883) and was presented with honorary membership of the society. In May and July 1912, he sailed to the United States, stopping in Hawaii, and travelled to Fresno, California. Concerned by the sentiment growing against Japan at that time, partly due to the activities of emigrant Japanese, he urged his countrymen in the United States to be aware of the problems involved with Japanese immigrants and to assimilate themselves into American society as best they could in order to soothe anti-Japanese feelings. After the First World War broke out in 191^, in October Shiga visited the United States once again, this time to attend an international conference. He also went on an observation tour in various parts of South America before returning home in April 1915In 1917 he became an honorary corresponding member of the Royal Geographical Society (Geogr. J., vol 50 (1917), 8 ) . From August 1922 to March 1923 he made a second trip around the world, visiting southern Africa and South America, and from December 1923 to July 192H his third and last world trip included India, the Middle and Near East, and North America. In Oman he met the King of Jordan, an occasion that increased his interest in oil resources. His account of the tour was published as Shirarezaru kuniguni (Unfamiliar Countries) in 1925. On 6 April 1927 Shiga died of pulmonary emphysema accompanied by diabetes, aged 6h. Shiga's life may be divided into four stages: l) geographical study, teaching and popularization of geography; 2) activities as a political critic in support of the 'preservation of nationality' doctrine in the second decade of Meiji (1887-96); 3) involvement in political and diplomatic affairs; and k) travel abroad, covering a total of 26,000 miles. His geographical thought stems from a synthesis of his experience in the first, second and fourth stages of his life. 2.

SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT

a. Scientific Contribution Shiga's contribution to geography is best understood in the context of the development of modern geography in Japan. The history of science in Japan entered a vigorous new phase during the Meiji period (1868-1912) under the slogans fukoku kybhei ('a rich nation and a strong army') and shokusan kogyo ('increase production and promote industry'). Resolved to catch up with the advanced nations of the West as quickly as possible, the Japanese sought to absorb everything in science and technology the West had to offer. Scholars of geography were no exception. National policies under the banner slogan of 'increase production and promote industry' made it urgent that natural resources be properly surveyed and that high priority be given to geology, geological surveying, and research in these fields. In Japan geography developed from geology,

Shiga

97

and its beginnings as an academic discipline go back to the early Meiji period. Geographical study based on Western scientific methods was first taught around 1887 in the College of Science and Engineering and the College of Philosophy and Letters at the Imperial University (founded in 1877, now the University of Tokyo). It was not until 1907 that a separate department offering specialized courses in geography was established as the Department of Historical Science and Geography in the College of Literature at Kyoto Imperial University (founded in 1897). In 1911 a department of geography was set up in the College of Science of Tokyo Imperial University. With this the status of academic geography became firmly established. Although rather far removed in time and place from the later development of academic geography at the two imperial universities, Shiga's activities in the second and third decades of the Meiji period (18871907) pioneered modern geography in Japan. One of his early works, Lectures on Geography, was used as a reference work and textbook at both public and private middle schools throughout the country, and more than ten editions were published. Shiga's achievements in assimilating and interpreting the geography introduced from the West contributed greatly to the popularization of geographical knowledge. The drive to ponularize geography which had consumed Shiga in his early days continued as an influence in his later publications. b. Western Influence Shiga's works demonstrate how various aspects of Western scholarship and thought influenced the development of his own approach to geography. His basic knowledge of geography was derived chiefly from works (including translations) imported from the West during the period between the l850s, at the end of the Tokugawa period, and the l880s. Among the geographers mentioned in Shiga's writings are the following, together with the titles of their works he referred to: l) Freeman, Geography Edward Augustus (1832-92), *The Historical of Europe (1882); ?.) Geikie, Archibald (1835-192M, ^Elementary Lessons in Physical Geography (1877), ^Elementary Lessons in Physical Geography Questions (1877), ^Text-books of Geology , (1885), ^Geological Sketches, (1882); 3) Guyot, Arnold (1807-8U), *Intcrmediate Geography, (1871, 1872); h) Lyell, Charles (1797-1875), ^Elements of Geology, (1871), ^Principles of Geology, (1872, 1887); 5) Me'iklejohn, John Miller Dow (1836-1902), A New Geography on the Comparative Method, (1887); 6) Marsh, George Perkins (l801-R2), *The Earth as Modified by Human Action, (1877); 7) Maury, Matthew Fontaine (l8o6-73), *The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology, (1875); 8) Ratzel, Friedrich (18UU-190U)-, quoted in Chirigaku (Geography) but work not identified; 9) Reclus, Elis'ee (1830-1905), *The Earth, (1873), *The 0cean} Atmosphere and Life, (I87M. Asterisks (*) mark works contained in the Catalogue of Books in the Library of the Sapporo Agricultural College Arranged According to Subjects (1888). A. Geikie's Elementary Lessons in Physical Geography (London, 1877) was translated into Japanese in 1887 by Yutaka Shimada under the title Chimon-gaku (Physical Geography). Shiga edited Shimada's manuscripts and added notes to the book. In the translator's preface Shimada notes that

98

Shigetaka

Shiga

Shiga took a copy of the original Geikie book with him on his South Seas voyage aboard the Tsukuba. Shiga also may have read a number of other works by A. Guyot, who greatly influenced the leading Japanese Christian Kanzo" Uchimura, and by Johannes Justus Rein (1835-1918), who was in Japan from 1873 to 1875. A second major influence on Shiga comes from Charles Darwin (1809-82) and his theory of evolution and also from Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), who applied the theory of evolution to human society as social Darwinism. Darwin's theories were introduced to Japan largely through the efforts of the American zoologist Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925) in the early Meiji period. They were understood more as social Darwinism than as relating to the biological world; 'the strong prevail; the weak perish' and 'survival of the fittest' were ideas most commonly interpreted in terms of human society. In his Affairs in the Southern Seas Shiga discusses the principle of biological evolution and explains the concept of 'the survival of the fittest'. (See the third enlarged

edition of Affairs

in the Southern Seas, p.125.)

He also explains the principle of conservation of energy in physics. Shiga's writing style in his geographical works was influenced by English writers such as Oliver Goldsmith (1728-7*0, John Ruskin (1819-1900) and John Lubbock (183^-1913), as may be observed in the bibliographical notes contained in Affairs in the Southern

Seas and Japanese c.

Geographical

Landscapes.

Thought

Shiga defines geography in his early work Chirigaku {Geography) as 'the science of observing all phenomena relating to the earth' (see undated manuscript in the collection of the Tokyo Semmon Gakko (TSG edition),

p. 269 or reprint in the Shiga Shigetaka zenshu (SSZ, Collected Works of Shiga Shigetaka), vol h, p. 269). His perspective on the field of geography is reflected in another statement that 'Man could not exist without the earth, and nothing happens that does not involve man. Thus geographical research is the one of the most important of all sciences' (TSG edition, p. 2; SSZ, p. 270). Clearly one of the main objectives of Shiga's geography was to educate and inform his countrymen. In Geography he wrote that It is especially urgent for as many Japanese as possible to have an accurate understanding of Japan's position in the world, and geography provides the best means for achieving this goal. In other words, it is fundamental for the Japanese to have full knowledge of the land and climate of Japan their country. Knowledge of geography must become widespread, for the destiny of the Japanese nation will depend on it. The increasingly urgent necessity for study of this science must be impressed upon the people (TSG edition, p. 1^7. ssz, pp. 3U7-8). It is vital for all Japanese to cultivate knowledge of geography. If each one of the hf million people of this country is familiar with the world situation and has a proper understanding of the advantages and disadvantages

of the foreign powers in all matters including trade and armaments; that is, if every one of the 1+7 million becomes something of a geographer and something of a diplomat, no confusion would occur no matter what emergency might happen (SSZ, p. 237). Shiga's approach to the natural environment may now be examined. Most of the geographers active during the period when modern geography began to develop in Japan did not fragment or confine the subjects of their research, but studied both human geography and physical geography. Some of Shiga's geographical writings are strongly slanted toward human geography and others toward physical geography. Of paramount concern to him was always the 'Japanese nation'. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages to Japan of being an island country, and the relationship between the geographical conditions of an island and human phenomena (SSZ, p. 356-U18). Some scholars of Shiga's work have tended to conclude hastily from this bias that he was an advocate of determinism. However, Shiga wrote in Geoaraphy that The condition of a state or its people is not determined by their relationship to the land or by geographical factors alone. It is determined by two major factors, the subjective factor, the special characteristics of a people or a race, the objective factor, their relationship with the land (SSZ, p. 352). Statements such as this as well as Shiga's approach to the environment as reflected in other works indicate that his conceptual judgment of the environment is complex, making it difficult to call him a determinist.

d.

Three Major Works

Shiga's three most important and most widely read books

were Affairs

in the Southern Seas, Lectures

on Geography,

and Japanese Landscapes. Together they provide a comprehensive picture of his views on geography. Before the publication of Affairs in the Southern Seas, Shiga wrote about his South Sea voyage for the

Journal of the Tokyo Geographical Society.

His account

of the tour was also serialized in the Jiji shimpo newspaper. He began the book later, completing the manuscript in about two weeks. It was not designed to be simply an account of the trip, but also a popular and informative work for a wide readership. Its first edition was published in April 1887. An enlarged third edition, adding to the text a 92-page supplement,

Nanyo jiji

furoku honmon {Supplement to Affairs

in the

Southern Seas), came out in October 1889. In all over ten successive editions were published. As mentioned above, Shiga was greatly influenced by Darwin. In this book he quotes a number of passages from Darwin's Journal, citing chapter 19, p. *+35 (l ed. ; p. U36 of 3 ed.), for example, to explain why the population of Australian aborigines had drastically

decreased.

(See Affairs

in the Southern Seas, 1 ed.,

11-lU; 3 ed. , 11-12). It is also in this work that Shiga discusses the theory of evolution as it applies to human society. Perhaps because they shared something of the same circumstances Shiga also admired

Shigetdka Oliver Goldsmith, noting in the text of Affairs that he vas particularly moved by the poem, 'The Deserted Village' (1 ed., 105-12; 3 ed. , llfc-2l). This work did a great deal to popularize knowledge of the new frontier in the South Seas — Nan'yd — as an object of intellectual concern, although the word Nan1 yd was not his invention. The book presented three major arguments. First, Shiga called for solidarity between Japan and China, stressing the need for Asians to confront squarely the aggression of the Western powers, for he was keenly aware of the crisis facing the yellow race in Asia. Second, he asserted, the Japanese are peace-loving and seek to expand in commercial activities overseas. As part of this effort Japan must open trade with Australia and the South Sea islands. Third, he urged that Japan should establish itself as an international power, working toward that goal in collaboration with England. These assertions reflect several important developments in the domestic and international situation in the mid-l880s. The 1805-6 period was one of transition from debate on 'domestic colonization' (such as of Hokkaido) to exploration of the potentials of 'overseas colonization'. The news in 1886 that Germany had established a protectorate over the entire Marshall Islands also drew Japanese attention toward the South Seas. Affairs in the Southern Seas was also significant for its considerable influence on Meiji literature, particularly in the genre of political novels which flourished in l88l and 1882 in support of the freedom and popular rights movement then at its height. Around 1887, reflecting the current trend, the South Seas became the setting for political novels, and Affairs in the Southern Seas naturally had a strong influence on the plots and themes of such works. Typical examples are TenkO" Komiyama (1885-1930)' s Boken kigydj RentD daio {An Adventurer: the King of the Archipelago) (serialized in the Kaishin shimbun from 19 November 1887 to 28 March 1888) and Tetcho Suehiro (l8i»9-96) 's Seiji shosetsu Nan'yd no daiharan {Billows in the South Seas: a political novel) (l89l). Lectures on Geography consists of lectures Shiga gave at the Tokyo English School and other institutions which he revised and expanded. In content it resembles Geography, which he published around 1897. Lectures on Geography is an introductory textbook. But it is recognized in several places for Shiga's unique approach to the field, for example where he discusses relations among the Japanese nation, climate location, topography, and people's occupations (5 ed., 1892, 73-80). Here, as to some extent in Affairs in the Southern Seas, he discusses Japan's geographical location and matters the Japanese must consider in conducting trade with foreign countries. The fifth revised edition includes a section entitled 'Chirigaku no kenkyu ni hissu naru sonota no ySken' ('Other requirements for studying geography') which is an important document on the history of geography in Japan. This section, which was not included in the first edition, mentions (p. 92) the work of a St. Andrews University professor, apparently John Miller Dow Meiklejohn's A New Geography on the Comparative Method (1889). Only three years after its publication,

Shiga

99

Shiga introduced Meiklejohn's comparative method on pages 92-5 of Lectures on Geography and adopted the method in writing pages 95-9, 'A Comparative Study of the Japanese Coast and the Pacific Coast'. This comparison is often cited in his later works and became a recurrent theme in his writing. Shiga wrote 'Ninon fukeiron' ('Japanese Landscapes) for the first time for the magazine Ajia {Asia) vol 3/1, (December 1893). Then in July l89J+, part o-r his discussion on Japanese landscapes was first published in Nihon.jin no 16. Later he revised these articles and added illustrations and prints, publishing thorn under the title Japanese Landscapes in October 189'+. Each new edition of this work has a different picture on its cover. The fifteenth and -final edition came out in June 1903. One of Shiga's major works, it remained a best-selling book through the Meiji period and is available even today in paperback. From the geographical point of view, Japanese Landscapes is recognized for four important achievements. First, it presented a scientific discussion of landscapes. Traditionally landscapes had been an object of interest only to writers and artists. Shiga compared outstanding landscapes of the West and China with those of Japan, highlighting the distinctive characteristics of the Japanese natural scene -from the point of view of a geographer. This work was a major influence on Taro Tsujimura (1890-1983) in writing his Keikan chirigaku kowa {Lectures on Landscape Study) (1937). Second, the work popularized geographical and geological knowledge among the Japanese. The geographer Maomasa Yamasaki (1879-1929) commented that Japanese Landscapes 'was definitely effective in implanting knowledge of and interest in physical geography in the mind of the general reader in Japan at a time when people knew almost nothing about it' {Chirigaku hydron {Geogr. Rev. Japan), vol 3 (1927), U51). Third, Japanese Landscapes was one of the -first publications to take up the glacier issue in Japan. The book came out before Yamasaki's article, 'Fy5ga hatashite honpo ni sonzai sezarishi ka' ('Did Glaciers Exist in Japan?'), appeared in Chishitsugaku zasshi {J. Geol. Soc. Japan), vol 9 (1902), 36l-9, 3"0-8. Fourth, it made a major contribution to modern mountaineering in Japan. Before the Meiji period mountains had traditionally been the object o^ religious worship. Shiga included a section on modern mountaineering as a sport, encouraging the spirit of mountain climbing, which was widely read by its devotees. The book was responsible for popularizing the modern sport in Japan, and for this achievement the Japan Alpine Club (renamed in 1009; previously,the Alpine Club founded in 1905) made him an honorary member. He was only the second honorary member along with the English missionary Rev. Walter Weston (18^119^0), author of Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps (London, 1896) and The Playground of the Far East (London,1918), who first came to Japan in 1888. Many readers of Shiga's Japanese Landscapes believed that his discussion of mountain-climbing techniques was based on his own actual experience, but in fact it was simply a paraphrase o^ Francis Galton's Art of Travel (London, 1855). In writing Javanese Landscapes , Shiga also relied heavily on A Handbook

100

Shigetaka

Shiga

for Travellers in Japan (3 ed, London, 1891), a joint work by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935) and Willen Benjamin Mason (185U-I923). As Usui Kojima (189519^8) pointed out, another work upon which it was based

was A. Geikie's The Scenery of Scotland Viewed in Connection with its Physical Geology (London, 1865).

Its impact on the history of Japanese literature, especially mountain and travel literature, was tremendous , inspiring among other works Nihon sansuiron

(Japan's Natural Landscapes)

(1905) by Usui Kojima

(1873-19^8), which is now a classic in Japanese mountain literature, and Nihon fukei shinron (New Japanese Landscapes) (1910) by Gingetsu Ito (1871-19M), critic and novelist, who styled himself as Shiga's successor. The style of Japanese Landscapes is filled with quotations from both Japanese and Chinese classical literature, for Shiga's thinking was a mixture of scientific perspective and traditional aesthetic sensitivity. These two qualities helped at that time to make the book acceptable to the general reader in Japan whose sensibilities were still quite traditional. Shiga's rather 'Western' attitude toward nature seems to have been derived chiefly from such British writers as John Ruskin and John Lubbock. Shiga made freauent references to Lubbock's The Beauties of Nat-

ure and the Wonders of the World We Live In (1892),

and both authors are often cited in Japanese Landscapes, In a review of Japanese Landscapes that appeared in the magazine Hikugo zasshi (no 168 (189M, p. 30), Kanzo Uchimura describes Shiga as a 'Japanese Ruskin'. Japanese Landscapes was published soon after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, and Shiga's eloquent praises of Japan's scenery appealed to the patriotic sentiments of the people so recently elated by the early victories. That was another important reason why the book became a best-seller.

e.

Political

Thinking

Shiga's career as a geographer coincided with Japan's take-off period as a modern state. During that time, Japan engaged in three wars with foreign countries, first with China, then with Russia, and then with Germany in the First World War, its first real experiences of foreign war. These were the circumstances under which Shiga taught geography, attempting to spread among the Japanese a proper understanding of their country's position in the world as his way of contributing to the development of the Japanese state. At the core of Shiga's thinking were the concepts of kokusui and kokusui hozon. While kokusui can mean nationalism or ultranationalism in the narrow sense, Shiga interpreted it in the much broader sense to mean 'national integrity' or 'national identity'. Kokusui hozon is 'preservation of nationality'. In those days there some who called those who advocated the kokusui doctrine 'pan-Nipponists'. However, Shiga's thinking was not anti-foreign, and his use of the term was intended to emphasize the importance of objectively identifying Japan's status or position in the world. In this sense, a clear distinction should be made between his thinking and the narrow nationalism that later formed the ideological basis of Japanese militarism. His geography was one of the ways by which he expressed his nationalism, as he sought to foster awareness among

Japanese of their homeland. Shiga's ideas on political and economic policies are expressed in his early work, Affairs in the Southern Seas, in which he proposes that trade be established with Australia, and in one of his later publications, Unfamiliar Countries, where he stresses that Japan should take a greater interest in petroleum resources in the Middle and Near East. Shiga made many other concrete suggestions, encouraging overseas emigration and proposing a 'triangular method of distribution of population', based on friendship with China and the United States in which the Asian continent (raw materials supplier), Japan, and the'South Sea Islands (market) formed an interdependent triangle. From the third decade of the Meiji period (18971906) onward some of Shiga's ideas were superficially incorporated into the militarist ideology, although they were taken out of the context in which he originally expressed them. Basically his political thinking had an international dimension that transcended narrow nationalism. From the 1910s, when Japan's aggression in China became more blatant, Japan's interests and those of the Western powers ceased to coincide. When international tensions flared as a result Shiga was quick to stress the importance of understanding the standpoint of other nations and appreciating their superior qualities, chiding the Japanese for their insular mentality. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS As a preface to the discussion of Shiga's influence in the field of geography, his relationships with geographers who were his contemporaries are of interest. Like many other leading intellectuals such as Kanzo Yazu 1 1 (1863-1922) and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-19 * *, founder of the Buddhist society Soka C-akkai), Shiga was active outside the world of academic geography. These men differed in their views on geography, but were alike in that they had not studied at the Imperial University in Tokyo or Kyoto, but acauired their geographical knowledge at other institutions or through teaching themselves. All active during roughly the same period, they kept in close touch. Shiga and Yazu, for example, coauthored an atlas. Uchimura, who published Chirigaku-ko (On Geography) (republished

in 1897 under the new title Chi,iin-ron

(The Earth and

Man)) in 189*+, the same year that Shiga's Japanese Landscapes appeared, wrote a review of Shiga's new book (see works by Norihisa Suzuki in Bibliography below). Makiguchi cited many of Shiga's works in his Jinsei

chirigaku

(The Geography of Human Life)

(1903), and

asked Shiga to go over the manuscript. Through the Tokyo Geographical Society and through book reviewing Shiga also maintained contacts with geographers in the academic field such as Takuji Ogawa (1870-19^1), professor of the Department of Historical Science and Geography, College of Literature at Kyoto Imperial University, and Naomasa Yamasaki, professor of the Department of Geography, College of Science, Tokyo Imperial University (Geogr. Biobibl. Stud., vol 6 (1982), 71-6; vol 1 (1977), 113-17). The influence of Shiga's geographical thought and learning on Makiguchi was particularly great, prompting him to write the aforementioned The Geography of Human

Shigetaka Life. Through Makiguchi, Shiga also influenced Goro Ishibashi (1876-19^6), professor of Kyoto Imperial University, who was among the scholars who laid the foundations of human geography in Japan. Ishibashi notes in his autobiography that he read works on geography by Shiga and Uchimura as a student and that they were the influence that prompted him to specialize in geography. Shiga's geographical thought became widely known not only through his publications but also through lectures given at many schools including Waseda University, and lecture meetings at other places. Reflecting the extensive range of his activities his lectures touched on topics related to politics, law, the economy and numerous other topics, allowing his audiences to share his encyclopedic knowledge. The publication of Affairs in the Southern Seas was instrumental in drawing public attention toward the South Seas. By presenting this new geographical area as an object of intellectual concern to Japanese at that time, he pioneered regional studies on this area and first-hand accounts of travels there. Tadao Yanaihara (l891-196l), a protege of Kanzo Uchimura, who taught at the University of Tokyo both before and after the war and served as president there, was influenced by Shiga in his studies of the Southern Seas. Affairs in the Southern Seas had a certain theoretical effect on Japan's policy of advancement into the South Seas which was one aspect of the national drive to 'enrich the country'. The book's basic position, however, was not imperialism or nationalism. Shiga favoured political power over military power and peaceful, economic expansion to aggression and the use of force.

Bibliography and Sources 1.

REFERENCES ON SHIGETAKA SHIGA

a. Obituary notices Tokyo Asahi shimbun, 7 April 1927 Tokyo Nichi-Niohi shimbun, 7 April 1927 Yamasaki, Naomasa, 'Shiga Shigetaka kun o chosu' ('Condolences on the death of Shigetaka Shiga'), Chirigaku hyoron {Geogr. Rev. Japan), vol 3 (1927), UU9-52 Sato, 'Shiga Shigetaka shi o shinobu' ('In memory of Shigetaka Shiga'), Chirigaku zasshi {J. Geogr. Japan) vol 39 (1927), 361-2 Sangaku (J. Japan Alpine Club) vol 21 (1927), H00-02 Komura, Shunzabur5, 'Shiga Shinsen sensei o omou' ('Memories of Professor Shinsen Shiga'), Gekkan Nihon oyobi Nuhonjin {The Japan and Japanese) (sic), no 126, 98-103 Yoshino, Sakuzo, 'Shiga Shigetaka sensei' (Professor Shigetaka Shiga'), Chuo koron {The Central Review), no U72 (1?27), 10U-07 b. Biography and bibliographies Goto", Kyofu, Waga kyodo no umeru sekaiteki

senkakusha:

Shiga

101

Shiga Shigetaka sensei {Professor Shigetaka Shiga: world pioneer from Okazaki), Tokyo (1931), l6l p. ShSwa Joshi Daigaku Kindai Bungaku Kenkyushitsu, comp., 'Shiga Shigetaka', in Showa Women's University, Modern Literature Studies Center, ed. Kindai bungaku kenkyu sosho XXVI {Modern Literature Studies, vol 26) Tokyo (1967), 11*3-213 Minamoto, Shokyu, 'Shiga Shigetaka no chirigaku: Shoshigakuteki kenkyu' ('Shigetaka Shiga's geographical works: a bibliographic survey'), Library and Information Science, no 13 (1975), 183-20U Sato, Yoshimaru, 'Shiga Shigetaka nenpu sanko" bunken' ('Shigetaka Shiga: a chronological record and bibliography'), in Meiji bungaku zenshu, dai-37 kan (vol 37, Complete collection on Meiji literature), Tokyo, U50-2, h6h-f c. Additional writings on Shiga Mizuki, Gakuryu, 'Chirigaku no taito Shiga Shigetaka kun' ('Shigetaka Shiga: leader in geography') in Mizuki, Gakuryu, Meiji Taisho dassen kyoikusha no yukue {Unorthodox educators in the Meiji and Taisho periods), Tokyo (1926), 323-8 Nagao, Masanori, 'Shiga Shigetaka to chirigaku' ('Shigetaka Shiga and geography'), Chirigaku {Geogr.), vol 5 (1937), 806-18 " Kojima, Usui, 'Nihon fukeiron kaisetsu' ('Commentary on Japanese landscapes1) in Shiga Shigetaka, Nihon fukeiron {Japanese landscapes), Tokyo (1937), 3-17 Hijikata, Teiichi, '"Shiga Shigetaka no chosaku" kaidaihen' ('Bibliographical notes on the works of Shigetaka Shiga') in Hijikata, Teiichi, ed., Shiga Shigetaka, shirarezaru kuniguni {Shiaetaka Shiga: unfamiliar countries), Tokyo (19^3), 3-80 Kobayashi, Yoshimasa, Yama to shomotsu {Mountains and Books), Tokyo (1957), 36l p., bibl. 21 p. Motoyama, Yukihiko, 'Meiji nijunendai no seiron ni arawareta nashonarizumu — Kuga Katsunan, Miyake Setsurei, Shiga Shigetaka no baai' ('Nationalism in the political debates of the Meiji twenties (1887-96): Katsunan Kuga, Setsurei Miyake and Shigetaka Shiga'), in Sakata, Yoshio, ed., Meiji zenhanki no nashonarizumu {Nationalism in the first half of the Meiji period), Tokyo (1958), 37-8H. Reprinted as '.Meiji no nashonarizumu to seiji shiso — Shiga Shigetaka to Kuga Katsunan no baai' ('Meiji nationalism and political thought: Shigetaka Shiga and Katsunan Kuga'), in Motoyama, Yukihiko, Meiji shiso no keisei {The formation of Meiji thought), Tokyo (1969), 201-M Komatsu, Shigeo, 'Kindai Nihon ni okeru "dento" shugi — "Nihon shugi" o chushin ni shite' ('"Traditionalism" in modern Japan: focus on "Japan-ism"'), Kamei, Katsuichiro, et al., eds., Kindai Nihon shisoshi koza VII: Kindaika to dento {Lectures on the history of modern Japanese thought VII: modernization and tradition), Tokyo (1959), 117-75 Matsuda, Michio, 'Nihon no chishikijin' ('Japanese intellectuals'), in Kat5, Shuichi, et al., eds., Kindai Nihon shisoshi koza IV: Chishikijin no seisei to yakuwari {Lectures on the history of modern Japanese thought IV: Emergence and Role

102

Shigetdka

Shiga

of Intellectuals), Tokyo (1959), 9-57. Reprinted under the same title, Tokyo (1965), 5-6l Iwai, Tadakuma, 'Shiga Shigetaka ron' ('A study of bungaku (RitsuShigetaka Shiga'), Ritsumeikan meikan Literature), 186 (i960), 1-22; 19U (1961), 28-1+6; 198 (1961), 35-56. Reprinted as 'Kokusuishugi no jitsugaku — Shiga Shigetaka ron' ('Nationalist-Oriente practical studies: on Shigetaka Shiga'), in Iwai, Tadakuma, Meiji kokkashugi shisoshi kenkyu (A study of the history of Meiji nationalistic thought), Tokyo (1972), 198-255 Matsuda, Michio, 'Shiga Shigetaka — Meiji no kokkashugi' ('Shigetaka Shiga: Meiji nationalism'), Asahi janaru, vol h/26 (1962), 86-93. Reprinted under the same title, in Asahi janaru Editor-

ial Staff, ed., Nihon no shisoka

II

{Japanese

thinkers II), Tokyo, (1963), 21-UO Matsuda, Michio, 'Shiga Shigetaka Nihon fukeiron' ('Shigetaka Shiga's Japanese Landscapes'), in Kuwabara, Takeo, ed., Nihon no meicho — kindai no shiso (Great books of Japan: modern thought), Tokyo (1962), 1*1-6 Irokawa, Daikichi, 'Shiga Shigetaka Nihon fukeiron1 ('Shigetaka Shiga's Japanese Landscapes'), Ekonomisuto, vol U3/U1 (1965), 7^-7. Reprinted under the same title, in Ekonomisuto, editorial staff, ed., Nihon no meicho — sono hito to jidai (Great books of Japan: the authors and their times), (1966)', 71-8 Miwa, Kimitada, 'Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927) ~ Ichi Meiji-jin no kokusai kankei ni tsuite' ('Shigetaka Shiga 1863-1927: the international involvement of a Meiji intellectual'), in University of Tokyo, College of General Education, Study Group on Japanese Modernization, ed., Nihon kindaika to sono kokusai kankyo (The international environment of Japanese modernization), Tokyo (1965), 69-102 Yamasaki, Yasuji, 'Shiga Shigetaka to Uesuton' ('Shigetaka Shiga and Rev. Walter Weston'), in Yamazaki, Yasuji, Nihon tozanshi (The history of Japanese mountaineering), Tokyo (1969), 165-72 Pyle, Kenneth B., The new generation in Meiji Japan: problems of cultural identity, 1885-1895, California (1969), 2l+0 p. Mita, Hiroo, 'Shiga Shigetaka ni tsuite — Nihon fukeiron o megutte' ('Shigetaka Shiga and his Japanese Landscapes'), Gakujin (The Alpinist), 2lh (1970), 100-3; 275 (1970) 8U-7. Reprinted as 'Shiga Shigetaka', in Mita, Hiroo, lama no shisoshi (Mountains in intellectual history), Tokyo (1973), 1*3-63 Kida, Jun'ichiro, 'Fudo to shinsho' ('The natural landscape and mental images'), Gekkan, Dento to gendai (Tradition and Modern Times: Monthly), 3 (1971), 91-7 Watanabe, Takeshi, 'Nihon fukeiron no keifu' ('The genealogy of Japanese Landscapes'), Gekkan, Dento to gendai (Tradition and Modern Times: Monthly), 3 (1971), 72-81 Sat5, Yoshimaru, 'Kokusuishugi chirigaku no ichikosatsu' ('A Study of nationalist geography*), Shikan, (Hist. Rev. (Japan)), 86-7 (1973), 71-85 Maeda, Ai, 'Meiji kokken shiso to nashonarizumu'

('Meiji thought on state rights and nationalism'), Dento to gendai (Tradition and modern times), 20 (1973), U6-53. Reprinted as 'Shiga Shigetaka to Nichi-To senso ('Shigetaka Shiga and the RussoJapanese War'), in Maeda, Ai, Genkei no Meiji (The phantom of Meiji), Tokyo (1976), 179-95 Ukita, Keisuke, 'Meiji-ki Nihonjin no shizenkan — Shiga Shigetaka no baai sono ichi' ('The Japanese view of nature during the Meiji period: Shigetaka Shiga1 Part I ) , Doshisha Woman's College, Gakujutsu nenpo (Annual Report of Studies) (sic), vol 25/1 (197*0, 181-201 Ukita, Keisuke, 'Meiji-ki Nihonjin no shizenkan no hikaku bungakuteki kbsatsu — Shiga Shigetaka no baai sono ni' ('The Japanese view of nature during the Meiji period from the perspective of comparative literature: Shigetaka Shiga' Part II),

Doshisha Woman's College, Gakujutsu nenpo (Annual

Report of Studies) (sic) vol 26/1 (1975), 33-50 Neuss, Margret, 'Shiga Shigetaka — Wirken und Denken eines japanischen Nationalisten', Nachrichten der Gesellschaft fur Natur - und Volkerkunde 1 Ostasiens, 115 (197 *), 5-2U Yano, Toru, Nanshiron no keifu (The lineage of the southward advance thesis), Tokyo (1975), 220 p. Suzuki, Norihisa, Uchimura Kanzo to sono jidai — Shiga Shigetaka to no hikaku (Kanzo Uchimura and his time: A comparison with Shigetaka Shiaa), Tokyo (1975), 26Q p. Suzuki, Norihisa, 'Uchimura Kanzo to Shiga Shigetaka' ('Kanzo Uchimura and Shigetaka Shiga'), Uchimura Kanzo kenkyu (A study o-F Kanzo Uchimura), h (1975), 58-71+

Yasukawa, Shigeo, Zoho, Kindai Nihon tozanshi

(enlarged

edition, A history of modern Japanese mountaineering) , Tokyo (1976), 58l x>. Hijikata, Teiichi, 'Nihon fukeiron kaisetsu' ('Commentary on Japanese Landscapes), in Shiga Shigetaka, Nihon fukeiron (ge) (Japanese Landscapes, vol II), Tokyo (1976), 178-88 Kuroiwa, Ken, Tozan no reimei — "Nihon fukeiron" no nazo o otte (The dawn of mountaineering — solving the riddles of "Japanese Landscapes"), Tokyo, March 1976, 281 p. (Sansho Kenkyu 21). This book was twice later reprinted in different forms. First reprint, May 1976, 28l p., second reprint in 1979, 288 p. Mutaguchi, Yoshiro, 'Shiga Shigetaka no saigo no tabi' ('Shigetaka Shiga's last journey'), Mutaguchi, Yoshiro, Chuto e no shikaku (Perspectives on the Middle East), Tokyo (1977), 7-89 Shiga, Fujio, et al., "Nihon fukeiron" kaidai (Bibliographical notes on "Japanese Landscapes"), Tokyo (1977), l M p. Kamei, Hideo, 'Uchimura Kanzo ni okeru Nihon — Shiga Shigetaka to no taishoteki shoo' ('Kanzo Uchimura's Japan: symmetrical contrast with Shigetaka Shiga') Bungaku (Literature), vol H7/10 (1979), 1-1^ Miwa, Kimitada, Shiga Shigetaka — A Meiji Japanist's view of and actions in international relations, Tokyo, n.d., 6l p. 2. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY SHIGETAKA SHIGA Articles in sections a. and b. are limited to those

Shigetaka appearing in journals of geography and related magazines. a. 1889 1893 I89U

1897

1898 1899 1903

1904

1906

1908

Geography Chirigaku kogi (Lectures on geography), Tokyo, 88 p. Numerous later editions 'Nihon fnkeiron' ('Japanese landscapes'), Ajia (Asia),_vol 3/1 37-58 Nihon fukeiron (Japanese landscapes), Tokyo, 219 p., 15 ed., 1903, 233 p.; Iwanami bunko edition, 1937, 308 p.; Kodansha gakujutsu "bunko edition, 1976, 2 vol, and many other editions Sansui sosho, Kawa oyobi kotaku (Natural Beauty series: rivers and lakes), Tokyo, llU p. 5 ed., 1901, 224 p. Chirigaku (Geography) (Copyright by Tokyo Semmon Gakko') (bound in 1897), 144 p. Chirigaku Copyright by Tokyo Semmon Gakko) (bound in 1901), 190 p. Chirigaku (Copyright by Tokyo Semmon Gakko Shuppan-bu), 174 p. Chirigaku (Copyright by Waseda Daigaku Shuppanbu), Waseda Daigaku 1903-nendo kogiroku (Records of Waseda University lectures, 1903), 516 p. Chirigaku (Copyright by Waseda Daigaku Shuppanbu), Waseda Daigaku 1904-nendo kogiroku (Records of Waseda University lectures, 1904), 603 p. Chirigaku (Copyright by Waseda Daigaku Shuppanbu), Waseda Daigaku Rekishi-Chiri-gakka 1906nendo kogiroku (Records of Waseda University Department of Historical Geography lectures, 1906), 5^6 p. Shin-Bankokuchizu (New World Atlas), with Masanaga Yazu, Tokyo, 9 p. Naigai chirigaku kogi (Lectures on Japanese and foreign geography), Shizuoka Prefecture, 183 p. Chugaku chiri Nihon no bu (Middle-school geography : Japan), Tokyo 200 p. 'Taijun chu no sh5ri' ('Insignificant trifles'), Chigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 15, 568-70 Chiri kyokasho honpohen (Geography textbook: Japan), Tokyo, 200 p. 'Shima no jinbun ni okeru ichi' ('The significance of islands in human affairs'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 16, 366-74, 415-22 Chiri kyokasho gaikokuhen (Geography textbook: foreign countries), Tokyo, 3 vol Chiri kowa (Popular lectures on geoqraphy), Tokyo, 317 p. Nihon chiri kogi (Lectures on Japanese geography), Tokyo, l68 p. A number of different editions were published later 'Chi to hito' ('The earth and man'), Chigaku ronso (J. Geogr. Stud., ser. l ) , 1-42 'Hanto to jinbun' ('Peninsulas and human affairs'), Chigaku ronso (J. Geogr. Stud., third series), 361-Uoi 'Kankoku hant5 ni okeru Nihonjin no haifu' ('Distribution of Japanese on the Korean peninsula'), Kazoku kaikan kdwakai hikki 2 (Record of a Lecture at the Peers' Club, II), no 18, 1-10 Chiri (Geography), Tokyo, 108 p. Lecture record. Various editions exist.

