Geography as a subject in the American schools and colleges was diffused by the Europeans in the middle of the 19th century. Arnold Guyot was the first professor of geography in America. Guyot was a teleologist, and his teleological viewpoint, considered the continents as the abode of man, and the theatre for the action of human societies. Guyot's view of the role of man on the earth had a great influence on the attitudes of his era through many of his school textbooks. He explored the Appalachian Mountains for over thirty years. His philosophical approach was in conformity with that of Carl Ritter.
In 1870, 'physical geography' was started at Harvard in the Department of Natural History. In 1878, William Morris Davis, the eminent geologist and geomorphologist became the Asst. Professor of geography. Moreover, the American Geographical Society was started in 1851.
Shaler was a distinguished geologist at the Harvard University. Shaler wrote 'Nature and Man in America'. In this book he discussed 'the effect of physical conditions of the earth on the development of organic life in general with special emphasis on the origin and character of the relief and climate'. 'Virtually all thinkings at this time adopted the view that the life of man on the earth was ordained by the offerings of the physical environment'. It is from this background that Davis, a geologist emerges in the first quarter of this century as the main founder of modern geography in America.
Mark-Jefferson. He traveled widely and corresponded frequently and at length. In America he was the founder of real man-oriented geography. The approach of Jefferson in the period dominated by Davis, sought for generalizations regarding man's imprint on the land. He examined the size, extent and functions of cities, and areas of access to railroads under the succinct phrase 'the civilizing rails'.
The concept of 'Central Places' the law of 'Primate City' the 'Civilizing-rails' were coined and identified by him. His students of urban geography, urban centres as 'central places' were far ahead of their times. He stated many times that his geographical concern was with man 'where they are', 'what they are like' and 'why they are there'. This approach is eminently ecological, which seeks to discover casually interrelated associations of various distributions that lead to further understanding of human groups in their environmental settings.
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