The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the History of a Contested Enterprise

The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the History of a Contested Enterprise (1992)

By David N. Livingstone

Synopsis: This is an intellectual history of the field of geography, starting in the 1400s, of key chapters within geography that asks: What role did geography play in the past, what was it used for (i.e. religion, politics, economics), who benefited and who lost, and why were certain theories generated and accepted/rejected. Basically, this book seeks to recontextualize the history of geography by breaking it down into a few major eras beginning with the 1400s-1500s as an Age of Reconnaissance – exploration, discovery, and voyage; belief in astrology and magic and astronomy; mapping or regions based on astrological signs; obsession with maps and representations; world as a machine with parts made by divine creator – rise of natural theology/teleology/blend of religion and science; tool of imperialism with an increased focus on environmental determinism; critique of environmental determinism via French geographers and Carl Sauer who advocated for role of human agency and focus on regional identities [wait – I though Sauer believed in superorganic?]; geography as bridge between science/nature and culture/human; increased focus on statistics and quantification – geography as a spatial science; increased effort to re-humanize geography and bring the human angle back in; rise of postmodernism, fragmentation, and the particularity or place. Bottom line: Geography has always been a contested field subject to the various ideological needs and influences of various historical periods.

Interesting Specifics:

Scientific Revolution = 1500s-1600s; though magic and astrology often co-existed with science

1600s = early “intelligent design” theory, that if all was so perfect on earth, it must have been designed by a wise creator (108)

1700s = rise of exploration for scientific purposes, whereas before was mostly for imperialistic, evangelical, or commercial purposes (125)

American geography was greatly bolstered by Thomas Jefferson, as he was obsessed with science and nature and with documenting the vast U.S. natural resources; Livingstone called Jefferson the “father of American geography.”

Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804

Late 19^th-early 20^th-century saw rise of climatology and the supposed link between climate and the temperament of races, leading to a “moral economy” of climate (235).

Geopolitics emerges then too; bottom line: in 1900s geography still being used for “practical” purposes

1970s marks desire for return of the human element in geography, rise of humanistic geography.