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The beginning of geography didactics in Norway

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Per Jarle Sætre
a
Sogn og Fjordane University College , P.O. Box 133, NO-6851 , Sogndal , Norway
Published online: 26 Jun 2013.

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Norwegian Journal of Geography, 67:3, 120-127, DOI: 10.1080/00291951.2013.796568

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 Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
Norwegian Journal of Geography 2013
Vol. 67, No. 3, 120
127, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2013.796568

The beginning of geography didactics in Norway

PER JARLE SÆTRE

Sætre, P.J. 2013. The beginning of geography didactics in Norway. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift
Norwegian Journal of Geography Vol.
67, 120
127. ISSN 0029-1951.

At the end of the 19th century geography became a mandatory subject in primary and secondary schools in Norway. Geography
was seen as a useful subject that contributed to the modernization of society, but also as a subject that strengthened the national
ideology. A need for better education in geography arose and consequently some authors of geography textbooks wrote about
teaching geography. In order to strengthen teachers’ education, geography was taught at university level, and to develop the subject
it became necessary to relate it to other subjects, especially geology. The author shows that there are several similarities between the
content of geography taught in Norwegian schools in the late 19th century and geography taught in schools today.
Keywords: Aksel Arstal, geography didactics, geography textbooks, Hans Reusch, history of geography
Per Jarle Sætre, Sogn og Fjordane University College, P.O. Box 133, NO-6851 Sogndal, Norway. E-mail: per.setre@hisf.no
Downloaded by [North West University] at 04:26 19 December 2014

Introduction I start by elaborating on how important geography as a

The geography curriculum was fairly primitive when geo-
graphy was introduced as a compulsory subject in Norwe-
gian primary schools in the late 1800s (Arstal 1898).
Previously, geography had only been mandatory in Latin
schools since 1739 (Koritzinsky 2009), and its main objective
was the memorization of names of countries and capitals
(Arstal 1898). A vivid account of the situation is described in
Kielland’s novel Gift (1999 [1883]), which describes how
Latin school students had to memorize the ranks of cities
and rivers. The introduction of the common national
primary school in 1889 and the new curriculum for
secondary schools in 1896 led to new requirements for
more modern teaching, and consequently it was necessary to
develop subjects and the teaching of those subjects. The
challenge for geography was to develop the subject with
content that provided insight into geographic relationships
beyond mere place names. This early phase at the end of the
19th century and beginning of the 20th may be regarded as
the pioneer phase of geography didactics in Norway.
Although the term didactics was unknown at that time,
the development of geographical education was systematic.
The main purpose of this article is to identify and present
the key characteristics of the early phase of geographic
education, focusing on the reasons for the introduction of
geography in schools and the establishment of teacher
education in geography. Knowledge about the pioneer phase
can contribute to our understanding of the background,
development, and content of geography in schools and
universities today.
The foundations of subject didactics are based on a given
subject’s language and content. As such, subject didactics
provides important contributions to a given subject because
it provides tools that enable analysis and discussion of the
subject’s status in relation to epistemology, justification, and
presentation (Ongstad 2004).
This article discusses the reason for the introduction of
geography as a taught subject in Norwegian schools at the
end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
school subject was for the building of national identities and
for general national education. Better teacher education was
needed to improve geography teaching in schools. Secondary
school teachers were educated at universities, which was the
early justification for teaching geography at university level.
Geography taught at university level was therefore closely
interconnected with geography taught in schools. Accord-
ingly, this article presents geography as taught in schools and
in teacher education in Norway. Thereafter, I present a brief
comparison of the content of geography taught in schools
c.100 years ago with geography taught in schools today.
Didactic scholars in the late 19th and early
20th centuries
In this article I focus particularly on four authors of school
textbooks in the early period of geography didactics: Aksel
Arstal, Hans Reusch, Immanuel Flood, and Carl Ludvig
Willoch Horn. The authors were selected because they
produced textbooks not only for schools but also for
teaching geography, in addition to other publications related
to geography.
In terms of the number of publications on geography
teaching in schools and universities, Arstal was the most
prolific and significant scholar of geography didactics in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a theologian by
training and taught geography in secondary schools and
teacher training schools. From 1907 and onwards, Arstal
was a lecturer in political geography at the University of
Oslo, and subsequently a docent there from 1914 until 1925.
His primary objective was improvement in the quality of
geography teaching and in this respect he was a driving force
in schools and teacher education (Isachsen 1940). In order to
learn about geographical education he undertook several
study tours in Europe (Arstal 1889; 1896). He used his
acquired knowledge to write geography textbooks for
secondary schools, but his most important contribution to

