Principles of Human Geography

Abstract

HUMAN grgeography is a new subject, but its facts are old. It is the outcome of the growth of ideas rather than the result of discovery. Man is not an abstraction in the world in which he lives, but his evolution is related to the environment in which he occurs. The study of environment is not static but one that involves continual change in values as man evolves. Prof. Vidal de la Blache shows that there is more in geography than merely a study of the stage on which man has played his part, for man himself is a geographical factor changing and moulding his environment, and the study of progress entails a study of his struggles with physical and other obstacles. His distribution over the globe and his varying degrees of progress arc the expression of the geographical conditions he has met.

Principles of Human Geography.

By P. Vidal de la Blache. Edited by Emmanuel de Martonne. Authorised translation from the French by Dr. Millicent Todd Bingham. Pp. xv + 511 + 6 plates. (London: Lonstable and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 18s. net.