Geography is an ancient and young subject. In the course of its development, three periods of ancient geography, modern geography and modern geography were obviously formed.
from ancient times to the end of the 18th century, it was the period of ancient geography, which mainly recorded geographical knowledge in descriptive way, and most of these records were fragmentary and lacked a theoretical system. There was no division of disciplines within geography, and geography in various countries basically developed under the closed conditions of the country.
in the early days, China and ancient Greece made the most remarkable achievements. China's works, such as Shang Shu Yu Gong, Guan Zi Di Yuan, Shan Hai Jing, Shui Jing Zhu, etc., are all earlier geographical historical materials in the world. In the later period, geographical explorers such as Columbus, da gama and Magellan emerged in the great European geographical discovery, and their discoveries greatly promoted the development of geography.
from the early 19th century to the 195s, it was a period of modern geography. The formation of modern geography is marked by the publication of two books, The Universe by Humboldt and The General Theory of Geosciences by Ritter.
Modern geography is the product of industrial revolution, and it has matured with the development of industrial society. During this period, various theories were divided and schools were numerous. Almost all disciplines of geography appeared and established in this period, so it is also a period of vigorous development of departmental geography.
Humboldt laid the foundation for physical geography and plant geography, and later Richthofen in Germany and Demathons in France made important contributions to the development of physical geography. Davis in the United States and Punk in Germany founded the theory of erosion cycle and the theory of parallel retreat of hillside respectively, which marked the establishment of geomorphology. The Handbook of Climatology written by Vohan, Austria, Global Climate and Russian Climate written by Voyeikov, Russia, and the World Climate Classification written by Ke Ben, Germany laid the foundation for climatology. Wallace of Britain laid the foundation for the division of world fauna into zoogeography. Dokuchaev's theory of soil zone laid the foundation for soil geography. Ritter and German Laczer established human geography and so on. Among them, human geographers expressed a deep-rooted desire: to understand the complexity and subtlety of human experience, so as to pay more attention to quality rather than quantity, adjectives rather than nouns, psychology rather than economics in practice. If idealized, a humanistic geographer should be such a alexander humboldt, who holds a large number of facts-that is, nouns. But he must also love nature, feel it and seek its meaning, just like his brother wilhelm humboldt. "What does it mean? What does it mean? " This problem must be hidden in the consciousness of humanistic geographer forever, so that he can become a moralist and a philosopher at the same time.
The 196s has been a period of modern geography. Modern geography is the product of modern scientific and technological revolution, and develops with the progress of science and technology. Its symbol is the birth of geographical quantitative method, theoretical geography and the emergence of computer mapping, geographic information system, satellite and other applications. Modern geography emphasizes the unity, theorization, quantification, behavior and ecology of geography.
Methodological and technical disciplines in geography-geographical quantitative methods, cartography, etc., will take the lead in obtaining more development; Comprehensive branches and applied branches, such as comprehensive physical geography, urban geography, tourism geography, medical geography, behavioral geography, resource geography and population geography, will develop rapidly; The trend of studying humanities in geography will be strengthened, and the proportion of human geography in geography will increase. From ancient times to the end of the 18th century. Geography in this period was the product of agriculture and animal husbandry society before the industrial revolution, and its characteristics were as follows:
① Descriptive records of geographical knowledge were the main features. Most of the early records were fragmentary, and many geographical works appeared in the middle and late period, but most of them lacked theoretical system.
② There is no discipline differentiation within geography. Early scholars were encyclopedic, and geography was mixed with other disciplines. In the late period, after the Renaissance, the division between natural science and humanities appeared mainly in Europe, but the division within geography was still not obvious. It was not until the 19th century that geography was obviously divided, which was in the modern geography period.
(3) The geography of various countries has basically developed under the condition that the country is closed, and its content is diversified.
