Bernhardus Varenius
(Father of Geographical Dualism)
🕰️ Historical Context:
We’re now in the 17th century, where geography was slowly emerging from being just map-making or travel storytelling into a serious, structured academic discipline.
Imagine geography as a classroom full of scattered notes—Varenius was the teacher who entered and organized everything into subjects, chapters, and modules 😊
📘 His Magnum Opus: “Geographia Generalis” (1650)
- This book was like the NCERT of that time for geographers.
- For the first time, a scientific classification of geography was proposed.
- Isaac Newton admired his work so much that he edited and published an improved version of it!
🧭 Father of Dualism in Geography
What is Dualism?
He introduced the idea that geography is not a single unified study—but it can (and should) be split into two main branches:
A. Regional Geography
- Focus: Study of geographical phenomena in a specific region.
- Example: Studying monsoon patterns, salinity variations, and trade winds in the Indian Ocean only.
→ This is like watching a movie scene by scene—you focus on one region and understand it deeply.
B. General Geography
- Focus: Find universal patterns and general theories that apply everywhere.
- Example: Studying how cyclones form in all oceans, and creating a general model that explains the process globally.
→ This is like understanding the entire script of the movie and figuring out the recurring themes.
🧠 According to Varenius:
“Regional and General geography are interdependent. You can’t understand one without the other.”
Imagine trying to understand India’s monsoon without knowing what monsoons are globally. That’s his point.
🧪 Three Conditions in Regional Geography
When studying a region, Varenius said it should be analyzed from three angles:
| Type of Condition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Celestial | Position of stars, sun, seasons, and time — basically astronomy-related |
| Terrestrial | Mountains, rivers, soil, oceans — physical features |
| Human | Culture, settlement, economy — human geography |
→ It’s like understanding a place by knowing its sky, its land, and its people.
🔍 Three Divisions of General Geography
In his attempt to classify everything, Varenius also divided General Geography into:
A. Absolute Geography
- Study of Earth as it is — its shape, size, rotation, etc.
- Example: Earth is an oblate spheroid; gravity differs at poles and equator.
B. Relative Geography
- Study of Earth’s position in space, or in relation to other celestial bodies.
- Example: How the Earth’s tilt causes seasons.
C. Comparative Geography
- Compare one region with another to discover patterns.
- Example: Comparing desert climates of Sahara vs. Thar vs. Arabian desert.
🏗️ His Tilt Toward Physical Geography
- Though he laid the foundation for both physical and human geography, his major focus was on the physical.
- This helped shape geography as a natural science, rooted in laws and processes of the Earth.
📌 Summary Table: Varenius’ Contributions
| Contribution | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Dualism | Geography has two main divisions: Regional and General |
| Geographia Generalis | First structured textbook of scientific geography |
| Threefold analysis of regions | Celestial, Terrestrial, Human |
| General Geography split into | Absolute, Relative, Comparative Geography |
| Focus | Primarily Physical Geography |
| Legacy | Created the foundation for systematic and scientific geography |
💡 Final Thought:
Varenius was like the syllabus designer of geography.
Before him, geography was a wandering traveler’s tale.
After him, it became a discipline with chapters, concepts, methods, and theories.