# 2013 Norwegian Geographical Society

 NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
geography didactics was a textbook commissioned by the
Norwegian parliament (Arstal 1904).
In common with Arstal, senior schoolteacher Immanuel
Flood was educated as a theologian and published textbooks
in geography, Christianity, and drawing for primary school
teachers as well as a textbook on geographical education
(Flood 1895). Science teacher Carl Ludvig Willoch Horn,
who served as principal of an upper secondary school and
was a national school inspector, published several textbooks
on geography for schools and books about teaching
geography (Horn 1894).
In contrast to the above-mentioned textbook writers,
Hans Reusch was a scientist with considerable number of
scientific publications on geological and geographical topics.
He held a doctoral degree (PhD) in geology and became
head of the Geological Survey of Norway. From the
beginning of the 1900s, Reusch was a part-time lecturer in
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geography at the University of Oslo. Already in 1887 he had
a published a short textbook on teaching geography, which
was revised and expanded in 1904 (Reusch 1887; 1904).
The reason for introducing geography in
schools
The late 1800s and early 1900s was a period of extensive
modernization in Norwegian society. Industry and transport
developed rapidly, but also new democratic ideas won
support in the community. The rapid changes led to the
need for better schools with relevant curricula in order to
prepare students better for society. Hartwig Nissen’s work
was essential for the necessary curricula reforms. He claimed
that schools should provide knowledge that all members of
society should possess, and that schools should be based on
student activities rather than passive listening to teachers’
lectures (Dokka 1988).
The idea of more relevant schooling was supported by
political reformers such as the leading politician Fredrik
Stang, who proposed that Parliament should introduce
geography, science, and history as new school subjects
(Slagstad 2001, 51). According to Rune Slagstad (2001, 5),
two considerations motivated the introduction of new
subjects in the new curriculum: national identity and public
enlightenment. Norway was heading towards independence
and it was therefore important to build up a sense of
national identity (Dokka 1988). In this regard, history as a
taught subject was essential for sustaining the formation of
national identity, but from the late 1800s and early 1900s
also geography textbooks contributed to the development of
national ideology (Lund 2009). Nevertheless, it can be
argued that history continued to be the most important
nation-building subject in Norway, partly due to Norway’s
history as an important European country in the Viking and
medieval periods (Holt-Jensen 2007; 2009). A more impor-
tant motivation for the introduction of the new curriculum
for geography may therefore have been the recognition that
geography, together with science, represented new knowl-
edge that students should possess.
The beginning of geography didactics in Norway 121
In the other Nordic countries, too, there was a national
approach to the teaching of history and geography in
schools. Molin (2006) argues that geography and history
had nation-building purposes in Sweden, especially after the
country lost sovereignty over Finland in 1809 and Norway
in 1905. Geography and history were supposed to strengthen
Swedish identity. A similar national approach was adopted
in Denmark (Christiansen 2004).
Both Norway and Finland are relatively young nation
states. However, Finland does not have an equivalent
national narrative to the story of medieval Norway. In
Finland, landscapes, and hence geography, were important
for the early development of Finnish national identity
because there were few other national symbols to build
upon (Rikkinen 1982). An important contribution to the
understanding of Finnish national identity was made by
Topelius (1875), who used the Finnish landscape in his
account of what is uniquely Finnish.
In addition, the establishment of geographical societies
served national purposes and contributed to increased
interest in geography. The first French geographical society
and German geographical society were both established in
1821, while in England the Royal Geographical Society was
formed in 1830 (under the name Geographical Society of
London). In the Nordic countries, the first Swedish geo-
graphical society and first Danish geographical society were
formed in 1877, and the first Finnish geographical society in
1888 (Östman 1985). The Norwegian Geographical Society
was formed after Fridtjof Nansen led an expedition that
made the first crossing of Greenland in 1889. Textbook