Several ancient civilizations in the world have accumulated valuable geographical knowledge, forming ancient Egyptian geography, ancient Greek and Roman geography, ancient Indian geography, ancient Arabic geography and ancient China geography respectively. In the early days, the achievements of ancient China and ancient Greece and Rome were the most famous. China has works such as Shang Shu Yu Gong, Guan Zi Di Yuan, Shan Hai Jing, and ancient Greece and Rome have works by Eratosthenes, Strappo and Ptolemy. In the middle period, Europe entered the Middle Ages, and geography once declined. China's geography has made gratifying progress and achievements, such as Pei Xiu's Yu Gong Regional Map and the drawing principle of "six-body drawing", Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics, Xuanzang's Records of the Western Regions of Datang, and Li Jifu's Atlas of Yuanhe County, etc. Arab geography rose in this period, such as the important contributions of Massoudi and Idrisi. In the later period, geography in China and Europe was the most successful. In China, there are Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas, Luo Hongxian's Wide Map, Xu Xiake's Travel Notes, Gu Yanwu's Book of Diseases in the World's Counties and Countries, Zhao Yu Zhi, Gu Zuyu's Minutes of Reading Historical Records, etc. In Europe, geographical explorers such as C. Columbus and V.da Gamaliel emerged in the great geographical discovery, which greatly promoted the development of geography, and books and maps such as G. Mercator's Atlas and B. Varenius's General Geography appeared. (See the History of Chinese Geography) Europe in the Middle Ages was a dark age of economic and cultural decline. The small monarchy, which was a combination of politics and religion and closed to the outside world, greatly narrowed people's geographical horizons. The rulers tried to make geography a slave to Christianity, and there was a reaction to geographical thoughts. Not only the excellent traditions of ancient Greece and Rome in geography have not been inherited, but also religious superstitions and astrology are used to explain all geographical phenomena. For example, Cosmas, a businessman in the 6th century, wrote Terrain of the Christian World, replacing the spherical theory with the horizon theory. In the book, the sacred ark of Moses is taken as the shape of the earth, and the earth is regarded as a flat rectangle, which is twice as long as the north and south, surrounded by the ocean, and there is land outside it, that is, heaven.
After the 12th century, due to the Crusades, the geographical horizons of Europeans were broadened. The establishment of the feudal centralized state and the establishment of universities by the church translated the classical works of ancient Greece and Rome from Arabic; Coupled with the introduction of the compass from China, commercial navigation developed, which made some changes in European geographical works and map drawing.
since the 7th century, Islam has united scattered Arab tribes and ruled Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Iberian Peninsula, and Baghdad has become the academic center of the Islamic world. Years of campaigns, pilgrimage to mecca and commercial navigation activities have made the Islamic world a hub for exchanges between the East and the West, and many great Muslim travelers have emerged, such as Masudi. Decimal system and compass were introduced to Europe from China through Indian and Arab world in this period.
the achievements of ancient Arabic geography cannot be ignored. For example, in 921, Barchi collected the climate observations of Arab travelers and compiled the first World Climate Atlas; Later, Makdisi proposed a plan to divide the world into 14 climate zones; In the early 11th century, Avicenna observed the mountainous areas in Central Asia, and put forward the movement of folding and uplifting mountains and the uniform process of erosion and cutting topography.
China in this period has made great achievements in local chronicles, evolution geography, foreign geography, physical geography and maps. For example, Fa Xian's Biography of Fa Xian and Xuanzang's Records of the Western Regions of Datang are still important documents for studying the historical geography of Central Asia and India. Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics is still an important work to research the evolution of water resources and water environment in China. Shen Kuo's Meng Xi Bi Tan put forward the erosion, transportation and accumulation of rivers, and used it to explain the reasons for the formation of the North China Plain, which was four centuries earlier than similar insights in the West.
There were two important geographical events in the recent period from 15th century to 18th century, namely, China's Zheng He's "seven voyages to the West" and the great geographical discovery in the West. Although Zheng He's voyage to the West was more than half a century earlier than Columbus's geographical discovery, and his fleet size and navigation technology were far better than Columbus's, its social significance and influence on geography were far less than that of the geographical discovery.
the mutual travel and exploration between ethnic groups has existed since ancient times. However, travel and exploration are not the same thing as geographical discovery. It is precisely from the great social event of geographical discovery that Columbus was the discoverer of the New World.
Great geographical discoveries have brought great influence to geography. During the great geographical discovery, the compass was successfully used in long-distance navigation, and the longitude was measured accurately. The improvement of this technology and the accumulation of data led to the innovation of cartography.
at the beginning of 16th century, Yapian drew a map of the heart of the earth. In 1569, his disciple Mercator drew an isometric cylindrical projection map of the world suitable for navigation, becoming the first person to draw the whole earth surface on a plane. In China, the map of the world compiled by Italian missionary Matteo Ricci changed the old concepts of "a round place" and "China lives in the whole world" adopted by China scholars.
In addition, through geographical exploration and discovery from the end of 15th century to 18th century, some geographical works with high academic value appeared. M's Cosmology, published in 1544, is regarded as an early masterpiece of geographical discovery. Varenius's General Geography divides the field of geography into two parts for the first time: monograph and general theory. The former describes regional characteristics, while the latter reveals global laws.
