Geographic Thought Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The concept of mental map was developed in geography by Gould and White, whose book Mental Maps (1974) studied people's spatial images and preferences. Downs and Stea wrote about cognitive mapping and image of the environment, Saarinen about perception of environment and Boulding about image, so the key credits Gould and White with the concept. The answer is B.

Answer: C

The correct matching is a-iii, b-i, c-ii, d-iv. Woolridge and Morgan wrote the Spirit and Purpose of Geography, Thornbury wrote Principles of Geomorphology, Van Richthofen (Ferdinand von Richthofen) wrote Geomorphology (Morphologie), and Steers wrote The Unstable Earth. This is the order in code (C).

Code (A) pairs Woolridge and Morgan with Principles of Geomorphology, which is Thornbury's textbook. Code (B) gives Thornbury the Spirit and Purpose of Geography. Code (D) gives Woolridge and Morgan the book by Steers. Each of these fails at its first pair.

Answer: C

The correct matching is Alexander von Humboldt, Germany; Ellen Churchill Semple, U.S.A.; Peter Haggett, U.K.; Jean Brunhes, France. This gives a-iv, b-iii, c-ii, d-i, which is code (C).

Codes (A), (B) and (D) each mis-assign at least one geographer. For instance, Semple was an American follower of Ratzel, so U.K. is wrong for her, and Haggett, author of Locational Analysis in Human Geography, was British, not American or French.

Answer: D

The answer given by the official key is Bunge, whose Theoretical Geography (1962) set out geography as a science of spatial laws and the discovery of predictive patterns, in the quantitative revolution.

Haggett is known for locational analysis and spatial models, and Harvey for Explanation in Geography (1969), which dealt with methodology. Stewart is known for the social physics and gravity-model work of the period. Of the four, it is Bunge's definition that the official key takes as the one asked for.

Answer: A

Geographers studying the patterns and processes of spatial interaction are most concerned with accessibility and connectivity. Interaction between places depends on how easily they can be reached and how well they are linked by transport and communication networks.

Density and dispersion describe how things are distributed in space, not how places interact. Diffusion and pattern deals with the spread of phenomena over space. Pedestrian cities is a topic in urban form and has no bearing on spatial interaction, so these options are wrong.

Answer: B

The Humanistic School of Geography was founded by Yi-Fu Tuan, who in the 1970s argued for studying people's experience of place, with ideas such as topophilia and sense of place, in reaction to the quantitative revolution.

Wolpert is known for behavioural studies and decision-making in spatial settings. Kirk is associated with the idea of a behavioural environment. Harvey is known for the radical or Marxist geography movement. None of the three is credited as founder of the humanistic school.

Answer: B

Al-Masudi, the tenth-century Arab geographer and historian, is credited with correlating the colour of ocean water with its salinity, a point the official key records as the answer.

Ibn-Khaldun is known for his geographic and sociological work on the effect of climate on society, and for the Muqaddimah. Ibn-Sina (Avicenna) was a philosopher and physician. Al-Maqdisi is known for his regional description of the Muslim world, the Ahsan al-Taqasim. These three are linked with other contributions, so they are wrong.

Answer: A

The quotation that all history must be treated geographically and all geography historically is credited by the official key to Herodotus, the Greek historian, who combined narrative of events with description of places and peoples, so that history and geography are bound together.

Ratzel is the German founder of anthropogeography and the Lebensraum idea. Blache (Vidal de la Blache) founded the French school of possibilism. Davis is known for the cycle of erosion in geomorphology. None of the three is assigned this quotation.

Answer: A

According to the official key, the Greeks developed the science of astronomy as a school of thought in geography. They measured the earth, worked out its sphericity and proposed models of the heavens, with Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Ptolemy being the best known names.

The Chinese and Romans made observations and applied geography, but the Romans were chiefly engineers and administrators. The Arabs preserved, translated and extended Greek astronomy, but the science is traced to the Greeks, which is why the key does not take the other schools.

Answer: C

The concept of compage was propounded by Derwent Whittlesey, who used it in his 1929 paper on sequent occupance. A compage is a region defined by the grouping of related phenomena of human occupance in an area.

Minshull wrote on regional geography and its methods. Blache was the French founder of possibilism. Isard was a regional scientist who wrote on location and regional science. None of them is credited with the term compage.