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Human Geography Nature & Scope Chapter Notes CBSE Class 12 Humanitas

CBSE Class 12 Geography Chapter Notes Human Geography Nature & Scope
16 April 2025 by
Akash Kumar

Human Geography Nature & Scope Chapter Notes CBSE Class 12 Humanitas

CBSE Class 12 Geography Chapter Notes Human Geography Nature & Scope

Human Geography studies intricate relations between individuals and their surroundings. Its ambit involves research into population processes, cultural practices, economic functions, and spatial patterns and relationships, with the result providing information on regional development, urbanization, and globalization.

Human geography   

Human geography examines the interaction between people and their environment, specifically how individuals relate to, transform, and adapt within their environment. It combines aspects of physical geography (landforms, climate, water, vegetation) and humanmade elements (settlements, industries, transportation). The discipline informs us about spatial distributions, cultural landscapes, and economic differences in regions. 

  • Definition & Scope: Studies the relationship between human beings and the earth's surface. Emphasizes population, culture, economy, and spatial distribution of human activities. 
  • Human & Physical Environment Link: Physical environment (land, water, climate) offers resources for human use. Humans transform nature by constructing cities, industries, farms, and infrastructure. Physical environment (land, water, climate) offers resources for human use. Humans transform nature by constructing cities, industries, farms, and infrastructure. 
  • Key Scholars & Their Views: 
    • F. Ratzel: Human geography is a synoptic study of human-earth relationships. 
    • Ellen C. Semple: Emphasizes the dynamic relationship between humans and the environment. 
    • Paul Vidal de la Blache: Stresses regional differences and human adaptability. 
  • Examples of Human Impact on Nature: Roads, railways, and water transport as arteries of circulation. Cities and towns as organisms developing in the natural environment. Changing landscapes for cultivation, industries, and urban development.

Dualism 

The three dualisms in geography which started wide-ranging debates in the discipline of geography are: 

  1. Whether geography as a discipline should be a law making/ the rising (nomothetic) or descriptive (idiographic).
  2. Whether the approach of the study should be regional or systematic. 
  3. Whether geographical phenomena can be interpreted theoretically or through a historic institutional approach. 

Difference between regional and systematic approach 

Systematic: In systematic approach all geographical phenomena are interpreted over the country or the continent. It is basically a topical approach. 

Regional: In this approach the country or continent or world is divided into various regions and each geographical region is thoroughly interpreted with reference to all geographical elements. 

Naturalisation of humans  

  • This refers to early stages of interaction between the natural environment and humans where humans are adapted to dictates of nature. 
  • It indicates a very low level of technology and social development. 
  • Naturalised humans listen to nature, are afraid of its fury and worship nature. 
  • Direct dependence of humans on nature. 
  • The physical environment for naturalised humans becomes mother nature. 
  • This type of interaction between primitive human society and strong forces of nature was termed as environmental determinism. 

Humanisation of nature 

  • This refers to the interaction between the forces of nature and humans who begin to understand the force of nature. 
  • It indicates development of efficient technology and better social and cultural relations. 
  • Humans move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom. 
  • Resources are obtained from the environment to create more opportunities. 
  • Humans make use of nature so that nature gets humanised showing the imprints of human activities. 
  • The earlier scholars termed this as possibilism 

Neo determinism 

  • A geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced another concept which reflects a middle path (Madhyam Marg) between the two ideas of environmental determinism and possibilism. He termed it as Neo-determinism or stop and go determinism. 
  • The concept shows that neither is there a situation of absolute necessity (environmental determinism) nor is there a condition of absolute freedom (possibilism). It means that human beings can conquer nature by obeying it. They have to respond to the red signals and can proceed in their pursuits of development when nature permits the modifications.  
  • It means that possibilities can be created within the limits which do not damage the environment and there is no free run without accidents. The free run which the developed economies attempted to take has already resulted in the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, global warming, receding glaciers and degrading lands. The neo-determinism conceptually attempts to bring a balance nullifying the ‘either’ ‘or’ dichotomy. 

Approaches to study of human geography 

“The approaches to the study of human geography have been evolving over a period of time”. 

  • Welfare or humanistic school of thought in human geography was mainly concerned with the different aspects of social well-being of the people. These included aspects such as housing, health and education.  
  • Radical school of thought employed Marxian theory to explain the basic cause of poverty, deprivation and social inequality. Contemporary social problems were related to the development of capitalism.  
  • The Behavioural school of thought laid great emphasis on lived experience and also on the perception of space by social categories based on ethnicity, race and religion, etc.

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