After the emergence of capitalism in the late Ming Dynasty, China also conducted field investigation and theoretical exploration in the same period. For example, Xu Xiake's Travels has already discussed many causes. However, China's ancient geographical writings are mostly descriptive records, and lack of research on the overall law of the earth's surface, which is one of the reasons why modern China's geography is backward.
From the 152s to the 172s, the Renaissance appeared in Western Europe, and art and science flourished, thus enabling scholars to generalize some laws of nature and human activities. The geographical investigation and discovery at that time provided philosophers and scientists with rich concrete materials about nature, humanity and their relationship. At the same time, the new geographical materialism has exerted incalculable influence on the development of geography. The climate determinism put forward by Montesquieu, a French philosopher in the 17th century, and the dualism put forward by I Kant, a German philosopher in the 18th century all became the methodological basis of modern geography.
in short, from 15th to 18th century, geography was in a period of transition from ancient times to modern times. Western geography has spent more than three centuries, completing the preparation of technological innovation, data accumulation and the establishment of the philosophical foundation of geographical materialism, which created the premise for the establishment of modern geography in Europe and America. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, China also began to explore the overall surface laws. However, due to the lack of innovation in technical means and insufficient accumulation of scientific data, especially the rulers still advocated the theory of destiny, new geography could not rise. From the early 19th century to the 195s. The formation of modern geography is marked by the publication of Cosmos by German A.von Humboldt and General Theory of Geosciences by C. Ritter. Modern geography is the product of industrial revolution, and it has matured with the development of industrial society. Its characteristics are as follows:
① It originated in Germany, and then spread from Europe to the whole world, forming modern geography with national characteristics. Among them, except Germany, there are France, Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, etc. (see the history of German geography, French geography, British geography, American geography, and Soviet geography).
(2) This is a period of numerous theories and schools. The influential theories are: "environmental determinism" represented by American E.C. semple and E. Huntington, "possibility theory" represented by French P. Vidal-Brandeis and J. Bruner, "ecological adjustment theory" advocated by American H.H. Barros, and British P.
③ This is a period of great differentiation within geography. Humboldt laid the foundation for physical geography and plant geography, and later German F.von Richthofen and French Ma Dong made important contributions to the development of physical geography. W.M. Davis of the United States and W. Punk of Germany founded the theory of erosion cycle and the theory of parallel retreat of hillside respectively, which marked the establishment of geomorphology. Handbook of Climatology by Austrian J.F.von Hann, Global Climate and Russian Climate by Russian аи Voyeikov and World Climate Classification by German W.P. Ke Ben laid the foundation for climatology. British A.R. Wallace's division of the world's animal regions laid the foundation for animal geography; Dokuchaev's theory of soil zonality laid the foundation for soil geography. Ritter and German F. Laczer established human geography; Laczer's theory of national organism, heartland theory's theory of national self-determination of H.J. Mackinder in Britain and I. Bowman's theory of national self-determination in the United States laid the foundation for political geography, and so on.
from the end of 19th century to the beginning of 2th century, a large number of geography departments were set up in universities in western developed countries, which made geography become a professional field. With the further development of geography, there has been a division of various branches. After the independent development of meteorology, oceanography and pedology, some geographers emphasized the direction of region or landscape, while others promoted the humanistic movement, which made the humanistic branch of geography flourish. After 193s, geography gradually changed to participate in economic work, and applied geography in the west and construction geography in the Soviet Union came into being.
Modern geography has made many achievements in its development, and formed three traditions and three schools: ecological tradition and environmental school, descriptive tradition and regional school, comprehensive tradition and landscape school.
Modern geography has made many great achievements in its development. For example, Murray of the United States put forward the first atmospheric circulation model in the mid-19th century and published the first book of modern oceanography, Marine Physical Geography. Russian Dokuchaev put forward the theory of soil zonality and natural zone in the late 19th century. Davis put forward the theory of erosion reincarnation at the end of the 19th century. From the beginning of the 2th century to the 193s, Ke Ben put forward the climate classification and continental climate model: Mackinder in Britain put forward the geopolitical theory of "heartland theory" in 194 and 1919; Herbertson, England completed the world natural division; Christalle, Germany, put forward the central theory in 193s. In 1956, Budko of the Soviet Union published "Heat Balance on the Ground Surface" and so on. From the 196s to the present. Modern geography is the product of modern scientific and technological revolution, and develops with the progress of science and technology. Its symbol is the birth of geographical quantitative method and theoretical geography, and the emergence of computer mapping and geographic information system. The characteristics of modern geography are as follows:
① It originated in the United States, where the economy and science are the most developed, and it first affected Britain and Northern Europe, and then spread to Western Europe, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Japan, China and even the whole world. Representative figures and schools are: American W.L. Garrison and E.