Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
(The Catalyst of Evolutionary Thinking in Geography)
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change.” — Darwin
📘 Origin of Species (1859): A Turning Point
- The same year Humboldt and Ritter passed away, Darwin published his landmark book that introduced the concept of evolution through natural selection.
- This marked the beginning of the modern (post-classical) phase in Geography.
- Materialistic scientific philosophy started replacing teleological and divine interpretations.
- Emphasis shifted to natural laws, causality, and observation.
- Birth of Nomothetic Approach: Search for general laws in geographical processes.
🌄 Impact on Geomorphology
“Landforms evolve over time like living organisms.”
- 🧠 W.M. Davis took inspiration from Darwin to develop the Geographic Cycle (Cycle of Erosion).
- Landforms go through Youth → Maturity → Old Age, much like organisms evolve.
- This made geomorphology evolutionary and process-based.
🏞️ Impact on Landschaft (Landscape Geography)
- German Geographers redefined Geography as “Landschaftskunde” or Landscape Science.
- Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary biology, they began studying landscape as a product of natural and cultural evolution over time.
👤 Impact on Human Geography
“Man is not separate from nature, but shaped by it.”
- Darwin’s Deterministic tone deeply influenced early Human Geographers:
- 🌍 Ratzel: Similar environments produce similar ways of life.
- 🌎 Ellen Churchill Semple: “Man is a product of the Earth’s surface.”
- 🌤️ Ellsworth Huntington: Climate determines civilization and development.
- Warm climates → lethargy, Cold climates → industriousness.
- ⚖️ Reaction to Determinism → Rise of Possibilism:
- Humans are not just passive recipients of nature but also agents of change.
- Environment sets the stage, but man writes the script.
🗺️ Impact on Political Geography
- 🧬 Darwin’s ideas of survival and competition were adopted by Friedrich Ratzel, who:
- Coined the term Lebensraum (Living Space).
- Equated a nation to a living organism that needs to expand and grow to survive.
- This concept influenced geopolitical expansionism, especially in early 20th-century Europe.
🏞️ Impact on Cultural Landscape
- 🌾 Carl Sauer later refined these ideas by proposing:
- Humans and environment are co-creators of the landscape.
- Geography should study cultural landscapes—how culture shapes nature and vice versa.
📌 Summary Table: Darwin’s Influence on Geography
| Area | Impact |
|---|---|
| Geomorphology | Inspired WM Davis’ Geographic Cycle |
| Landscape Geography | Promoted evolutionary view of landscapes |
| Human Geography | Strengthened Environmental Determinism |
| Political Geography | Ratzel’s Lebensraum based on survival logic |
| Cultural Geography | Led to Possibilism and Sauer’s concept of Cultural Landscape |
🎯 Final Takeaway
Darwin didn’t write a geography book, but he rewrote the way geographers think.
His theory of evolution became the backbone of scientific geography, influencing everything from landforms to politics, from environmental studies to human cultures.
With Darwin, Geography fully entered the scientific age—guided by laws, processes, and evolution, and no longer confined by religious or purely philosophical thought.