Shiga

103

Sekai shashin zusetsu — yuki (Snow and whiteness: purity and cleanliness in the World), Tokyo, 98 plates Sekai sansui zusetsu (A pictorial record of world landscapes), Tokyo, 230 p. Chiri kyokasho shintei honpohen (Geography textbook (new revision): Japan), Tokyo, 180 p. 'Marei hanto gomu no saishu' ('The extraction of rubber sap in the Malay peninsula'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 23, plate number XI 1916 Zoku sekai sansui zusetsu (World landscapes illustrated, Part II), Tokyo, 362 p. 1922 'Chosen no jinbun chiri' ('Human geography in Korea'), in Korean Buddhist Societv, ed., Chosen bunka no kenkyu (A study of Korean culture), Tokyo_, 30-40 Taisho II-nendo kokumin toyo sekai todai chiri (Everyman's contemporary world geography)3 Tokyo, 62 p. The first edition of this work appears to have been published in 1918 or 1Q19

1911

b. Travel Accounts 1886 'Nan'yo junkS tekiyo ('Synopsis of the voyage in the Southern Seas'), Tokyo Chigaku Kyokai hokoku (J. Tokyo Geogr. Soc.), vol 8/Q, 3-62 1887 Nan'yo jiji (Affairs in the Southern Seas), Tokyo, 196 p.;'"3 ed. 188Q, 205 p. + 92 p. Many editions of this were published later 1900 'Amoi Kyuko kan no ryoko' ('A trip from Amoy to Chiu-chiang'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 13, 519-28, 597-603 1905 'Ryojunko homen no fudo' ('Natural features in the area around Port Arthur'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 17, 399-412, 1*66-75 1906 'Tsuimu gawa' ('The river Tym'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 18, 48-58 'Ryukyu no hanashi' ('Accounts of the RyukyusN), Rekishi chiri (J. Hist. Geogr. Japan), vol 8, 921-32 1909 Daieki shoshi (Sketches of the Great War), Tokyo, 1,370 p. 1911 'Saikin ryokochu ni shushu seshi buppin no tonran oyobi setsumei' ('An exhibition and explanation of items collected on recent trips'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 23, 110-15 1912 Ryojun koigun (The besieging arrmj at Port Arthur), Tokyo, 291+ p. 1915 'Kyubakoku no jijo' ('Affairs in Cuba'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 27, 67O-8H 1925 Shirarezaru kuniguni (Unfamiliar countries), Tokyo, 118 p. 1926 'Nihonjin no kankyaku shite ita Arabia chiho' ('Arabia: a region little known to the Japanese'), Bunmei Kyokai (Civilization Society), ed., Parusha yori Toruko made (From Persia to Turkey), Tokvo, U8-71 c. 1888 1903

Miscellaneous History of nations, specially adapted, for Japanese students, Tokyo, 689 p. A 5 volume edition with the same content was also published 'Minami-Torishima to Kita-Taiheiyo mondai' ('Minami-Torishima and the Northern Pacific issue'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 15, 1*2-52, 135-^3

104

Shigetaka

Shiga

'Criticism on Giles' translation (On "The Crocodile of Ch'ao-chou" given in the last number'), Eibun-Shinshi, vol 1/7, *+-5 1905 'Nihon to Ei-Bei ryokoku' ('Japan versus Britain and the United States'), Rekishi chiri (J. Hist. Geogr. Japan), vol 7, 265-9, 270-1 1907 'Karafuto kvokai kakutei no tenmatsu' ('Details of the "border demarcation on Sakhalin'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 19, 213-21 1908 'Michi shirube' ('Guidepost'), Rekishi chivi {J. Hist. Geogr. Japan) vol 11, 280-U 1910 'Foreigners who have helped to make Japan', The Japan Magazine, vol 1, 29^-7 1912 'Kondo Juzo Etorofu kenhyo ni tsuite Shigeta Bungakushi ni kotau' ('In response to Mr. Shigeta: On the marker planted by Kondo Juzo on Etorofu'), Rekishi chiri (J. Hist. Geogr. Japan), vol 19, 13-15 1922 'Taiheiyo kindai no enkaku' ('A modern history of the Pacific'), Chirigaku zasshi (J. Geogr. Japan), vol 3^, 175-83 '_ 1927-29 Shiga Shigetaka Zenshu Kankokai ( Committee for the publication of the Collected Works of Shigetaka Shiga), Shiga Shigetaka zenshu (Collected Works of Shigetaka Shiga), Tokyo, 8_vol 'Oshu taisen no rekishi chiri' ('Historical geography of the First World War'), in Dai-Nippon Bunmei Kyokai (Greater Japan Civilization Society, ed., Gakujutsu koenroku III (Records of Scientific Lectures, III), Tokyo, HO-9, (n.d.) Shokyu Minamoto is a lecturer in Library Shukutoku College, Chiba, Japan

1887

Published Nan'yd jiji (Affairs in the Southern Seas) and was recommended for membership of the Tokyo Geographical Society

1888

With colleagues founded the Seikyosha (Society for Political Education) and launched the journal, Nihonjin (The Japanese )

1889

Published Chirigaku geography)

189^

Married Tetsuchiyo Matsuno: published Nihon Pukeiron (Japanese landscapes)

1895

Appointed as lecturer in geography at Tokyo Semmon Gakko, which later became the Waseda University

1897

Became director of the Forestry Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce: published Sanshi sosho, kawa oyobi kotaku (Landscape series: rivers and lakes) and also Chirigaku (Geography)

1898

Appointed as adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1899

Explored inland China (to March 1900) and also issued his Naigai chirigaku kogi (Lectures on Japanese and foreign geography)

1902

Won a seat in the Japanese parliament

1903

Elected once again to the Japanese parliament

190U

Lost his parliamentary seat and did not stand again as a candidate. Observed the war with Russia at Inchon, Seoul, aboard Manshu-maru, a Navy Department transport ship and joined the besieging army in Port Arthur to observe the battle there

1905

Explored Sakhalin, and toured Amami Oshima and Daito Shoto aboard the warship Matsue-maru

1906

Took part in the work of demarcating the boundary line in Sakhalin between Russia and Japan: issued his Chiri kowa (Popular lectures on geography)

1909

Published Daieki the Great War)

kogi

(Lectures

on

Science,

Chronology 1863

Born in Okazaki, 15 September

1873

Entered Okazaki primary school

187U

Entered Kogyokusha (the naval preparatory school)

1880

Became a student at the Sapparo Agricultural College

1881*

Graduated as a Bachelor of Agriculture and became a teacher of botany, physical geography, zoology and English at the Nagano Prefectural Middle School, Nagano

shoshi

(Sketches

of

1885

Observed the war at Port Hamilton in Korea aboard the warship Tsukuba

191©

Travelled round the world aboard the warship Ikoma

1886

On the Tsukuba, South seas

1911

Became professor of geography at the Waseda University and also an honorary member of the Japan Alpine Club

voyaged through the

Shigetaka 1912

Visited the Hawaiian islands and also Fresno, California in an effort to alleviate anti-Japanese sentiment

191^

Made a further visit to the United States and, to 1915, a study tour of South America

1917

Became an honorary corresponding member of the Royal Geographical Society

1922

Travelled in southern Africa and in South America (to 1923)

1923

Made a world tour through India, Persia, Europe, North America and the Middle East

1925

Published Shirarezaru iliar countries)

1927

Died in Tokyo, 6 April. His works were collected and published to 1929.

kunigicni (Unfam-

Shiga

105

Wilhelm Sievers 1860-1921

GUNTER MERTINS Wilhelm Sievers' importance within the scope of history of geography can be summarized in two essential points: a) he was one of the last great explorers who, during the final stage of expeditions, made the first inventory of regions which were either scientifically completely unknown or hardly known. This inventory was mainly of a physio-geographic nature. Sievers did this pioneer work in various regions of the South American Andes; and b) he was one of the most successful descriptive regional geographers (Landerkundler) before the First World War and even during the twenties Sievers' descriptions which ran into several editions were an essential source of knowledge about foreign countries for the educated.

1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Friedrich Wilhelm Sievers, born in Hamburg on 3 December i860, was a son of a middle class merchant who had close business connections with South America, above all with Venezuela. After attending the Johanneum grammar school in Hamburg he first began studying history in Jena during the summer term of 1879 and the winter term of 1879/80 and then moved to Gottingen for the winter term of 1880/81. In Gottingen he devoted his attention more and more to georaphy, probably due to the influence of Hermann Wagner who had recently taken up a chair there, and he became Wagner's first doctoral student. On 19 December 1882 he obtained his Ph.D. in the Faculty of Philosophy at Gottingen with a historical-geographical dissertation based on the subjects on which he had so far concentrated.

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198*0

Then on the advice of Hermann Wagner he moved to Leipzig for the summer term of 1883, where he sought to improve his knowledge in the physio-geographical field. This was the dominant trend in geography at that time. Influenced by Ferdinand von Richthofen at Leipzig from 1883 to 1886, he devoted himself to studies of physical geography, geology, petrology, and meteorology until the end of the winter term of 188H. In those days successful exploring- (=discovery-) expeditions, especially to non-European countries, were a necessary requirement in order to qualify for the position of a university teacher in geography. Sievers chose to make his first expedition to Venezuela, probably as a result of his father's connections, and made all the necessary preparations at short notice for his departure on 7 October 188H. This expedition was made possible by subsidies which had already been granted in 1883 by the Geographical Society of Hamburg and the Association for Geography in Leipzig. In November 1885, while in Caracas, he was also given a mandate from the Berlin Geographical Society 'to explore the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with reference to geology and physical geography and to help find an answer to the question whether these mountains were part of the Andes or not'. He was recommended for this task by Wilhelm Reiss who, together with Alfons Stiibel, was numbered among the best known explorers of the Andes at that time. After his return on 30 June 1886 and without previously publishing the results of his expedition Sievers energetically pursued his habilitation in geography (the qualifying examination as a university lecturer).

108

Wilhelm

Sievers

Declining Friedrich Ratzel's invitation to go to Leipzig he qualified in geography in Wurzburg on 6 May 1887. In the summer term of the same year he gave his first lectures. However, he was not able to come to terms with the conditions there. On 6 December 1889 Sievers willingly accepted the invitation to qualify as lecturer in the Faculty of Philosophy in Giessen. At the beginning of the summer term 1890 Sievers moved to Giessen where he took up teaching as a dooent (Privatdozent) on 28 April 1890. On k April 1891 on the recommendation of the Faculty of Philosophy he was appointed associate professor. After many difficulties, which were partly internal problems of the university, the appointment as full professor in geography followed twelve years later on k July 1903. Sievers had hardly settled down in Giessen when he began planning his second expedition. On lU April 1892 he obtained permission from the mrnistry to be absent during the winter term of l892/93\ The Geographical Society in Hamburg bore all the costs of the travel. In August 1892 Sievers first of all devoted himself to regional geographical studies in Puerto Rico. After that he explored the structure of the Venezuelan mountains, especially its eastern region for seven months, and during this time he went on several excursions into the Llanos Orientales. In 1889, while still in Wiirzburg, Sievers had already taken over the editorship of 'General Geography'. Hans Meyer, head of the Bibliographical Institute in Leipzig, had offered him this position. Between 1891 and 189^ five volumes were published and Sievers himself worked on all volumes concerning the various parts of the world except Europe (volume h) and North America (part of volume 3). This was an astonishing performance if we take into account the

short space of time.

Sievers'

Regional

Geography,

as it was then commonly called, rapidly found a wide readership and made him one of the best known German geographers of that time. From 1897 onwards, this 'General Geography' was comprehensively revised and brought up to date. Several authors wrote various volumes of it. Sievers himself wrote the volumes

on Australia, Oceania, and the Polar Countries (1902), Asia (190*0, and South and Central America (190M. The primary emphasis was place on describing the vast 'geographical landscapes'. The general geographical knowledge which was still schematically arranged remained restricted to the introductory chapters. Having finished these works Sievers devoted his time to financing his third exploring expedition in South America which, with the support of the Association for Geography in Leipzig, the Royal Academy of Science in Berlin, the Royal Society of Sciences in Gottingen and other bodies as well as from many private individuals, led him into the High Andes of Peru and South Ecuador and lasted from IT February to 29 November 1909. Again he had been granted leave by the Ministry on the condition that he would find a stand-in, 'but without any disadvantage to the exchequer' . He spent the following years working on the results of his Travels in Peru and Ecuador, made in 1909 (Munich-Leipzig 191*0 as well as on revising the third

edition of the Geography of South and Central

America

(191*0. There is no doubt that this volume represents an advance in geographical description as a direct result of his last two expeditions. The First World War brought Sievers more tasks and additional burdens. In the academic year 1915/16 he was head of the Ludwigs-University (Giessen), and in addition to his duties in Giessen, he lectured in geography at the University of Frankfurt/M. from the summer term of 1917 to the summer term of 1918. Early on 11 June 1921 Sievers died of a heart attack while working in his study in the Department of Geography in Giessen — immediately before an excursion 2. SCIENTIFIC WORK AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Sievers' scientific interest was first of all dedicated to the high mountains of tropical South America. The aim of the expeditions from 188U-6 and 1892-3 was to explore the relations between the various mountain ranges in the northern part of South America (Cordillera of Merida, Sierra de Peri.ja, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, etc.) and to determine their exact boundaries. Although Sievers was only partially able to solve this problem his other achievements are remarkable and much to his credit: they include a considerably improved map of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the scale of 1:500.000 (in 'The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Sierra de Perija') and the first geological map of this, the world's highest coastal mountain range (in 'Comments on the Geognostic Map of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta'). In his own way, Sievers succeeded in rediscovering the glacial phenomena in the tropics of South America by finding proof of Pleistocene glacial formations in the Cordillera of Merida and in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta ('On gravel-banks (mesas), lakes and the glacial period in northern South America', Vienna 1887). Taking the example of the Sierra Nevada he again demonstrated that the recent glacial formations in South America, which had been unknown until then, were just like the Pleistocene glacial formation but had not been referred to in Albert Heim's Handbook of Glaciology which had been published in 1885. After his observations about Pleistocene and recent glacial formations had been confirmed later on by other explorers in south Colombia, Ecuador, central Peru, and Bolivia (among others Alfred Hettner and Hans Meyer) Sievers' aim was to prove that these phenomena occurred between the 2nd and the 12th parallel, i.e. from southern Ecuador to central Peru, during his last expedition in 1909. This was an area that as yet had to be studied. He managed this convincingly and while doing so he referred not only to the spread of proof of Pleistocene glacial formations (cirques, moraines, valley terraces, etc.) but also to the recent glacial retreat and the present glacier boundary (Travels in Peru and Ecuador, 1909; Munich-Leipzig, 191*0. It was during one of his excursions in the Cordillera de Huayhuash, north to the node of Cerro de Pasco, that he also succeeded in being the first to locate exactly the source of the Marafion, the biggest headstream of the Amazon,16,lH2 feet above sea level ('In the Headstream Region of Amazon-Maranon', Berlin 1910). It was through his well mapped research on Pleistocene and recent glacial formations in South America on

Wilhelm Sievers which he also published two comprehensive, comparative publications ('On the glacial formation of the Cordilleras of Tropic South America', Berlin, 1907; 'Recent and former glacial formations of South America', Leipzig, 1911), that he finally achieved the desired critical recognition from his colleagues, notably Fritz Regel and Alexander Supan. If we attempt to classify Sievers' scientific work it must be noted that his investigations in South America 'were aimed at a descriptive geographical survey of these mountainous countries'. During the final period of explorations the aim was to carry out a kind of first inventory in regions that were either scientifically unknown (e.g. Sierra de Perija) or hardly known (Cordillera of Merida, High Andes of central Peru, etc.). According to the dominant trend at that time studies of geology, geomorphology as well as climate-, vegetation- and hydrogeographic-observations were more common whereas aspects of human geography (agriculture, settlements, trade and traffic, mining) were hardly dealt with. Like others of his time Sievers had to face the methodological problems that arose from the rapid accumulation of a massive stock of disparate material. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS For more than three decades Sievers was the sole geography lecturer in Giessen. Students and many of his colleagues from the Faculty of Philosophy always praised Sievers' untiring instruction which particularly served as thorough teacher training. However, he did not found a scientific school. Only one of his doctoral students (nearly forty in all), Arved Schultz (later on full professor for geography in Konigsberg and Cologne), pursued an academic career. It was certainly an important reason for this development that Sievers saw himself as a geographer and particularly as an expert on South America (even in 190^ he said that '... I have to a certain degree gained an authoritative position concerning South America'). But more than^a quarter of his candidates were awarded degrees on theses about areas of Hesse and neighbouring regions. In these theses the emphasis was clearly placed on human settlements and population geography and not on physio-geographical topics. His special field South America was weakly represented in only two dissertations. Sievers tried to realize one of his main aims in the Association for Geography and Ethnology in Giessen that had been founded at his suggestion on 21 December 1896, of which he was the chairman until he died. It was his wish to give good geographical and ethnological knowledge, which he saw as an essential part of a comrehensive education, to a wide circle of readers. From 1900 on Sievers edited seven volumes for this society, the Geographic News of Hesse which appeared at various intervals until 1912. These publications consisted mainly of his students' dissertations about Hesse and neighbouring regions. During his lifetime Sievers was respected as one of the most productive representatives of scientific regional geography. In addition to the above mentioned works we also have to refer to Venezuela^ a geo-

graphy, Hamburg 1888; The Cordillera-States,

Leipzig,

109

1913. Sievers' Geographies were well publicized and enjoyed great popularity for they met the predominant taste of the time and the demand for geographical and ethnological education. Essentially a practical man, Sievers can be referred to as a main representative of the early — and for that time modern — descriptive geography. This also corresponds with his individual inclination, orientation, and objectives. Sievers was one of many German geographers who came to regional geography from geomorphology, and in this one may discern the influence of F. von Richthofen. He does not appear to have been directly interested in the theories of Ratzel, though some of the ideas put

forward in Die geographische

Verbreitung

der

Menschheit

suggest Ratzelian influence. Certainly he allowed his students to range widely in their work (he could hardly expect them all to go to South America) and the subjects they chose included a variety of population studies, ranging through its growth, density, structure and internal migrations. Always, however, such themes were related to the physiographic background. His presentation of the findings on expeditions was twofold: firstly for an academic readershio in books with excellent maps and other illustrations and secondly in more popular publications. He regarded this — and why not? — as a contribution to the spread of geographical knowledge among the general public. Convinced that geography had a great educative function and mission, he was willing to give devoted care to his General Geography, which after its initial publication in 1891-5 went into a second edition in 1903 and a third in 191^. Undoubtedly this type of publication brought a useful financial return, perhaps envied by other geographers. Only late in his comparatively short life, when he was in his late forties, was the attitude towards him changed from the somewhat pejorative term of L'dnderkundler to regard as a man o^ science worthy of the developing traditions of German geography.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON WILHELM SIEVERS Schultz, A., 'Wilhelm Sievers', Petermanns Geogr. Mitt., vol 67 (1921), 163; Dtsch. Biogr. Jahrb., no 3 (1927), 2l*U-6 Class, P., 'Universitatprofessor Dr. Wilhelm Sievers', Geogr. Anz. , vol 23 (1922), 1-3 Wagner, H., 'Wilhelm Sievers', Geogr. Z. , vol 28 (1922), 39-5U Panzer, W., 'Giessener Geographen', in Festschrift zur

350-Jahr-Feier

der

Ludwig-Universitat-Justus

Liebig-Hochschule, Giessen, (1957), 3^1-2 Uhlig, H., 'Das Neue Schloss als Geographisches Institut. Fruhe Geographische Vorlesungen. Die Giessener Geographen Robert von Schlagintweit und Wilhelm Sievers', Nachr. Giessener Hochschulgesell. , vol 3h (1965), 87-103; also published in Giessener Geogr. Schr. vol 6 (1965) Mertins, G. , 'Wilhelm Sievers (1860-1Q21) Geograph*,

Lebensbilder

aus Hessen Bd. 2,

Veroffentlichunoon

110

Wilhelm

Sievers

der Historisohen

(1982), Qfk-8k

Kommission

fUr Hessen,

2. MAJOR PUBLICATIONS OF WILHELM SIEVERS 1886 'Die Arhuaco-Indianer in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, vol 21, 387-^00 1887 'Uber Schotter-Terrassen (Mesas), Seen und Eiszeit im nordlichen Sudamerika', Geoar. Abhand., vol 2/2, 3-2U " 1888 'Die Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta un die Sierra de Perija', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, vol 23, 1-158 'Erlauterungen zur geognostischen Karte der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, vol 23, hk2 (with map) 1907 'Zur Vergletscherung der Cordilleren des tropischen Sudamerika', Z. Gletscherkd. , vol 2, 271-81* 1910 'Die Quellen des Maranon-Amazonas', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, vol H5, 511-2U 1911 'Die Heutige und die fruhere Vergletscherung Sudamerikas', Sammlung wiss. Vortrdge aus dem Gebeit der Naturwissenschaften und der Medisin, vol 5, 2-2U " 3. ARCHIVAL SOURCES Sources include the Archiv der Prasidialabteilung der Justus-Liebig-Universitat, Giessen Gunter Mertins is professor of geography at Philipps-Universitat, Marburg/Lahn, F.D.R.

a docent in Giessen, became an associate professor. The publication of the five volume work in general world geography began and in time became widelyknown as Sievers ' Regional Geography

35/2

the

Chronology i860

Born in Hamburg, 3 December

1879

Studied in Jena university, but moved to Gottingen in i860

1882

Became a Ph.D. of Gottingen University

1883

Moved to Leipzig university, where he met F. von Richthofen

188U

Began his explorations of South America

1886

On his return home was engaged in work for the habilitation and qualified as a university teacher in Wurzburg university

1889

At Wurzburg began his work on a 'General geography' and in December moved to Giessen university

1891

After an initial period of teaching as

1892

Second South American expedition: from this time continued his active career as a teacher and writer

I896

Founded the Giessen Association for Geography and Ethnology

1900

From this year edited seven volumes for this society, published to 1912 as Hesse Geographical News

1903

Became a full professor of geography at Giessen

1911+-l8

During the war years was given manv extra responsibilites as head of the university at Giessen and also as a lecturer in Frankfurt/M. university

1921

Died at Giessen, 11 June, aged 60

Carl Troll 1899-1975

PHILIP D. TILLEY Courtesy of Mr. G. Schofgans, Bonn In 1959 > to mark the centenary of the death of "both Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter, the Berlin Geographical Society awarded its gold medal to four geographers of international standing: Hermann Lautensach, Carl Sauer, Hans Ahlmann and Carl Troll. After Lautensach and Ahlmann died Troll, though ten years younger than Sauer to the day, might equally well have "been called 'Dean of Geographers' as Sauer in fact was by the New York Times when he died just three days before Troll in 1975. But if such a title might have caused the modestly withdrawing Sauer just to give a wry smile, Troll would have relished it with all the spirited enthusiasm he brought to life. As C.P. Snow said of one of the characters in The Masters 'He was simple, exuberantly vain, as pleased with himself as a schoolboy who had just received a prize. But he had enormous zest and gusto, unbounded delight in his work. He had enjoyed every minute of his researches. Somehow all his vitality, mental and physical had poured into them without constraint or inhibition or self-criticism'. 1. EDUCATION, LIFE AND WORK Carl Theodor Josef Maria Troll, as he was christened by his Catholic parents, was born on 2H December 1899 at Gabersee near Wasserburg in Upper Bavaria, where his father was medical director of a nerve clinic. As a schoolboy spending holidays with a grandfather near Nuremberg or with other relatives in the Main valley from which both sides of the family came, he and his older brother wandered the slopes and quarries

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198M

of the Franconian scarplands collecting rocks, plants and insects. As a teenager living in Munich, where the family moved not long before their father died, weekend trips took him to the then still undespoiled steppe-heath near Garching north of the city; how distinctive a landscape this was from the moorland around it near Erding or Dachau was an impression Troll could still vividly recall at his farewell lecture half a century later. On student excursions after he matriculated like his brother at Munich University to study the natural sciences but particularly botany and geography (the first under the plant morphologist Karl von Goebel and a specialist in Andean vegetation Theodor Herzog, geography with the polar explorer and oceanographer Erich von Drygalski) Troll became aware of the fact that the Garching steppe-heath was not the only such landscape near Munich; another lay west of the city near Menzing, though even then greatly altered by human action, another to the southeast near Perlach; and yet another had once existed to the east near Keferloh. Even the twenty year old botanist and geographer had to ask himself why they recurred where they did and what made them so distinctive a landscape. Troll had already begun to see natural landscape features, culturally altered though they may be, as a kind of tangram or jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces were sometimes alike, sometimes singular fitting together to shape a recognizable landscape pattern, a mosaic as it were or what would later be called an ecosystem in each piece of which climate, the landsurface and its soil, its groundwater and vegetation interacting to build the habitat

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Carl

Troll

other living beings including humans inhabit and often greatly change. He had begun to practise what he would later call'a 'landscape ecology'. After Troll had taken his doctorate in 1921, not in geography but in plant physiology, Drygalski offered the twenty-two year old the only assistantship the Munich geography department then had, confident that in becoming an academic geographer Troll would 'promote biological thinking in the subject', as Drygalski put it. Three years later Troll had passed the state high school teachers' examination in chemistry, physics, biology, geology and mineralogy as well as in geography, qualified as a university lecturer in geography (on the same day as his brother did so in botany) formally with the thesis 'Influence of oceanicity on the plant world of Central Europe' (1925) but submitting nine other theses at the same time and a test lecture on 'The farming zones of Europe in their relationship to natural vegetation' (1925). He also presented a paper to the 1925 Breslau conference of German geographers on 'The climatic influence of the Baltic Sea on the vegetation of lands surrounding it'. In short he had become a natural and cultural biogeographer. As though this and his teaching duties as Drygalski 's only assistant were not more than enough to fill three years Troll had also followed audaciously in the steps of Penck and Bruckner to complete 'The' diluvial Inn-Chiemsee glacier' (192U), a now classic geomorphological-geological study of the area near where he was born as a landscape shaped largely by the effects of the piedmont glacier which during Pleistocene times had repeatedly debouched out across this foreland area from the highland Alps to the south and then wasted away. Conceived as 'the geographical picture of a typical alpine-foreland glacier' based on cross-section study of 'the landscape's natural component parts' Troll's immediate aim was 'to trace the tracks of the Last Glaciation comparatively across a completely and typically glaciated area ... to get at what regulates glacial processes and glacial landscapes today ... and go on to compare it with other foreland glaciers' (sic). It was and still is a noteworthy regional contribution to systematic glacial and glaciofluvial geomorphology in periglacial areas. Most notably perhaps it drew attention to the way fluvioglacial meltwater streams in periglacial areas broaden and level the valley floor material into which they periodically incise as meanders in their course migrate progressively downstream. Recognizing that it was recurrently where the so-called 'trumpet valleys' discharging meltwater through the end-moraines faded out downstream into the fronting gravel plain that small superimposed gravel trains began, Troll had, to use his own words, 'geographically hit upon' a solution to the Garching Heath problem: though little above the surrounding groundwater level and no less weathered than the older gravels, they overlay the gravel trains such as those that formed Garching Heath but had lost much of their finer material through the flushing effect of the periglacial meltwater streams and were therefore more porous and drier than the underlying and surrounding gravels. The study is the earliest yet one of the best examples of Troll's inclination and

ability not only to observe details but also to see them in context as a whole and imagine the significance this may have for conditions elsewhere. It is the foundation of his own later studies not only of alpine glacial chronology but also of free meander development in alluvial periglacial conditions and of the landscape ecology of cold areas. More immediately however, using the Munich plain as a model, Troll went on to compare it with all 'The young glacial gravel fields around the German Alps' (1926) from the Rhine in the west to the Drau in the east. Here Troll's effort to understand the development of natural features, not by directly analysing their formative processes but by differentiating the landscape mosaic of features the processes have shaped in one area compared with others, is very apparent. He tests and refines his findings in one area by trying to extend them geographically over wider areas, even the whole world to gain 'a worldwide perspective' {einer gesamtirdishen Schau); he practises a regional systematic geography of the interaction between the landsurface and its drainage and the plant, animal and human life which has colonized it. No less evident is the man's apparently unlimited energy and industry. Before he was twenty-eight he had sixteen published papers to his name; he had visited Scandinavia twice to learn at first hand the geochronological methods of quaternary geologists and geobotanists such as de Geer and Sauramo and, during an International Botanical Congress in Stockholm (1925), the English ecologist Tansley; Max Lagally's and Sebastian Finsterwalder's 1925 glacier photogrammetry course in the Austrian Alps gave a number of geographers later to become Troll's academic colleagues such as Richard Finsterwalder, Hans Kinzl, Hans Bobek, Julius Budel, Herbert Louis and Emil Meynen, their first experience of his unrelenting yet always discerning and concentrated activity, mental and physical. For Troll as an untenured new lecturer then to give up his assistantship (to the later Frau Dr Eugenie Lautensach-Loffler) and embark on field work overseas was simply to follow the well-established tradition of German academic geographers; but for this forschungsreise to last nearly three and a half years is evidence of Troll's fortitude as well as his ambition. Through discussions with plant geographers at Stockholm and the Berlin geographers Albrecht Penck and Fritz Jaeger at the Breslau conference, Troll formulated a plan to study the Quaternary geomorphology, tropical vegetation and Indian agriculture of the central Andes, a world to which he had been introduced as a student by Herzog. He began fieldwork in central Bolivia where the extreme relief of the tropical margin of the Southern Hemisphere's dry zone determines that hot humid lowlands give way with increasing elevation to highland glacial and periglacial dryness at least seasonally. This was a situation specially favourable to study of the fluctuating water levels of highland lake basins in the Pleistocene and since, to try to settle whether 'pluvials' resulted in a lower elevation for the socalled 'Penckian limit of aridity' as well as the snowline. Here too Troll could comr>are the vegetation and agriculture of the constantly hot and at least periodically sultry lowland tropics with that of the highland cold tropics. Experiencing how different

Carl Troll winterless cold highland tropical climates are from the seasonally cold climates of higher latitudes was was for Troll a vital step towards his later classification of climates worldwide on their seasonality of insolation, temperature and precipitation. He had in fact begun what would become his life's work: a regional systematic geography of the earth's mountain landscapes especially those which are intertropical. But it was to be more than thirty years before he published 'The Mountains of the Tropics: their three-dimensional climatic and plant geographical zonation', (1959) to coincide with the Humboldt centenary congress in Berlin at which he also gave the festival oration 'Alexander van Humboldt's scientific mission' (1959). With support for only the first eighteen months of his work running out Troll sold plant seeds and specimens, including the newly discovered Piloaereus trollii, before he joined the Austro-German Alpine Society's expedition to the Bolivian Cordillera Real from May to June 1928. He put his training in photogrammetry to good use in survey work, part of which was later drawn up and published in map form with Richard Finsterwalder (1935). In September 1928, through the good offices of a former Munich geographer, by then managing director of the Colombian-German airline SCADTA, Troll was commissioned to help the company to explore the lowland swamps and coast-lands of Ecuador, northwest Colombia and Panama not only on foot, on horseback, by car, canoe and motor boat, but also from the air. With the aid of the company's air photographs Troll thus became one of the first to appreciate how valuable a research tool air photographs would become 'for all the earth sciences and the advantage of mankind'. Troll returned to Germany towards the end of 1929 to write soon afterwards a regional geography of Bavaria with his erstwhile colleague and successor Eugene Loffler and, in October 1930, to marry another fellow geographer Elizabeth Kurschner. His already published work had established his reputation. An account of his fieldwork in the Berlin Geographical Society's centenary volume of 1928 had won him the Society's silver medal (as it had Lautensach for his contribution to the same volume). Not surprisingly therefore Troll was appointed as an associate professor with the post for 'overseas and colonial geography' at Berlin University vacated by Jaeger when he moved to Basle, a position equivalent to that then occupied by Heinrich Schmitthenner at Leipzig as head of the Department of 'Colonial Geography and Colonial Politics' and similarly endowed by the publisher and geographer especially associated with the first climbing of Kilimanjaro, Hans Meyer. This position allowed Troll to maintain his earlier research interest in alpine Quaternary geomorphology and geochronology as well as to develop his work on the Andes. His inaugural lecture was on 'The economic geographical structure of tropical South America' (1930); and a most noteworthy contribution to the Danzig conference of German geographers on 'The landscape belts of the tropical Andes' (1932) is the one in which he first outlines the asymmetry of vegetation zones between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. But he was also required to follow Jaeger's lead and concern himself with the nature and objectives

