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Geography as a discipline

Class 11 | Chapter 1 | Probable Question and Answers | NCERT

What do you understand by the term “Geography”?

In general, Geography is the detailed study of our earth. Geography deals with the variation of all types of physical, social and cultural phenomenon with respect to place and time. This includes seas, oceans, land, atmosphere, countries, continents, biosphere, economic activities, cultural differences, etc. The main aim of Geography is to establish interrelation between two or many disciplines.

2. What are the three questions concerned with Geography?

Geography is concerned with these three questions – What, Where and Why?

3. With what the actual shape of earth can be compared to?

The actual shape of earth can be compared to a Geoid.

4. What are the main branches of Geography?

There are two main branches of geography – Physical Geography and Human Geography.

5. What is the origin of the word “Geography”? Who was the first to coin this word?

The word “Geography” had its origin from two Greek words – ‘geo’ and ‘graphos’ which means description of the earth. This term was coined for the first time by famous Greek scholar Eratosthenes.

6. What are the two approaches to study Geography?

The two ways to study Geography are – Systematic Geography Approach and Regional Geography Approach.

7. Who introduced the Systematic Geography Approach?

Alexander Von Humboldt

8. Who introduced the Regional Geography Approach?

Karl Ritter

9. What is Physical Geography? What are its divisions? Explain

The branch of Geography that deals with the natural components of the earth is called Physical Geography. This include the various processes involved in shaping earth’s surface, the various forms of life in it and the spatial variation among them.

It has the following divisions –

  1. Geomorphology – It studies the landforms, including their evolution and the various processes that help in their formation.
  2. Climatology – It studies the formation of atmosphere, components of weather or climate, climatic types and regions.
  3. Hydrology – It deals with the study of all forms of water bodies on the earth’s surface including their effects on various life forms. This include seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, etc.
  4. Soil Geography – It deals with the processes of soil formation, fertility status, soil types, their distribution and use.

10. What do you mean by human geography? Discuss its branches.

The branch of geography which studies the activities of human in detail is called human geography.

It has the following sub-divisions –

  1. Social or Cultural Geography – deals with the formation of societies, spatial changes and a number of cultural components.
  2. Population Geography – It studies the growth of population, its distribution, density, migration, etc.
  3. Economic Geography – It discusses the economic activities of people like production, commerce, tourism, etc. and the factors that affect them.
  4. Historical Geography – It studies the past landscapes and their changes.
  5. Political Geography – It deals with the geographical boundaries, inter-relation with other neighbouring states and the political behaviour of people.

11. What do you understand by Biogeography?

The combination of natural geography and human geography has given rise to Biogeography. It is concerned with the distribution of plants, animals and other forms of life on the earth’s surface.

12. How can we say that Geography is an integrated discipline?

or

Explain the relationship of geography with other subjects.

Geography is an integrated discipline as it considers the world as a system of interdependence. It has a close relation with social science, political science, economics, botany, zoology, climatology, population science and a lot more. Let us understand this with the help of some examples –

Geography has a relation with political science as the space, population and sovereignty are based upon geographical principles. Moreover, Political Geography studies the countries as a group of landmasses and also studies the political behaviour of the people that reside there.

Economics too has a relation with Geography. It discusses production, distribution and consumption, investment, etc. Moreover, it also discusses economic activities of humans with respect to place of residence. Similarly, Population Geography is related to Population Science where we study population distribution, birth rate and death rate, etc.

Thus it is clear that geography has a close relationship with the other subjects.

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