Richard Hartshorne

Richard Hartshorne is one of famous American

geographers. He was born in December 12,
1899. In Kittanning pennsyluania.his father
was graduate of Haver collage was an
episcopal minister and Darwinian enthusiast
who had studied evolutionary biology and
chemistry His mother was an unsung
litterateur .Here Richard Hartshorne grew up a
rural environment where book learning and
knowledge of bible were essintials.He had four brothers and one
sister.
When Richard was in nine years old the family moved
from Kittanning to Phoenixville pennsylnania.his school work was
unusually good .he was prize debater, manager of the baseball
team and member of the football team. .
Hartshorne has taught at various American universities. He was a
professor at the University of Minnesota from 1924 to 1940 and at
the University of Wisconsin from 1940 to 1970. He completed a
doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1924. In the 1930 he
published some important articles concerning political geography.
He wrote The Nature of Geography in 1939, a monumental work
that investigated the literature of several countries to synthesize
what had been thought and written concerning the nature of
geography. The book became required reading in many U.S.
graduate school, in 1959, Hartshorne published Perspective on
the Nature of Geography, which provided the benefit of 20 years'
further thought and reflection by the author. In 1989, on its fiftieth
anniversary, the Association of American Geographers published
Reflections on Richard Hartshorne's The Nature of Geography.
Hartshorne has taught at various American universities. He was a

professor at the University of Minnesota which is he studied from

1924 to 1940 and at the University of Wisconsin from 1940 to
1970.( http://www.tandfonline.com)
Hartshorne's most famous book is The Nature of Geography. A
Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past,
reflected his concern that geographers, as scientists and scholars,
should familiarize themselves with, and take account of, past
work in their field. The book itself became a standard in the field
and remained in print for decades; the seventh edition was
published in 2000. In the 1950s Hartshorne was part of a key
geographical debate over the nature of the subject. Fred K.
Schaefer called for the adoption of the 'scientific method' and
study of spatial laws and criticized the 'old method' promoted by
Hartshorne as the 'Hartshornian orthodoxy.
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1927. "Location as a Factor in Geography"

1933. "Geographic and Political Boundaries in Upper Silesia
1935. "Recent Developments in Political Geography, I"
1935. "Recent Developments in Political Geography, II"
1941. "The Politico-Geographic Pattern of the World"
1960. "Political Geography in the Modern World",
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hartshorn)

Richard Hartshornes Contribution to the Field of Social

Geography, Population Geography The paper focuses upon the
contributions of Richard Hartshorne to the conceptualization of
social geography. It is based upon the single paper which
Hartshorne published and which basically dealt with racial
distribution in United States. Like many of his publications, this
paper also became pioneering innovation and there were
difficulties in categorizing the same either to political geography
or to the field of social geography. Despite the pedagogic difficulty
of exactly locating its place in various branches of geography, it
may be emphasize that the paper may appropriately be placed in
the empirical domains that are largely overlapping rather than

being mutually exclusive. However the paper may be considered

having unique importance for initiating the field of social
geography. The present paper in this context offers to evaluate
the contribution of Richard Hartshorne to social geography. In a
way, Khan has provided a summary of what Hartshorne had
written decades ago.

The most important contributions of geography to the world of

knowledge in those days came from application of technique of
mapping distributions and comparing and generating the patterns
of distribution. This paper by Hartshorne could be termed as a
fine example of having demonstrated the effective use of
distribution maps, their comparison and making genralisationson
the basis of these maps. The maps so prepared by Hartshorne
were a good mix of choropleth technique and the dot method so
as to make the interpretation of the maps more effective and
realistic. It may be pointed out that such maps automatically
become overtime, a powerful source of historical evidence. Also
Hartshorne emphasized through these maps that the problem of
racial minorities in U.S.A. was fundamentally of regional nature.

Sir

Helford John Mackinder

Sir Helford John Mackinder was born on 15 February 1861 at
Elswitha Hall, Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. Mackinder was an
English geographer. After early schooling at Queen Elizabeth
Grammar School, Gainsborough Mackinder went to Epsom
College, boarding school in Surrey, from 1874 to 1880, before
going up to Christ Church, Oxford. In the years 1880 to 1883
Mackinder studied animal morphology receiving a first class
degree in natural science. In his fourth year Mackinder read
history, gained a second class degree, and was elected to a
research scholarship in geology. In 1885 Mackinder moved to
London, studied law. At the Royal Geographical Society he
delivered his famous paper on The Scope and Methods of
Geography in1887, was appointed Reader in Geography at
Oxford. With help from the RGS, Mackinder founded the Oxford
School of Geography in 1899, the year in which he led an

expedition that made the first ascent of Mount Kenya. When he is

in Oxford, Mackinder served as the Principal of University College
Reading, from 1892 to 1903. Today it is known as the University of
Reading. In 1903 he became the second director of the London
School of Economics, resigning in 1908 to follow a political career.
He was a Member of the British Parliament between the time
period from 1910 to 1922. He was also appointed by the then
Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, to be British High Commissioner
to South Russia between 1919 and 1920.