113

of 'Colonial geography as a branch of systematic geography' (1933) and with 'European settlement in the tropics, its prospects and limits' (1933), work which was to influence his stance as a cultural as well as a natural biogeographer for the rest of his life. On this record he might reasonably have expected an offer of the chair of geography at Munich when it fell vacant; but he was not, perhaps because of a published exchange of views between himself and Passarge, then the National Socialist Party's 'top man' for appointments in geography. Reminiscent of Lautensach in much the same position earlier, Troll set out on another period of fieldwork, this time through the highlands of eastern Africa from the southern Nubian Bed Sea coastlands to the Cape. His prime aim was to compare them as natural habitats with those of the tropical New World he had already experienced. The convergence of his separate lines of thought is evident in 'The nature of the land and settlement possibilities in the highlands of tropical Africa' (1935), in the paper on 'Termite savannas' (1936) and particularly in the article 'Thoughts and comments on ecological plant geography' (1935). Travelling north from Santa Cruz in Bolivia Troll had seen the 'island pampa' Herzog had interpreted as small evergreen clusters of woodland concentrated on hillocks rising above the seasonal flooding of the surrounding grass-covered plain. Troll noted that the hillocks were the sites of abandoned or still actively occupied nests of leaf cutting ants. In East Africa he recognized the same kind of savanna formation, but now the hillocks coincided with termite's nests, and they were sometimes cleared for cultivation by the native human population because their soil was already broken up and therefore more easily worked and well drained compared to the often rock-hard impervious ground of the surrounding grassland best used for pasture. Different species occupied a similar ecological niche. Troll was still more impressed by how strikingly similar in form and behaviour many African plants and the vegetation they structure are to those of Quite different genera let alone species in equivalent tropical and subtropical habitats in South America. Later fieldwork in the Himalayas (1937), in the Cascade Mountains of the USA (1952) and, following Jaeger's lead again, on the northern hemisphere arid zone's tropical margin in Mexico (195M were to add materially to the evidence but only to build on a conceptual scaffolding already in place. Not until 1936, and after he had declined an invitation to lead a new Institute of Geography in the State University of Colombia under the auspices of SCADTA, was Troll finally appointed a full tenured professor at Berlin to head the Institute for Oceanography and to teach economic geography following the premature death of Alfred Ruhl, of whom much had been hoped but who was mercifully released from a world of growing intellectual coercion with which he, unlike Troll, was ouite unable to cope. In the event Troll held the post for little more than a year. Two events were soon to take him at only thirty-eight years of age to the position he was to hold for the rest of his public working life. In 1937 Troll joined the much-heralded German Nanga Parbat Himalaya expedition led by K. Wien, with

114

Carl

Troll

whom Troll had travelled in eastern Africa three years before, as one of two scientists in the climbing party. His plan was to map the vegetation of this part of the subtropical Himalaya at 1:50 000 on a base map produced by Richard Finsterwalder and then, by journeying through the mountains of Sikkim, to construct a threedimensional profile o.f vegetation northwards from Darjeeling across the Himalayas' southern slopes to the Tibetan border. Camped lower than the climbing party Troll and the other scientist escaped the avalanche which smothered all the others. Thus when he returned to Germany at the end of 1937, after visiting Eritrea and the neighbouring part of Ethiopia he had not been able to visit in 1933, Troll found himself something of a national hero. That same year however, the forty-five year old Professor of Geography at Bonn University, Leo Waibel, was 'pensioned off from his post by the National Socialist authorities. Waibel's parents-in-law were Jewish; and among students and colleagues Waibel had made no bones about what he thought of the growing suppression of intellectual as well as political freedom in Nazi Germany. He left Germany not long before it became impossible to do so, to work first at Johns Hopkins University with the American Geographical Society, in New York and later in Madison, where he took Richard Hartshorne's and H.S. Sterling's places while they were away on military service. Troll was of course among those well-qualified to succeed Waibel as well as someone who might be expected to continue Waibel's work on the possibilities for white settlement of the tropics. And his candidacy was promoted in Bonn by Waibel himself, someone whose work first as a biogeographer and later on the settlement and agricultural geography of tropical Africa paralleled that of the ten years younger Troll, with whom Waibel was by this time on close personal terms. Troll's candidacy was also promoted by the Professor of Geology in Bonn, Hans Cloos, a declared anti-Fascist. But Troll was also known for his uncompromising disdain of the regime in Berlin, so the authorities let it be thought in Bonn that he did not want the post in the hope that this would frustrate his appointment. Largely through Cloos's efforts Troll's true feelings became known: he was offered and accepted the position in August 1938 and the authorities acquiesced. So as a relatively young man as well as someone who could hardly have had less sympathy with the National Socialist movement, Troll not only succeeded a man dismissed for political reasons but found himself responsible for one of the most illustrious university geographical traditions. That his way would not be easy soon became clear. Foreign currency controls meant that Troll had not received official approval to visit Amsterdam for the 1938 Geographical Congress by the time the Congress opened. His absence from the Congress's symposium on white settlement in the tropics, close as the theme was to much of Troll's work at the time, was all the more noticeable. In the years following Troll was to need all his courage and resilience as well as energy if he was to make the most of his opportunity. He had sometimes to seize his chance boldly, as when he asked the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin to intercede personally with Hitler on behalf of

his aged predecessor-but-one in the Bonn chair, Alfred Philippson, and so saved him from Auschwitz. Isolation from the rest of the world of learning after 1938 seems not to have been the difficulty for Troll it was for many other intellectuals in Germany. It gave him the chance to work on material his years in the field had produced to 'make his ideas more concrete' as he put it himself. Still, by 1939 even he needed the help of Dutch students to get a copy of Tansley's then newly published The British Isles and their Vegetation. Working on the paper 'Air-photo mosaics and ecological ground research' (1939) Troll could appreciate how Tansley had developed Woltereck's ecosystem concept as a whole complex of organisms and factors of environment in an ecological unit of any rank since 1935 so as to embrace the idea of the eaotope as a unit habitat area. In this 1939 paper Troll first used the expression landscape ecology. Germany's alliance by this time with the Soviet Union meant that the paper soon reached Russian workers in the same field and brought Troll in response the collection of Russian papers which enabled him to outline international progress in air photo studies even in 19^3. Having to conduct student excursions in the more immediate neighbourhood of Bonn, Troll made virtue of necessity and applied his ideas on landscape to an analysis of part of the Agger Valley east of Bonn, a map of which has become part of the classical literature on 'natural

terrain division' {Naturraumliche

Gliederung).

Troll,

the cultural biogeographer, emphasizes these are no 'natural' landscape units but the outcome of long-term human agricultural activity on natural features. In 19^0, in a lecture to the 'friends and promoters of Bonn University' outlining his programme for research into the comparative geography of the earth's mountain landscapes, Troll revived the use of thermoisopleth diagrams to show graphically both the difference in the diurnal and seasonal regime of air temperature between intertropical low latitudes and high latitudes and the affinity in thermal regime between intertropical highlands and lowlands no matter how hot or cold. A wall chart in colour of fifteen such thermoisopleth diagrams to illustrate the major types of thermal climates was published with the paper 'Thermal climate types of the

earth' in Petermann's

Geographische Mitteilungen

in

19^+3; unfortunately wartime issues of the journal were not widely distributed and the wall chart has 'disappeared' from even some German libraries, so valuable and rare has it become. A planned atlas of 130 such diagrams was never published, though many of them were included as simple line drawings in Troll's later papers. They are probably the best example of Troll's constant imaginative concern for the cartographic and diagramatic portrayal of geographical knowledge. The war years also saw the publication of several of Troll's now classic monographs and papers: that on Busserschnee or 'snow penitents' (kneeling or prostrate forms at some religious ceremony) in which, following Jaeger's lead again, Troll argues that the kind of snow ablation conditions giving rise to this phenomenon are most characteristic of subtropical highlands where a heavy seasonal snow cover survives into a succeeding dry season to be subject to intensive insolation and evaporation (19**2); one of Troll's most mature works, 'The role of Indian high altitude agriculture in the

Carl Troll making of the tropical Andean landscape' (19^3); and the short but valuable paper 'The frequency of the alteration between freezing and non-freezing conditions in'the atmospheric and ground surface climate' at different elevations above sea level on the El Misti peak of southern NPeru (19^3). Troll not only edited and introduced the special climate volume of the Geologisohe Rundschau published in 19^U but also contributed to it the monograph-length paper later translated into English as 'Structure soils, solifluction and frost climates of the earth'. 19^5, the year in which the Second World War ended with Germany's political and economic collapse, was the only year in more than half a century in which Troll published nothing: even he was too fully occupied trying to safeguard his growing family, and dealing with such practical problems as moving the whole of the Bonn geography department's valuable library to a safe resting place before the department itself was gutted. But for the twenty years after 19'+5 Troll could be said to have been 'in his prime'. Declining invitations at one time or another to become professor in Zurich, Heidelberg, Munich, Vienna and Berlin he used his singular world standing as scholar, academic and geographer whose judgement would be trusted nationally and internationally to reestablish and promote Bonn as a leading centre of geographical teaching and research, and with it German post-war geography as a whole. His election as Dean of the Faculty of Science at Bonn, chairman of the German Quaternary Association and president of the first post-war conference of German geographers, was only the start. Helped by the recognition of Bonn as the de facto capital of the new German Federal Republic, Troll saw part of the bombgutted wing of the university's main building transformed into what was then the largest, most modern and best equipped geography department in Germany if not the world, with its rescued library reinstalled. A Richthofen memorial colloquium at which Lautensach first publicly presented his Geographische Formenwandel marked its formal inauguration in 1951. The years immediately following were the ones in which Troll most fruitfully combined his research and teaching as, at eight in the summer or ten in the winter, four mornings a week, his slight though impressively bearded figure would burst into the lecture hall and with a flourish he would let loose for an hour an unbroken stream of thought in his charmingly Bavarian accent, his audience held fascinated by his freehand blackboard maps and profiles or, as he dramatically used one large wall map after another, his drawing on an obviously inexhaustible store of personal field experience. And not only in Bonn; from February to June 1952 he was Carl Schurtz Visiting Professor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in 1956 visiting professor at the University of Brazil, in 1958 at the University of London. Wherever he lectured he left his audience with an impression of the man as well as the lands he spoke of they would keep for the rest of their lives. His election as president of the International Geographical Union at the Stockholm Congress of i960, only the second German geographer ever elected to the office, and in the face of the political discord nomination of a West German then inevitably aroused,

115

is evidence of Troll's irrefutable international standing. And with all his other activities the flood of papers from his pen continued, ninety-five of them in the fourteen years following 19^5. Having a new house built to accommodate his now large family of nine children he just took in his stride. Even when over sixty, and against all advice, Troll could not but give himself unreservedly to his work, his colleagues and students, the public at large (in Bonn for example), his church, and not least his family. He lived on his nervous energy. Often working far into the night, eventually to fall asleep at his desk, his eldest daughter would wake him in the early hours to tell him to go to bed. For the academic year IQ6O-.I he was Rector of Bonn University with all the official duties that entailed as academic head of the federal capital's university. As president of IGU he travelled all over the world: to the 196l INQUA congress in Warsaw, IGU's regional conference in Kuala Lumpur in 196P to give the address 'Landscape ecology and land development with special reference to the tropics'. Later that same year he was visiting professor in Bergen. In 196k he presided over the London Congress of IGU giving as his presidential address '"Plural societies of developing countries: aspects of social geography' (1967). Yet still the research publications continue to appear: 'The relationship between the climates and ecology and plant geography of the southern cold temperate zone and of the tropical high mountains' (1060), 'The physiognomy of vegetative growth as an expression of ecological life conditions' (i960), 'The threedimensional landscape division of the earth' (19C1?) or 'Map of the seasonal climates of the earth' (196U) to cite only a few. And though he had by then relinauished to a group of collaborators the sole editorship of Erdkunde^ the journal he had founded in 19H7 when it proved impossible to restart the Berlin Society's Zeitschrift) he had given U P little else and taken on more. Troll had been a prime mover in the establishment of the Mainz Academy for Science and Literature in lcl!+os and in the following year the Academy's Commission for Research in Earth Science of which he was first chairman. His attendance at the Academy's sittings in April and October was part of the Bonn department's unalterable routine in the 1950s. ft^ter his retirement in 1965 the Academy became the main ^orum in which Troll worked. It was a main support for the work of the Commission on High Altitude Geoecology the IGU eventually set up on Troll's initiative in 1968, of which again he was first chairman. He had prepared a major symposium to take place under the Commission's and UNESCO's auspices in Mexico in 1966 on the landscape ecology (or geoecology as he now called it in the interests of international understanding) of the tropical American Cordilleras (l°68), but he was unable to attend. In November 1965 he suffered his first heart attack though several months later, after an astounding recovery, he was back organizing a second symposium, eventually held in Mainz in 1969, on the 'Geoecology of the High Mountain Regions of Eurasia' (1072). Troll edited its proceedings and made no fewer than seven contributions to it himself. The following year he coedited with Carl Rathjens and Harald Uhlig the proceedings of yet another symposium held in Mainz in 1970 on the

116

Carl

Troll

cultural geography of the mountainous areas of South Asia. And perhaps because he was becoming only too well aware that his own life's work was coming to a close Troll wrote several noteworthy retrospective appraisals of the work of some of his closest colleagues and friends about this time: Lehmann (1966), Lautensach (1966), Waibel (1968), Jaeger (1969) and Budel (1973). In the late summer of 1971 Troll suffered a second more severe heart attack but again made such an unbelievably successful recovery he was able to attend and contribute two papers to the High Altitude Geoecology Commission's Calgary symposium in 1973 and hand over its chairmanship to Jack Ives. He was able to go on to prepare the last of the Mainz symposia by which, as he put it, 'he sought to bring home the harvest not in cartloads but carefully, one wheelbarrowful at a time'. This last symposium, on the 'Geoecological relationships between the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere and the tropical mountains' (1975) took place in November 197^. In January 1975 Troll celebrated his golden jubilee as a university lecturer with 'Comparative geography of the high mountains of the earth from a landscape ecological viewpoint: a review of research organisation and results over three and a half decades'. This was his last publication: number 361. In May 1975 he was in Innsbruck for the Uoth conference of German geographers, apparently much his old self and able to take part in the discussions on the comparative geography of high mountains in that most appropriate setting. The end came suddenly and unexpectedly on 21 July. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT In 1953 Troll asked his close friend Lautensach what he thought of the idea of publishing bibliographies of renowned deceased geographers in the form of studies outlining the development of one particular aspect of geography to which the scholar in question had made a special contribution (presumably along the lines of Troll's paper twenty years later 'Julius Budel and modern geomorphology', 1973). Lautensach's answer was to ask in turn 'how, following this method, would we deal with yourself? Under just geomorphology or high mountain research or plant geography or research on the Andes, or Africa and so on? Of course in the end,' Lautensach continued, 'it all hangs together; but if you take account of all the ways in which it does you'd end up with a complete picture of the geographer in question anyway ... in any case there's a lot to be gained by leaving an especially esteemed colleague's work to be seen as a whole for once'. Actually faced with the problem about five years later, and while Troll was still very much alive, Lautensach reviewed Troll's research work to date systematically, as contributions to climatology, vegetation and plant geography, high mountain research, snow and ice studies, periglacial and glacial geomorphology, colonial (or as we might say, Third World) geography, and geography's history and methodology. For Lautensach it then all 'hung together' inasmuch as Troll had over the years 'by comparing and inte-

grating different phenomena, pushed his way forward through an ever-growing mass of special studies towards the recognition of worldwide geographical coherences and contrasts, because he was always fundamentally interested in the earth surface as a whole even while he studied particular phenomena in particular places'. VJhen in his turn Troll appraises Lautensach's research work (in 1966, and while Lautensach also was still alive), he stresses how Lautensach used carefully projected special studies in the most varied aspects of geography to advance systematic geography regionally; Troll was probably voicing his own aspiration and practice. Troll himself never attained quite so intellectually coherent a methodological position as Lautensach 's formenwandel approach towards regional systematic studies represents, though the very same idea pervades Troll's early study of variation in the oceanic traits of Europe's plant cover from its western periphery eastwards (1925) as much as it does almost his last on 'The three-dimensional landscape structure of the earth' (1975); small wonder he did so much to promote Lautensach's ideas. Yet even though Troll did not in the end write his planned 'The mountain lands of the earth: a geography of the third dimension on ecological foundations', seen as a whole for what it essentially is, Troll's lifetime study of the earth's mountain landscapes as hypsometrically analogous but differently located area-complexes is probably the best example we yet in fact have of what Lautensach envisaged a regional systematic comparative study of the regulated areal variation of landscape features (allgemeine vergleichende formenwandellehre) might be. The separate strands of Troll's developing ideas towards a landscape geography of the world's mountain lands are so intertwined and so deeply rooted in the work of others before him that it took all his phenomenal self confidence and perseverance to get as far as he did. He needed twenty years' study of different aspects of past and present cold climates in Europe and in tropical and subtropical South America to reach the point where he writes that strictly speaking every lowland climate is part of an altitudinal sequence of different, more tempered {temperierter) mountain climates ... we therefore have to develop the climate classifications we now have, Koppen's for example, good as they are for two-dimensional lowlands, by giving them a third dimension; we must in general strive towards a threedimensional analysis of climates, vegetation and landscapes as the basis of a comparative study of mountains (19^1). He has progressed from his personal experience of how different climatically and in vegetation the cold landscapes of low-altitude highlands are from those of equally cold higher latitude areas to realise that the cold tropics were no less tropical for being colder, however restricted their occurrence, than their warm lowland, low-latitude counterparts with which they shared a similar predominant diurnal regime of temperature. Troll could then go on to see that different as they are environmentally, the Southern Hemisphere's

Carl Troll subantarctic oceanic temperate climates, and thus the vegetation and landscape of Macquarie Island for example, more closely resemble those of the humid highland cold tropics than they do the climates, vegetation and natural landscape of most of the comparably midlatitude more continental lands of the Northern Hemisphere. He had shown us the asymmetry between the two hemispheres' latitudinal and altitudinal zonation of climates and vegetation corresponding largely to the asymmetric distribution of land and water in the two hemispheres. But another twenty years were to pass before he published (196*0 in collaboration with K.H. Paffen the classification of the world's climates according to their degree of seasonality in insolation, temperature and precipitation effectively manifested in vegetation, a classification for which he is now perhaps most widely known. And even then it was essentially a two-dimensional classification, with highlands marked symbolically but their climates not distinguished. Probably the clearest statement Troll himself gives us of his view of the geographer's standpoint is the one with which he opens the paper 'Climate and plant cover of the earth from a three-dimensional viewpoint', (lQ6l): In trying to discover the laws which regulate the distribution of natural phenomena on our earth two ways of approaching the problem are open to us. On the one hand we can begin by studying the smallest areas, the site (standort), and progress from there towards larger and larger area integrations in our study of distribution patterns ... In so doing it is phenomena determining local natural differences which come to the fore ... But once the natural scientist had a worldwide conception of the phenomena he can also work progressively in the opposite direction, namely from large area, global comparison towards smaller area ones. His comparative eyes see the earth surface firstly as made up of a number of latitudinal so-called 'landscape belts', in which edaphically determined small area differences are at first obscured. What dominates and unifies is climate ... Alexander von Humboldt's great contribution as natural scientist and geographer lies in his having introduced the worldwide comparative standpoint into earth science ... The great impulse (he) gave us towards seeing earth phenomena three-dimensionally was unfortunately lost sight of again last century. It is this second approach to the problem of studying phenomena areally, the worldwide comparative one, which is for Troll the predominantly and essentially geographical one; the first is, for example, a predominantly biological one when it is concerned to analyze single ecosystems functionally and quantitatively. If this three-dimensional worldwide comparison of landscapes is Troll's leitmotiv he has no obvious forerunner in geography unless it is Humboldt himself. Central to Troll's efforts to promote a both geographical and synoptic-ecological approach to the

117

study of natural phenomena is his conception of the idea of landscape less as an integrating perspective than as the actual areally diverse manifestation of the interdependencies and reciprocal interrelationships whereby biophysically and socio-economically regulated phenomena function within systems to which the area they occupy and their internal and external space-relationships are functionally vital and characteristic. For Tansley the ecosystem certainly occupied a portion of the physical world, its ecotope. But it was characterized and delimited more by its structure and flows of energy and matter than by the area to which it is specific and within which it functions as a more or less open system interrelated with other equally area-specific ecosystems in external space relationships across determinable boundaries to form a recognizable, mappable, photographable mosaic of heirarchical units, a landscape pattern. The natural landscape was therefore for Troll not simply the primeval, spontaneous, non-humanized ecosystem complexes, but also those 'cultural' landscapes in which some phenomena are still at least partially regulated biophysically however much they may be socioeconomically and culturally regulated as well. Almost unnoticed and almost without methodological argument Troll's work had given the landscape approach a renewed if more circumscribed lease of life as the selective and partial areal differentiation geographically of biophysically regulated ecosystems (as distinct from landscape systems in general) including, to the extent that they are so regulated, man himself as well as his effects. We might well describe Troll, as Leighley did Sauer, as simply ' an earth scientist with a slant towards biogeography of which man is a part'. Troll's earlier studies of white settlement in the tropics (1933) or of the nutritional ecology of highland South American Indians (19**3), his later review of Rodenwaldt's World

Atlas

of Epidemic Diseases

(1953) and of the areal and

temporal distribution of sultriness in Africa (1969) together with more general treatments of the relevance of landscape ecology to the tropics (1962) and to the underdeveloped world as a whole (19^3—6U) all evidence his efforts not to exclude mankind from the natural world and to promote an ecological anthropogeography

(physische

anthropogeographie)

amenable to landscape

study. For Troll was more conscious than many geographers of the degree to which too one-sided a development of physical geography as geomorphology in the later nineteenth and earlier twentieth century had disadvantaged the development of biogeography and left 'a gaping hole' between biophysical and cultural geography to the detriment of geography in general and a more complete geography of mankind in particular. In Troll's view the neglect of biogeography as geomorphology and economic geography advanced did more than just confirm the necessarily dualistic view of mankind as both part of the organic world of the biosphere, caught up in its physico-chemical and biological regulation and natural evolution, as well as an active transformer of nature to shape the cultural landscape none the less inextricably caught up in his own individual and social self-regulation and the process of historical development; such neglect promoted a virtual separation of mankind from the rest of nature and

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Troll

exclusion from what was indeed commonly called a 'human' geography but was in reality only a study of the effects mankind has wrought on the rest of nature. Unlike Sauer's however, Troll's ecological approach to landscape was less oriented towards 'how things came to be' or 'the succession of events' important as Troll considered the genetic historical perspective, and more towards 'all the predominant complex functional linkages between the associations of living things (biocenoses) and their environmental conditions in one particular section of landscape' compared with another (1966). And rather than highlight the role ecologically dominant cultural man has played in shaping the landscape Troll lays special stress on 'the biological processes binding the forces of the inorganic, physical world, on which they depend to the intellectually determined cultural phenomena' subject to 'human motivation' as that which distinguishes our planet earth from our moon, for example, which because it lacks life 'lacks the stuff of geographical science' however geomorphologically interesting it may be. As a Catholic Christian Troll expected geography to make sense of 'our beautiful earth' as much as he expected his world to have an ordained order; it was from this confident expectation psychologically that Troll drew his astounding energy and motivation as well as his inspiration. 'Like Grisebach, consciously entering nature's showplace to look for its law-abiding order, insight, enjoyment and freedom in my research work has been for me a driving force and thus a source of good fortune' (1958). Troll was undoubtedly something of a romantic; but he was also a hardheaded realist. Pointedly, he opened his apologia for German geography in the first issue of Erdkunde in 19'»7 with Carl Jasper's words 'not only does our dignity depend on us being fully open and honest ... it is our singular chance'. Troll was an opportunist in the best sense of the word. With no obsessive disdain for methodology, and certainly not ignorant of his geographical forebears, Troll made his own way forward intellectually, professionally and personally. No one seems to have influenced him decisively, unless it was his early teachers in botany, von Goebel and Theodor Herzog, who /gave him his 'understanding for the morphology of plants' and showed him 'the way through the wonderworld of Andean vegetation', ready as he always was to draw and build on other work. On the other hand he did not become the captive of his own ideas either; perhaps because they came so readily, he had so many and he was not afraid to discard them, as for example when he does not use the line representing a ration of 1:1 between the mean diurnal range of temperature and the mean annual to delimit tropical climates in his classification of climates on their seasonality (196U). Troll drew equally on the ecology tradition in biology and the landscape tradition in geography to develop his landscape ecology when the concept of landschaft was under attack especially among German-speaking geographers. Lautensach, with his usual percipience, may have been close to the mark when he wrote to Troll 'like my great teacher Penck, I don't think you always have the right feel for where geography ends and another discipline starts'. But this did not

worry Troll; geography had its place 'between' or even 'at the hub' of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. As he explained The preceding exposition is intended to give not only an overview of our present knowledge of the ordering of the climate, vegetation and landscape zones of the earth three-dimensionally ... but also show by what methods and goal-setting this knowledge has been won from the time of A. von Humboldt to the present. The flash of inspiration nearly always came from seeing new interrelationships comparatively, whether by comparing different kinds of phenomena ... or comparing convergent phenomena in different parts of the world. Both approaches, comparison of different landscape elements in one and the same region or of the same phenomenon in separated regions, are essential methods of causal geographical research. From time immemorial both ways have won us new knowledge. Therein too lies the impulse other sciences have constantly given to geography, and from which for their part they have gained fundamental knowledge ... That the comparison of different perceptions is inseparably bound up with human thought, that it is fruitfully practised as scientific method in other sciences also, and that it became especially prominent in the scientific thought of classicism and idealism, is well known. But it is in the nature of the Questions geography poses that it here plays a special role. It leads not only to a causal understanding of the functional areal interrelationships in a particular region but also to a view of the correlations or similarities recurring in different regions, enables us to recognise, that is, geographical types. In a purely intellectual critique of the Vergleiohenden Erdkunde of C. Ritter, A. von Humboldt and 0. Peschel by Plewe thirty years ago • • • which, despite its being one o^ the author's first works, has had a certain influence on the methodological orientation of German geography in the inter-war years, this was markedly overlooked or deliberately played down. Two masters of regional geography certainly not lacking in methodological training but who also had an unusually wide experience of the world, N. Krebs and H. Lautensach, have since brought the comparative method back to high esteem in regional geography also. The present study may show again that without it systematic study of the earth too is unthinkable, and that it brings rich rewards (1962).

3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS If worldwide recognition is any measure of a scholar's influence Troll must be counted one of the most influential geographers ever: recipient of sixteen medals, among them the gold Vega of the Royal Anthropological and Geographical Society of Sweden (1951), the rarely awarded Von Hauer of the Austrian Geographical Society

Carl Troll (1956), both the gold Ritter (with Hans W:son Ahlmann) of the Berlin Geographical Society and the Martin Behaim (with Hermann Lautensach) of the Nuremberg Geographical Society in 1959, the Victoria of the Royal Geographical Society of London (1962) and the Albrecht Penck of the German Quaternary Association (l96h); a member o^ no fewer than forty-one learned societies including the Leopoldina of Halle, the German and Austrian Academies of Science and the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature as well as numerous geographical societies worldwide; honorary doctor of the Universities of Louvain (1963) and Vienna (1965); a vice-president (1956) then president (i960) of the International Geographical Union. Such recognition both by his fellow geographers and scientists more generally, nationally and internationally, acknowledged that in the years following the Second World War probably no one did more, and few half as much to reestablish German geography and so promote the discipline worldwide: as the author of over 350 articles and monographs and the editor of many more, most notably in the journal Erdkunde, in the founding and development of which to become one of the world's leading geographical journals, Troll was the leading light. The critique and 'justification' (though apologia might be a better translation) of German geography between 1933 and 19^5 with which he launched Erdkunde may not be altogether convincing; none the less it well represents the role of scholar and advocate Troll played so effectively. That Troll gained such international influence as well as recognition was of course due first and foremost to the sheer volume and value of his published works. But it also arose from recognition of his extraordinary organizing and administrative abilities, the drive and personality of a man almost 'possessed' by his subject. Troll had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time; he had the good sense and will to make the most of his chances even if the enthusiasm he radiated, the charm with which he might overwhelm if not always persuade his listeners, must sometimes have exasperated his closer colleagues and family. That so much of Troll's thinking is already part of our conventional wisdom is due in part to the persistent way in which he developed and represented his own ideas in writing and in lecturing, in many parts of the world and in several foreign languages. But it is also due to the way he developed and represented the ideas of predecessors and colleagues. The extent to which the description of his travels from Lake Titicaca to Lake Poopo and the Salar of Coipasa (1927) draws on the earlier work of Bowman, is an early case to point. Perhaps it was from Bowman as much as Humboldt that Troll gained the inspiration to pursue his life-long sustaining enthusiasm for the worldwide three-dimensional study of landscapes 'at the pioneer fringe'. That colleagues and in particular pupils saw the fruitfulness of Troll's thinking and the work they could go on to do was largely responsible for Troll's attraction and influence as a teacher. He had a marked inclination and ability to organize and portray graphically his material so as not only to demonstrate visually his conclusions and how they were reached but

119

at the same time to stimulate interest and imaginative reaction in his hearers and readers. His reviving use of the thermoisopleth diagram (19^3) to show diurnal and seasonal variation of temperature simultaneously is only one, if the best known example, and one that auickly found its way into the standard textbooks. Others are the geological-geomorphological map of the Inn-Chiemsee area (l92h), the vegetation of the 'average continent' diagram (19^8) or the so-called kaumatoisopleths of sultriness (1969). Not that all of Troll's all too prolific outpourings of imaginative and productive ideas have stood the test of time. He was among the first to differentiate the variety of freezing cold climates of different glacial and in particular periglacial conditions, most notably between those of intertropic and polar latitudes. But his somewhat simplistic emphasis on merely the frequency with which ground surface temperature fluctuates across the freezing point of water can no longer serve alone as an adeouate criterion definitive of the periglacial condition. Undoubtedly, it is important in some instances. But much of the freeze-thaw alternation recorded is of such short duration and small amplitude as to be of little or no significance for periglacial morphodynamics. More emphasis, it is now seen, has to be placed on frozen ground conditions in general, especially on the dynamics of ground ice build-up, persistence and melting. In contrast, however, Troll's thinking on the geonorphological role of dead ice, on the development of drumlins in deglacierized areas, or on stream meander development in alluvium, has long since won general acceptance. His recognition of how much wetter flanking slopes and ridges can be than valley bottoms due to the tendency towards subsidence over the valleys in the slope wind circulation, with important consequences for vegetation, has led to the phenomenon described as the 'Troll effect'. On the other hand it took Albrecht Penck most of a decade to agree with Troll that the loess of the Alpine foreland was of glacial not interglacial age. Troll's characteristic dictum 'without frost — no loess' (19^) has still to be substantiated! When in 1972 Ribeiro wrote in his Reflexions sur le metier de g&ographe that the ideal geographer is a person in whom two kinds of temperament are combined — that of the traveller and that which produces the urge to systematize, to reflect constantly and deeply on the diversity, the complexity, the deluge of geographically significant facts — he obviously had Troll in mind as someone who, as he put it, is always thinking on a worldwide scale even as he immerses himself in the study of a remote piece of country. Sadly, Troll did not live to write the summative work he conceived as a synopsis of the climate-vegetation regions of the whole Cordillera system of the Americas ... the one instance in which high mountains run continuously through all the latitudinal zones, from the subarctic of North Alaska through the Northern Hemisphere's temperate latitudes, the whole of the tropics,, the warm and cool temperate zones of the Southern Hemisphere to Tierra del Fuego and even on into the South Antilles and Antarctic Graham land

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... a mountain system which in nearly all latitudes rises as high as the high mountain level, mostly even higher than the snowline into the nival region. A cartographical overview would bring out in a single picture all these regional regularities (Gesetzmassigkeiten): the transition from the extreme oceanic to the continental Cordillera in Alaska and British Columbia, the as yet synoptically unportrayed regional divisions of the U.S. Cordillera between the prairies and the Pacific coast and around the arid highland of the Great Basin of internal drainage; the tropical Cordillera of both hemispheres with comparison of highland Mexico and the central Andes, the driest high mountain desert in the Puna de Atacama and the north-south, west-east and vertical zonation of the extra-tropical Andes of the Southern Hemisphere as far as Tierra del Fuego; finally too the contrast between the cold winter subarctic of the tundra zone of Alaska and the extreme oceanic subantarctic as well as the contrast between the horizontal zonation of both hemispheres compared with the vertical zonation of the tropical mountains.

(1970), vol h, 670-1 Lauer, W., 'Carl Troll zum 70 Geburtstage', in Argumenta Geographica. Festschrift Carl Troll zum 70 Geburtstage, Coll. Geogr. Bonn, vol 12 (1970),

11-17, (with a bibliography for the years 196070) Lauer, W., 'Carl Troll - Naturforscher und Geograph', Erdkd.. vol 30 (1976), 1-9 (with a bibliography for the years 1970-75) Lauer, W., 'Carl Troll (2lt/ll/l899-21/07/1975)', in Ehlers, E. and Meynen, E. (ed) Geogr. Taschenb. 1977/78 Wiesbaden (1977), 176-8 Lautensach, H., 'Carl Troll - ein Forscherleben', Erdkd., vol 13 (1959), 2U5-52, (with a virtually complete bibliography for the years 1922-59) Lenz, K., 'Herrn Prof. Dr. Dr. h . c , Dr. h.c. Carl Troll', Die Erde, vol 106 (1975), 225-7 Louis, H., 'Kartographie und diagraphische Darlegung geographische Erkenntnisse bei Carl Troll', Kartog. Nachr. > vol 15 (1965), 16-19 Louis, H., 'Carl Troll', Mitt.

W.E. (ed) Forscher

How well he laid the foundations is clear from Carl

Rathjens' recently published Geographie

des

(1966), 223-1*

Hoch-

gebirges. But Ribeiro was just as obviously thinking of Lautensach. We may come to see Troll as having played the part of a latterday Humboldt to someone else's, perhaps Lautensach's, Ritter!

Environments,

Osterr.

Akad.

