land of their birth, when not compelled or induced by powerful external causes to seek a new home.
Thus arises the spirit of patriotism, a product of purely geographical conditions, thereby differing from the sentiment of loyalty, which is of racial origin. Where race and soil conspire to evoke both loyalty and patriotism in a people, the moral qualities of a great and permanent nation are secured.Political geography. It is noticeable that the patriotic spirit is strongest in those places where people are brought most intimately into relation with the land; dwellers in the mountain or by the sea, and, above all, the people of rugged coasts and mountainous archipelagoes, have always been renowned for love of country, while the inhabitants of fertile plains and trading communities are frequently less strongly attached to their own land.
Amongst nomads the tribe is the unit of government, the political bond is personal, and there is no definite territorial association of the people, who may be loyal but cannot be patriotic. The idea of a country arises only when a nation, either homogeneous or composed of several races, establishes itself in a region the boundaries of which may be defined and defended against aggression from without. Political geography takes account of the partition of the earth amongst organized communities, dealing with the relation of races to regions, and of nations to countries, and considering the conditions of territorial equilibrium and instability.
The definition of boundaries and their delimitation is one of the most important parts of political geography. Natural boundaries are always the most definite and the strongest, lending themselves most readily to defence against aggression. The sea is the most effective of all, and an island state is Boundaries. recognized as the most stable. Next in importance comes a mountain range, but here there is often difficulty as to the definition of the actual crest-line, and mountain ranges being broad regions, it may happen that a small independent state, like Switzerland or Andorra, occupies the mountain valleys between two or more great countries. Rivers do not form effective international boundaries, although between dependent self-governing communities they are convenient lines of demarcation. A desert, or a belt of country left purposely without inhabitants, like the mark, marches or debatable lands of the middle ages, was once a common means of separating nations which nourished hereditary grievances. The “buffer-state” of modern diplomacy is of the same ineffectual type. A less definite though very practical boundary is that formed by the meeting-line of two languages, or the districts inhabited by two races. The line of fortresses protecting Austria from Italy lies in some places well back from the political boundary, but just inside the linguistic frontier, so as to separate the German and Italian races occupying Austrian territory. Arbitrary lines, either traced from point to point and marked by posts on the ground, or defined as portions of meridians and parallels, are now the most common type of boundaries fixed by treaty. In Europe and Asia frontiers are usually strongly fortified and strictly watched in times of peace as well as during war. In South America strictly defined boundaries are still the exception, and the claims of neighbouring nations have very frequently given rise to war, though now more commonly to arbitration.[1]
The modes of government amongst civilized peoples have little influence on political geography; some republics are as arbitrary and exacting in their frontier regulations as some absolute monarchies. It is, however, to be noticed that absolute monarchies are confined to the east of Europe and toForms of government. Asia, Japan being the only established constitutional monarchy east of the Carpathians. Limited monarchies are (with the exception of Japan) peculiar to Europe, and in these the degree of democratic control may be said to diminish as one passes eastwards from the United Kingdom. Republics, although represented in Europe, are the peculiar form of government of America and are unknown in Asia.
The forms of government of colonies present a series of transitional types from the autocratic administration of a governor appointed by the home government to complete democratic self-government. The latter occurs only in the temperate possessions of the British empire, in which there is no great preponderance of a coloured native population. New colonial forms have been developed during the partition of Africa amongst European powers, the sphere of influence being especially worthy of notice. This is a vaguer form of control than a protectorate, and frequently amounts merely to an agreement amongst civilized powers to respect the right of one of their number to exercise government within a certain area, if it should decide to do so at any future time.
The central governments of all civilized countries concerned with external relations are closely similar in their modes of action, but the internal administration may be very varied. In this respect a country is either centralized, like the United Kingdom or France, or federated of distinct self-governing units like Germany (where the units include kingdoms, at least three minor types of monarchies, municipalities and a crown land under a nominated governor), or the United States, where the units are democratic republics. The ultimate cause of the predominant form of federal government may be the geographical diversity of the country, as in the cantons occupying the once isolated mountain valleys of Switzerland, the racial diversity of the people, as in Austria-Hungary, or merely political expediency, as in republics of the American type.
