Geographic thought MCQ Quiz in मल्याळम - Objective Question with Answer for Geographic thought - സൗജന്യ PDF ഡൗൺലോഡ് ചെയ്യുക

Key Points

•  Griffith Taylor argued that the limit of agricultural settlements in Australia has been set by factors of the physical environment such as a distribution of rainfall.
• According to him, Man is able to accelerate, slow, or stop the progress of a country’s region's development.
• But he should not, if he is wise, depart from directions as indicated by the natural environment.
• He compared Man with the Traffic Controller in a large city who alters the rate but not the direction of progress.

Additional Information

Friedrich Ratzel, a great geographer of Germany, was born in 1844,. He was greatly influenced by Darwin's Theory of Origin of Species.

• He made a systematic study of Human Geography.
• He coined the word 'Anthopogeography' after studying tribes, races, and nations.
• He was a strong supporter of the 'Deterministic Approach'.
• His book “ANTHROPOGEOGRAPHY” was completed between 1872 and 1899.
• In 1897, Ratzel wrote, “Political Geography” in which he compared the state to an organism. 

Alexander Von Humboldt, along with Carl Ritter is known as the founder of Modern Geography.

• He wrote 'Cosmos'  in 1845 which gave a comprehensive account of the travels and expeditions of Humboldt.
• Humboldt coined the term 'Cosmography' and divided it into Uranography and Geography.
• Humboldt believed in the inductive method and emphasized the empirical method of research.

Jean Brunhes was born in 1869. He was a disciple of Vidal de La blache.

• He elaborated Blache's ideas about regional and human geography.
• His main work “Geographic Humaine: Essai de classification positive was published in 1910.
• In his method of geographical study, he emphasized two principles: (1) Principle of activity (2) Principle of interaction

Hence, Stop and Go determinism was propounded by Griffith Taylor.

Ibn-Batuta is most widely travelled and wrote down his travel account for posterity.

Key Points

Ibn-Batuta (1304-1368 AD):

• Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan explorer.
• He is known for the account of his journeys called the Rihla ("Voyage"), 
• The most famous travel books, the Riḥlah (Travels) on many aspects of the social, cultural, and political history of a great part of the Muslim world.
• He traveled for nearly 30 years and covered most of the Islamic world.
• He also explored West Africa, Southern, and Eastern Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China.

Correct Answer: ​(A), (C), and (D) only.

Key Points

• Environmental determinism is the belief that the environment, most notably its physical factors such as landforms and climate, determines the patterns of human culture and societal development.
• Environmental determinists believe that ecological, climatic, and geographical factors alone are responsible for human cultures and individual decisions.
• Although many geographers accepted its central tenants, the concept is most closely associated with the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel and with two Americans who studied under Ratzel, Ellen Churchill Semple, and Ellsworth Huntington. 
• Environmental determinism then became popular in the United States in the early 20th Century when Rätzel’s student, Ellen Churchill Semple, a professor at Clark University in Worchester, Massachusetts, introduced the theory there.
• Like Rätzel’s initial ideas, Semple’s were also influenced by evolutionary biology.
• The environment has a critical role in the natural selection process for Darwinian evolution. Environmental determinism rose to its most prominent stage in modern geography beginning in the late 19th Century when it was revived by the German geographer Friedrich Rätzel and became the central theory in the discipline. Rätzel's theory came about following Charles Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 and was heavily influenced by evolutionary biology and the impact a person’s environment has on their cultural evolution.

Additional Information

• Although environmental determinism is a relatively recent approach to formal geographic study, its origins go back to ancient times.
• Climatic factors, for example, were used by Strabo, Plato, and Aristotle to explain why the Greeks were so much more developed in the early ages than societies in hotter and colder climates.
• Ibn Khaldun, an Arab sociologist, and scholar was officially known as one of the first environmental determinists. He lived from 1332 to 1406, during which time he wrote a complete world history and explained that the hot climate of Sub-Saharan Africa caused dark human skin.​

The Correct Answer; Al - Masudi.