Wiss. ,

vol 127 (1977), U70-7 Knubel, H., 'Carl Troll', Geogr. Runds. , vol 27 (1975), 1*03 Kuhn, A., 'Carl Troll', in Tietze, W. (ed ) Westermann 's Lexikon

der Geographie3

Braunschweig

of

Geography

'Gedanken zur Systematik der Anthropogeographie (zu H. Hassinger's: Die Geographie Z. Gesell.Erdkd. Berlin, 210-15

der

Menschen)*,

'Luftbildplan und okologische Bodenforschung',

Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Luftbildforschung

Berlin, 21*1-98 (reprinted in und Landeskundliche Forschunq,

Erdkd. Wissen, vol 12, Wiesbaden (1966), 1-69) 'Methoden der Luftbildforschung', Sitz. Europ. Geogr.3

Wurzburg

1942,

Leipzig, 121-U6

'25 Jahre nordisch-arktische Gletscherforschung unter Leitung von H.W.: son Ahlmann', Geol. Runds., vol 3h, 282-93 'Fortschritte der Luftbildforschung', Z. Gesell.

Erdkd. Berlin, 277-311 (reprinted in Luftbildforschung und Landeskundliche Forschunq, Erdkd.

I9UI1 19^9

London (197!0, v-vi

Kinzl, H. , 'Carl Troll', Aim.

Stuttgart

Method and History

Munchen (1973), 360-7'+, 379-98 Dickinson, R.E., 'Carl Troll' in The Makers of Modern Geography New York (1969), 16U-6 Fink, J., 'Carl Troll zum Gedenken', Mitt. Osterr. Geogr. Gesell. , vol 119 (1977), 82-U Fischer, E. et al, 'Carl Troll (l899) ' , in

Alpine

und Gelehrte^

a.

1. OBITUARIES AND REFERENCES ON CARL TROLL Beck, H., 'Carl Troll', in Geographie. Europaische Entwicklungin Texten und Erlauterungen, Freiburg/

Jahn, A., 'Carl Th. Troll (1899-1975)', Czasopismo Geograficzne, vol XLVII (1976) 2, 207-09 Kinzl, H., 'Carl Troll (1899-1975) als Eiszeit, Gletscher und Periglazialforscher', Z. Gletscherkd. Glaz., vol 12 (1976), 309-16

Munchen,

SELECTIVE THEMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY CARL TROLL

Bibliography and Sources

Hedberg, 0., 'Dedication to Professor Dr. Carl Troll', in Ives, J.D.. and Barry, R.G. (ed) Arctic and

Gesell.

2..

1939

A Question of Place. The Development of Geographical Thought, Arlington (1967), 115-20

Geogr.

vol 61 (1976), 5-15 Schweinfurth, U., 'Carl Troll', Geogr. Z. , vol 63 (1975), 170-6 Troll, C., 'Kurze Autobiographische Skizze', in Bohm,

Wissen, vol 12, Wiesbaden (1966), 115-52) 'Diluvialgeologie und Klima', Geol. Runds. vol 3U, 307-25 'Geographical Science in Germany during the period 1933-^5. A Critique and Justification',

Ann.

1950

Assoc.

Am. Geogr.,

vol 39, 99-137

'Die geographische Landschaft und ihre Erfor-

schung', Stud. Generale, vol 3, l63-8l (reprinted in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleichende Hochgebirgsforschunq, Erdkd. Wissen,

vol 11, Wiesbaden (1966), lH-51, and with addendum in Storkebaum, W. (ed) Zum Gegenstand und zur Methode

der Geographie,

Wege der

Forschunq,

vol 5, Darmstadt (1967), U17-63) 1953 'Ein Markstein in der Entwicklung der medizinische Geographie - Zum erscheinen von E. Rodenwaldt's Weltseuchenatlas', Erdkd., vol 7, 60-U

Carl Troll 1956

'Der Stand der geographischen Wissenschaft und ihre Bedeutung fur die Aufgaben der Praxis',

Forsch. und Fortschr.,

1963 1966

vol 30, 257-62 (reprint-

ed in Storkebaum, W. (ed) Zum Gegenstand und Zur Methode der Geographie, Wege der Forschung, vol 58, Darmstadt (1967), 21-35) 'Landscape Ecology and Land Development with special reference to the Tropics', J. Trop. Geog. , vol 17, 1-11 'Landschaftsokologie als geographische - synoptische Naturbetrachtung,' in Okologische Landschaftsforsahung und vergleiohende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden, 1-13 (reprint-

ed in Paffen, K.H. Das Wesen der

1966 1967

1971 1972

1975

b. 1952 1959

i960 1966 1968 1969 1973

Landschaft,

Wege der Forschung, vol 3^, Darmstadt (1973), 252-67) 'Landscape Ecology', Publ. ITC-UNESCO Centre for Integrated Surveys, no h 'Die Stellung der Geographie zwischen den NaturGeistes - und Sozialwissenschaften, Jahr. Landesamt. Forsch. Landes Nordrhein Westfalen, Koln, 555-77 'Landscape Ecology (Geoecology) and Biogeocoenology. A Terminological Study', Geoforum, vol 8, 1*3-6 'Geoecology and the World-Wide Differentiation of High Mountain Ecosystems', in Troll, C. (ed) Geoecology of the High-Mountain Regions of Eurasia, Erdwiss. Forsch., vol h, Wiesbaden, 1-16 'Religionsgeographie als Teilaspekt der Kultur und Sozialgeographie, in Schwind, M. (ed) Religions-geographie, Wege der Forschung, vol 397, Darmstadt, 250-3 Biographies 'Halford J. Mackinder als Geograph und Geopolitiker', Erdkd., vol 6, 177-8 'Alexander von Humboldt's wissenschaftliche Sendung', in Alex, von Humboldt. Studien zu seiner universellen Geisteshaltung, Berlin, 258-77 'The work of Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter, a Centenary Address', Adv. Sci., vol 16, UUl-52 'Herbert Lehmann', Erdkd., vol 20, 1-5 'Hermann Lautensach's Lebenswerk', Erdkd., vol 20, 2U1-52 'Leo Waibel zum Gedachtnis', Erdkd., vol 22, 63-5 'Fritz Jaeger - ein Forscherleben', Erlanger Geogr. Arb., vol 2h, h6 p. 'Julius Budel und die moderne Geomorphologie', Erdkd. , vol 27, 21*5-53

19^3 1955

1957 1959 1962

1968 1970 1973 1975

Hochgebirge der Erde', Bonn Mitt., vol 21 (reprinted in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleiohende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wisscn, vol 11, Wiesbaden (1966), 95-126)" 'Die Stellung der Indianer - Hochkulturen im Landschaftsaufbau der tropischen Anden', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, 93-128 'Uber das Wesen der Hochgebirgsnatur', Jahrb. dtsch. Alpenvereins, vol 80, 11*2-57 (reprinted in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleiohende Hochgebirgs forschung, Erdkd. Nissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden" (1966)'127-151) 'Forschungen in Zentralmexico 195**. Die Stellung des Landes im dreidimensionalen Landschaftsaufbau der Erde', Verh. Dtsch. Geog. Hamburg, 191-213 'Die tropischen Oebirge, Ihre dreidimensionale klimatische und pflanzenpeographische Zonierung', Bonn. Geogr. Abh. , vol 25, 93 p'Die dreidimensionale Landschaftspliederung der Erde', in Hermann von Wissmann Festschrift, Tubingen, 5^-80 (reprinted in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleiohende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden (1966), 328-59) 'The Cordilleras of the Tropical Americas. Aspects of climatic, phytogeographical and agrarian Ecology', Coll. Geogr. Bonn, vol 19, 15-56 'Die Naturraumliche Gliederung Nord-Athiot>iens,

Erdkd. vol 2h, 2l*9-68

'High Mountain Belts between the Polar Caps and the Equator', Arctic and Alpine Research, vol 5/3 (2), 19-27 'Vergleichende Geographie der Hochgebirge der Erde in landschaftsokologischer Sicht. Ein Entwicklung von dreieinhalb Jahrzehnten Forschunpsund Organisationsarbeit', Geogr. Runds. , vol 27, 185-98

d. Glacial and Fluvial Geomorphology 1921* 'Der diluviale Inn-Chiemseegletscher. Das geographische bild eines typischen Alpenvorlandgletschers', Forsch. Dtsch. Landes. - und Volkskunde, vol 23 , 121 p. 1926

1931 1938

'Die jungglazialen Schotterfluren im Umkreis der Deutschen Alpen. Ihre Oberflachengestalt, ihre Vegetation ihr Landschaftscharakter', Forsch. Dtsch. Landes - und Volkskunde, vol 2H 'Die Eiszeitfolge im nordlichen Alpenvorland (zu B. Eberl's gleichnamigem Werk)', Mitt. Geogr. Gesell. Munchen, vol 2H, 215-26 'Der Eiszerfall beim Ruckzug der alpinen Vorlandgletscher in die Stammbecken (am Beispiel des Loisach - Vorlandes in Oberbayern)', Actes 3rd.

Congr. Int.

c. Landscape Ecology, worldwide and regional 1929 'An expedition to the Central Andes, 1926-28' Geogr. Rev., vol 19, 231+-1+7 1932 'Die tropischen Andenlander', in Klute, F. (ed) Hand. Geogr. Wiss. Sudamerika, 309-1+62 'Die Landschaftsgurtel der tropischen Anden', Verh. Dtsch. Geogr. Breslau, 263-70 1938 'Der Nanga Parbat als Ziel deutscher Forschung', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, 1-26 19l*l 'Studien zur vergleichenden Geographie der

121

19^? 195^ 1957

Quat.,

(INQUA) Vienna 1936, 152-6

(with K. Wien) 'Der Lewisgletscher am Mount-Kenya', Geogr. Ann., vol 1/2, 257-7^ 'Uber Alter und Bildung von Talmaandern', Erdkd., vol 8, 286-302 ' Tiefenerosion, Seitenerosion und Akkumulation der Flusse im fluvioglazialen und periglazialen Bereich', in Geomorphologische Studien Machatschek Festschrift, Petermanns Geogr. Mitt. (Erganz.), vol 262, 213-26

122

Carl

Troll

g. Plant and Vegetation Geography 1925 'Ozeanische Zuge im Pflanzenkleid Mitteleuropas', Freie Wege vergleichender Erdkunde. Festgabe E. von Drygalski zum 60 Geburtstage. MunichBerlin, 30*7-35 1935 'Gedanken und Bemerkungen zur okologischen Pflanzen-geographie' , Geogr. Z. , vol 1*1, 380-8 (reprinted in Lauer, W. and Klink, H.-J. (ed) Pflanzengeographie, Wege der Forschung, vol 130, Darmstadt' (1978), 158-69) 'Wustensteppen und Nebeloasen im subnubischen Kustengebirge', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, 2Ul-8l 1936 'Termitensavannen', in Landerkundliche Forschung. Festschrift fur Norbert Krebs, Stuttgart, 275-312 1939 'Das Pflanzenkleid des Nanga Parbat', h'iss. Veroff. Dtsch. Mus. Landkd. Leipzig, vol 7, 1*49-93 19^8 'Der asymmetrische Vegetations - und Landschaftsaufbau der Nord - und Sudhalbkugel', Gott. Geogr. Abh. , vol 1, 11-27, (reprinted with preliminary remarks and an abstract in English by W. Lauer in Troll, C. and Lauer, W. (ed), Geoecological Cl%mat%c Geography Relations between the Southern Temperate Zone ' Der Busserschnee (Nieve de los Penitentes) in and the Tropical Mountains, Erdwiss. Forsch., den Hochgebirgen der Erde', Petermanns Geogr. vol 11, Wiesbaden (1978), 1-28) Mitt. (Erganz.), vol 210 'Thermische Klimatypen der Erde', Petermanns 'Der asymmetrische Aufbau der Vegetationszonen Geogr. Mitt. , vol 89, 8l-9 und Vegetationstufen auf der Nord - und Sudhalb'Die Frostwechselhaufigkeit in den Luft - und kugel', Jahresb. Geobot. Forsch. Rubel Zurich, Bodenklimaten der Erde' , Meteorol. Z., vol 60, l6l-71 (19*47), U6-83 (reprinted in Okologische Landschafts'Schmelzung und Verdunstung von Eis und Schnee forschung und Vergleichende Hochgebirgsforschung in ihrem Verhaltnis zur geographischen VerErdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden (196*6)', 152-l0o) breitung der Ablationsformen', Erdkd., vol 3, 1952 (with B. Frenzel) 'Die Vegetationszonen des nord18-29 lichen Eurasien wahrend der letzten Eiszeit', Eiszeit und Gegenwart, vol 2, 15)4-67 'Tatsachen und Gedanken zur Klimatypenlehre', in Geographische Studien Festchrift fur Johann 'Das Pflanzenkleid der Tropen in seiner Abhangigkit Solch,' Vienna, 18*4-202 von Klima, Boden und Mensch', Tag. Wiss. Abh. 'Die Klimatypen an der Schneegrenze', Actes 4th Dtsch. Geogr. Frankfurt (1951), 35-66 (reprinted Congr. Int. Ouat. ,(INQUA) Rome-Pisa 1953, in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleich820-30 ende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, 'Der Jahreszeitliche Ablauf des Naturgeschehens Wiesbaden (1966), 19*4-230) in den verschiedenen Klimagurteln der Erde' , 1956 'Das Wasser als Pflanzengeographischer Faktor' Stud. Generale, vol 8, 713-33 (reprinted in in Rhuland, W. (ed) Handb. Pflanzenphysiologie, Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleichvol 3, Berlin, 750-86 (reprinted in Okologische ende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Landschaftsforschung und Vergleichende Hochge1 Wiesbaden' (196*6)', 6l-9 0* birgs forschung. Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden 'Climatic Seasons and Climatic Classification', (1966), 295-327) The Oriental Geographer, vol 2, lUl-65 1957 'Der Klima und Vegetationsaufbau der Erde im 'Die Lokalwinde der Tropengebirge und ihre Lichte neuer Forschung' Jahr. Akad. Wiss. Lit. Einfluss auf Niederscheag und Vegetation', Bonn Mainz, (1956) 216-29 (reprinted in Okologische Geogr. Abh., vol 9, 12U-82 Landschaftsforschung und Vergleichende Hochge'The vertical zonation and upper limit of aridbirgs forschung 3 Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden ity in South America and Central Asia', Bull. (1966), 181-9*3) Soc. H&lleniaue Gioar. , vol *4, U2-8 1958 'Tropical Mountain Vegetation' Proc. 9th Pacific 'Karte der Jahreszeitenklimate der Erde', Erdkd., Sci. Congr. Bangkok 1956. vol 20, 37-^6 vol 18, 5-28. Published also with text in English 1959 'Die tropischen Graslander (Savannen) unter dem in: Landsberg, H.E., et al., World Maps of ClimaEinfluss von Klima, Boden und Wasser', Proc. 18th tology, Berlin-Gottingen-Heidelberg (1963) Int. Geogr. Congr. Rio de Janeiro 1956, vol 1, 'A classification of climates on an ecological 302-07 basis (Explanation of a new map of the climates 1959 'Zur Physiognomik der Tropengewachse', Jahr. of the earth)',Consejo Superior de InvestigaciFreunde u. Fordere d. Univ. Bonn, 1958, 75 Pones Cientificas Madrid i960 'The relationship between the climates, ecology 'Die raurnliche und zeitliche Verteilung der and plant geography of the southern cold temperSchwule und ihre graphische Darstellung (mit ate zone and of the tropical high mountains', bes. Berucks. Afrikas)', Erdkd., vol 23, 183-92 Proc. R. Soc. London, vol 152, 529-32 'The Upper Limit of Aridity and the arid Core 'Die Physiognomik der Gewachse als Ausdruck der of High-Asia', Erdwiss. Forsch., vol h, Wiesokologischen Lebensbedingungen', Tag. Wiss. Abh. baden, 237-^3 Dtsch. Geogr. Berlin 1959, 97-122 (reprinted in

e. Periglacial and Climatic Geomorphology 19^ 'Strukturboden, Solifluktion und Frostklimate der Erde', Geol. Runds. , vol 3U, 5U5-69U (translated as 'Structure Soils, Solifluction and Frost Climates of the Earth', USA SIPRE Trans., no k3 Wilmette, 111. (1958) 19^7 'Die Formen der Solifluktion und die periglaziale Bodenabtragung', Erdkd. , vol 1, 162-75 (reprinted with addendum in Rathjens, C. (ed) Klimatische Geomorphologie , Wege der Forschung, Darmstadt, vol 218 (1971), 171-205) 19^+8 'Der subnivale und periglaziale Zyklus der Denudation*, Erdkd., vol 2, 1-21 1969 'Inhalt, Probleme und Methoden geomorphologischer Forschung', Geol. Jahr. (Beihefte), vol 80, 225-57 1973 'Rasenabschalung (Turf Exfoliation) als periglaziales Phanomen der subpolaren Zone und der Hochgebirge', Z. Geomorph. , vol 17, 1-32

19^3

19^9

1951 1955 1955

1958 1962 1963 1961+

1965

1969 1972

Carl Troll

1961

1967

1968 1973

Okologische Landschaftsforschung und VergleichErdkd. Wissen, vol ende Hochgebirgsforschung, 11, Wiesbaden, (1966)) 'Klima und Pflanzenkleid der Erde in dreidimensionaler Sicht', Die Naturwiss. , vol H8, 332 (reprinted in Okologische Landschaftsforschung und Vergleichende Hochgebirgsforschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 11, Wiesbaden (1966), 265-95, and in Lauer, W. and Klink, H.-J. (ed), Pflanzengeographie, Wege der Forschung, vol 130, Darmstadt "(1978), 355-HOO) 'Die klimatische und vegetationsgeographische Gliederung des Himalaya systems. Khumbu-Himalaya', Era. Forsch. Nepal Himalaya, vol 1, 353-88 'Das Pampaproblem in landschaftsokologischer Sicht', Erdkd., vol 22, 152-5 'The Upper Timberlines in different Climatic Zones', Arctic and Alpine Research, vol 5/3/2, 3-18

Agricultural Geography h. 1925 'Die Landbauzonen Europas in ihrer Beziehung zur naturlichen Vegetation', Geogr. Z. , vol 31, 265-80 1930 'Die wirtschaftsgeographische Struktur des tropischen Sudamerika', Geogr. Z. , vol 36, U68-85 1973 'Die Hohenstaffelung des Bauern - und Wanderhirtentums in Nanga Parbat-Gebiet (Indus Himalaya)', in Rathjens, C. et al., (ed) Vergleichende Kulturgeographie der Hochgebirge des sudlichen Asien Erdwiss. Forchs. , vol 5, Wiesbaden, 1+3-8 i. Settlement of the Tropics and the Developing World 1933 'Europaische Tropensiedlung, ihre Aussichten und ihre Grenzen', Koloniale Runds. , vol 25, 32-6 'Die Kolonialgeographie als Zweig der allgemeinen Erdkunde', Koloniale Runds., vol 25, 121-9 19^1 'Koloniale Raumplanung in Afrika', Z. Gesell. Erdkd. Berlin, 1-Ul 19^2 'Die wissenschaftliche Luftbildforschung als Wegbereiterin kolonialer Erschliessung, Beitr. Kolonialforschung, vol 1, 1-29 (reprinted in 'Luftbildforschung und Landeskundliche Forschung, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 12, Wiesbaden (1966), 88-11*+) 1 9 ^ 'Bodenkunde, Vegetationsforschung und Geomorphologie als Grundlage der Wirtschaftsplanung in Neulandern', Geogr. Z. , vol 50, 129-32 (reprinted in Die Raumliche Differenzierung der Entwicklungslander in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 13, Wiesbaden (1966), 1-7) i960 'Die Entwicklungslander. Ihre kultur - und sozial-geographische Differentzierung, Das Parlament', supplement 52/60 (reprinted in Die Raumliche Differenzierung der Entwicklungslander in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe, Edkd. Wissen, vol'13, Wiesbaden (1966), Q~3h) 1963 'Die geographische Strukturanalyse und ihre Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe', Basler Beitr. Geogr. Ethnol., vol 5, 25-52 (reprinted in Die Raumliche Differenzierung Entwicklungslander in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe,

1966

1967

123

Erdkd. Wissen, vol 13, Wiesbaden (1966), 35-63) 'Die pluralistichen Gesellschaften den Entwicklungslander. Ein Beitrag zur Vergleichenden Sozialgeographie' in Die Raumliche Differenzierung der Entwicklungslander in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Entwicklungshilfe, Erdkd. Wissen, vol 13, Wiesbaden, 6h, 128 'Plural Societies of Developing Countries: Aspects of Social Geography', Proc. 20 Int. Geogr. Congr.j London, 196H, 2-1+

Philip D. Tilley is a Senior Lecturer of Geography, University of Sydney.

in the

Department

Chronology 1899

Born at Gabersee, Bavaria, 2h December

1919

Matriculated, Munich University

1921

D. Phil., Munich University

1922

State High School Teachers' Examination; assistant to Erich von Drygalski in the Geography Department of Munich University; first publication: Die Entfaltunsbewegungen der Blutestiele und ihre biologische Bedeutung

192U

Fieldwork in Scandinavia

1925

Qualified as Lecturer in Geography {habilitation) Munich University, with the thesis Einfluss der Ozeanitat auf die Pflanzenwelt Mitteleuropas

1926

Began fieldwork in the Bolivian, Peruvian and North Chilean Andes

1928

Awarded silver medal, Berlin Geographical Society; fieldwork in Colombia, Ecuador and Panama Married Elizabeth Kurschner; appointed Associate Professor of Overseas and .Colonial Geography, Berlin University

1930

1932

Die Landschaftsgurtel Anden

der

tropischen

1933-3*+

Fieldwork in eastern Africa

1936

Appointed Professor of Economic Geography, Berlin University

1937

Scientist with the German Nanga Parbat Himalaya Expedition

1938

Appointed Professor and Director of the Geography Department, Bonn University

124

Carl

Troll

1939

Luftbildplan forschung

und dkologischen

Bodeh-

19^1

Studien zur vergleichenden der Hochgebirge der Erde

19*+6

Dean, Faculty of Science, Bonn University

19^7

Die Wissenschaftliche Geographie in Deutschland 1933-1945; Founding Editor: Erdkunde and Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen

Geographie

19^8

Visiting Professor, Zurich University

1950

Die geographische Landschaft und ihre Erforschung; Chairman: Commission for Research in Earth Sciences of the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature

1951

Awarded Vega Medal of Royal Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography; Founding Editor: Colloquium Geographicum; new Geographical Institute of Bonn University inaugurated

1952

Visiting Professor, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Founding Editor: Arbeiten zur Rheinisohen Landeskunde

1953

Attended Rome Congress of INQUA; work in Mexico

1955

Die Jahreszeitliche Ablauf des gesahehens in den versohiedenen gurteln der Erde

1956

Elected a vice-president Rio de Janeiro Congress; Professor, University of ed Franz von Hauer Medal Geographical Society

1963

Awarded honorary D.Sc, Louvain University

196U

Visiting Professor, University of Bucharest ; Karte der Jahreszeitliche klimaten der Erde published; appointed member of UNESCO Advisory Committee for Natural Resources Research; awarded Albrecht Penck Medal of German Quaternary Association

1965

Retired from Chair of Geogrpahy at Bonn University and made Emeritus Professor; awarded honorary D. Phil., University of Vienna; Visiting Professor, University of Ghent; suffered first heart attack

1966

Visiting Professor, University o^ Liege; Hermann Lautensachs Lebenswerk published; organized but could not attend Mexico Symposioum: Geoecology of the tropical American Cordilleras

1968

Chairman: IGU Commission on High-Altitude Geoecology established at its New Delhi Congress

1969

Organized IGU Commission Symposium in Mainz: Geoecology of the High Mountains of Eurasia under the auspices of the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature

1970

Co-organizer IGU Commission Symposium in Mainz: Cultural Geography of the Mountainous Areas of South Asia under the auspices of the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature

1971

Suffered second severe heart attack

1972

Organized and attended IGU Commission on High Altitude Geoecology Symposium in Calgary, relinquishing its chairmanship, and attended the Montreal Congress

197^

Organized IGU Commission Symposium in Mainz: Geoecological Relationships between the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere and the tropical mountains under the auspices of the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature

1975

Celebrated Golden Jubilee as university lecturer, 31 January; Vergleichende Geographie der Erde in landschaft'dkologische Sicht published; attended l+0th Conference of German Geographers in Innsbruck. Died suddenly in Bonn, 21 July

field-

NaturKlima-

of IGU at its Visiting Brazil; awardof Austrian

Die Erde

1957

Refounding Co-Editor:

1958

Visiting Professor, University of London

1959

Awarded Ritter Gold Medal of the Berlin Geographical Society and the Martin Behaim Gold Medal of the Franconian Geographical Society; Die tropischen Gebirge published

i960

Elected President of IGU at its Stockholm Congress; appointed Rector, Bonn University

1961

Attended Warsaw Congress of INQUA

1962

Awarded Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, London; Visiting Professor, University of Bergen

Alfred Russel Wallace 1823-1913

CHARLES. H. SMITH Reproduced from volume 1 of My Life, A.R. Wallace, 1905 The name Alfred Russel Wallace is usually first linked to Charles Darwin (l809-l882) and the development of the theory of natural selection. In recent years, in fact, the Darwin-Wallace relationship has become among the most studied subjects in the history of science. It has only rarely been appreciated, however, that Wallace also made many valuable contributions to a variety of other fields of study. Few thinkers of his time could match him in the sheer breadth of his attention, which touched on items as diverse as the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, socialism, spiritualism, extraterrestrial life, zoogeography, ethnography, women's rights, physical geography, animal behaviour, and language, to name only some. Though overshadowed by Darwin, Wallace nonetheless rates as the greatest tropical naturalist of the nineteenth century and as an original thinker of the highest rank. Despite Wallace's many contributions, his place in the history of science was largely ignored for some fifty years after his death in 1913. This came about in part from his association with several unpopular causes during his long lifetime, and to his habit of responding with both barrels to any poorly constructed argument he came across. But much of the relative obscurity into which his name fell can also be attributed to his general unwillingness to seek priority for his many ideas. He never considered himself to be a practising scientist or in competition with the same; indeed, his published works are almost entirely empirical and/or philosophical in nature (perhaps largely because he never had available to him the resources required to undertake experimental investigaGeographers

Biobibl-Lographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

tions). But during the last twenty years there has been a great revival of interest in Wallace's ideas, both for their general duality and for the extent to which he was ahead of his time on many issues (especially social ones). Moreover, there is much of the humanist evident in Wallace's writings, which contrast pleasantly with some of his contemporaries' coarse extensions of the notion of the 'survival of the fittest' (a term which Wallace himself was largely responsible for introducing into the biological literature) to social theory. Still, his contributions to, and influence on, geographical studies have been almost totally neglected. This is unfortunate, for he was a pioneer in the areas of glacial theory, land use planning, geographical education, oceanography, diffusion studies, and above all, zoogeography and island biogeography.

1.

EDUCATION,,

LIFE

AND WORK

Alfred Russel Wallace was born on 8 January l8?3 at Usk in Monmouthshire into a middle class family of modest means. Alfred was obliged to leave school at the age of thirteen to be apprenticed to a builder in London. Though his stay in London lasted only about six months, this period constituted an important stage in his general education, as during it he and his older brother John attended a number of public lectures on various subjects of an intellectual nature. One of these was given in 1837 by the great social reformer Robert Owen, who made such an impression on the teenager as to make him a devotee for the rest of his life. At the age of fourteen Alfred decided to leave London

126

Alfred

Russet

Wallace

and join another brother, William, to learn the surveying trade. The outdoor work was to his liking, and he spent much of the next several years in the field in Wales and southwestern England. This period was followed by a short but important stint as a secondary school teacher at the Collegiate School, Leicester, from lQkk-6. Not only did this position afford him access to a good library containing most of the more important scientific literature of the day, but in 18U^ he also had the good fortune of meeting Henry Walter Bates. Bates, not yet in his twenties, was an avid beetle collector who had already published scientific work. The two became friends immediately and Bates' passion for natural history collecting soon ignited Wallace's interest. Before anything could come of the association, however, Wallace was obliged to leave his job when his brother William suddenly died in l8h6 and he and John were left with the responsibility of settling his affairs. The next two years mark a period of transition for Wallace. Though he was able to support himself by taking surveying and building jobs, his interest in natural history continued to grow. It was during this time that he had the idea of becoming a full-time, self-employed collector. Reasoning that they should be able to make enough money from the sale of duplicate specimens to support themselves in the field indefinitely, he proposed to Bates in I8U7 a joint collecting expedition to South America. Wallace had a second purpose in mind in making this proposal: inspired by his recent reading of the works of Robert Chambers

(whose Vestiges

of the Natural History

of Creation was

published in 18UU), Thomas Malthub, Alexander Humboldt, Charles Lyell, as well as the early writings of Charles Darwin and already supporting the doctrine of organic change, he believed that he could gain a clue as to the mechanism of evolution by familiarizing himself at first hand with the details of the distribution of organisms. Bates approved of the venture and in 18H8 the expedition began. Wallace was to stay in South America for four years. During the first part of this period the two naturalists collected as a team but eventually they broke up, with Wallace concentrating on the Rio Negro area. In addition to establishing a scientific reputation as a collector and observer during these years, Wallace put considerable effort into mapping the areas he explored and learning the ways of the native peoples. His maps proved to be quite accurate and became the standard reference on the area for many years; his experiences with 'man in the natural state' had a profound influence on the development of his ideas on the place of civilized man and the structure of his social system. A further event of interest during the expedition was the appearance of his first publication, 'On the umbrella bird'. In 1852, in poor health and distraught after the death in 1851 at Belem of his younger brother Herbert (who had joined the expedition the year before), Wallace left Bates in South America and returned to England. During the voyage home the ship unfortunately caught fire and sank. Wallace and the entire crew were rescued at sea, but virtually his entire collection was lost. Only a small tin containing some drawings and other odds and ends was saved. The next eighteen months of Wallace's life were

spent vacationing, regaining his health, and writing his first two books, one a treatment of Amazonian palm trees and the other a naturalist's travel log of his experiences and observations in South America. Meanwhile, he was already looking ahead to the possibility of another collecting expedition. The two possible locations were Africa and the Malay Archipelago; finally the latter was chosen, in part because Wallace was curious to find out whether island conditions perpetrated the kind of barrier conditions on organismal dispersal that he had observed in the Amazon. Securing a grant from the Royal Geographical Society in 185^ to defray travel expenses for himself and a young assistant, he again left England. The Malay expedition was by far the most important educational experience of Wallace's life. He travelled to all the major islands of the region and to many of the lesser ones as well and several places were visited on a number of occasions. His thoroughness rewarded him with a collection of 126,000 specimens, rivalling or surpassing those in any of the world's museums. This occupied him for many years after his return to England. More significantly, the eight year expedition provided him with the opportunity to consider in depth the characteristics of organismal distribution and how these were related to the evolution of species. Here too was the perfect setting to study the meaning of organic adaptation. It was during this time that Wallace seized on the importance of Malthus' ideas to the notion of organic change and came up with the idea of natural selection. As the now well-known story goes, Wallace hit on the idea while delirious during a bout of malaria. As soon as he recovered he wrote it out and sent it to Darwin (whose famous book The Origin of Species appeared in 1859), for 'comment' and possible forwarding to Lyell, at that time the best known naturalist in England. Darwin was stunned and sought advice from his two closest friends, Lyell and Joseph Hooker, on how to deal with this challenge to his priority, for at that time he had not published any of his ideas on organic change. Their solution to the dilemma was to suggest that both the Wallace paper and an abstract of Darwin's work should be read at the next meeting of the Linnean Society of London, and this took place on 1 July 1858. Wallace's activities in the Malay region were not restricted to contemplation of the evolutionary process. His travels in much of the area amounted to exploration; on several islands (including New Guinea) he actually became the first European to take up residence. Years of contact later made him an oft-consulted authority on the peoples of the area, with whose trade patterns, languages, and origins he particularly concerned himself. He also took great interest in the geology and physical geography of the area, especially as these can be related to the explanation of differences in organic diversity among the islands. While still in the field, he wrote and published a number of papers on proposed taxonomic revision and accounts of his travels in then largely unknown places. He also developed a strong interest in animal behaviour, and contributed several early works on the habits of the orangutan. In 1862 Wallace again returned to England. He was by then a considerable celebrity within scientific

Alfred circles, and soon made the acquaintance of a large proportion of the important members of the London intellectual community. This was still buzzing over the recent publication of Darwin's Origin, and Wallace plunged into the discussion as a strong supporter of the general Darwinian position. Wallace's versions of evolution and natural selection were not carbon copies of Darwin's, however, and the two opinions soon diverged on several issues, notably the relation of natural selection to human cultural evolution, the role of sexual selection in evolution, and the interpretation of several biogeographical matters. Wallace published extensively on a number of subjects during the l860s, but concentrated on taxonomic revisions, mimicry, the geographical distribution of animals, ethnography, and evolutionary theory, making important contributions to each field. During the early l8T0s he began to focus his attention on the geographical distribution of species. This work culminated in his two most influential treatments of the subject, The Geographical Distribution of Animals (1876) and Island Life (1880). About the same time his interest in social issues began to solidify into a point of view that became increasingly socialistic in nature. Over the next forty years he wrote frequently on subjects of social interest ranging from vaccination and women's rights to land nationalization and the balance of trade. Wallace's humanistic leanings became ever more apparent as he argued forcefully for anything he felt would improve the lot of the common man. He opposed the eugenics movement on the grounds that it would tend to perpetuate class distinctions. He suggested the idea of 'time-and-a-half pay as compensation for excessive work schedules. But such ideas, coupled with his support of spiritualism and phrenology as legitimate subjects of study, only tended to alienate the more conservative thinkers of the time, who regarded him as a crank. In 1866 Wallace married Annie Mitten, the young daughter of a friend and botanist William Mitten. Their family life was apparently a happy one, and Annie was both willing and able to assist Wallace in his studies. Tired of London social life, they moved in 1870 into the first of a series of country houses i-n which they spent most of their remaining life together (a period of over forty years). The one large personal problem that afflicted Wallace over this span was finance. He had no great facility for the management of money, and after his return to England never held a permanent full-time post of any kind. He was able, however, to earn a decently comfortable living from the income afforded by part-time employment as an Assistant Examiner in physical geography (from 1870), sales from his collection of specimens, royalties from his books, and eventually a government pension of £200 a year on Darwin's nomination. In 1886 he accepted an invitation from the Lowell Institute to give a series of public lectures in America, and spent a largely pleasant year touring the continent giving talks in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Cincinnati, San Francisco, Denver, Toronto, Quebec and other places, as well as meeting and visiting eminent men of American science and letters. His productive life continued through his seventies and eighties,

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and his final two books were published in 1913, the year of his death at the age of ninety, on 7 November at Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. In reading accounts of Wallace's life (for example, Marchant, Osborn, George, and Brackman), one is struck by the general esteem in which virtually everyone who knew him held him. Apart from the clarity of his thinking, which few disputed, there was a general demeanour to his character that inspired respect. Intolerant of pomposity, arrogance, and snobbery, he was willing to spend considerable amounts of time responding in writing to the many non-professionals who regularly sought his advice on a great variety of matters. He was also on friendly terms with a large number of the intellectual dignitaries of his era dospite the fact that he was not afraid to criticize their ideas when he thought such was justified. Probably few individuals in the public spotlight have led a more exemplary life from the point of view of personal ethical standards of behaviour. In recognition of his contributions, Wallace received numerous honours over his long career. Ho accepted honorary doctorates from Dublin in 188P and Oxford in 1889 before making it known that two were enough and that he would refuse the offer of any others. However, he accepted the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1868, the Gold Medal of the Societe de Geographie in 1870, the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1890, the Founders' Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 1892, and the Copley Medal of the Royal Society, the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London, and the Order of Merit in 1908. The last two are particularly interesting; in the case of the Darwin-Wallace Medal, he became the first recipient of an award struck in his own honour.' The awarding of the Order of Merit especially surprised him, however, as he was, in his own words, 'a red-hot Radical, Land Nationliser, Socialist, Anti-Militarist, e t c ' (Marchant (1916), UUT)-

2.

SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT

a. Evolutionary Studies The concept of natural selection finally came to VJallace, as it did to Darwin, after reconsidering the work of Thomas Malthus on the limits to population growth. Initially, the VJallace version of natural selection was quite similar to that sponsored by Darwin; indeed, Darwin's reaction to the 1858 paper sent to him from the East was that he could not have prepared a better abstract of his own work himself. In 186U Wallace published a paper on the evolution of man as deduced from the theory of natural selection, one of the works that most prepared the scientific community for Darwin's definitive treatment of the subject in 1871, The Descent of Man. In 1865 Wallace produced a masterly analysis of the butterfly populations of the Malay region in which the effects of natural selection, time, and goographical isolation were discussed with respect to the state of adaptational variation observable in that area today. In 1866 he expressed further important views on adaptational variation, again using natural selection as the vehicle for understanding the phenomenon.

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Darwin was immensely pleased by these applications (and the many others Wallace produced) of their theory. But as the late 1860s approached, Wallace's thoughts on several issues began to diverge from Darwin's. The latter's first real inkling of this came in 1868 with Wallace's published expression of his new belief that natural selection could not be used to understand human evolution beyond the purely biological level. Darwin was horrified, fearing that Wallace had 'murdered' their own 'child'. Another dispute erupted over the relative importance of sexual selection in the evolutionary process; Darwin believed it to be of great importance, but Wallace was inclined to attribute sexual dimorphism to environmental influences on selection. They could also not agree on the interpretation of several biogeographical problems (dealt with in more detail below). The penetrative power of Wallace's intellect is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in his studies of the relationship of mimicry and protective colouration to the evolutionary process. Invariably overshadowed by the names of Bates and Muller when the history of this subject comes up (Bates and Muller have been immortalized by the terms 'Batesian' and 'Mullerian'mimicry), Wallace should nonetheless be viewed as an equally important contributor to the early theory of this subject. His contributions consisted of the logical extension, popularization, generalization, and application of Bates' and Muller's ideas and the elucidation of several types of protective colouration devices. He was thus able to demonstrate, perhaps better than anyone else at that time, specifically how the evolution of adaptations was functional within an environmental setting. Although not now generally remembered it was Wallace who, in conjunction with his studies of sympatric phenotypic variations, first introduced the concept of 'polymorphism' to science. He also generalized Bates' theory of mimicry into a set of laws referable to groups other than insects, popularized Muller's ideas, and introduced the concepts of warning colours, concealment colours (identifying but not quite accepting the principle of disruptive colouring), recognition colours, deflection colours, and alluring colours. These ideas were set out in a number of papers in the 1860s and 1870s and summarized in chapters five and six of

Tropical

b.

Nature in 1878.

Descriptive

Biology

Although Wallace was not a trained systematist, his association with Bates and long years of working with an enormous variety of specimens — especially of birds, butterflies, and beetles — gave him a thorough working knowledge of taxonomic principles. He was also a fair artist, a talent which proved useful with regard to the South American venture, since one of the few things he was able to salvage in the disaster on his way home was his collection of drawings of fishes and palms. There was also the matter of the sheer bulk of materials that he collected, which included thousands of organisms new to science. That Wallace enjoyed some respect in the field of systematics is indicated by his presidency of the Entomological Society of London in 1872. For many years his revisions of existing classifications appeared with considerable

regularity in the major journals of the period. He is better known, however, for his descriptive zoogeography. Although he was quoted as saying that he never had the patience necessary for the collection and assemblage of facts and details (an obvious and fair concession to Darwin), the geographical zoology

section of The Geographical Distribution

of Animals

certainly seems to qualify as an example of such work; it was not only the first compilation of this type for the animal kingdom as a whole, but so far had proved to be the last one. Despite the fact that it is now over 100 years old (and was never revised), it is still one of the most commonly referred to works in the zoogeographical literature. Wallace's compilation was organized geographically; that is, upon a regional classification scheme developed by P.L. Sclater for birds and modified and expanded upon by Wallace himself. Though Wallace was quite aware of the generally subjective basis of his regional scheme, through the use of comparative statistics (he was also a pioneer here) he was able to defend its appropriateness well enough to the extent that it is still the preferred systemization of world faunal regions. Part of the success of the classification stemmed from its recognition of substantial breaks in the characteristics of distribution between neighbouring regions. One of the most obvious of these appeared in the area with which he was personally familiar, the Malay Archipelago, and his consideration of it earned, thanks to Thomas Huxley's tag, the name 'Wallace's line'. This most famous of biogeographical boundaries separated the largely Australian-derived faunas to the east from the largely Oriental-derived faunas to the west.

c.

Anthropology

Wallace's anthropology, unique for its time, was a curious mix of his understanding of the importance of cultural and biological diffusion and evolution and his firm idealism as to the basic equality of all men. Large sections of his travel books are devoted to description of the mores of the native peoples he encountered in his journeys; there is in these writings not the slightest trace of an attitude of superiority, disgust, or condescension. But Wallace was more than a raconteur when it came to anthropology. As a physical anthropologist, his importance lies mainly in his opinions on the origin of man by natural selection, but his break with Darwin over the issue of cultural evolution was supported by many, including Charles Lyell and Peter Kropotkin (the latter's Mutual Aid contains many references to Wallace's studies). Another of his contributions was the opinion, contrary to the time, that the peoples of the Australasian region were originally of Caucasian stock. His descriptions of the behaviour and ecology of the orangutan were among the first studies of this primate; he also published work on the affinities of monkeys. Wallace also contributed to ethnography and linguistics. Drawing on his understanding of the principles of organismal dispersal, he interpreted the pattern of peoples and cultures in the Australasian region as being a result of a recent mass diffusion event. It was probably for this reason that he seemed to be so interested in the trade patterns among the islands of the Malay Archipelago, on which he included comments

Alfred in both his travel books and individual papers related to the subject. He also considered communication in the individual sense, advancing ideas on the nature of the languages of the peoples he came to know. The most important of these ideas was introduced in a review of his friend E.B. Tyler's fine work Anthropology in l88l. In this review, he set out the still important gestural theory of language, which he later expanded in a separate paper in 1895.

d.

Geography I:

Biogeography

To understand Wallace's importance to the development of the field of biogeography, it is first necessary to realize how central the notion of a theory of organic change is to the explanation of organismal distributions. Wallace, unlike Darwin, was aware of this connection even before he first set out on his collecting expedition to South America; in fact, he wished to be able eventually to deduce the properties of the former from the characteristics of the latter. That he was eventually able to set out a reasonable process theory using this approach is a testimony to his powers of observation. Before Wallace's time, it had been necessary to interpret present distributions from a creationist viewpoint. Two general variations in mode of explanation existed: one in which a past Creation or Creations had been followed by a diffusion of types away from a single or multiple points of origin, and a second in which a past Creation or Creations had directly produced today's patterns. Apart from his many specific contributions to biogeography, Wallace must be credited with presenting the first unified interpretation of organic distribution characteristics that was inherently dynamic in nature. As most of his studies involved animals, he is in particular considered to be the 'father' of modern zoogeography. Wallace viewed the history of life from a geographical perspective, as a gigantic diffusion process in both space and time fuelled by the tendency of living things to evolve adaptational strategies according to opportunity, and permitting them to continue to survive under ever-changing environmental conditions. To understand the results of this process (that is, present distributions), it was necessary to reconstruct for any particular faunal condition the chain of interacting historical constraints that was responsible for the degree of uniqueness observed at that place. Wallace discusses these individually in the first portion of Animals, especially dwelling on the importance of the interpretation of the spatial distribution of fossil forms related to those then extant,. He then applies this understanding to the interpretation of the nature of the regional faunas of the world in his section on 'zoological geography', which, massively ambitious, is in achievement a world historical geography of animal life. In Island Life Wallace took his analysis a step further. After reviewing the general facts of distribution, he proceeds to an in-depth examination of the main influences upon them, including organic evolution, the varying powers of dispersal among animals and plants, the general stability of the continental masses, climatic change, and time. In doing so, he dwells on evidence supporting the permanence of continents, reviews then existing theories of glaciation

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and introduces some of his own, and considers the problem of discontinuous distributions ( which he supposes are a 'necessary result of "evolution"'). Most of the rest of the work is given to a treatment of representative island faunas, but there is also an important analysis of the specific means by which latitudinal changes in biotic distributions over time might be accomplished. On this latter question, his opinion differed from Darwin's. Darwin was inclinded to believe that disjunct relict plant populations were an indication that far northern climates once had existed at low latitudes. Wallace felt instead that such distributions could be explained on the basis of movements along marginal environments that had varied over time. The two also disagreed as to how biotic propagules might typically reach remote island locations. Wallace felt that windborne seeds could explain most of such situations; Darwin favoured transportation by birds and ocean currents. Darwin also adhered less strongly than Wallace to his own idea that evolution would tend to proceed more slowly the larger the area involved. On such questions, Wallace's views have more often than not ended up as the favoured interpretations. This is not surprising, given his relatively greater interest in, and attention to, the spatial aspects of the evolutionary process.

e.

Geography II:

Physical

Geography

Wallace was largely self-taught in geology; like Darwin, he attributed a good portion of his fundamental beliefs on this subject to the uniformitarian views of Charles Lyell. This understanding also constituted the basis for his ideas on the evolution of the earth's surface. His contributions to the field of physical geography are very numerous, though individually not of front rank. His first major paper on the subject, 'On the physical geography of the Malay Archipelago', nevertheless stands as a classic synthesis of historical geology and regional paleogeography. The general tone of this work gives us an idea of how his planned monograph study on the physical geography of the Amazon Basin might have turned out had all his notes on the area not been lost. Wallace's studies in physical geography were published over a period extending from the 1860s to the l8Q0s: several were inspired by the vacations and botanizing tours in Switzerland of I867 and l8°5 and to the English Lake District in 1891*. The first chapter of Tropical Nature is given over to a consideration of the causes of differences between tropical and temperate climates. In the same collection, the last chapter is devoted to the use of biotic distributions in assessing paleogeographic change. In Island Life, he assembled a variety of powerful arguments for the basic permanence of the continental masses. In the same work, he adopted Darwin's island classification scheme and showed how this could be related to the differing faunal characteristics among islands. Island Life also contains a discussion of the probable effect of glaciations on faunal change, and comments on the causes of glaciation itself. Concerning the latter, Wallace extended previous understandings by showing that the then popular astronomical theories of causation were incapable of explaining why glacial conditions had not existed throughout history. This discussion

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is filled with innovative thoughts on the relationship between glaciations and land-sea area distribution, the theory of interglacial periods, the effect of changing currents on the distribution of ice sheets, the denudation cycles associated with alternating glacial and interglacial periods and their accompanying sea level changes, and the synergistic effect of meteorological conditions in contributing to ice accumulation and climatic change. In a twopart paper published in 1893, Wallace introduced the now accepted theory behind the manner of formation of glacial lake basins. In a pair of notes published in Nature in 1892, he provided a succinct explanation for the seeming paradox concerning the differing rates of denudation and sedimentation on the earth's surface. In the same year, he was one of the first to adduce evidence for a pre-Pleistocene glaciation epoch by noting the existence of glacial conglomerates of Paleozoic age in Australia. Various other papers were concerned with the subjects of evidence for glaciations in the Southern Hemisphere, the permanence of ocean basins, the theory of glacial motion, ocean circulation patterns, the formation of mountains, and the age of the earth.

f.

Geography III: Social Issues

Geographical Education and

There can be little doubt that Wallace considered a working knowledge of geographical principles to be of great general importance to the education of an individual. This is nowhere better indicated than in his autobiography, My Life, in which he spends a full thirteen pages describing his experiences during twenty-seven years as an Assistant Examiner in physical geography and physiography. Also in My Life is a summary of his ideas, published earlier, on Elisee Reclus' suggestion that a large model of the earth be built for general instructional purposes. Two more practical contributions, however, were his invention of the faunal diorama, an exhibit type now used by most natural history museums in which the fauna and flora of a given locality are represented in as lifelike a fashion as possible, and his more general suggestions on how to organize museum collections as geographical information systems. But undoubtedly his largest contribution to general geographical education came through his travel works. A number of these were short pieces written while he was still in the field, but he also published three full books, one each on his experiences in South America and the Malayan region and one on Australasia as part of a travel series. As Wallace was not only an astute observer but an unusually fine writer as well, the influence of these works on both the general public and a whole generation of tropical naturalists must have been considerable. The Malay Archipelago in particular stands out as both his most successful book overall and one of the best scientific travel books ever written. The extent of Wallace's consideration of social issues cannot be reasonably synopsized here, but at least one of his concerns directly involving a geographical theme should be mentioned. This was his considerable interest in the matter of land ownership and planning. Although he had been exposed to the

ideas of Robert Owen and Herbert Spencer at an early age, it was not until the late 1870s that he developed a real concern over the need for land tenure reform. The thinking out of solutions to the problem slowly but surely turned him into a confirmed socialist; along the way, he expressed many views that were largely unpopular at the time. In Land Nationalisation he opined that unrestricted private ownership of land was wrong, that historically important structures should be purchased by the state to prevent their deterioration, that ownership of land should revert to the state, and that green belts and parks should be established between cities for recreational and educational purposes. In applying for the job of superintendent of Epping Forest, he wrpte an essay (1878) which outlined his plans to turn the tract into a botanical garden featuring elements of all the world's floras. More of Wallace's wide-ranging views on social injustices may be found in Bad Times, The Wonderful Century,

Studies Scientific and Social, Social Environment and Moral Progress, The Revolt of Democracy, My Life, and numerous shorter works.

3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS No one has ever done a wholly adequate study of the overall importance and influence of Wallace's ideas. Certainly this would be an immensely interesting project, for one would have to consider at once in assessing such the following factors affecting the ultimate impact of his views on a diverse potential audience: (l) his unusual status as a Victorian intellectual of low social station; (2) his lack of association with any institution of learning and resulting dearth of students; (3) his unenviable role historically as 'the other man' in the elucidation of the theory of natural selection; (k) his contacts with the leaders of the English intellectual community for some fifty years; (5) his expertise as a writer; (6) his constant representation in the literature of several different fields (in no five year period from 1852 to the year of his death did he ever produce fewer than twenty publications); (7) his unabashed defence of a number of unpopular social and scientific causes; (8) the indirect influence he had through his travel works and the opportunities afforded to the many specialists who studied the elements of his collections; and (9) his personal character. Regardless, with respect at least to the development of mid-nineteenth century evolutionary theory, his importance can be considered as second only to Darwin's. And it is a further tribute to both men that many of the same major issues over which they disagreed are still active subjects of debate. Neither has there ever been a study o^ Wallace's specific influence upon the development of geographical thought. He has usually been considered a naturalist, and the subject dropped at that point. Nonetheless, there are enough bits of evidence about to suggest that the impact of his thoughts on the field has not been trivial. There are of course his direct contributions, many of which were mentioned earlier. Wallace's influence on the most important contributors to late ninteenth and early to mid twentieth century zoogeographical theory is quite apparent: virtually every discussion within zoogeography over that period

Alfred had to involve his ideas on the subject. His supporters have included Richard Lydekker, P.L. Sclater, W.D. Matthew, George Gaylord Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and P.J. Darlington; his works are still commonly referred to both for the reason that they contained so many innovations and that so many of them still seem, over 100 years later, appropriate to our understanding of organic distribution. His contributions to physical geography have seemingly made little overall impact; Chorley, Dunn, and Beckinsale's The History of the Study of Landforms contains not a single reference even to his glacial studies despite the fact that these are noted in some early texts such as Geikie's Earth Sculpture and in Davis' collection, Geographical Essays. This would seem to be something of an oversight, though it must be remembered that most of what Wallace had to say came directly out of his powers of reasoning rather than as a result of fieldbased investigations devoted specifically to the testing of related ideas. Apart from his zoogeography, it may be in the example set by his synthetic methodologies that Wallace's greatest impact on geography has come. In providing a general means of applying the historical approach to the study of present day patterns, Wallace became one of the first great space-time synthesizers. His differentiation between the meaning of 'zoological geography' and 'geographical zoology' was as astute a relating of the regional geography and systematic geography approaches as any ever made. Hartshorne notes this in The Nature of Geography in commenting on Hettner's debt to the same, but the story possibly goes much further than this. Hettner for a time studied with Friedrich Ratzel, the great German geographer and anthropologist. Ratzel's exposure to Wallace's ideas soon after obtaining his doctorate appears to have made a profound impression on him; in fact, shortly thereafter Ratzel gave up a just-starting career in zoology to turn to travel, geography, and ethnography. Three of Ratzel's first journal publications (in l8T0) consisted of commentaries on some of Wallace's ideas; the former appeared in print less than a year after the German translations of Contributions to Natural Selection and The Malay Archipelago were issued. Even more interestingly, Ratzel soon turned his attention to the cultural diffusion of peoples and customs, studying the areas and peoples among whom Wallace had spent so much time and on whom he had written so much. As this work provided the impetus for the development of the most important school of anthropology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is not unreasonable to view Wallace as an important influence on its evolution.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE Beddall, B.G., 'Wallace, Darwin, and the theory of natural selection', J. Hist. Biol., vol 1, (1968), 261-323

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Beddall, B.G., ed., Wallace and Bates in the Tropics; An Introduction to the Theory of Natural Selection, London (1969) Brackman, A.C., A Delicate Arrangement; The Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, New York (1980) Eiseley, L., Darwin's Century; Evolution and the Men who discovered i t , New York (1958) Fichman,'M., 'Wallace: zoogeography and the problem of land bridges', J. Hist. Biol., vol 10/1 (1977), 1*5-63 George, W., Biologist Philosopher; A Study of the Life and Writings of Alfred Russel Wallace, London (196H) Henderson, G.M., Alfred Russel Wallace: His Role and Influence in Nineteenth Century Evolutionary Thought, Ann Arbor, Michigan (1958: unpublished dissertation) Kottler, M.J., 'Alfred Russel Wallace, the origins of man, and spiritualism', Isis, vol 65, (197^), 11*5-92 McKinney, H.L., Wallace and Natural Selection, New Haven (1972) Marchant, J., Alfred Russel Wallace; Letters and Reminiscences, New York (1916) Osborn, H.F., Impressions of Great Naturalists (2 ed.), New York (1928) Smith, R., 'Alfred Russel Wallace: philosophy of nature and man', Brit. J. Hist. Sci. , vol 6, (1972), 178-199 Tuan, Yi-Fu, 'Latitude and Alfred Russel Wallace', J. Geogr. , vol 62, 258-61 Wallace, A.R., My Life; A Record of Events and Ovinions (2 vol. ), London (1905) 2.

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE Wallace published some 500 monographs, articles, notes, letters and reviews during his lifetime, including over 100 in the journal Nature alone. Readers are asked to note that as many of Wallace's works are interdisciplinary in scope, their listing in the following categorical divisions is somewhat arbitrary. a. Physical geography and geology 1863 'On the physical geography of the Malay archipelago', Proc. R. Geogr. Soc., vol 7, 205-12 1867 'Ice marks in North Wales', 0,. J. Sci., vol h, 33-51 1870 'The glaciation of Brazil', Nat., vol 2, 510-12 1871 'The theory of glacial motion', Nat., vol 3, 309-10 1872 'Ocean circulation', Nat., vol 6, 328-9 1876-7 'The comparative antiquity of continents, as indicated by the distribution of living and extinct animals', Proc. R. Geogr. Soc, vol 21, 505-35 1879 'Glacial epochs and warm polar climates', 0. Rev. vol 1U8, 119-35 1892 'The permanence of the great oceanic basins', Nat. Sci., vol 1, U18-26 'The earth's age', Nat., vol U7, 175, 227 'An ancient glacial epoch in Australia', Nat., vol U7, 55-6

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Wallace

'The ice age and its work', Fortn. Rev., vol 5** n.s., 616-33, 750-71* 'Inaccessible valleys - a study in physical geography1, Nineteenth Century, vol 33, 391-l*OU 'The glacial theory of alpine lakes', Nat., vol 1+7, 1+37-8; vol U8, 198 'The origin of lake basins', Nat. , vol 1*9, 197, 220-1 I896 'The cause of an Ice Age', Nat., vol 53, 220-1 1893

b. Biogeography 1859 'On the geographical distribution of birds', Ibis, vol 1, UU9-5U i860 'On the zoological geography of the Malay archipelago' , J. Proo. Linn, Soc. Land., vol k, 172-81* 1876 The geographical distribution of animals, 2 vol, London, 503 and 607 p> 1877 'The comparative richness of faunas and floras tested numerically1, Nat., vol 17, 100-01 1878 'Epping Forest', Fortn. Rev., vol 2k n.s., 628-1(5 Nineteenth 1879 'Animals and their native countries', Century, vol 5, 21+7-59 1880 Island Life, London, 526 p. 1883 'On the value of the "Nearctic" as one of the primary zoological regions', Nat., vol 27, 35768, U85-93 I89I* 'What are zoological r e g i o n s ? ' , Nat., vol 1*9, 610-13 'The Palaearctic and Nearctic regions compared as regards the families and genera of their mammalia and birds', Nat. Sci. , vol k, 1+33-1*5 c. Evolutionary studies 1855 'On the law which has regulated the introduction of new species', Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol 16, 18U-96 1858 'Note on the theory of permanent and geographical varieties', Zoologist, vol 16, 5887-8 1859 'On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type', J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., vol 3, 53-62 1865 'On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidae of the Malayan region', Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., vol 25, 1-71 1869 'Geological climates and origin of species', Q. Rev. , vol 126, 359-91* 1870 Contributions to the theory of natural selection, London, 38U p. 1880 'The origin of species and genera', Nineteenth Century, vol 7, 93-106 1880-1 'Geological climates', Nat., vol 23, 12l*, 217, 266-7 1889 Darwinism, London, l»9l* p. d. Anthropology and linguistics 186U 'The origin of human races and the antiquity of man deduced from the theory of natural selection', J. Anthropol. Soc. Lond. vol 2, clvii-clxxxvii 1861+-5 'On the varieties of man in the Malay archipelago', Trans. Ethnol. Soc. Lond. n.s., vol 3, 195-215 1867 'The Polynesians and their migrations', Q. J. Sci.,

vol U, l6l-6 'New Guinea and its inhabitants', Contemp. Rev., vol 3l*, 1*21-1*1 1 1881 'Anthropology , Nat., vol 2k, 2U2-5 1882 'Monkeys', Contemp. Rev., vol kl, U17-30 1895 'The expressiveness of speech, or mouth-gesture as a factor in the origin of language', Fortn. Rev., vol 58 n.s., 528-1*3 1879

e. Social issues 1880 'How to nationalise the land', Contemp. Rev., vol 38, 716-36 its necessity and its aims, 1882 Land nationalisation^ London, 2U0 p. 1883 'The "why" and the "how" of land nationalisation', MacMillan's Mag., vol 1*8, 357-68, 1*85-93 1885 Bad Times, London, 118 p. 1898 Vaccination a delusion, London, 96 p. The wonderful century, New York, 1*00 p. 1913 Social environment and moral progress, London, 163 p. The revolt of democracy, London, 122 p. f. General works 1850 'On the umbrella bird (Cephalopterusornatus) "Veramimbe" L.G.', Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol 18, 206-07 1853 Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses, London, 129 p. — - A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, London, 5l+l p. 1869 'Museums for the people', MacMillan's Mag., vol 19, 2l*l*-50 The Malay archipelago, London, 2 vol 1878 Tropical nature and other essays, London, 356 p. 1879 Australasia, London, 672 p. I887 'American museums', Fortn. Rev., vol 1*2 n . s . , 3U7-59, 665-75 1900 Studies scientific and social, London, 2 vol 1903 Man's place in the Universe, New York, 326 p. 1905 My life; a record of events and opinions, London, 2 vol, U35 and 1*59 p. 1910 The world of life, London, U00 p. 3. UNPUBLISHED SOURCES ON ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE Lists of such sources may be found in the Brackman and McKinney monographs cited in Section 1 Charles Hyde Smith is a Ph.D. candidate assistant at the University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois

and teaching at Champaign-

Chronology 1823

Born at Usk, Monmouthshire, 8 January

1836

Leaves school

Alfred 1838

Joins older "brother William as apprentice surveyor

18UU

Obtains teaching post at Collegiate School, Leicester; meets H.W. Bates

18U8-52

Natural history collecting expedition to South America with Bates

1852

Loses collections at sea on return trip to England

I85U-62

Natural history collecting expedition to the Malay Archipelago

1858

Ternate paper on natural selection sent to Darwin, read before the Linnean Society

1862

Returns to England;

first formal meet-

ing with Darwin 1866

Marries Annie Mitten

1867 1870-71

Switzerland excursion Assistant Examiner in Physical Geography and Geology for the Royal Geographical Society

1871-97

Assistant Examiner in Physical Geography, Geology, and Astronomy under the Science and Art Department

1872

President, Entomological Society of London

1876

President, Biological Section of the British Association at Glasgow

1877

'Botanizing tour' in Belgium

1878

Fails in bid for post of superintendent of Epping Forest

l88l

(First) President, Land Nationalisation Society

1886-87

North American lecture tour

1893

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society; receives visit from Elisee Reclus

1891*

Holiday with wife in Lake District

1895

'Botanizing tour' in Switzerland

1913

Dies at Old Orchard, Broadstone, 7 November

Russel Wallace

133

John Harold Wellington 1892-1981

S.J.K. BAKER Courtesy of G. Pirie, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg The history of the contribution of geographers from the United Kingdom universities to the development of their discipline in what are now the countries of the Commonwealth — beginning with the dominions and at a later though overlapping date extending into the col-, onial territories — has still to be written. In such a history J.H. Wellington would have a secure place as one of the pioneers of teaching and research in South Africa from 1921 onwards. By training and aptitude his early work focused on physical geography, especially geomorphology, but later in his career he reached out from the scientific objectivity which he never deserted into a courageous expression of awareness of the human problems of southern Africa. Such was his sincerity and so deep was his knowledge of the setting that even those who disagreed with him — and there must have been many such persons in his adopted country — would respect his views and consider their challenges. The successive generations of students and staff with whom he achieved a close rapport during his thirty-six years as a university teacher of geography provided a further means by which he made a natural impact as a geographer who was at the same time a committed Christian. 1. EDUCATION, LIFE AND WORK Wellington, son of Abraham Hockin Wellington, a tanner, was born in Cornwall, at Truro, on 5 December 1892 and he received his early education at Truro School between 1903 and 1911. While teaching, first at Newquay in his native county and then at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, he became an external student of

Geographers Biobibliographical

Studies3

volume 8 (198U)

the University of London and obtained the B.A. degree in 19lU, the year in which the First World War began. Enlisting in the army he was gazetted in April 1915 as a 2nd lieutenant in the East Yorkshire Regiment. When serving in France he was awarded the Military Cross in June 1917 and was later wounded; and at the time of his demobilization he was a captain with M.C. and Bar. At the end of the war Wellington entered Christ's College, Cambridge, and read for both parts of the newly-established tripos in geography, gaining a first class in each of them. He was excused attendance for certain terms on account of his military service. The first Part II class list, issued on 11 June 1921, contained two names in Class I: J.A. Steers and J.H. Wellington. As a disciple of Philip Lake, Wellington emerged from the course with a marked enthusiasm for geomorphology. Earlier in the year, on 21 February, he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Later in 1921 Wellington was appointed with an initial status as senior lecturer in charge, to succeed James Marnock Hutcheon (1888-1921) in the department of geography of the University College, Johannesburg, formerly the School of Mines and Technology. The following year the college was released from its dependence on the University of South Africa and became the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1926 Wellington was promoted to the newly-created chair of geography which he occupied until his retirement at the end of 1957. From this base besides engaging in the vigorous development of his academic discipline he exercised a great influence on the university. 'His social

136

John Harold

Wellington

conscience, religious convictions and personal integrity were always evident. The great numbers of us whom he helped so ably never sought to separate the scholar

from the man'

(South African

Geographical

Journal,

vol k9 (1967), 8 ) . At a Golden Jubilee celebration on 19 April 1972 the University of the Witwatersrand conferred on its emeritus professor the honorary degree of LL.D. The following year he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa. In the early 1920s modern geography was only just beginning in South Africa, even though the South African Geographical Society had been founded under Hutcheon on 8 June 1917. Professor E.H.L. Schwarz, of Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, was publishing his material on the Kalahari and on the problems of the Okovango swamps. Professor F.E. Plummer, who had specialized in surveying as an undergraduate in the Cambridge department of geography, developed interests in climatology when he took up his appointment at Transvaal University College, Pretoria; and Dr. P. Serton (1888-I963), who was appointed to the newlyfounded chair of geography at Stellenbosch University, was a human geographer. Then as in later decades there were distinguished scientists in related disciplines, such as Professor Alex L. du Toit, author of

The Geology of South Africa

(Edinburgh, 1926, UU5 p),

of which there were later editions. Wellington lost no time in accepting the challenge of the situation by the application of his skills in geomorphology and physical geography. He spent much time on fieldwork, travelling widely with primitive means of transport along tracks and roads which were often no less rudimentary. As he travelled he observed the landscape, making notes and taking photographs; and in this respect there is a close resemblance with the attitude of Clement Gillman who made similarly meticulous notes as he travelled through what had by that time become Tanganyika Territory (Geogr. Biobibl. Stud., vol 1 (1977), 36-Ul). Often on his own, Wellington was on other occasions accompanied on this fieldwork by a small group of senior students. This energetic geographer, who was recorded as taking a short run each morning at the age of 79, had something of a passion for climbing hills in search of the rewarding views which often helped in the explanation of a landscape. From these researches there emerged a succession of articles, mainly but not entirely on aspects of physical geography. The vast majority of Wellington's papers were pub-

lished in the South African

Geographical

Journal.