writers Aksel Arstal and Hans Reusch were among the
founders of The Norwegian Geographical Society (Nystad
2012).
The nation-building purposes of geography were also
important in the European superpowers. Holt-Jensen (2009)
argues that the French-Prussian war in the years 1870
1871
led to influential politicians in Prussia realizing that
geography could play a role in nation-building. Thus,
geography could contribute to strengthening the idea of
nation states and contribute to a greater understanding of
social development and world trade. In order to strengthen
the status of geography in schools, geography professors
were appointed at several universities in Prussia.
The defeat of France was connected to the French
soldiers’ low level of general education and the recognition
led to the strengthening of school subjects, where geography
had its natural place (Graves 1980; Holt-Jensen 2009). The
introduction of geography in schools led to the need for
qualified geography teachers, which in turn led to the
establishment of teaching positions in geography at several
French universities.
In England, the Royal Geographical Society pushed for
the creation of a geographical position at the University of
Oxford, which subsequently led to geography positions at
other universities (Graves 1980, 53). The development
should also be considered in the light of imperial ideology.
The idea of superiority had consequences for geographical
education in schools. Marsden (2001, 157) argues that
English textbooks published in the late 19th and early
20th centuries describe England and the British Empire as
 122 P.J. Sætre
comparatively special: ‘Not even than any [textbooks that]
have existed before, but greater than has ever been dreamt of
in the world before.’ Olsson (1986) shows that Swedish
geography textbooks published in the historical period in
question also had an ethnocentric approach. Norwegian
geography textbooks had the same approach to other
cultures (Lund 2009).
However, imperialistic and ethnocentric thoughts had
existed before geography was established as a taught subject
in schools and universities. It was considered that education
in geography could also contribute to more knowledge and
understanding about other people and countries. Aksel
Arstal (1896) reveals in his report on a field trip to England
that he considered improvement in geographical education
in England as a means to decrease English cultural
arrogance. In his textbook on geography teaching published
in 1904, he states the ideal of humanity for all people and
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warns students against making fun of other cultures (Arstal
1904).
Nevertheless, love of the homeland was very important. In
the case of Norway, knowing about different places in the
country was seen as a precondition for national pride: ‘How
can young people develop a strong interest or love for what
they do not know except in a schematic quick presentation?’
(Arstal 1898, 5).1 Arstal’s contemporary, Carl Ludvig
Willoch Horn (1894, 9), argued: ‘When the students do
not have knowledge of their fatherland, they can’t love it’.
Immanuel Flood shared Horn’s attitude regarding the
importance of knowledge and love of homeland: ‘if, through
our work, we are to turn students into good citizens, we
must first and foremost teach them as much knowledge of
the fatherland as possible’ (Flood 1895, 11). Hans Reusch
pointed out that geography teaching developed an under-
standing of the concept of homeland by including images of
places around the world (Reusch 1887; 1904).
The introduction of geography in schools was also
intended for public education. The historical period is
characterized by idealistic movements with goals of improv-
ing the population’s general knowledge. Enlightenment and
patriotism went hand in hand for teacher and university
lecturer Aksel Arstal. He used the term ‘the geography issue’
(Arstal 1898, 3) with reference to his commitment to
geography as a subject taught in schools and at universities.
His involvement was founded on an obligation towards the
great common task to educate the Norwegian population to
become informed citizens: ‘The school subject geography
must be evaluated regarding how the pedagogical approach
responds to useful knowledge about life. Teaching is not just
for schools but also for life’ (Arstal 1898, 3). Reusch (1904)
had a somewhat different approach to the value of teaching
geography in schools and claimed that geography is a
‘forming’ subject that strengthens general understanding
and judgment (Arstal 1898, 54).
The textbooks published by Reusch, Arstal, Horn, and
Flood almost exclusively refer to German literature. Reusch
(1904, 2) claimed that German scientific geography had
made most progress in terms of scientific development and