Key Points

• Al Masudi an Arab explorer from Baghdad, gave an account of the reversal of ocean currents and the monsoon winds over the north Indian plain.
• The term monsoon has been derived from the Arabic word mousim or the Malayan word monsin which means season.
• A monsoon is characterized by a seasonal reversal of wind direction.
• Although monsoons are mentioned in old literature like the Rigveda and in the writings of Buddhist scholars, the credit for the first scientific description of monsoon winds goes to the Arab scholars.
• Al Masudi, the tenth-century Arab scholar, provided a detailed description of monsoon winds and their seasonal reversal characteristic.
• The famous Arab scholar, a world traveler, and a prolific writer, Al- Masudi coined the term Monsoon and gave a good account of these periodic winds of the Herkend (Bay of Bengal). Interestingly Al-Masudi also remarks about using these winds as a source of energy.

Additional Information

• Al-Masudi was an Arab historian, geographer, and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs".
• Al-Masudi was one of the well-known climatologists of his time.
• He gave a good account of the periodic winds (monsoons) of the Herkend (Bay of Bengal). He has given the example of the windmills that he found in the desert of Rajasthan on the western frontier of India.

L. Febvre is the founder of Possibilism.

Possibilism:

• Febvre (1932) in ‘A Geographical Introduction to History’ stated ‘there are no necessities, but everywhere possibilities; and man, as the master of these possibilities, is the judge of their use’.
• The doctrine of possibilism tries to explain the relationship of a human being with the environment in a different way; it puts humans at a higher level and regards it as an active agent.
• It is a principle that claims that the environment provides opportunities and man being an economic man chooses from those possibilities. 
• Possibilism was further flourished by acclaimed historian Lucien Febvre (1878-1956).
• He puts forward - “Whatever the men do in their own environment, they cannot completely get rid of themselves completely."
• Febvre emphasized human initiative and motivation against the environment, destroying the environmental deterministic reasoning and as part of the environment of any group, as well as other humans, because they belong to the next group's cultural surroundings, or the constraints of the environment are influenced by such thinking.
• He stated that in the view of possibilists, a homogeneous region does not necessarily result in a homogeneous society.
• This is because people residing in any area have the choice of possibilities from time to time and also in the quantity they want. 

The correct sequence is Anaximander, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus.

The correct answer is A and C Only.Key PointsA. Chinese scholars first developed a scientific method of cartography based on a rectangular co-ordinate system.

• Chinese scholars made significant contributions to the field of cartography. One notable achievement was the development of a scientific method of cartography based on a rectangular co-ordinate system.
• This methodology was outlined in the "Book of Sui," a work written by the Chinese cartographer and geographer Pei Xiu in the 3rd century.
• The rectangular co-ordinate system provided a systematic approach to map-making and greatly enhanced the accuracy and precision of Chinese maps during that time.
• This advancement in cartography demonstrated the Chinese scholars' commitment to scientific methods and their deep understanding of spatial representation.

C. They recognized that Africa was a southward pointing triangle, whereas on contemporary maps it was always represented as pointing eastwards.

• In addition to their advancements in cartography, Chinese scholars also demonstrated an understanding of geographic features and accurate map representations.
• One example of this is their recognition that Africa had a distinct shape as a southward pointing triangle.
• While contemporary maps often depicted Africa as pointing eastwards, Chinese scholars had a different perspective and accurately represented it as a southward pointing triangle.
• This understanding can be observed in maps created during the Ming Dynasty, such as the Shanhai Yudi Quantu, which accurately depicted Africa's triangular shape pointing towards the south. This recognition of Africa's geographic shape showcases the Chinese scholars' attention to detail and their commitment to accurately representing the world in their maps.

Important Points

• Chinese scholars made notable contributions to geographical thought.
• They developed a scientific method of cartography based on a rectangular co-ordinate system, as outlined in the "Book of Sui" by Pei Xiu.
• They also recognized and accurately represented Africa as a southward pointing triangle in their maps, deviating from the contemporary eastward representation.
• These contributions highlight the Chinese scholars' advancements in cartography and their keen observation of geographical features.