Those specifically on topographical features usually attempt an explanation of the landscape, and the cycle of erosion is a recurrent theme as is the superimposition of drainage. Later he turned to problems of water conservation and land reclamation. The detail is meticulous and for the reader from outside South Africa at times somewhat tedious. An early example of this thorough work on the physical geography of southern Africa is to be found in the paper on 'The natural regions of the Transvaal' which formed the subject of the presidential address delivered to the South African Geographical Society on 13 December 1927. Physical and hydrological interests continued throughout Wellington's working life, and from 1933 onwards there are among the publications articles on

the more westerly areas such as the Orange river basin, the Kunene river, the Etosha plain and the Okovango delta. In the 1930s Wellington became increasingly known in the world of geographers outside South Africa, a recognition which goes back to the South African meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1929. Then in September 1931 he attended the International Geographical Union congress in Paris and the centenary meeting of the British Association in London under the presidency of General J.C. Smuts, in both instances as an invited delegate. That he gained' inspiration from attendance at these two meetings is evident from his subsequent note in the December 1931 issue of the S. AfT. Geogr. J. The paper on 'Land utilization in South Africa' which he read before Section E at the London meeting was later published in the Geographical Review of April 1932; and in the same year his contribution on 'Pioneer settlement in the Union of South Africa', entirely concerned with white settlement, appeared in another American Geographical Society publication, Pioneer settlement, edited by W.L.G. Joerg. This volume was inspired by Isaiah Bowman, and another Bowman connection came with the contribution of a paper on 'Possibilities of settlement in Africa' to the Tenth International Population Studies Conference, Paris, 1937, published in the same year under the editorship of Isaiah Bowman in Limits of land settlement. The paper belongs very much to its period and shows that Wellington had still some distance to travel in appreciating the needs of the African population. The limited amount of physical travel to other parts of the African continent that he was able to undertake before and after the Second World War is likely to have contributed to the broadening of his outlook. By 19^5 Wellington had written some twenty articles on various aspects of South African geography and for the next ten years his major endeavour was to incorporate his knowledge and field experience in an overall survey of the geography of southern Africa. This he did in the two-volumed work, Southern Africa (1955), undoubtedly his major geographical publication. It earned for him in 1958 the Sc.D. degree of the University of Cambridge, the first to be awarded to a geographer by that university. Another recognition of his contribution to geography came in I965 when he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Although in Southern Africa (1955) he provided an objective analysis and eschewed political argument (the word apartheid does not appear in the index) he left no doubt about where his sympathies lay in relation to human problems. During his retirement his earlier attraction to South West Africa (now Namibia) was combined with his social and political awareness to produce a work which went well into the field

of South African controversy: South West Africa

and

its human issues (1967). Both these well-written works will receive further attention later in the present study. The South African Geographical Society was an integral part of the life and work of John Wellington from his acceptance in 1922 of the post of Honorary Editor for Publications; and apart from the year 1927 when he was President of the Society he retained this

John Harold Wellington office until the end of 19^8. Under his editorship the bilingual S. Afr. Geogr. J. "became the vehicle for the publication of high-quality papers, including his own, on Southern Africa but attracted at the same time contributions from external geographers who were usually visitors to the universities and at conferences. The internal reputation of the journal ensured that it reached many countries, and exchanges helped to build up the library resources of the Society and through it of the University of the Witwatersrand, providing publications found nowhere else in South Africa. Wellington did not confine his activities to the journal: indeed, always ready to give unobtrusive help, he was in the early years the key to the survival of the Society as well as the journal. He was president for a second time in 1957, and often vice-president or a member of the Council. At the July Conference of July 1967, together with Mr. George P. Prescott, Master and Headmaster of King Edward School, Johannesburg, he received a silver medal and citation; and he subsequently became an Honorary Fellow of the Society. At the 1967 conference Professors D.L. Linton and R.W. Steel were the representatives of the United Kingdom and both gave invitation lectures. The South African Geographical Society aimed at being country-wide, but it was centred on the University of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg. In these circumstances the Cape Geographical Society, founded in 1932, lasted for nine years during which Wellington welcomed reports and papers for the journal and in 1938 lectured to the Cape Society. A more permanent challenge to the South African Geographical Society came in 1957 with the establishment at Stellenbosch of the Society for Teaching Geography which from the outset published its own Journal for Geography; and this was followed in 1972 by changes of the respective names to the Society for Geography and the South African Geographer. Wellington did not have an active relationship with this Society, but from 1958 along with Professor P. Serton he was an Honorary Life Member; and there are two published indications of the high regard in which he was held. Soon after his arrival in South Africa Wellington became involved in the activities of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science; and in 1922 he was secretary of a widely-ranging Section covering 'Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, Mineralogy and Geography' for a Lourenco Marques meeting of the Association. Between 1926 and 19^0 four of his papers read at annual meetings were published in the South African Journal of Science. In 1929 Wellington earned unstinted praise for his organization of the lecture programme and excursions of Section E (Geography) at the Joint meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and its South African counterpart focused in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Among the U.K. participants in the meeting were Professor J.L. Myers, Dr. Marion Newbigin and Professor P.M. Roxby; and Professor Wellington himself read two papers to Section E. 2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Wellington reacted favourably to the considerable

137

range of talent which was available in southern Africa and among those to whom acknowledgments are made in the preface of Southern Africa, volume 1, are 'the late Dr. Alex du Toit and the late Mr. H.B. Maufe', Dr. Frank Dixey, Professor Lester King, Dr. Stanley Jackson and Dr. I.B. Pole Evans. In Part I of this volume the three chapters devoted to physiographic regions are by common consent outstanding in that they sum up the considerable extension of knowledge which resulted from the application of Wellington's training in geomorphology to the landscapes of South Africa. More than a competent summary, this account digests numerous earlier references, in German and French as well as English, and is permeated by the author's field studies. J.A. Mabbut in his review of volume 1 (S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 38 (1956), U2-5) balances praise and criticism and makes the point that the new assemblage of facts is accompanied by less interpretation and co-ordination than might be expected and he extends the comment to the volume as a whole. Part II, 'Climate, vegetation and soils' and Part III, 'Hydrography' follow, with the chapters on hydrography deriving a natural benefit from Wellington's field studies. Volume 2 of Southern Africa conforms with its subtitle 'Economic and human geography'. It is only half the length of the first volume, and the author would have been the first to say that he was not a major authority on its subject matter; but careful documentation and observation, accompanied by much thought and discussion, again preceded the writing. In South Africa as in other African countries geographers still needed to gather together the basic information, to do the kind of work which had already been done in Europe and North America. For example, Wellington's account of the manufacturing industries of South Africa, although lacking the background of research which emerged in the 1970s, had value as the first substantive survey of this aspect of the geography of the area. For Wellington himself the significance of the volume is that it marked a step away from the earlier emphasis of his studies on the natural environment, as before 1955 he had given little published evidence of concern for the economic and social problems of the African population. His spiritual and moral attitudes were such that there was perhaps an inevitability of this development in the later part of his life. With it all, though, the objectivity of the scientist remained, and the pros and cons are often given without a reference to his own choice between them. It cannot be said that Wellington's two-volume work made an appreciable methodological contribution to the development of geography. The structural arrangement of the material, especially in volume 2, is 'general* in that each topic is described for the whole area of study, so that no complete regional synthesis emerges. He was in some ways caught between the regional and the systematic approaches and thus did not achieve a definitive regional geography of South Africa. Nor did he provide any cartographical innovations. It has been said of the maps accompany-

ing South West Africa

and its

human issues

that al-

though 'technically faultless and highly informative' they were 'rather conventional in conception' (W.S. Barnard, in Journal for Geography, vol 3/2 (1968), 201). To have provided an eminently sound basis for

138

John Harold

Wellington

the future development of South African geography may have been the greatest achievement of Wellington and his contemporaries. Ten years after his retirement Wellington published his second major work, South West Africa and its human issues. After a very useful description of the geographical setting in Part I, Part II is concerned with the African peoples and the German regime, while Part III on the mandate and the League of Nations goes on to consider the United Nations and in what is virtually a postscript chapter the 1966 judgement of the World Court. Inevitably the discussion of these human issues takes the author well beyond the scope of geography, even though his conclusions are those of a geographer who has studied the country with thoroughness. In the Preface (p. xv) he expresses his personal conviction in the following terms: A geographer who has lived in and studied his adopted country for more than forty years may well feel that he has a duty in this connexion at the present time, With none of the special ties and obligations of a Government official he is free to state unequivocally what he sees of the pertinent geographical factors and, at his own risk as a responsible citizen, he may feel constrained to express an opinion on the rights and wrongs in the wider subject of racial issues. At the end of a characteristically balanced survey he comes out categorically in favour of four first steps: l) the abandonment of any policy of apartheid or separate development which involves discrimination against, and inferior conditions for, the indigenous people of the territory, 2) the setting up of an Administration which will be truly representative of all the people of the territory; 3) a fair sharing of the land of the territory; and 1+) the provision of a system of education which will accelerate as much as possible the development of the African people and fit them to take part in the administration of the territory. The wisdom of these as yet unimplemented proposals is underlined by the fact that in 1983 the seventeen-year-old bush war in Namibia is still being pursued. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS The long-term impact of Wellington's writing is in the South African situation not easy to assess. His work in geomorphology will by its basic nature stand the test of time. The second volume of Southern Africa was notable as the first assemblage of material on a range of elements within human geography rather than as a definitive piece of work; and Part III of South West Africa and its human issues was a challenge related to its time of publication but up to 1983 unaccepted by the government of the Republic of South Africa. One of the major values of this last publication may derive from the encouragement it has given South African geographers in their undoubted swing towards a geography of relevance to the problems of their country and especially to their involvement in the discussion of the spatial inequalities inherent in

the apartheid system. In this connection it may be noted that with the late arrival of quantitative geography on the South African scene its post-quantitative successor came almost simultaneously into South African

geography.

In. the South African

Geographer, vol 1+/1

(1972), 6, we read this appreciation of Wellington: We can pay him no higher tribute than to point out the flourishing state of South African geography at present. This position was attained by building on a base well and truly laid by men of exceptional calibre, such as himself, men who won admiration and respect not.only for their scholarship, but also for their force of character and integrity. In assessing the personal influence of Wellington the role of the successive generations of students who had the good fortune to work with him cannot be overestimated. Those who trained under his enthusiastic and competent direction 'not only retained their interest in geography after they left the university, but also brought to bear in all their relationships the wide, sympathetic understanding they had learned from their association with him'. (D.H.J, in S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 39 (1957), M . Further afield Wellington kept in touch with his U.K. colleagues and extended the contacts to the U.S.A. In return there was a good flow of overseas visitors to South Africa, a phenomenon which has continued to the present. Relationships of this kind have provided support and encouragement for South African geographers in the expression of the constructively critical views which are evident

in the pages of the South African Geographical Journal and the South African Geographer of the 1970s and the

early 1980s. Wellington would have appreciated the theme of a symposium on 'Geography in the service of society' held a few months after his death during the lQ8l congress of the Society for Geography at the Rand Afrikaans University. That geographers should be thinking ahead of their time is commendable in a situation where serious social and political problems remain to be solved.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES AND OBITUARIES ON JOHN HAROLD WELLINGTON Brief appreciations appeared in the S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 35 (1953), in Muller, J., 'History of the South African Geographical Society*, 3-15; vol 39 (1957), 3-1+ (D.J.H.); vol 1+9 (1967), 6-8; and vol 60/1 (1978), in Jackson, S.P., 'The South African Geographical Society, 1917-1977', 3-12; and in the S. Afr. Geogr., vol 1+/1 (1972), 5-6.. Obituaries were published in the S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 63/1 (l98l),~l-2 (Stanley Jackson); in the S. Afr. Geogr., vol 9/1 (l98l), 7-8 (anon.); and in the Geogr. J., vol 11+7/2 (1981), 275-6 (anon.).

John Harold Wellington 2. a. 1921+

1926 1927 1932 1933 193** 1937 1938 191+0 19^3 19^^ 191*5 19l*6 1956 1958

b. 1923 1926 1928

1929 1929 1932 1932

191+9 1953 1955

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY JOHN HAROLD WELLINGTON South Africa and neighbouring countries: physical geography 'The topographical features of the Witwatersrand, with special reference to the evolution of the present Witwatersrand surface', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol T, 17-28 'The present cycle of erosion in the Magaliesberg region', S. Afr. J. Sci. , vol 23, 197-203 'The natural regions of the Transvaal', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 10, 5-2U 'Notes on the surface features of Natal', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 15, 1+5-50 'The middle course of the Orange river', S. Afr. Geogr. J. , vol 16, 58-68 'Thermal regions in Natal', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 17, 38-1*1 'The pre-Karoo peneplain in the south-central Transvaal', S. Afr. J. Sci., vol 33, 281-95 'The Kunene river and the Etosha plain', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 20, 21-32 'Stages in the process of river superimposition in the southern Transvaal', S. Afr. J. Sci., vol 37, 78-96 'The Lake Chrissie problem', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 25', 50-61+ 'The boundaries of the High Veld', S. Afr. Geogr. J. , vol 26, 76-81 'Notes on the drainage of the western Free State sandveld', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 27, 73-7 'A physiographic regional classification of South Africa', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 28, 6U-86 'Notes on the physiography of Swaziland and adjoining areas', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 38, 30-6 * 'The evolution of the Orange river basin: some outstanding problems', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 1*0, 3-30 South Africa and neighbouring countries: physical and human 'Some geographical factors affecting agriculture in South Africa', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 6, 1*1-66 'The physical and economic geography of the central Magaliesberg region of the southern Transvaal', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 9, 3T-UU 'Some physical factors affecting the economic development of the eastern Cape Province and adjoining areas', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 11, 22-37 ' ' 'The Vaal-Limpopo watershed', 5. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 12, 36-1*5 'Some physical influences in the human geography of South Africa', 5. Afr. J. Sci., vol 26, 80-91* 'Land utilization in South Africa', Geogr. Rev., vol 22, no 2, 205-21* 'Pioneer settlement in the Union of South Africa' in Joerg, W.L.G., (ed.), Pioneer settlement: co-operative studies by twenty-six authors, New York, 11*6-68 'A new development scheme for the Okovango delta, northern Kalahari', Geogr. J., vol 113, 62-9 'A tentative land classification of southern Africa', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 35, 16-25 Southern Africa; a geographical study, Cambridge,

vol 1, Physical geography, omic and human geography, 1965 'South West Africa: the puted territory', Optima, 1967 South West Africa and its 1+61 p

139

528 p; vol 2, Econ283 p facts about the disvol 15» 1+0-51* human issues, Oxford,

publications c. Other 1937 'Some geographical aspects of the peopling of Africa', S. Afr. J. Sci., vol 31*, 29-60 1937 'Possibilites of settlement in Africa', in Bowman, Isaiah (ed.), Limits of land settlement, New York, 229-91 19^0 'Notes on a tour of central Africa', S. Afr. Geogr. J., vol 22, U0—5U 1952 'Niger and Okovango: physical and human factors in theri development', S. Afr. Geoar. J., vol 3I*, 38-1*7 S.J.K. Baker is Emeritus Professor Makerere University

of Geography,

Chronology 1892

Born at Truro, Cornwall, 5 December

19ll*

B.A. (External), University of London

1915-18

Served in the first World War. Demobilized as Captain with M.C. and Bar

1918

Married Jessie Whincup

1921

Class I, Geographical Tripos, University of Cambridge; appointed as senior lecturer in charge of the Department of Geography at University College, Johannesburg

1922

Accepted appointment as Honorary Editor, Publications, South African Geographical Society

1926

Promoted to the newly established chair of geography in the University of Witwatersrand

1927

President of the South African Geographical Society

1929

Joint Local Secretary for Section E (Geography) at the South African meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

1931

Attended the Paris Congress of the International Geographical Union, and the Centenary Meeting of the British Association in London

140

John Harold

Wellington

19^8

Retired from the honorary editorship of the South African Geographical Journal

1955

Publication of Southern geographical study

1957

Again president of the South African Geographical Society; retired from the chair of geography in the University of the Witwatersrand

1958

Awarded the Sc.D. degree of the University of Cambridge; made an Honorary Life Member of the Society for Teaching Geography

1965

Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society

1967

Publication of South West Africa and its human issues', received the Jubilee medal of the South African Geographical Society, and subsequently became an Honorary Fellow of the Society

1972

Honorary Doctorate of Laws of the University of the Witwatersrand

1973

Honorary membership of the Royal Society of South Africa

1981

Died on h March

Africa:

a

Sidney William Wooldridge 1900-1963

W.G.V. BALCHIN One of the outstanding figures in British geography during the twentieth century is S.W. Wooldridge. Beginning his career as a geologist he became a geographer as a result of his interest in geomorphology, his love of the countryside and his enthusiasm for field studies. His influence on geography was profound, not only through his researches but more especially through the training of generations of students who experienced the magic of his instruction both in the lecture room and in the field. Wooldridge graduated in geology at King's College London and was naturally placed to move into the Joint King's College-London School of Economics School of Geography. These two colleges of the University of London, separated by a short although hazardous walk across the Strand, developed the Joint School by combining the geological resources possessed by King's College for lectures in physical geography, and the economic and social resources available in the London School of Economics for lectures in human geography. In the pre-war and immediate post-war periods the Joint School included many famous names: L. Dudley Stamp (1898-1966), Llewellyn Rodwell Jones (188I-I9U7), Hilda Ormsby (1877-1973) (Geogr. Biobibl. Studies, vol h (1980), 1+9-53 and vol 5' (I98l), 95-7), along with R.O. Buchanan (I89H-I98O), W.G. East (1902) and S.H. Beaver (1907) as well as S.W. Wooldridge, and the inter-play of ideas contributed notably to the modern development of geography in Britain.

Geographers

Biobibliographical

Studies,

volume 8 (198U)

1.

EDUCATION,

LIFE

AND WORK

Sidney William Wooldridge, born in Hornsey (North London) on l6 November 1900, was the son cf Lewis William Wooldridge. His very early years were spent in Sheen, Surrey where his father was a bank manager. The family (there was also an older brother and sister) subsequently moved back to north London and settled in Winchmore Hill, so the latter part o^ his schooling was at Glendale County School, Wood Green. There he not only acquired a firm grounding in the analytical sciences but also developed an enthusiasm for field studies as a result of local exploration in Hertfordshire — at that time much less built-up than now. There too the first seeds of his academic interest in geography were sown by one of A.J. Herbertson's (l8651915) students from Oxford who introduced him to the concept of the natural region, but his path to geography was to come through geology and an absorbing interest in the origin of the local gravel deposits, inspired by the geologist J.W. Evans, FRS, who was conducting evening classes at Birkbeck College (later to become part of the University of London) which Wooldridge attended even as a schoolboy. When the time came to proceed to university in 1918 it would have then been natural to think of a London college and King's was an obvious choice with geology as the degree specialization. Wooldridge therefore came under the influence of W.T. Gordon, A.K. Wells and also L. Dudley Stamp. Although Stamp was only two years his senior he had already acauired a first class honours degree in geoiogy and was studying for a degree in geography while acting as a demonstrator

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"in geology. Wooldridge also achieved a first class honours degree in geology in 1921 which vas additionally the year of his first publication. The same year Stamp achieved his first class honours degree in geography. Wooldridge's background, his degree result and enquiring mind were all pointing towards research but initially this was to be in petrology rather than geomorphology. Under the regulations then operating for the London degree in geology he had to specialize in either petrology or palaeontology and he chose the former. This enforced selection actually arsisted in the development of what was to become his main interest and also accounts for many of his early research papers. It was geomorphology however which caught his imagination and more particularly the evolution of the Tertiary and Pleistocene deposits of south-east England. Having succeeded Stamp as a demonstrator at King's College he proceeded with research work which led to the M.Sc. in 1923 and the D.Sc. in 1927. Using techniques of heavy mineral analysis he was able to demonstrate the petrographic affinity of numerous outliers of ferruginous sands on the dip slope of the North Downs and Chilterns which are physiographically related to a marine platform cut mainly in chalk but locally across Eocene deposits as well. This approach was a major advance in geomorphology at the time. In 1923 Wooldridge was a founder member of the Weald Research Committee of the Geologists' Association, which brought together a powerful group of geologists interested in the evolution of much of Surrey, Sussex and Kent, parts of which were already familiar ground to him. In 1925 he became an assistant lecturer in geology at King's College and in 1927 a full lecturer in geology and geography. Meanwhile Stamp had been to South East Asia during which time he held a chair of geology and geography at Rangoon University, wrote several books, and undertook major research on the biogeography and geology of Burma. This meteoric rise led to the offer of the Sir Ernest Cassel Readership in Geography at the London School of Economics in 1926. By this time the Department of Geology at King's College had taken geography fully under its wing and cooperation with the geographers at the London school of Economics led to the emergence of the Joint School of Geography, with King's (W.T. Gordon, A.K. Wells and S.W. Wooldridge) largely concerned with the physical aspects, and the London School of Economics (LI. Rodwell Jones, Hilda Ormsby and L. Dudley Stamp) covering the human aspects of the subject. The ground was being laid for Wooldridge's gradual translation from geology through geomorphology into geography. Like his nineteenth-century predecessor William Topley he had already observed the close correlation of the geology with many aspects of human geography in the Weald and he welcomed the opportunities which the Joint School arrangement provided for following up these observations. Furthermore the rising popularity of geography as a school subject in the inter-war period led to the growth of the Joint School and a strengthening of the LSE team with S.H. Beaver and W.G. East, and the King's group with H.G. Wood (190U1952) and for a short while D.L. Linton (1906-1971). By the mid 1930s the Joint School was a major British

school of geography. In this stimulating academic atmosphere one of Wooldridge's great assets flowered. He loved academic disputation, was inherently sociable, and was perhaps happiest when teasing out the answer to a field problem with colleagues or students in an informal atmosphere. The need to contribute physical geography to the Joint School geographers with instruction in field work provided these opportunities and also complimented his research interests in the geomorphological evolution of south-east England. In 193^ he married a former student of geography at King's College, Edith Mary Stephens, who was later a geography teacher at Enfield County School; their interests matched perfectlyDuring the 1930s Wooldridge was regarded by many as Britain's leading geomorphologist. His research led to a stream of papers on river development and denudation chronology, more especially with reference to the Weald, and these laid the foundation for the first edition of a successful textbook, The Physical Basis of Geography (with R.S. Morgan) in 1937, and the now historic Institute of British Geographers' publica-

tion, Structure,

Surface and Drainage of

South-east

England (with D.L. Linton) in 1939. In this phase he had the cooperation of a large number of research students and colleagues notably A.J. Bull, F. Gossling, J.F.N. Green, J.F. Kirkaldy, D.L. Linton and R.S. Morgan. Very few of Wooldridge's publications are solo efforts, a situation which probably reflected his need for academic companionship, although there is little doubt that the driving force for the research and subsequent publication came from him. During this period he also received a number of awards in recognition of, and also to further, his research work. The Geological Society made a grant in 1928 from the Daniel Pidgeon Fund to assist a glaciation study of the London Basin, the Geologists' Association awarded the Foulerton Prize (jointly with his collaborator F. Gossling) in 1932, and the Geological Society a grant from the Lyell Fund in 1936: while the Royal Geographical Society followed with the Murchison Award (jointly with D.L. Linton) in 19*+2. Despite his paramount interest in geomorphology Wooldridge was edging his way steadily towards other aspects of geography during this period. He was one of the triumvirate with R.O. Buchanan (189^-1980) and 1 H.A. Matthews (l899-19 +3) largely responsible for the foundation of the Institute of British Geographers in 1933. During the 1930s papers from his pen began to appear in the field of historical and human geography, as well as physical geography, as he was attracted more and more to the fascinating study of the interaction of man and his environment in south-east England. Three of these papers are of particular interest, showing his concern for relating aspects of human occupation to physical features. In 1931 he and D.J. Smetham published 'The glacial drifts' of Essex and Hertfordshire and their bearing upon the agricultural and historical geography of the region' (Geogr. J., vol 78 (1931), 21+3-69) and in 1933 with D.L. Linton 'The loam-terrains of south-east England and their relation to early history' (Antiquity, vol 7, 297-310, 1+73-5). The latter paper was in part a criticism of views advocated by Sir Cyril Fox, whose Personality

Sidney William Wooldridge of Britain (1932) published by the National Museum in Cardiff related the distribution of early settlement in Britain to the soils. It was a successful and stimulating analysis and in later editions of the Personality of Britain Fox gave generous recognition to Wooldridge and Linton's Antiquity paper. The third paper, also having Linton as co-author, on 'Some aspects of the Saxon settlement in south-east England considered in relation to the geographical background' (Geography, vol 20 (1935), l6l-75) continues the line of research apparent in the two earlier papers. A further contribution by Wooldridge on Anglo-Saxon settlement sites in H.C. Darby's Historical Geography of England (1936, 88-132) was also notable and opened the eyes of many to the way in which the geographer can assist in historical investigation. The flow of published work was unfortunately cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the temporary disintegration of the Joint School as a result of the evacuation of King's College to Bristol and the London School of Economics to Cambridge. It was perhaps this event as much as anything which induced the complete conversion from geology to geography for Wooldridge, as he found himself alone in Bristol fully responsible for all the honours geography teaching for King's College. It was fortunate that he was already committed to the concept of regional geography in view of the London syllabus of that time. Although cooperation was eventually arranged with the Bristol University department of geography, the King's contingent retained their identity and in 19^2 formal recognition of Wooldridge's work for geography came with the award of a Readership in Geography. The translation from geologist to geographer was now complete. Regrettably for Wooldridge the wartime evacuation brought much of his research to a halt, for not only was he removed from his field laboratory, but his little spare time was given to the Royal Observer Corps and also to the team of geographers built up by the Admiralty Naval Intelligence Department at Oxford and Cambridge to prepare Geographical Handbooks. However he managed to assist in the formation of the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies, later to become the Field Studies Council, during this period. Further confirmation of Wooldridge's standing in geography came in 1 9 ^ when, with some agonizing as he was a King's man to the core, he accepted the Chair of Geography vacated by Professor E.G.R. Taylor at Birkbeck College in the University of London. However he also continued at King's College until the summer of 19^5 by which time the London colleges had all returned to a more normal existence in the capital and he was able to relinquish his duties at King's to the writer of this account who has cause to be extremely grateful to him for the many hours which he spent explaining his philosophy of the subject and his lecture courses in geomorphology, climatology, meteorology, survey, cartography and regional geography for which the writer became responsible. Paradoxically, however, the break with King's was of short duration because in 19^7 the Delegacy at King's resolved to separate geology and geography and institute a Department of Geography with a chair. There was no dissent as to who the occupant should be and Wooldridge

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returned to his old college as its Professor of Geography — one of the happiest days of his life as both meant so much to him. The ten years after the elevation to the Birkbeck Chair of Geography in 1 Q ^ marks the peak of Wooldridge's contributions to British geography. In 19^6 he was appointed a member of the Government Advisory Committee on Sand and Gravel and subsequently became its deputy-chairman. In 19^7 he was back at King's as professor of geography. In 19^9-50 he was president of the Institute of British Geographers. In 1950 he was additionally president of Section E (Geography) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Birmingham, and in 195^ president of the Geographical Association. These all involved membership of councils and associated committees and he also served on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society from 19^7-51; and the Field Studies Council from 19'»7, acting as its chairman from 1952. In 1951 he gave evidence to the Schuster committee on the training of planners. His presidential addresses were all memorable occasions and at a time of continued expansion of geography in British schools and universities Wooldridge was in great demand as a lecturer, external examiner and also external referee for many of the new lectureships and chairs then being established. He undoubtedly had a profound effect on the direction of much of British geography during this period. Regrettably he failed to realize that there is a limit to what the human frame and mind can stand. He found it very difficult to refuse any invitation which promoted his chosen subject and in the summer term of 1^5^ (when he had accepted six external examinerships for other universities!) the inevitable happened and he was struck down with a cerebral thrombosis. It thus happened that for the second time the writer of this article suddenly found himself with most of Wooldridge's academic responsibilities but on this occasion without his assistance. It is a tribute to his resilience that Wooldridge made a remarkable recovery from this initial stroke although the convalescence took several months. He was advised to take life more easily but the advice had little effect as he endeavoured to continue with all his previous commitments. In particular he resisted efforts to lighten his teaching load which he regarded as his 'academic breath'. But those who knew him before and after the summer of 195^ had to admit that he was a changed man. The earlier mellow discussions gave place to more difficult disputation as he became increasingly dogmatic and all too frequently misinterpreted situations. Happily however the academic momentum of earlier decades ensured him a continued flow of honours which assisted in his partial recovery and produced great happiness. His Sand and Gravel work resulted in an official CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 195*+. In 1956 he was elected a Fellow of King's College, which gave special pleasure. In 1957 he was awarded the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, a senior award for geographers. In 1959 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his geological and geomorpholopical contributions. In i960 he was made a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and in 1962 elected an Honorary Member of the Geologists' Association.

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Wooldridge

Wooldridge had always seen the two activities of teaching and research as interlocking and mutually supportive, coming together more especially in field work. But the inter-war and post-war generations of students benefited as a result of sessions at Timberscombe in the village of Fernhurst near Haslemere. Here, in a half-timbered Elizabethan guest house run by Frederick Goldring, Wooldridge established a prototype 'field studies centre'. He had a remarkable gift for teaching both in the field and in the lecture room. In either situation he could hold an audience enthralled as he expounded with great clarity some complicated geomorphological concept or geological problem. Fine prose, a large vocabulary and occasional resonant poetry aided the presentation, supported only by his stick when in the field or a piece of chalk in the lecture room. The quality of his research was also excellent and he set an exacting standard for his collaborators and research students. Although he served readily on many college committees and those of outside bodies he freely acknowledged that he was not interested in the minutiae of administration which he either happily delegated to others or consigned to the wastepaper basket. Fortunately he had no difficulty in securing adequate assistance for these chores from his colleagues and students and his Department pursued a relatively even course without too many crises. Additionally Wooldridge had many interests other than geography. He found relaxation in golf and cricket, was a founder member of the Geoids Amateur Operatic Society and performed in many Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He took a keen interest in adult education and undertook considerable lecturing at the Working Men's College in Camden. He was a lay preacher in the Congregational Church until received late in life into the Anglican communion. Students on field study at the King's College theological outpost in Warminster, Wiltshire always had a service and sermon from him during the course of the field week. He also had an extensive knowledge of the scriptures and a fascinating capacity of producing biblical texts to suit almost any occasion. He was interested in the progress of his students and became president of the King's College London Association. He was also a governor of Sir John Cass College and Wye College in the University of London and was chairman of the Committee of Management of the Institute of Archaeology. He was interested in politics and occasionally spoke at elections, initially for Labour and subsequently for the Liberals, but his political philosophy could hardly be contained by any party label. In all his work and interests Wooldridge was a Londoner and a King's man. His overseas travels and contacts were limited, which seems odd in view of his devotion to the philosophy of W.M. Davis and also his close association with and service in the same school as that great traveller and internationalist, L. Dudley Stamp. But Wooldridge regarded his home geography as inexhaustible and 'The eyes of the fool are on the ends of the earth' was his standard riposte in many an argument with colleagues. When the end came on 25 April 1963 it was, almost appropriately, at Halliday Hall King's College while on a visit in his capacity as chairman of the Hostels

Committee. His great services to his College were commemorated at a service in the College Chapel on 22 May 1963 attended by a large congregation representing science, arts, religion, politics and sport, reflecting the full life he had led (The Times, 23 May

1963)

2. SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT Wooldridge's academic contributions fall into three major disciplines, geology, geomorphology and geography although in later life he would probably have argued that much of his geomorphology was really physical geography. In many respects much of what he wrote, especially after 1930, was regional geography as structure, stratigraphy and denudation chronology together with land-use and the land-man interaction all entered into the discussion. He became increasingly conscious of the geographer's holistic approach when seeking solutions to environmental problems.

a.

Geology

It was natural that his first research work followed on from his graduation in geology and also that initially he acted as an assistant to his senior colleagues A.K. Wells and L.D. Stamp. Papers on the igneous petrology of the Ordovician rocks of the area around Brecon, Dolgellau and Cader Idris were followed by similar researches with H.W. Cornes, G.M. Stockley and A.K. Wells on the igneous rocks of the Channel Islands.

b.

Geomorphology

Wooldridge's main interest, which emerged early in his career, was to be in the stratigraphy, structure and morphological evolution of the London Basin and the Weald. His earliest publication was in fact a paper describing the folding in the Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks near South Mimms in Hertfordshire, following from a field meeting of the Geologists' Association which he conducted in 1Q20 while still an undergraduate. This was the beginning of a stream of collaborative research papers throughout the twenties and thirties starting with the stratigraphy and structure, and developing into the denudation chronology and drainage evolution, of the whole of south-east England. He was much influenced by the logical approach of W.M. Davis to landform development and notes that since his (Davis') time 'his lucid pen and graphic pencil had bred a lineage of workers now in its second generation'. More than anything else, however, it was Wooldridge's own detailed field work and patient mapping in southeast England that not only provided explanations of the intricate pattern of river terraces, river courses, erosion surfaces, slopes and flats but also led him to appreciate the way in which the human untilization of what Nature had provided was so intimately related to the physical basis. Throughout this period he had the cooperation of many able academic colleagues of varying allegiance — geographers and geologists in the main though other experts might be called in to assist if necessary. A.J. Bull, F. Gossling, J.F.N. Green, D.L. Linton, A. Wrigley, R.L. Sherlock and J.F. Kirkaldy figure, in particular, as co-authors in many papers. This work was undoubtedly a major advance in British geomorphology and was ultimately to

Sidney William Wooldridge lead to the publication (with D.L. Linton as coauthor) of the famous 1939 Institute of British Geographers monograph on the Structure, Surface and

Drainage of South East England.

This followed his

1937 textbook (with R.S. Morgan) on The Physical Basis of Geography. The latter was also a pioneer work preceding an almost coincident surge of American geomorphological texts by Worcester (1939), Lobeck (1939) and Von Engeln (19^2). Whereas the geologist normally establishes his chronology by means of sedimentation, the geomorphologist depends on denudation. Wooldridge realized that the Weald in particular offered excellent opportunities for linking these two approaches. As early as 1895 W.M. Davis had suggested that the nature of the Wealden drainage implied two cycles of sub-aerial denudation, the first culminating in a peneplain now represented by the higher hill-tops, the second still operative and with much of its course to run. H. Bury had pointed out in 1910 the way in which many rivers cut across the fold axes and were not compatible with the second cycle. Wooldridge's detailed field work on the relationship of the streams to structure led him to the conclusion that the northsouth courses in an area of east-west folding could only arise from super-imposition from a covering of marine sediments arising from a 'Pliocene' transgression which had trimmed the hill-top peneplain noted by W.M. Davis. The chalk terrains of the North Downs and Chilterns revealed three distinct morphological zones. A maturely dissected mid-Tertiary peneplain on the summits was followed at lower levels by a sub-maturely dissected Pliocene bench, while a relatively fresh exhumed sub-Eocene surface could be seen at still lower altitudes. The combination of different lengths of exposure and different initial rock types gave rise to different soil types which are beautifully reflected in land use — the sub-Eocene has dominantly arable farming and the sub-Pliocene pasture or woodland. All this information could be seen and mapped in the field and one can easily appreciate how Wooldridge could enthral his students as he 'read the landscape', reconstructing Pliocene shores, working out ancient submarine erosion surfaces and their subsequent denudation by sub-aerial forces. The survey of south-east England undertaken with D.L. Linton led to a chronology based on a series of erosion surfaces at successively lower heights from the summit of 800 feet down to the flood plain levels of modern streams. An admirer of the work of H. Baulig, Wooldridge naturally looked further afield and considered the possibility of correlation with the upland surfaces of Highland Britain which had already been studied by G. Barrow, J.F.N. Green, A.A. Miller and W.G.V. Balchin. This topic became the subject of his presidential address to Section E of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1950 He realized that he was working in hazardous territory involving sea level changes of over 1,000 feet which would be difficult to explain. His 'seductive quagmire of long distance correlation' appeared, however, long before the theories of plate tectonics burst upon the geological world and had he lived a little longer he might have found the answers to some of the

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problems of correlation in the new ideas put forward to account for continental drift, mountain building and eustatic shifts of sea level. As to whether geomorphology 'belonged' to geology or geography or existed in its own right Wooldridge was firmly of the opinion that a link existed with geography as is clear from the fascinating correspondence in the Geographical Journal during 19^8 following a paper given to the Royal Geographical Society by the Norwegian geomorphologist K.M. Str^m (Geogr. J., vol 112 (19^8), 125-6).

c.

