Geography into the Twenty-First Century - Essay Example

His argument that ‘human cultural action’ that shapes the visible features of the earth’s surface through culture remains unquestioned. He said culture provokes action, responses, and adaptation by humans. “Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result. Under the influence of a given culture, itself changing through time, the landscape undergoes development, passing through phases, and probably reaching ultimately the end of its cycle of development. With the introduction of a different – that is an alien – culture, a rejuvenation of the cultural landscape sets in, or a new landscape is superimposed on remnants of an older one,” Sauer (1925), The Morphology of Landscape.” University of California Publications.

French regional geography was the effect of external forces taking place in other spheres of France. As Sauer argued, French regional geography, like any other part of the world, showed every sign, every scar and mark of history and culture on it. The static growth of the rural areas during the long rule of monarchy, the chaos, and the horrifying bloodshed during the French Revolution, impact of Napoleonic wars and aftermath, success over the vast oceans, usurping new colonies and competing to retain them, struggling for supremacy amongst other European powers, wars faced by France, the various political, cultural, military, historical and economic upheavals of the country are etched on the French landscape over centuries. Sauer says (Northern Mists) that France lost most of her ports and her north and southwest regions were ravaged during the war of hundred years. Napoleon’s wars had left bitter memories in both France and Britain. The country’s culture altered after the French revolution, and so did the French landscape. Newly attained colonies had left far-reaching impacts on European nations. The use of tobacco spread rapidly in France and immigration, especially to America was continuing unabatedly.   For geography and Geographer, nothing is as important as the place and the physical existence. “Place is crucial to human geographers, therefore, because it is the individuals’ learning context, the arena in which they learn to be humans and then act as such,” Rawling (1996, p.65).

Due to historical background and climatic changes, vegetation was not considered in France. According to Sauer, European agriculture did not originate in Europe and did not show impressive improvement over centuries. “Fields were plowed and planted principally in order to raise grain, which supplied the starch and a good deal of the protein in the diet of the people. To a far greater extent than is true today, the farmers of Northwest Europe made their living in the growth of small grains,” Sauer (1981, p. 31). Barley, wheat, oat and rye, legumes, oil and fiber plants, considerable varieties of fruits all came from colonies and the French were good with animal husbandry. “Dairying is the foundation of north European husbandry, not only the cattle but largely as well as sheep and goats. Fresh and sour milk, curds, butter and cheese provided, together with a grain a cheap and sufficiently balanced basic diet,” (ibid, p. 36).  Sauer says, there existed a good balance between climate, man, livestock, and vegetation and during this period, French-led a suitably ecological life.  

French regional geography had all the cultural traits advocated by Sauer and changed constantly according to changing patterns of the world, like paradigms of new inventions and discoveries.   This also involves Darwin’s determinism that was an immense contribution to cultural geography.  Environmental determinism, also known as Climatic Determinism, advocated by Darwin, is the view that the physical environment, rather than the social culture, determines culture. With a slight difference, Darwin and Sauer are speaking the same language and these are indications for peculiarities that determined the nature of the people. Environmental determinism became popular once again through Sauer. David Livingstone’s geographical tradition conveyed the idea that research interests in history and geography are of greater significance than physical geography. Talking about research interests and connected literature, Livingston (1992), says: “But beyond this corpus of technical work, the interest in faraway places also spawned a popular literature designed either to make the stock-in-trade crafts of the geographer known to a wider public or to keep readers abreast of global discovery and the most up-to-date international inventory,” (p.93).                                                                                               

It interested Sauer to find out the meaning and distribution of arts and artifacts of man and how they materialized at particular places and how they molded the physical experiments. “I like that expression, the meeting of natural and cultural history, partly because I prefer natural history with its sense of reality, non-duplicated time and place to ecology, and cultural history for the same reason to sociology or social science,” (p.2, Sauer, 1969).

In the meantime, the quest for cultural geography continues with particular emphasis on ecology and the environment. “We remain a part of the organic world, and as we intervene more and more decisively to change the balance and nature of life, we have also more need to know, by retrospective study, the responsibilities and hazards of our present and our prospects as lords of creation,” Sauer (1954, p.104).