 Ferdinand de Saussure is associated with Structuralism

 Important Points

• Structuralism is a mode of knowledge of nature and human life that is interested in relationships rather than individual objects or, alternatively,
• where objects are defined by the set of relationships of which they are part and not by the qualities possessed by them taken in isolation.
• The structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) actually paved the journey of structuralism which was later on applied in a diverse range of fields based on different other perspectives and contexts with the advancement of time and discourse.
• His philosophy was based on the understanding of the relative meaning of the words or linguistic signs depending on the essentially different opposite meanings which are called binary oppositions since they appear to be in pairs. 
• Structuralism views human behavior and cultural practices as shaped by underlying structures, such as language, and seeks to uncover these structures and the relationships between them.​

Additional Information 

Positivism

• Positivism thought was developed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), however,
• it was introduced in the 1950s in geography.
•   The importance of positivism in geography was given between the 1950s and to 1980s along with the quantitative revolution.
• However, after the 1980s, more criticism was developed of Positivism thought.
• Positivism within geography can be described as the use of the modern scientific method. Although undoubtedly more influential within physical geography, this has had a significant impact on human geography as well.

Behaviorism

• ​Behaviorism emphasized the inclusion of other factors like ethnicity, age, profession, knowledge, caste, religion, etc. in addition to economic factors for the decision-making of human beings.
• behavioral geography is an ideology/approach in human geography that makes use of the methods and assumptions of behaviorism to determine the cognitive processes involved in an individual's perception of or response and reaction to their environment.

Feminism 

Feminist geography is primarily concerned with the real experiences of individuals and groups in their own localities. It can be viewed as the study of "situated knowledge derived from the lives and experiences of women in different social and geographic locations.

The correct chronological order of Greek scholars is:

Key Points

• Hecataeus (circa 6th century BCE)
• Eratosthenes (circa 3rd century BCE)
• Hipparchus (circa 2nd century BCE)
• Posidonius (circa 1st century BCE)

So, the correct order is option 1) "C, A, D, B."

Important Points Hecataeus (circa 6th century BCE):

• Hecataeus of Miletus is considered one of the earliest Greek geographers and historians.
• He created one of the first known maps of the known world and is known for his work "Ges Periodos" or "Description of the Earth."
• Hecataeus' work laid the foundation for later Greek and Roman geographers by introducing the concept of dividing the world into regions.

Eratosthenes (circa 3rd century BCE):

• Eratosthenes, known as the "Father of Geography," made significant contributions to the measurement of the Earth's circumference.
• He calculated the Earth's circumference with remarkable accuracy using the angle of the Sun's rays at different locations.

Hipparchus (circa 2nd century BCE):

• Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer and geographer known for his contributions to astronomy and geography.
• He cataloged stars and made significant advancements in the understanding of celestial movements.
• In geography, Hipparchus made observations related to latitude and longitude, improving the precision of geographic coordinates.

Posidonius (circa 1st century BCE):

• Posidonius was a Greek philosopher, astronomer, and geographer.
• He contributed to the fields of astronomy, geography, and meteorology.
• Posidonius' works included discussions on the Earth's climate zones and the influence of geography on human societies.

The correct answer is option 3) "B and D only."

Important PointsWelfare geography is a branch of human geography that studies how resources, opportunities, and well-being are distributed across different geographic areas, focusing on understanding and addressing inequalities and disparities in access to essential services and benefits.

• A. This statement is not correct. Welfare geography was not necessarily revolutionary in theory and practice. While it aimed to address issues related to inequalities and welfare, it did not necessarily represent a revolutionary approach.

B. This statement is correct. The basis of welfare geography is indeed focused on "who gets what, where and how." It examines spatial variations in the distribution of resources and benefits.

• C . This statement is not correct. Welfare geography is not necessarily based on positivism. It encompasses a range of theoretical perspectives and methodologies.

D. This statement is correct. Welfare geography is a pragmatic approach aimed at overcoming problems of inequalities by studying the spatial distribution of resources and welfare.

So, the correct answer is option 3) "B and D only."