Geography

As he was gradually transforming the descriptive physiography of the early part of the twentieth century into the modern science of geomorphology Wooldridge was increasingly led to the realization that he was studying the essential basis of geography. The human correlations which Topley had already noted in the Weald in the ninteenth century were rediscovered as a result of the intensive field work and led to the conclusion that an 'indispensable preliminary to the study of the cultural landscape and of regions' was a 'real understanding of the character and development of the physical landscape'. Not only was the physical landscape a product of the geology but also of its geomorphological history. Geochemical and biochemical pedogenic processes also had to be considered. The end result — soil — could be a determinant factor. It was a logical step from this point to maintain that with a holistic approach the complete and balanced regional geographer must equip himself with a mastery of all specialisms — a formidable but inescapable conclusion. Many of Wooldridge's research publications in physical geography between 1930 and 19^5 have a significance for regional geography. One early example already noted in "The glacial drifts of Essex and Hertfordshire and their bearing on the agricultural and historical geography of the region*, written jointly with D.J. Smetham in 1931. This was based on detailed field work of the various drifts followed by a consideration of agricultural use in relation to economic circumstances with historical insights into conditions in Roman, Saxon and Norman times. The paper is a fine example of the type of regional geography firmly based in physical geography that Wooldridge was to advocate so strongly later. This approach, new at the time, led on to the now historic study of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of southeast England where it was shown that the loam regions emerged as the most prominent nuclei of settlement rather than the archaeological idea of areas of 'primary settlement' on pervious chalk, sand and gravel, and 'secondary settlement' on clay. The loam terrains were shown to stand out as early as the Bronze Age, and again more particularly in the Iron Age, and were finally consolidated by the Anglo-Saxons. This pre-war venture into historical geography and the work of the Joint School in the field of land utilization under Stamp's dynamic leadership was the background for an increasing interest by Wooldridge in economic and social geography and also planning. He had become convinced that the geographer could contribute to a resolution of society's ills and problems not

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only by recording and interpreting the facts but also by offering potential solutions. By the end of the Second World War he was deeply concerned with the future of Britain and was actively interested in planning, criticizing the Abercrombie Greater London Regional Plan of 1 9 ^ , and from 19^6 working as a member of the Waters Committee set up by the government to consider sand and gravel working and the effect on the land surface of Britain. Wooldridge's input of applied geography on this committee was profound and it is not surprising that he emerged as its deputy chairman and that his work for the committee resulted in the award of a CBE. It was in the immediate post-war period also that Wooldridge made his great contribution to geographical education in Britain. He was an indefatigable contributor to geographical conferences, an active worker for the various geographical societies, and always willing to lecture to any bona fide geographical group. He was a member of the Council of the Geographical Association from 1937-9, 19^1-^ and 1950-63 and its president in 195^, on the Council of the Institute of British Geographers and its president from 19^9-50, president of Section E of the British Association in 1950, on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society from 19^7-51, a member of the Executive Committee of the Field Studies Council from 19^7 and its chairman from 1952. His lectures to the various annual conferences and summer schools together with his presidential addresses were always memorable occasions and did much to secure the position of geography in the universities and schools of the country. The core of his philosophy was the importance of physical geography as a base combined with regional geography as the methodology, both being supported by field work. Notable papers where these ideas are elaborated include 'On taking the GE our of geography' (19^9), 'Reflections on regional geography in teaching and research' (1950) and 'The status of geography and the role of field work' (1955). Wooldridge had already published his Physical Basis of Geography (with R.S. Morgan) in 1937 and to this was added The Spirit and Purpose of Geography (with W.G. East) in 1951, with later essays on the scope and nature of geography in The Geographer as Scientist in 1956. There was also a pure regional account of The Weald (with F. Goldring) in the New Naturalist series in 1953. With W.G. East he acted as editor of a series of books published as Hutchinson's University Library. In i960 they also reissued C.B. Fawcett's Provinces of England, originally published in 1919, with a new preface and many careful revisions to bring the text up to date. This was greatly appreciated as after the Second World War the the ideas expressed by Fawcett were widely discussed, not only by geographers but also by many others such as planners, sociologists, economists and politicians in the protracted consideration of the redefinition of administrative districts in England. 3. INFLUENCE AND SPREAD OF IDEAS During the 1930s Wooldridge increasingly influenced the direction of British geography and during the postwar years up to his illness in 195*+ was a dominant

figure in British geography: possibly the dominant figure as Dudley Stamp's interests had shifted to the international plane. Wooldridge was a man of undoubted sincerity and strength of purpose who had much to say of interest on his day and age, both through disciplined research and a spiritually grounded outlook on education. He was at the forefront of the argument to ensure a sound geomorphological base for regional geography which he saw as the core of geography. Although he accepted the need for the specialist in systematic geography he realised the dangers of a possible disintegration of the subject if the specialist lost sight of the holistic view. He was greatly concerned with the rapid growth of 'social studies' in the immediate postwar period and the possible displacement of geography from the schools syllabus. He would have been as equally concerned with the growth of 'environmental studies' in the 1970s, and as a founder member of the Institute of British Geographers his view on the structure of the Institute on its fiftieth anniversary in 1983 would have been of considerable interest had he lived to participate! His influence and geographical work currently lives on through the numerous students he taught and the colleagues he provoked into original thought: for the future his research work and writings will assure him an outstanding place in the history of twentieth century British geography.

Bibliography and Sources 1. REFERENCES ON SIDNEY WILLIAM WOOLDRIDGE Pugh, J.C., Nat. , vol 198A88U (8June 1963), 938 Wise, M.J., Geography, vol U8/3 (1963), 329 Linton, D.L., Geogr. J., vol 129/3 (1963), 382 Taylor, J.H., Biogr. Mem. F.R.S., vol 10 (November I96U) Kirkaldy, F., Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 5U/1, 122 Stamp, L.D., Geogr. Rev., vol 5^/1, 129-31 Wise, M.J., Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr., n.s., vol 8/1 (1983), i+7 See also The Times 27 April 1963 for an unsigned obituary, followed a few days later by a contribution from A.F. Martin, and also King's College, London, Association Magazine, no 5 (196U), 30 and Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr., no 3*+ (l9^i+), xi-xiv for other unsigned contributions (the last named has a full bibliography). 2. SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIDNEY WILLIAM WOOLDRIDGE 1921 'Evidence of folding in the Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks near South Mimms and Ridge Hill' Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 32, 227-31 1923 (with A.K. Wells) 'The mechanism of sedimentation cycles', Geol. Mag., vol 60, 5^5-50 (with A.K. Wells) 'Notes on the geology of Epping Forest', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 3b, 2U1+-52 'The geology of the Rayleigh Hills', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 3h, 31^-22 (with L.D. Stamp) 'The igneous and associated rocks of Llanwrtyd (Brecon)', Q.J. Geol. Soc , vol 79, 16-1*6

Sidney 1923

(with H.W. Cornes) 'A system of basic intrusions at the northern end of the island of Sark', Geol. Mag. , vol 60, 500-05 192** 'The Bagshot Beds of Essex', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 35, 359-83 1925 (with analyses "by G.M. Stockley) 'The petrology of Sark', Geol. Mag., vol 62, 21+1-52 (with A.J. Bull) 'The geomorphology of the Mole Gap', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 36, 1-10 (with D.M.C. Gill) 'The Reading Beds of Land End, Bucks, and their hearing on some unsolved problems of London geology', Proc Geol. Assoc , vol 36, 1U6-T3 (with H. Dewey et al.) 'The geology of the Canterbury district', (sections 1, 3 and h) Proc Geol. Assoc, vol 36, 257-81* (with H.C. Berdinner and A. Wrigley) 'On a section at Rayleigh, Essex, showing a transition from London Clay to Bagshot Sand', Essex Nat. , vol 21, 112-18 1926 'The geology of Essex', in Essex: an outline scientific survey, Southeast. Union Sci. Soc Congr. Handbk. , 7-27 (with F. Gossling) 'On outliers of Leiiham Beds at Sanderstead, Surrey', Proc Geol. Assoc , vol 37, 92-101 'The structural evolution of the London Basin', Proc Geol. Assoc, vol 37, 162-96 'The progress of London geology', Sci. Progress, vol 20, 517-23 1927 'The Pliocene period in western Essex and the pre--glacial topography of the district', Essex Nat. , vol 21, 21*7-68 'The Pliocene history of the London Basin', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 38, 1*9-132 1928 'The 200 foot platform in the London Basin', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 39, 1-26 (with B.R. Saner) 'River development in Essex', Essex Nat., vol 22, 2l*l*-50 (with A.J. Bull et al. ) 'Report of the Ueald Research Committee', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 39, 223-37 1929 (with R.L. Sherlock et al.), 'The alleged Pliocene of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire' (a discussion), Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 1*0, 363-9 1931 (* indicates papers from 1931 onwards later re-

published in The Geographer as Scientist,

1932

1933

1931* 1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

19l*5

1956)

*(with D.J. Smeetham) 'The glacial drifts of Essex and Hertfordshire and their bearing upon the agricultural and historical geography of the region', Geogr. J., vol 78, 2U3-69 (with A.K. Wells) 'The rock groups of Jersey, with special reference to instrusive phenomena', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 1*2, 178-215 'The cycle of erosion and the representation of relief, Scott. Geogr. Mag., vol 1*8, 30-6 * The physiographic evolution of the London Basin', Geography, vol 17, 99-116 (with F.J. Richards et al.), 'Climatic changes in south-east India during early Palaeolithic times', Geol. Mag., vol 69, 193-205 (Wooldridge's contribution concerns the petrology of the quartzite implements) * (with D.L. Linton) 'The loam terrains of southeast England and their relation to its early

191*6

William

Wooldridge

147

history', Antiquity, vol 7, 2Q7-310 {et al. ) 'The river Mole: its physiography and

superficial deposits', Proc

Geol. Assoc,

vol

1+5, 35-69 * (with D.L. Linton) 'Some aspects of the Saxon settlement in south-east England and their relation to its early history, Geography, vol 20, 161-75 'The Eocene and Pliocene deposits of Lane End, Buckinghamshire', Q.J. Geol. Soc, vol 91, 193317 (with J.F. Kirkaldy) 'River profiles and denudation chronology in southern England', Geol. Mag., vol 73, 1-16 'The soils of Britain and their classification', Geography, vol 21, 112-17 'The Anglo-Saxon settlement', in H.C. Darby (ed), An historical geography of England before A.D. 1800, Cambridge, 88-132 (with R.S. Morgan) The physical basis of geography: an outline of geomorphology, London, xxi + UU5p., 2 ed as An outline of geomorphology: the physical basis of geomorphology, 1959 (with J.F. Kirkaldy) 'Notes of the geology of the country around Haslemere and Midhurst', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 1*9, 135-1+7 (with D.L. Linton) 'Some episodes in the structural evolution of south-east England, considered in relation to the concealed boundary of MesoEurope', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 1*9, 26U-Q1 (with D.L. Linton) 'Influence of the Pliocene transgression on the geomorphology of south-east England', J. Geomorph. , vol 1, 1*0-51+ 'Town and rural planning: the physical factors in the problem', Geography, vol 23, 90-3 'The glaciation of the London Basin and the evolution of the Lower Thames drainage system', O.J. Geol. Soc, vol 9*+, 627-67 (with D.L. Linton) 'Structure, surface and drainage in south-east England', Trans. Pap. Inst. Br. Geogr. , no 10, 12l* p. This monograph was republished by George Philip and Son Ltd., in 1055 Stamp, L.D. (ed), The land of Britain; the report of the Land Utilisation Survey of Britain, vol 1*, North England, part 51, 'Yorkshire, North Riding' , 351-1+17 * The geographer as scientist, inaugural lecture at Birkbeck College, University of London * 'Some geographical aspects of the Greater Lon-

don regional plan', Trans. Pap. Inst.

Br.

Geogr.,

no 11, 1-20 19l*7 * 'Geographical science in education', Geogr. J., vol 109, 26-37 19I+8 * The role and relations o-F geomorphology, inaugu r a l l e c t u r e a t K i n g ' s C o l l e g e , U n i v e r s i t y of London (with A.A. Miller and W.G.V. Balchin), Guide to excursion A.11, London to Wales, 18 Int. Geol. Congr. London, 2l* p. 19l*9 'Geomorphology and soil science', J. Soil Sci., vol 1, 31-1+ 'The Weald and the field sciences', Adv. Sci., vol 6, 3-11 * On taking the "GE" out of Geography', Geography, vol 3l+, 9-18

148 1950

Sidney William

Wooldridge

* (with S.H. Beaver) 'The working of sand and gravel in Britain: a problem in land use', Geogr. J. , vol 115, ^2-57 'Some features in the structure and geomorphology of the country around Fernhurst, Sussex', Proc. Geol. Assoc. , vol 6l, 165-90 * 'Reflections on regional geography in teaching

1923

M.Sc. degree in geology; founder member of the Weald Research Committee for the Geologists Association

1925

Appointed Assistant Lecturer in Geology in the Department of Geology and Geography at King's College London

no 16, 1-11 * The upland plains of Britain - their origin and geographical significance', Adv. Soi. , vol 7, 12l»-l»9

1927

D.Sc. degree in geology; promoted to Lecturer in Geology and Geography in the Department of Geology and Geography at King's College London

tury, 2 ed, 1958, 'The progress of geomorphology', 165-77

1928

Geological Society award from the Daniel Pidgeon Fund

1932

Geologists Association award of Foulerton Prize (jointly with F. Gossling)

and research', Trans. Pap. Inst.

1951

Br.

Geogr.,

Taylor, 0. (ed), Geography in the twentieth (with W.G. East), The spirit

cen-

and purpose of geo-

graphy, London 176 p., 2 ed, 1958 1952 'The conservation of natural resources', J. Town Plann. Inst., vol 38, 13lt-Uo * 'The changing physical landscape of Britain', Geogr. J., vol 118, 297-308 1953 (with F. Goldring) The Weald, London, 276 p. 'Some marginal drainage features of the Chalky Boulder Clay ice-sheet in Hertfordshire', Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol 6H, 208-31 195l* * 'The physique of the south-west', Geography, vol 39, 231-1*2 1955 (with H.C.K. Henderson) 'Some aspects of the physiography of the eastern part of the London

1933

Founder member of the Institute of British Geographers

193*t

Married Edith Mary Stephens, later a geography mistress at Enfield County School

1936

Geological Society grant from Lyell Fund

1939

19-31 * 'The status of geography and the role of field work', presidential address to the Geographical Association, Geography, vol ho, 73-83 'The study of geomorphology' (review article on

Outbreak of Second World War and temporary evacuation of King's College to Bristol

19U2

Royal Geographical Society Murchison Award (jointly with D.L. Linton); promoted Reader in Geography in the Department of Geology and Geography at King's College London

19M

Appointed Professor of Geography at Birkbeck College in the University of London

19^6

Appointed a member of the Government Advisory Committee on Sand and Gravel

19U7

Appointed Professor of Geography in the newly created Department of Geography at King's College London

191+9

President of the Institute of British Geographers

Basin', Trans. Pap. Inst.

Br. Geogr., no 21,

W.M. Davis, Geographical Essays, 1956

2 ed), Geogr.

J.,

vol 121, 89-90 'On understanding a piece of country', Annual

Report,

Field Studies

Council,

1955-56, 27-33

W.G.V. Balchin is Emeritus Professor of Geographyt University College of Wales, Swansea

Chronology 1900

Born in Hornsey (North London) 16 November

1950

1918

Left Glendale County School, Wood Green, London and entered King's College, University of London

President of Section E (Geography) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

1952

Chairman of the Field Studies Council

195U

President of the Geographical Association; appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire)

1956

Elected a Fellow of King's College London

1921

First class honours B.Sc. degree in geology

1922

Appointed Demonstrator in Geology in the Department of Geology at King's College London

Sidney William Wooldridge 1957

Awarded Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society

1959

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

1962

President of King's College London Association; elected Honorary Member of the Geologists Association

1963

Died suddenly at Halliday Hall, King's College on 25 April

149

Index

The index is divided into four parts: 1. PERSONAL NAMES as far as possible are given in full with the year of birth and death. 2. ORGANIZATIONS AND RELATED REFERENCES is subdivided into (a) Colleges,

Institutes, Institutions, Museums, Official and Research Organizations; (b) Scientific Congresses and Commissions; (c) Societies and Associations; (d) Universities.

3. SUBJECTS cover concepts, geographical theories and specific research. h. CUMULATIVE LIST OF BIOBIBLIOGRAPHIES includes all the geographers listed in volumes 1-8 inclusive Page numbers in italic refer to the Bibliography and Sources, and to the Chronology sections of the biobibliographies. 1.

PERSONAL NAMES

ACKERMAN, Edward A., 1911-1973, 90,

91, 92

ADAMS, John, 1857-1931*, 29 AHLENIUS, Karl, 1866-1906, 69, 72, 81* AHLMANN, Hans Wilhelmson, 1899-197 **, 111, 119 AMUNDSEN, Raold, 1872-1928, 12, 13 ATWOOD, Wallace Walter, l872-19l»9,

89, 93

BAGROV, Lev Semenovich, 1881-1957, 78 BAKER, Oliver Edwin, 1883-19^7, 53 BAKER, Samuel John Kenneth, 1907135-1*0 BALCHIN, William George Victor, 1916, 1^1-9 BANSE, Ewart, 1883-1953, 1-5 BARROW, George, 1853-1932, ll+5 BARROWS, Harlan Harland, 1877-1960,

53, 5h

BARTH, Heinrich, 1821-1865, 58 BARTHOLOMEW, John, 1860-1920, 8 BATES, Henry Walter, 1825-1892, 126,

128, 133

BAULIG, Henri, 1877-1962, lit5 BEAVER, Stanley Henry, 1907lUl, 1U2 BECK, Hanno, 1923, 3 BECKER, Hans, 1936, 3 BEDERMAN, Sanford Harold, 1932, 57-60 BERBRUGGER, Adrian, 1801-1869, 58 BERG, Lev Semyonovich, 1876-1950, 77, 78, 79 BERGSTEN, Karl-Eric, 1909, 69-75,

81-6 BEYER, Riidiger Wolfram, 1951*-

,

1-5 BLAGOVIDOV, Nikolai L'vovich, 1897, 78 BLANCHARD, Raoul, 1877-1965, 19 BLOCK, Robert Harry, 19UU, 1+5-9 BOBEK, Hans, 1903, 112 BODE, Ernst, I878-I965, 3 BOGDANOV, Antoly Petrovich, I83H1896, 35, 38 BOGGS, Samuel Whittemore, 1889-1951+, 5U BOWMAN, Isaiah, 1878-1950, 1+7, 53, 119, 136 BREWER, William Henry, 1829-1910, 1*5 BRIGHAM, Albert Perry, 1855-1932, 51* BROC, Numa Camile, 1931*, 92 BROWN, Robert, 1773-1858, 7 BROWN, Robert (Camster), 181*2-1895, 7, 8 BROWN, Robert Neal Rudmose, 1879-1957, 7-16 BRUCE, William Spiers, 1867-1921, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15 BRUCKNER, Edward, 1862-1927, 112 BRUNHES, Jean, 1869-1930, 19 BUCHANAN, Robert Ogilvie, l89l*-1980, lUl, 1U2 BUDEL, Julius Karl, 1903-1983, 112,

116, 121

BULL, Alfred Joseph, 1876-1950, ll*2,

Ikk

BURGESS, Ernest Watson, I886-I966, 53 BURY, Henry, 1862-1958, ll*5 BUSCHING, Anton, 1721+-1793, 59 BUSHONG, Allen D, 1931, 87-91+

CALASSANTI-MOTYLINSKI, Adolphe de, 185H-1907, 58 CARLSSON, Ernst, 1851+-1909, 83 CHAMBERLAIN, Basil Hall, 1850-1935, 100 CHAMBERS, Robert, 1802-1871, 126 CHISHOLM, George Goudie, 1850-1930, 10 CHRISTALLER, Walter, 1893-1966, 18, 19, 21 CLARK, William Smith, 1826-1886, 95 CLAVAL, Paul, 1932, 21 CLOOS, Hans, 1885-1951, 111* COLBY, Charles Carlyle, I88U-I965, 18, 5**, 91, 92 CORNES, Harold Wilfred, 190U-

Ikk

COWLES, Henry Chandler, 1869-1939, 53 CRESSEY, George Babcock, 1896-1963,

19, 22

CROSBY, William Otis, 1850-1925, 70 CROWE, Percy Robert, 190l*-1980, 19 DAHLGREN, Erik Wilhelm, 181*8-1931*, 81* DARBY, Henry Clifford, 1909, 1!*3 DARLINGTON, Philit) Jackson, jr., 1901+, 131 DARWIN, Charles, 1809-1882, 96, 98, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133 DAVIS, William Morris, 1850-1931*, 1*5, 1*6, 53, 70, 131, ll*l*, ll*5 DE GEER, Gerard, I856-I9U3, 70, IIP DE GEER, Sten, 1886-1933, 70, 71 DE MARTONNE, Emmanuel, 1873-1955, 62, 61*, 66 DEBENHAM, Frank, 1883-1965, 13, 14 DEMANGEON, Albert, 1872-191+0, 63 DICKINSON, Robert Eric, 1905-1981,

17-25, 120

DIXEY, Frank, 1892, 137 DOKUCHAEV, Vasily Vasilyevich, 18U6-1903, 77, 78 DRYGALSKI, Erich von, l865-19!»9, 3, 111, 112 DU TOIT, Alexander Logie, 1878-101*8, 136, 137 DUPONCHEL, Adolphe, 1821-1903, 58 DUVEYRIER, Henri, l8l*0-l892, 58, 59

152

Index

EAST, William Gordon, 1902, 22, ll+l, lU2, 1U6 EDELSTEIN, Yakob Simonovich, 18691952, 79 EMERSON, Frederick Valentine, 18711919, 5*+ ENGELN, Oskar Dietrich von, 1880-1965, ESPENHADE, Edward Bowman, 1910, 5U EVANS, Illtyd Buller Pole, 1879-1968,

137 EVANS, John William, 1857-1930, ll+l

FAIRGRIEVE, Enily (nee Crofts), l869-191+9, 27, 28 FAIRGRIEVE, James, 1870-1953, 27-33 FAWCETT, Charles Bungay, 1883-1952, 8, 10, 16, 17, 18, 21, 1U6 FEDCHENKO, Alexei Pavlovich, 18UU1873, 35-8 . FEDCHENKO, Olga Alexandrovna, 18U5-1921, 35, 36, 37 FINCH, Vernor Clifford, 1883-1959, FINSTERWALDER, Richard, 1899-1963, 113, llH FINSTERWALDER, Sebastian, 1862-1951 112 FLAHAULT, Charles, 1852-1935, 8 FLATTERS, Paul, l832-l88l, 58, 59 FLEURE, Herbert John, 1877-1969, 8, 27, 31 FORREST, Alexander, 181*9-1901, 39-*+3 FORREST, John, 18U7-1918, 39-1+3 FOUCAULD, Charles de, I858-I916, 58, 59, 60 FOX, Cyril, 1882-1967, lU2, lU3 FREEMAN, Edward Augustus, 1823-1892, 97 FREEMAN, Thomas Walter, 19087-16, 18, 22 FRIEDERISCHSEN, Max, 187U-I9U1, 4 FRITSCH, Karl, Wilhelm Georg Freiherr von, 1838-1906, 1 FROMENTIN, Eugene, 1820-1876, 58, 59, 60 GALTON, Francis, 1822-1911, 99 GANNETT, Henry, 18U6-1911*, **5-9 GARNETT, Alice, 1903, 10, 14, 16 GEDDES, Alaisdair, 1891-1917, 11 GEDDES, Patrick, 185U-1932, 8, 10, 11, 13, lU, 15, 18, 21 GEIKIE, Archibald, 1835-1921+, 97 GENTHE, Martha Krug, l871-19l»5, 88 GERASIMOV, Innokenty Petrovich, 1905, 80 GILBERT, Grove Karl, 181* 3-1918, 1+7 GILLMAN, Clement, 1882-19U6, 136 GLINKA, Konstantin Dmitrievich, 1867-1927, 78, 79 GOEBEL, Karl von, 1855-1932, 111, 118 GOLDIE, George Taubman, 181*6-1925, 9 GOLDSMITH, Oliver, 1728-1771*, 98, 99 GOODE, John Paul, 1862-1932, 51-5

GORDON, William Thomas, 188U-1950, ll+l, 1U2 GOSSLING, Frank, 1859-19^5, lU2, 148 GOYDER, George Woodroofe, I826-/L898, 1+1 / GREEN, John Frederick Norman, l873-191+9, 1U2, 1U5 GRIESBACH, August, l8lU-l879. 118 GUYOT, Arnold Henri, 1807-188U, 97, 98 HAGERSTRAND, Torsten, 1916, 74 HAGGETT, Peter, 1933, 21 HALL, Charles F., 1821-1871, 1+5 HARRIMAN, Edward, H. , 181*8-1909, 1+6 HARTSHORNE, Richard, 1899,53, 111*, 131 HASSINGGER, Hugo, 1877-1952, 3 HAUSHOFER, Karl, 1869-191+6, 19 HAYDEN, Ferdinand Vandiveer, 1829-1871, 1+5 HAYES, Edward Carey, 1868-1928, 53 HEDIN, Sven, 1865-1952, 96, 97, llU HEIM, Albert, 181+9-1937, 108 HENZE, Dietmar, 1935, 3, 4 HEPBURN, James Curtis, l8l5-1911, 96 HERBERTSON, Andrew John, 1865-1915, 8, 9, 27, 30, 31, ll+l HERODOTUS, U8U-U2U B.C., 83, 85 HERZOG, Theodor, l880-196l, 111, 113, 118 HETT.NER, Alfred, 1859-191+1, 2, 4, 88. 108, 131 HJARNE, Harald, 181+8-1922, 69 HOFFMANF, Charles F. , 1838-1913, 1+5 HOGBAUM, Arvid, 1857-19^0, 69 HOOKER, Joseph Dalton, 1817-1911, 126 HONEYBONE, Reginald Crawshaw, 1913, 27-33 HOWARD, Ebenezer, 1850-1928, 19 HOWARTH, Osbert John Radcliffe, 1877-1951+, 9, 19 HUMBOLDT, Alexander von, 1769-1859, 2, 7, 111, 113, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 126 HUTCHEON, James Marcock, 1888-1921, 135 HUXLEY, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895, 128 IORGA, Nicolae, l887-19!+6, 6l ISHIBASHI, Goro, I876-I9I+6, 101 ITO, Gingetsu, 1871-19M, 100 IVES, Jack, 1931, 116, 120 JACKSON, Stanley Percival, 1905, 137 JAEGER, Fritz, 1881-1966, 112, 113, 116, 121 JAMES^, Preston Everett, 1899,

19, .48

JASPARS., Karl, 1883-1969, 118 JEFFERSON, Mark, 1863-19U9, 18 JOERG, Wolfgang Louis Gottfried, 1885-1952, 136 JOHNSON, Emory Richard, 186U-1950, 52

JONES, Clarence Fielden, 1893-

93

,

JONES, Llewellyn Rodwell, l88l-191+7, ll+l, ll+2 KANT, Immanuel, I72U-I80U, 8l KAUFMAN, Nikolai Nikolaevich, 183I*1870, 35, 36 KELTIE, JohnJ3cott, 181*0-1927, 31 KING, Lester Charles, 1907, 137 KINZL, Hans, 1898-1979, 112, 120 KIRCHHOFF, Alfred, 183.6-1907, 1, 2 KIRKALDY, John Francis, 1908, ll*2, lkk KOJIMA, Usui, 1895-191+8, 100 KOLB, Albert, 1906, 2 KOMAROV, Vladimir Nikolaevich, 1869-191+5, 78 KOMIYAMA, Tenk5. 1885-1930, 99 KONDD, Makoto, 1831-1886, 95 KRASHENNIKOV, Ippolit Mikaelovich, I88U-I9U7, 78, 79 ICREBS, Norbert, I876-I9U7, 118 KROPOTKIN, Pyotr (Peter) Alexeivich, 181+2-1922, 128 KURSCHNER, Elizabeth, 1908, 113 LABASSE, Jean, 1Q18, 21 LAGALLY, Max, 1881-19^5, 112 LAKE, Philip, 1865-191+9, 135 LANGHANS, Paul Max Harry, 1867-1952, 4 LAUTENSACH, Hermann, 1886-1971, 111, 113, 115, 116, 118, 120, 121 LAUTENSACH-LSFFLER, Eugenie, 1902-

112, 113 LE PLAY, Frederic, 1806-1882, 18, 20 LEHMAN, Herbert, 1901-1971, 116, 121 LEIGHLY, John, 1895, 1+7, 117 LEPPARD, Henry Milton, 1886-1972, 53, 51+ LINTON, David Leslie, 1906-1971, 9, 14, 137, 11+1+, l!+5, 148 LOBECK, Armin K. , 1886-1958, 18, ll»5 LOFFLER, Ernst Conrad Abildagaard, ..1835-1911, 82 LONBERG, Sven, 1871-1959, 69, 70, 72, 81+ LOUIS, Herbert, 1900, 112 LUBBOCK, John, 183U-1913, 98, 100 LUKASHEVICH, l(j)oseph Demetrios, 1863-1928, 78 LYDE, Lionel William, l863-191*7, 27 LYDEKER, Richard, 181+9-1915, 131 LYELL, Charles, 1797-1875, 97, 126, 128, 129 MACCARTHY, Jacques, 1785-1835, 57, 59, MACCARTHY, Louis-Alfred Oscar, 1815I89I+, 57-60 MCFARLANE, John, 1873-1953, 9, 10 MACHATSCHEK, Fritz, 1876-1957, 2 MCKENZIE, Roderick Duncan, 1885-19UO, 53

Index MACKINDER, Haiford John, 1861-19^1, 27, 28, 30, 121 MCNEE, Robert Bruce, 1922, 20, 23 MAKIGUCHI, Tsunesaburo, 1871-19M, 100 MALTHUS, Thomas Robert, 1776-1831*, 126, 127 MARSH, George Perkins, 1801-1882, 97 MARTIN, Geoffrey John, 1931*, 48, 51-5 MATHIESON, John, 1855?-19^5, 11 MATTHEW, William Diller, 1871-1930, 131 MATTHEWS, Horace Arthur, 1899-191+3, 1U2 MAUFE (MUFF), Herbert Brandwood, 1879-19U6, 137 MAURY, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873, 97 MAYR, Ernst, 1901*, 131 MEHEDINTI, Simion, 1868-1962, 6l, 62, 63, 61*, 66 MEIKLEJ0HN, John Miller Dow, 18301902, 97, 99 MENDENHALL, Thomas C , 18U1-192U, 1*6, 1*7 MERTINS, Gunter, 1936, 107-10 MEYER, Hans, 1858-1929, 108 MEYNEN, Emil, 1902, 112 MIHAILESCU, Vintila, 1890-1976, 6l-7 MILL, Hugh Robert, 1861-1950, 13 MILLER, Alfred Austin, 1900-1968, l»+5 MINAMOTO, Shokyu, 19*+6, 95-105 MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone, 1792-1855, 1+1 MIYAKE, Yugior (Setsurei), l86o-191*5, 96 MORGAN, Ralph Sisk, 1888-1968, lU2, ll+5, ll»6 MORSE, Edward Sylvester, 1838-1925, 98 MUELLER, Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von, 1825-1896, 39 MULLER, Fritz (Johann Friedrich Theodor), 1822-1897, 128 MUMFORD, Lewis, 1895, 21 MUSHKETOV, Ivan Vasilievich, I85O1902, 36, 37 MYRES, John Linton, 1869-1951+, 11, 137 NANSEN, Fridtjof, l86l-1930, IS NELSON, Helge, 1882-1966, 69-75 NEUSTRUEV, Sergei, 1871*-1928, 77-81 NEWBIGIN, Marion Isobel, 1869-193!+, 8, 137 NIKITIN, Sergei Nikolaevich, 1851-1909, 77 NITOBE, Inazo, 1862-1930, 95 NOGI, Maresuke, 181+9-1912, 96 NORDENSKIOLD, Adolf-Erik, 1832-1901, 8U NORLIND, Arnold, 1883-1929, 8, 83, 85 NUNN, Percy, 1870-19W, 29

OBST, Erich, 1886-1981, 3 OGAWA, Takuji, 1870-191+1, 100 OGILVIE, Alan Grant, 1887-1951+, 9, 10, 13 ORMSBY, Hilda, 1877-1973, lUl, ll+2 OSHANIN, Vasily Fyodorovich, l 8 U t - 1 9 1 7 , 3 5 , 36 OWEN, R o b e r t , 1771-1858, 1 2 5 , 130 OYAIZU, Kaname, 181+1+-1922, 9 5 , 96

153

RUSKIN, John, 1819-1900, 98, 100

SALISBURY, Rollin D, 1858-1922, 52 SAUER, Carl Ortwin, 1889-1975, 19, 2 1 , 5 2 , 92t 1 1 1 , 1 1 7 , 118 SAURAMO, M a t t i Rufus, 1880-1958, 112 SCHLIER, O t t o , 1 8 9 9 , 19 SCHLUTER, O t t o , 1872-1952, 19 SCHMITHI2JNFR, H e i n r i c h , 1887-1957, 2, 4, 113 PAFFEN, Karl Heinz, 191*+, 117 SCHMITHUSEN, Josef, 1908, 2k 1 PARK, Robert Ezra, 1861+-191* *, 53 SCHULTZ, Hans-Dietrich, 19^7,4 PARKER, William Henry, 1912, 30 SCHWARZ, Ernest Hubert Lewis, 1873PASSARGE, Siegfried, 1867-1958, 113 1928, 136 PATTEN, Simon Nelson, 1852-1922, 32, SCHWERIN, Hans Hugold von, 1853-1912, 70, 81-6 52 SLATER, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913, PATTISON, William David, 192152, 54 128, 131 PEDERSEN, Leland R., 1928, SCOTT, Robert Falcon, 1868-1912, 12, 17-25 13 PENCK, A l b r e c h t , 1858-191+5, 1+6, 7 0 , SEMENOV-TIAN-SHANSKY, Peter Petrovich, 112, 118, 119 1827-1911+, 37 PESCHEL, Otto, 1826-1875, 72, 83, SEMPLE, Ellen Churchill, 1863-1932, 118 52, 5*», 87-9*+ PHILIPPSON, Alfred, 1861+-1953, 2, SERTON, Petrus, 1888-1963, 136, 137 SEVERTSEV, Nikolai Alexeevich, llU PICKERING, Edward C., 18U6-1919, 1+5 1827-1885, 36, 37 PINCHOT, Gifford, 1865-191*6, 1+6, 1+7 SHACKLETON, Ernest Henry, l87l»-1922, PLEWE, Ernst, 1907, 43 18 12 PLUMMER, Ernest Frederick, ob. 1977, SHCHUROVSKY, Grigory Efimovich, 1803136 1881+, 3 6 , 37 POTANIN, Grigory Nikolaevich, SHERLOCK, Robert L i o n e l , 1875-191+8, Ikk 1835-1920, 37 SHIGA, Shigetaka, 1863-1927, 95-105 POWELL, John Wesley, 183U-1902, 1+5, SHOKALSKY, Yuri Mikhailovich, 1+7 1856-19I»0, 78 POWELL, Joseph Michael, 1938SIEVERS, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1860-1921, 39-1+3 107-10 PRASOLOV, Leonid Ivanovich, 1875-1951+, SIMPSON, George Gaylord, 1902, 78, 79 131 PRZHEVALSKY, Nikolai Mikhailovich, SMETHAM, Denis John, 1901, IU5 1839-1885, 37 SMITH, Charles Hyde, 1950, 125RATHJENS, Karl, 19ll», 115 33 RATZEL, Friedrich, 18UU-190U, 19, 69, SMITH, Joseph Russell, l87l*-1966, 52 70, 72, 83, 81*, 88, 89, 90, 93, 97, SPENCER, Herbert, 1820-1903, 98, 103 108, 130, 131 STAMP, Laurence Dudley, I898-I966, RECLUS, Elisee, 1830-1905, 8, 11, 83, 2 9 , ll+l, 1U2, ll+l», ll+5, ll+6 97, 130, 133 STANISLAWSKI, Dan, 1 9 0 3 , 20 REGEL, Fritz, 1883-1915, 109 STEEL, Robert W a l t e r , 1 9 1 5 , 137 REIN, Johannes Justus, 1835-1918, 98 SUEHIRO, T e t c h o , 181+9-1896, 99 RIBIERO, Orlando, 1911, 119, SUGIURA, J u g o , 1855-1921+, 96 120 SUKACHEV, V l a d i m i r N i k o l a e v i c h , RICHTHOFEN, Ferdinand Freiherr von, 1880-1967, 78 1833-1905, 1, 107, no, 115 SUPAN, A l e x a n d e r , 181+7-1920, 109 RITTER, Carl, 1779-1859, 72, 83, 11, 118, 120, 121 TALBOT, William John, 1908, 18 RODENWALDT, Ernest, I878-I965, 117 TANSLEY, Arthur George, 1871-1955, ROMANOVSKY, Gennadi Danilovich, 112, 111*, 117 1830-1906, 79 ROOSEVELT, Theodore, 1858-1919, 1+7 TAYLOR, Eva Germaine Rimington, ROXBY, Percy Maude, 1880-191+7, 7, 8, 1879-1966, 8, 1U3 TAYLOR, Thomas Griffith, 1880-1963, 9, 13, 18, 27, 137 RUHL, Alfred, 1882-1935, 113 1+2 RULIE, Karl Frantsevich, I81U-I858, THOMPSON, John H., 1919, 20 35

154

Index

THOMSON, John Arthur, 1861-1933, 11 TILLEY, Philip Damien, 1932111-21+ TOWER, Walter Sheldon, 1881-1969, 51* TRAUMANN, Claus, 1932, 3 TROLL, Carl Theodor Josef Maria, 1899-1975, 111-2U TSUJIMURA, Taro, 1890-1983, 99 TUFESCU, Victor, 1908, 6l, 62,

2.