The minor subdivisions into provinces, counties and parishes, or analogous areas, may also be related in many cases to natural features or racial differences perpetuated by historical causes. The territorial divisions and subdivisions often survive the conditions which led to their origin; hence the study of political geography is allied to history as closely as the study of physical geography is allied to geology, and for the same reason.
The aggregation of population in towns was at one time mainly brought about by the necessity for defence, a fact indicated by the defensive sites of many old towns. In later times, towns have been more often founded in proximity to valuable mineral resources, and at critical points or nodes on linesTowns. of communication. These are places where the mode of travelling or of transport is changed, such as seaports, river ports and railway termini, or natural resting-places, such as a ford, the foot of a steep ascent on a road, the entrance of a valley leading up from a plain into the mountains, or a crossing-place of roads or railways.[2] The existence of a good natural harbour is often sufficient to give origin to a town and to fix one end of a line of land communication.
In countries of uniform surface or faint relief, roads and railways may be constructed in any direction without regard to the configuration. In places where the low ground is marshy, roads and railways often follow the ridge-lines of hills, or, as in Finland, the old glacial eskers, which run parallelLines of communi-cation. to the shore. Wherever the relief of the land is pronounced, roads and railways are obliged to occupy the lowest ground winding along the valleys of rivers and through passes in the mountains. In exceptional cases obstructions which it would be impossible or too costly to turn are overcome by a bridge or tunnel, the magnitude of such works increasing with the growth of engineering skill and financial enterprise. Similarly the obstructions offered to water communication by interruption through land or shallows are overcome by cutting canals or dredging out channels. The economy and success of most lines of communication depend on following as far as possible existing natural lines and utilizing existing natural sources of power.[3]
Commercial geography may be defined as the description of the earth’s surface with special reference to the discovery, production, transport and exchange of commodities. The transport concerns land routes and sea routes, the latter being the more important. While steam has been said to Commercial geography. make a ship independent of wind and tide, it is still true that a long voyage even by steam must be planned so as to encounter the least resistance possible from prevailing winds and permanent currents, and this involves the application of oceanographical and meteorological knowledge. The older navigation by utilizing the power of the wind demands a very intimate knowledge of these conditions, and it is probable that a revival of sailing ships may in the present century vastly increase the importance of the study of maritime meteorology.
The discovery and production of commodities require a knowledge of the distribution of geological formations for mineral products, of the natural distribution, life-conditions and cultivation or breeding of plants and animals and of the labour market. Attention must also be paid to the artificial restrictions of political geography, to the legislative restrictions bearing on labour and trade as imposed in different countries, and, above all, to the incessant fluctuations of the economic conditions of supply and demand and the combinations of capitalists or workers which affect the market.[4] The term “applied geography” has been employed to designate commercial geography, the fact being that every aspect of scientific geography may be applied to practical purposes, including the purposes of trade. But apart from the applied science, there is an aspect of pure geography which concerns the theory of the relation of economics to the surface of the earth.
It will be seen that as each successive aspect of geographical science is considered in its natural sequence the conditions become
- ↑ For the history of territorial changes in Europe, see Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, edited by Bury (Oxford), 1903; and for the official definition of existing boundaries, see Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty (4 vols., London, 1875, 1891); The Map of Africa by Treaty (3 vols., London, 1896). Also Lord Curzon’s Oxford address on Frontiers (1907).
- ↑ For numerous special instances of the determining causes of town sites, see G. G. Chisholm, “On the Distribution of Towns and Villages in England,” Geographical Journal (1897), ix. 76, x. 511.
- ↑ The whole subject of anthropogeography is treated in a masterly way by F. Ratzel in his Anthropogeographie (Stuttgart, vol. i. 2nd ed., 1899, vol. ii. 1891), and in his Politische Geographie (Leipzig, 1897). The special question of the reaction of man on his environment is handled by G. P. Marsh in Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as modified by Human Action (London, 1864).
- ↑ For commercial geography see G. G. Chisholm, Manual of Commercial Geography (1890).