ORGANIZATIONS AND RELATED REFERENCES

a.

Colleges, Institutes, tions, Museums, Official Research Organizations

Instituand

Algiers Library and Museum, 57, 58, 60 Anglo-Japanese exhibition, London 6k TURNOCK, David, 1938, 6l-7 1910, 97 TYLOR, Edward Burnett, 1832-1917, 129 Australia, Aboriginees Protection Board, Ul Australia, Western, Office of the UCHIMURA, Kanzo, l86l-1930, 95, 100, Surveyor-General, 39, 1+0, 43 101 Austrian Academy of Science, 119 UHLIG, Harald, 1922, 115 Berlin Institute for Oceanography, ULE, Willi, 1861-19^0, 1 113 ULIANIN, Vasily Nikolaevich, 181+0-1889, British Broadcasting Corporation, 29 35, 36 British Empire, Colonial Conference, UNSTEAD, John Frederick, I876-I965, 27 1+0, 1+2, 43 British Film Institute, 29 VALSAN, George, 1885-1935, 6l British Institute of Geography, plan VAN CLEEF, Eugene, 1887-1973, 52, 53 for, 1902, 8 VISHER, Stephen Sargent, 1888-1967, British Rainfall Organization, 13 5U Central Asian expedition, 1868-9, 36 VOLZ, Wilhelm, 1870-1958, 3 Central Welsh (examining) Board, 29 VOYEIKOV, Alexander Ivanovich, Chicago Harbor Commission, 52 18U2-1916, 78 College of Preceptors, 29 Conservation Foundation of America, WAGNER, Hermann, 181+0-1929, 107 24 WAIBEL, Leo Heinrich, 1888-1951, n't, Eastern Illinois State Normal School, 116, 121 WALCOT, Charles Doolittle, 1850-1927, 51 1+6 Edinburgh, Outlook Tower, summer WALKER, F r a n c i s Amasa, 181+0-1897, schools at, 51 Ethnological Museum, Stockholm, 82 1+5, hi Field Studies Council, G.B., ll+3, WALLACE, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913, ll+6, 148 125-33 field centres, lUU WIEN, Karl, 1906-1937, 113, llU Foreign Office, historical section, WELLINGTON, John Harold, 1892-1981, G.B., 9, 10 135-1+0 France, Ministry of War, statistical WESTON, Walter, 1861-19UO, 99 WHITNEY, Joseph Dwight, 1819-1896, 1+5 section, 57, 58 WHYMPER, Edward, 18U0-1911, 8 German Academy of Science, 119 WICHMANN, Hugo, 1852-1932, 4 Gottingen Royal Academy of Sciences, WOLTERECK, Richard, 1877-19M, H 1 * 108 WOOD, Herbert John, 1901+-1952, lU2 Great Britain, Government Advisory WOOLDRIDGE, Sydney William, 1900-1963, Board on sand and gravel, lU3, ll+6, 148 lUl-9 Naval Intelligence Division, WORCESTER, Philip George, 188U-1970, Admiralty, 9, 10, lU3 H+5 Royal Observer Corps, ll+3 WRIGHT, John Kirtland, 1891-1969, Guggenheim Fellowship, 20, 24 48, 92 Harriman Alaskan expedition 1899, 1+6 WRIGLEY, Arthur George, 1885-1953, 11+1+ Institute of Archaeology, G.B., ihh Institute of British Geographers, 10, YAMASAKI, Naomasa, 1879-1929, 99, 16, 2 0 , ll+2, ll+3, ll+5, ll+6, 148 100, 101 I n s t i t u t a l de c e r c e t a r i g e o g r a f i c e a l YANAIHARA, Tadao, 1891-1961, 101 Romaniei (Romanian Geographical YOUNG, Ernest, 1869-1952, 28, 29, 30, Institute), 62 31 Institutal de geologie geofizica si YUGAI, Rodion Livich, 1922, 35-8, geografia, 62 77-81 Italian Academy of Sciences, 20, 25 Japan, Fisheries Association, 96 ZELINSKY, Nikolai Dmitrievich, l86lSociety for Political Education, 1953, 77 104

Land Utilisation Survey of Britain, 29 Leipzig Bibliographical Institute, 108 London Day Training College (for teachers), 29, 30, 33 Lowell Institute, Boston, 127 Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature, 115, 119, 124 Massachusetts College of Agriculture, 95 Minnesota State Normal School, 51, 55 Moscow Technical School, 35 National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 11+3 New York Academy of Sciences, ll+3 North Polar Expedition, C.F. Hall, 1871-3, 1+5 Oceanographical Laboratory, Edinburgh, "8 Ordnance Survey, G.B., 11, 31 Paris Exposition of 1867, 60 Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin, 2, 5, 108 Sapparo Agricultural College, Japan, 95, 96, 104 St. Petersburg, Polytechnical Institute, 78 Siberian Institute of Agriculture and Industry, 79 Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship, 18, 24 Romania, Academy of, 62, 66, 67 Ministry of Construction, 62 Town Planning Institute, 62 Scott Polar Institute, Cambridge, 10, 13, 15 Scottish Arctic Expedition, 11, 12, Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 8, 15 Smithsonian Institution, 48 Stockholm Teachers' Training College, 75 Sweden, Folk High Schools, 69, 70 Government report on emigration 1907, 70 Record Office, 70 Tashkent Nizami State Pedagogical Institute, 37 Tokyo English School, 99 U.S.S.R., Academy of Sciences, 37, 79 United States of America Board of Geographic Names, 1+6 Census Office, 1+5, 1+6, 1+7, 49 Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1+6 Conservation Commission, 1+7, 49 Forestry Service, 1+6 Geological and Geographical Survey, 1+5, 1+6, 48, 49 National Archives, 48 Office of Naval Research, 20, 24 Social Science Research Council, 20 24

Index Antarctic Club, 10, 16 Arctic Club, 10, 16 Association of American Geographers, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 1*6, 49, 52, 53, 55, 91, 93 Australian Association for the b. Scientific Congresses and Advancement of Science, 1*2, 43 Commissions Austrian Geographical Society, 119, 124 Conference of German Geographers Berlin Geographical Society, 107, Breslau 1925, 112 113, 119 Danzig, 1932, 113 Brazilian Geographical Society, 97 Innsbruck 1975, 116, 12-1 British Association for the AdvanceEuropean Regional Conference, Budapest ment of Sciences, 9, 10, 12, 15, 133, 136, 137, 139, lU5, 1U6, 148 1971, 63 Humboldt Centenary Congress, Berlin Cape Geographical Society, South Africa, 137 1959, 113 Chicago Geographic Society, 52, 55 International Botanical Congress, Entomological Society, London, 128, Stockholm 1925, 112 133 International Congo Congress 1885, Franconian Geographical Society, 124 82 Geographical Association, 9, 10, 13, International Geographical Union Commission on Applied Geography, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 1U3, 11*6, 24 . 148 Commission on High Altitude Summer Schools of, 28, 29 Geoecology, 115, 116, 124 Geological Society, London, ll*2, 148 Commission on the History of Geological Society of America, 1*6, Geographical Thought, 6l, 67 49 Congresses (and pre-1922) Geologists Association, London, ll*2, 3 Venice l88l, 8l ll*3, lhk, 148, 149 1* Paris 1889, 82 German Quaternary Association, 115, 8 Washington 190U, 1*6, 49 119, 124 Giessen Association for Geography 9 Geneva 1908, 1*6, 1+7 and Ethnology, 109, HO 11 Cairo 1925, 63 Hamburg Geographical Society, 107, 13 Paris 1931, 136, 139 108 Ik Warsaw 1931*, 63 Inter-Services Topographical Depart15 Amsterdam 1938, llU 18 Rio de Janeiro 1956, 124 ment, 19, 24 Italian Geographical Society, 63 19 Stockholm i960, 115 20 London 196U, 115 Japan Alpine Club, 99, 104 21 New Delhi 1968, 124 Le Play House (Institute of Sociol22 Montreal 1972, 124 ogy), 18 Regional conference Kuala Lumpur Leipzig Association for Geography, 107, 108 1962, 115 International Geological Congress 1898, Lima, Sociedad Geografica da, 5 Linnean Society, 126, 127 77 Lund Geographical Association, 71 International Polar Congress 1906, 8 Manchester Geographical Society, 9 International Population Studies National Geographic Society, Conference 10 Paris 1937, 136, 139 Washington, 1*6, 1*7, 48, 49 International Quaternary Association (INQUA), 115, 124 Natural Science Society, AnthropolInternational Soil Science Congress, ogy and Ethnography, Russia, 35, Washington D.C. 1927, 1, 80 36, 37 UNESCO, Advisory Committee for Natural Nuremburg Geographical Society, 119 Resources Research, 124 Paris Geographical Society, 1*6, 127 World Geographical Exhibition, Polish Geographical Society, 63 Toulouse 188U, 83 Romanian Geographical Society, 62, 66 Royal Anthropological and Geographc. Societies and Associations ical Society, Sweden, 82, 83, 118, 124 Algiers Societe de geographie, 59 Royal G e o g r a p h i c a l S o c i e t y , London, American Association for the Advance7 , 8 , 9 , 1 0 , 1 3 , 15, 16, 3 1 , 1*0, ment of Science, 52 1*6, 9 7 , 105, 1 1 9 , 124, 1 2 6 , 1 2 7 , American Geographical Society, 93, 1 3 5 , 1 3 6 , 140, ll+2, ll*3, ll+5, 148 lilt, 136 United States of America State Department, 5^ Weather Bureau, 51 Yorkshire College, Leeds, 28

155

Royal Meteorological Society, 29, 33 Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Edinburgh, 8, 11, 1*6 Royal Society, London, 127, 1^3 Royal Society of Arts, 29 Royal Society of Edinburgh, 9 Royal Society of South Africa, 136, 140 Russian Geographical Society, 80 Scottish Spitzbergen Syndicate, 12 Serbian Geographical Society, 63 Societatea de stiin^e geografice din Romania, 63 Societe des sciences physiques et climatologiques d'Alger, 59 Societe historique Algerienne, 59 Society for Teachers of Geography, Sweden, 71, 75 Society for Teaching Geography, South Africa, 137, 140 South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 137 South African Geographical Society, 136, 137, 139 South Swedish Geographical Society, 73, 75 Tokyo Geographical Society, 96, 97, 98, 104

d.

Universities

Aberdeen, 8, 9, 10, 15 Arizona, Tucson, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25 Bamberg, 4 Basle, 113 Benares, 24 Bergen, 115, 124 Berlin, 1, 5, 70, 111, 113, 115, 123 Free University, 24 Bonn, 18, lilt, 115, 123, 124 Brazil, 115, 124 Bristol, lU3 British Columbia, Vancouver, 24 Brunswick (technical), 2, 5 Bucharest, 6l, 62, 66, 124, California, Berkeley, 20, 24 Bancroft Library, 48 Los Angeles, 92, 93 Cambridge, 13, 31, 135, 136, 139, 140, ll*3 Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 25 Cape Town, 18 Chicago, 51, 52, 53, 51*, 55, 75, 89, 91, 93 Clark,Worcester, Mass., 89, 91, 92, 93 Cologne, 109 Colorado, 92, 93 Columbia, New York, 92, 93 Columbia State, 113 Dublin (Trinity College), 7, 127 Dundee, 8, 15

156

Index

Harvard, 1*5, 48, 55

Southern Connecticut, New Haven, 55 Stellenbosch, 136 Swedish, general, 70, 71, T2, T3 Syracuse, N.Y., 19, 24 Tokyo, 96, 9T, 100, 101 Uppsala, 69, TO, T2, 75, 82, 8k Vassar College, 8T, 88, 92, 93 Vienna, 115, 119, 124 Wales, Aberystwyth University College, 2T, 28, 32 Swansea University College,

Astronomical observatory, 1+5 Summer school, 51 Heidelberg, 88, 115 Helsingfors, 36 Jena, 107, HO Johannesburg, University College,

Waseda, Japan, 96, 101, 103, 104 Wellesley College, 92, 93 Western Australia, Perth, 43 Western Kentucky, 92 Wisconsin, Madison, 115, 124

Exeter, 17, 18, 24 Frankfurt-am-Main, 108, 110 Georgia State, Atlanta, Georgia, 60

Ghent, 124

Giessen, 108, 109, 110 Goteborg, 71, 82, 8U Gottingen, 107, 110 Grenoble, 19 Halle, 1 Hanover (technical), 2, 5

135, 139

Witwatersrand, 135, 136, 139,

140 Kentucky, 93

Konigsberg, 109 Kyoto, 100, 101 Laval, Quebec, 24 Leeds, 17, 18, 20, 24 Leipzig, 88, 107, 108, 110, 113 Leningrad, 79 Liverpool, 7, 9, IT London, 27, 31, 115, 124, 135, 139, lUl, ll»2 Birkbeck College, lUl, 1^3, 148 Institute of Education, 29, 30,

32

King's College, lUl, lU2, lU3,

lUU, 148, 149

School of Economics, 27, 28, 32, lUl, lU2 Sir John Cass College, l1*1* University College, 18, 19, 24 Wye College, l1*1* Louvain, 119, 124 Lund, 70, 71, T1*, 75, 8l, 82, 83, 8U,

85, 86 Makerere, 139

Manchester, 9, 10, 15, 6l Marburg/Lahn, 110 Minnesota, Minneapolis, 24,

55

51, 52,

Montpelier, 8 Moscow, 35, 38, 77 Munich, 111, 112, 113, 115, 123 Nebraska, Lincoln, 24 Oxford, 27, 31, 32, 127, lUl Summer schools, 9, 92, 93 Pennsylvania, 51, 52, 55 Rand Afrikaans, South Africa, 138 Rangoon, lU2 Rhode Island, 24 Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, 136 St Andrews, 99

Dundee, 8, 15 Saarbriicken, 2U

Sheffield, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 South Carolina, Columbia, S.C., 93

148

Wurzburg, 108, 110

Yale, New Haven, 48 Zurich, 115, 124

3. SUBJECTS Africa Congo, von Schwerin on, 8l, 82, 81*, 55 Troll on, 113, ll1*, 11T Wellington on, 135, 136, 13T, 138, 139 air photography, 113, 11** Algeria archaeology of, 58 French settlement in, 5T, 58,

60

Oscar MacCarthy on, 5T-60 railways in, 58, 59 Antarctic exploration, 8, 12, 13 anthropogeography, Semple on, 89, 90, 91 anthropology, 35, 36, Ul, 129, 131 and Japan, 99, 100 Sievers on, 108 Arctic exploration and geography, 11, 12, 13 Asia, soil map of, 80 Australia, Western economic development of, Uo,

hi, U2

exploration of, 39, Uo, Ul railways in, Ul, 43 town planning in Perth, hi, k2 botanical geography, 8, 11, 35, **0, 112, 113, ll1*, 115, 116, 11T British geography, R.E. Dickinson on, 19

Broakhaus Lexikon,

2, 5

Burma, Mergui archipelago, 8, 9 Canada, Swedish settlement in, 69, Tl cartography, 1:1 million map of the world, U6, l*T of J. Paul Goode, 52 China, Shiga in, 96, 99 Christian missions, von Schwerin on, 8U

climatology Goode on, 52, 53 Mihailescu on, 63 and soils, T9 Troll on, 112, 113, ll1*, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119 colonial (Third World) geography, Troll and, 113, 116, 11T conservation in U.S.A., U6, l*T, 48, 49 Wallace on, 130 Cuba, census of, U6 dioramas, Wallace on, 130 'dualism' in geography, 3, Tl, T3, 83 economic geography of J. Paul Goode, 52, 51* of Helge Nelson, T2 ecosystems, 111, ll1*, 115, 11T education, school Fairgrieve on, 2T-33 Nelson on, T2, T3 Rudmose Brown on, 9, 13 von Schwerin on, 83 entomology, 35, 36, 3T, 38, 128 environmental determinism, 9, 21, 51*, 90, 91, 98 ethnography, 35, 36, 3T ethnology, Tl eugenics, Wallace and, 12T evolution, Wallace on, 126, 12T, 128, 129, 130 exploration, in Algeria, 58, 59 of Fedchenko in Asia, 36, 3T Falkland Islands, 8, 9 geoecology, 115 geography, scope and definition of classical Greek and Roman authors, 8l, 83 Nelson on, T2, T3 Rudmose Brown on, 10, 11 Wooldridge on, lU2, 1U3, l1*1*, 1U5, lH6 Germany colonial expansion of, 99 Dickinson on, IT, 18, 19 glaciation in Japan, 99 in South America, 108, 109 Troll on, 112, 113, ll6, 119 Wallace on, 129, 130 Greenwich meridian, 83 Himalayas, Troll in, 113, ll1* historical geography, 11 Fairgrieve on, 30 in Sweden, Tl Wooldridge on, 1^3, l*+5 history of geographical thought Dickinson on, 19, 20 Goode on, 52 Mihailescu on, 6l, 63 human ecology, 53, 51* humanism, in work of Wallace, 125, 12T, 130

Index 'Inquiry' for Paris Peace Conference 1919, 89, 93 Italy, Mezzogiorno, Dickinson on, 20 Japan Meiji period in, 95, 97, 98, 100 Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, 96 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 96 mountaineering in, 99 Russo-Japanese war 190U, 96 Shiga on, 95-105 War with China 189!+, 96 Jordan, Shiga in, 97 landscape Banse on perception of, 1, 3 Dickinson on, 19, 21 of J».pan, Shiga on, 99, 100 Neustruev on,79, 80 Troll on, 111, 112, 117, 118 Malaya, Wallace in, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130 map projections, 53, 5^ meteorology Fairgrieve on, 28, 29, 32, 33 Goode on, 51, 52 Troll on, 118 Mexico, Troll on, 113, 124 Mohammedanism, von Schwerin on, 8U Morocco, 2, 5, 59, 60 Namibia, 136, 138 National Socialist views Banse on, 2 Dickinson on new German regional structure, 19 Troll on, llU 'neue geographie1, Banse on, 2, 5 New Guinea, 126 oceanography, 12 'ontography', 52, 53 Orient as a 'continent', Banse on, 2 Philippines, Census of, k6 political geography of Japan, 96, 97, 100, 101 of South Africa, 138 Puerto Rico, Census of, k6 quantification and the regional concept, 21 Quaternary period in Turkestan, 78 race National Socialist view of, 2 Rudmose Brown on, 7 Shiga on, 99 regional geography Banse on, 2, 3 Dickinson on, 18, 19, 20, 21 in Japan, 100 Neustruev on,79, 80 Rudmose Brown on, 9, 10 in school teaching, 28, 29, 30, 31 Sievers on, 107, 108, 109 of Sweden, 72, 73 Troll on, 113, ll6 Wooldridge on, 1^5, lU6

Romania frontiers of, 62 modern planning in, 62 National Atlas of, 63 physical geography of, 6l, 62 regions of, 63, 66 urban geography of, 63, 6U Russia cotton growing in, 78 glaciation of, 78 Ministry of Agriculture, 78 Siberian economic development, 79 soil study in, 77, 78, 79, 80 Sakhalin, political division in 1906, 96, 104 'Schone' geography of Banse, 1, 3 slavery Semple on, 88 von Schwerin on, 8U soils, Neustruev on, 77, 78, 79 South America Shiga in, 97 Sievers in, 107, 108, 109, 110 Troll in, 112, 113, 119, 120 Wallace in, 126, 128, 129, 130 Spitzbergen (Svalbard), 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 Sweden agriculture, 70 emigration from, 70 glaciation of, 70 mining districts of, 70 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 82 Riksdag (parliament) on geography teaching in, 82 Switzerland, Wallace in, 129, 133 Tourism, in Spitzbergen, 12, 13 Trans-Sahara railway, 58, 59 Turkey in Asia, Banse in, 1, 3, 5 urban geography Dickinson on, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Mihailescu on, 63, 6h of Sweden, 71, 72, 73, 71* United States of America exploration of 1870s, 1+5, U6 Japanese immigrants in, 97 Neustruev in,80 statistical cartography in, U6 Swedish settlement in, 69, 71, 72 Troll in, 113 Wallace in, 127 villages, classification of, 63 Wallace's line, 128 world view of geography, Rudmose Brown on, 9, H , 13 zoological geography, 11, 36, 37, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131

k.

CUMULATIVE LIST OF CRAPHIES

157

BI0BIBLI0-

AL-MUQADDASI, c9.U5-c.988, vol U, 1-6 ANCEL, Jacques, 1882-191*3, vol 3, 1-6 ANUCHIN, Dmitry Nikolaevich, 181+3-1923, vol 2, 1-8 APIANUS, Peter, lU95 or 1501-1552, vol 6, 1-6 ARB0S, Philippe, 1882-1956, vol 3, 7-12 ARQUE, Paul, 1887-1970, vol 7, 5-9 ATW00D, Wallace Walter, l872-191+9, vol 3, 13-18 BANSE, Ewald, 1883-1953, vol 8, 1-5 BAULIG, Henri, 1877-1962, vol U, 7-17 BERG, Lev Semenovich, 1876-1950, vol 5, 1-7 BERNARD, Augustin, 1865-19^7, vol 3, 19-27 BLACHE, Jules, 1893-1970, vol 1, 1-8 BL0DGET, Lorin, 1823-1901, vol 5, 9-12 B0SE, Nirmal Kumar, 1901-1972, vol 2, 9-11 BOWMAN, Isaiah, 1878-1950, vol 1, 9-18 BRATESCU, Constantin, l882-191*5, vol h, 19-2U BRIGHAM, Albert Perry, 1855-1929, vol 2, 13-19 BROOKS, Alfred Hulse, 1871-192U, vol 1, 19-23 BROWN, Robert Neal Rudmose, 1879-1957, ..vol 8, 7-16 BUSCHING, Anton Friedrich, 172U-1793, vol 6, 7-15 CAMENA d'ALMEIDA, Pierre, l865-19**3, vol 7, 1-k CAP0T-REY, Robert, 1897-1977, vol 5, 13-19v CAVAILLES, Henri, 1870-1951, vol 7, 5-9 CHRISTALLER, Walter, 1893-1969, vol 7, 11-16 COLBY, Charles Carlyle, I88U-I965, vol 6, 17-22 COPERNICUS, Nicholas, lU73-15**3, vol 6, 23-9 CORTAMBERT, Eugene, 1805-1881, vol 2, 21-5 COTTON, Charles Andrew, 1885-1970, vol 2, 27-32 CRESSEY, George Babcock, I896-I963, vol^5, 21-5 CVIJIC, Jovan, 1865-1927, vol k, 25-32

158

Index

D'ABBADIE, Antoine, 1810-1897, vol 3, 29-33 DAVID, Mihai, 1886-1951+, vol 6, 31-3 DAVIDSON, George, 1825-1911, vol 2, 33-7 DAVIS, William Morris, 1850-1931*, vol 5, 27-33 DE CHARPENTIER, Jean, 1786-1855, vol 7, 17-22 DICKINSON, Robert Eric, 1905-1981, vol 8, 17-25 DIMITRESCU-ALDEM, Alexandre, 18801917, vol 3, 35-7 DOKUCHAEV, Vasily Vasilyevich, 181*6-1903, vol h, 33-1+2 DRAPEYRON, Ludovic, 1839-1901, vol 6, 35-8 DRYCALSKT, Erich von, l865-19l+9, vol 7, 23-9 ERATOSTHENES, C.275-C.195 B.C., vol 2, 39-^3 FABRICIUS, Johann Albert, 1668-1736, vol 5, 35-9 FAIRGRIEVE, James, 1870-1953, vol 8, 27-33 FAWCETT, Charles Bungay, 1883-1952, vol 6, 39-1+6 FEDCHENKO, Alexei Pavlovich, 181+1*1873, vol 8, 35-38 FORBES, James David, 1809-1868, vol 7, 31-7 F0RM0Z0V, Alexander Nikolayevich, 1899-1973, vol 7, 39-1+6 FORREST, Alexander, 181+9-1901, vol 8, 39-1+3 FORREST, John, 181+7-1918, vol 8, 39-1+3 FRANZ, Johann Michael, 1700-1761, vol 5, 1+1-8 GANNETT, Henry, l81+6-19ll*, vol 8, l»5-l»9 GEDDES, Arthur, 1895-1968, vol 2, GEDDES, Patrick, 185^-1932, vol 2, 53-65 GEIKIE, Archibald, 1835-1921*, vol 3, 39-52 GEIKIE, James, 1839-1915, vol 3, 53-62 GILBERT, Edmund William, 1900-1973, vol 3, 63-71 GILBERT, Grove Karl, 181+3-1918, vol 1, 25-33 GILLMAN, Clement, l882-191+6, vol 1, 35-Hl GLAREANUS, Henricus, 1U88-1563, vol 5, GOODE, John Paul, 1862-1932, vol 8, 51-55 GOYDER, George Woodroofe, I826-I898, vol 7, 1+7-50

GRADMANN, Robert, 1865-1950, vol 6, l*7n5^ GRANO, Johannes Gabriel, 1882-1956, vol 3, 73-81+ GRIGORYEV, Andrei Alexandrovich, 1883-1968, vol 5, 55-61 GUYOT, Arnold Henry, 1807-188U, vol 5, 63-71 HERBERTSON, Andrew John, 1865-1915, v o l 3 , 85-92 HETTNER, A l f r e d , 1859-191+1, v o l 6 , 55-63 HIMLY, Louis-Auguste, 1823-1906, vol 1, 1*3-7 HO, Robert, 1921-1972, vol 1, 1*9-5** HOHNEL, Ludwig von, l857-19l*2, vol 1*, 1*3-7 HOLMES, James Macdonald, I896-I966, vol 7, 51-5 HUTCHINGS, Geoffrey Edward, 19001961*, vol 2, 67-71 JOBBERNS, George, 1895-1971*, vol 5, 73-6 JONES, Llewellyn Rodwell. l88l-19l*7, vol 1+, 1*9-53 KANT, Immanuel, 172l+-l80lt, v o l 1*, 55-67 KECKERMANN, Bartholomaus, 1572-1600, vol 2, 73-9 KIRCHHOFF, Alfred, 1838-1907, vol 1*, 69-76 KOMAROV, Vladimir Leontyevitch, 1869-191*5, vol 1, 55-8 KRASNOV, Andrey Nikolaevich, 18621911*, vol 1*, 77-86 KROPOTKIN, Pyotr (Peter) Alexeivich, vol 7, 57-62; 63-9 KUBARY, Jan StanisXaw, 18U6-I896, vol I*, 87-9 LARCOM, Thomas Aiskew, 1801-1879, vol 7, 71-1* LAUTENSACH, Hermann, 1886-1971, vol 1*, 91-101 LELEWEL, Joachim, 1786-l86l, vol 1+, 103-12 LENCEWICZ, Stanis/aw, 1899-191*1*, vol 5, 77-81 LEVASSEUR, Emile, 1828-1911, vol 2, 81-7 LEVIS, William Vaughan, 1907-1961, vol 1+, 113-20 LINTON, David Leslie, 1906-1971, vol 7, 75-83 L0M0N0S0V, Mikhail Vasilyevich, 1711-1765, vol 6, 65-70 MacCARTHY, Oscar, l8l5-l89l*, vol 8, 57-60 MAURY, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873, vol 1, 59-63

MAY, Jacoues M., 1896-1975, vol 7, 85-8 MEHEDINTI, Simion, 1868-1962, vol 1, 65-72 MELANCHTHON, Philipp, 11+97-1560, vol 3, 93-7 MIHAILESCU, Vintila, 1890-1978, vol 8, 61-67 MILL, Hugh Robert, l86l-1950, vol 1, 73-8 MILNE, Geoffrey, 1898-191*2, vol 2, 89-92 MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone, 1792-1855, vol 5, 83-7 MUELLER, Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von, 1825-1896, vol 5, 89-93 MUNSTER, Sebastian, 11*88-1552, vol 3, 99-106 MUSHKETOV, Ivan Vasylievitch, 18501902, vol 7, 89-91 NELSON, Helge, 1882-1966, vol 8, 69-75 NEUSTRUEV, Sergei Semyonovich, I87I+1928, vol 8, 77-80 OBERHUMMER, Eugen, 1859-191*1*, 93-100 OGAWA, T a k u j i , l870-19l*l, v o l 71-6 ORGHIDAN, Nicolai, 1881-1967, 77-9 ORMSBY, Hilda, 1877-1973, vol 95-7

vol 7, 6, vol 6, 5,

PAVLOV, Aleksei Petrovich, l85l*-1929, vol 6, 81-5 PENCK, Albrecht, l858-19i*5, vol 7, 101-8 PLATT, Robert Swanton, 18Q1-1961*, vol 3, 107-16 POL, Wincenty, 1807-1872, vol 2, 93-7 POWELL, John Wesley, l83l*-1902, vol 3, 117-21+ PRICE, Archibald Grenfell, 18921977, vol 6, 87-92 RAISZ, Erwin Josephus, 1893-1968, vol 6, 93-7 RAVENSTEIN, Ernst Georg, 1831+-1913, vol 1, 79-82 RECLUS, Elisee, 1830-1905, vol 3, 125-32 REISCH, Gregor, c .11*70-1525, vol 6, 99-101+ RENNELL, James, 17l*2-l830, vol 1, 83-8 REVERT, Eusene, 1895-1957, vol 7, 5-9 RHETICUS, Georg Joachim, 15ll'-1573, vol 1+, 121-6 RICHTHOFEN, Ferdinand Freiherr von, 1833-1905, vol 7, 109-15

Index RITTER, Carl, 1779-1859, vol 5, 99-108 ROMER, Eugeniusz, 1871-1951*, vol 1, 89-96 ROXBY, Percy Maude, 1880-19^7, vol 5, 109-16 RUSSELL, Richard Joel, 1895-1971, vol 1», 127-38 SALISBURY, Rollin D., 1858-1922, vol 6, 105-13 SAUER, Carl Ortwin, 1889-1975, vol 2, 99-108 SCHLUTER, Otto, 1872-1959, vol 6, 115-22 SCHMITTHENNER, Heinrich, 1887-1957, vol 5, 117-21 SCHRADER, Franz, 18^-19?^, vol 1, 97-103 SCHWERIN, Hans Hugold von, 1853-1912, vol 8, 81-86 SCORESBY, William, 1789-1857, vol h, 139-U? SEMPLE, Ellen Churchill, 1863-1932, vol 8, 87-91' SHALER, Nathaniel Southgate, 131(11906, vol 3, 133-9 SHIGA, Shigetaka, 1863-1927, vol 8, 95-105 SIEVERS, Wilhelm, 1860-1921, vol 8, 107-110 SMITH, George Adam, l856-19l»2, vol 1, 105-6 SMOLENSKI, Jerzy, l88l-ialtO, vol 6, .123-7 SOLCH, Johann, 1883-1951, vol 7, 117-2l» SOMERVILLE, Mary, 1780-1872, vol 2, 109-11 STOFFLER, Johannes, 11*52-1531, vol 5, 123-8 STRZELECKI, Patfel Edmund, 1797-1873, vol 2, 113-18 TAMAYO, Jorge Leonides, 1912-1978 vol 7, 125-8 TATISHCHEV, Vasili Nikitich, 1686-1750, vol 6, 129-32 TAYLOR, Thomas Griffith, 1880-1963, vol 3, 1^1-53 TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, Pierre, l88l1955, vol 7, 129-33 TILLO, Alexey Andreyevich, 1839-1900. vol 3, 155-9 TOPELIUS, Zachris, I818-I898, vol 3, 161-3 TROLL, Carl, 1899-1975, vol 8, 111-121* VALLAUX, Camille, l870-19l*5, vol 2, 119-26 VALSAN, Georg, 1885-1935, vol 2, 127-33 VERNADSKY, Vladimir Ivanovich, l863-19l*5, vol 7, 135-M

VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN, Louis, 1802-1896, vol 6, 133-8 VOYEIKOV, Alexander Ivanovich, 18142-1916, v o l 2 , 135-1+1 VUJEVIC, P a v l e , 1881-1966, v o l 5 , 129-31 WAIBEL, Leo Heinrich, 1888-1951, vol 6, 139-1*7 WALLACE, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913, vol 8, 125-133 WARD, Robert DeCourcy, 1867-1931, vol 7, 1^5-50 WELLINGTON, John Harold, 1892-1981, vol 8, 135-1^0 WEULERSSE, Jacques, 1905-19!(6, vol 1, 107-12 WISSLER, Clark, 1870-19W, vol 7, 151-1* WOOLDRIDGE, Sidney William, 19001 9 6 3 , v o l 8 , llH-ll+9 YAMASAKI, Naomasa, 1870-1928, vol 1, 113-17

159