quantity, and the development of Norwegian geography had
to be regarded together with German geography. He used
NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
the image of Norwegian geography as a branch of the
German tree.
In 1888 Arstal embarked on a study tour to Belgium,
Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, where he observed
teaching in schools and universities and met some of the
countries’ most famous geographers (Arstal 1889). Since
geography was closely related to teacher education, the
methodological issues related to learning were regarded as
important. Many geography professors had previously been
geography teachers in schools. Arstal concluded that Ger-
many was a leading country when it came to geography and
geography teaching. In 1894, Arstal embarked on a study
tour of England and Scotland, but found that he was not
very impressed by English geographical education in schools
and universities (Arstal 1896).
Geography in schools
Under the Elementary Act of 1889 in Norway, history,
geography, and natural science became compulsory subjects
in primary schools. Geography was mainly based on
descriptive reviews of different countries and peoples.
During the first part of their primary school education
pupils were expected to learn basic geographical concepts
and gain knowledge of Norway by reading maps. In the
second part of their primary school education they were
expected to learn about the surface of the earth and acquire
knowledge about the living conditions and livelihoods of the
populations of Norway, Europe, and the USA (Flood 1895).
The secondary schools reform in 1897 standardized
secondary schools in relation to primary schools. Education
in upper secondary schools built on education in lower
secondary schools, which in turn built on education in
primary schools. Geography was a compulsory subject in
both lower and upper secondary schools (Telhaug & Mediås
2003). It was taught two hours per week in all four years of
lower secondary school, which was the same amount of time
as used for drawing, but slightly less than for history, which
was taught three hours per week (Universitets- og skole-
annaler 1897, 266). As I show later in this article (in the
section ‘A brief comparison between geography 100 years
ago and geography in schools today’), drafting maps was
consider an important methodology in geography. In upper
secondary school, geography was taught one hour per week
during the first and second years and two hours per week in
the third year. In the first year, students studied physical
geography, and in the second and third years they studied
mathematical geography and economic geography (Reusch
1904).
In the geography curriculum, the subject was divided into
four types of geography: economic geography, physical
geography, astronomical (mathematical) geography, and
topological geography:
1. Economic geography focused on Norway’s resources,
transport means, and connections, what was produced
in the different countries, and how resources were used
and sold.
 NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
2. Physical geography mainly concerned geology but to
some extent also meteorology, oceanography, and
sciences dealing with soils and vegetation. It was the
starting point for understanding landscapes and at-
tempts to explain geographical phenomena.
3. Astronomical (mathematical) geography covered move-
ments of the earth, moon, and other planets, as well as
their shapes and sizes, and the orbits of the earth and
the sun. Students learned how to use mathematics for
map projections and to calculate, for example, dis-
tances, directions, and scales.
4. Topological geography reviewed various locations in
Norway and the world, including their geographical
features, such as cities, rivers, and mountains.
In addition, the concept of ‘general geography’ was used
when geography was explained, not as a separate branch but
as general geographical concepts, such as mountains and
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rivers (Horn 1894; Arstal 1898; 1904).
Arstal made a somewhat mixed assessment of geography
curricula in the new school system. His comments on the
changes in education were published in six articles in various
issues of the education magazine Skolebladet. Arstal em-
phasized the positive side of the reform as taking into
account the progress in geography in terms of substance and
procedure since the previous curriculum that had been
followed in secondary schools since 1869. However, the
curriculum kept what Arstal called ‘name lists’, which he
believed could be cut down significantly. On the other hand,
he felt that place names in Norway should be retained
because ‘there’s something of a national disgrace as our
youths know little about their own country’ (Arstal 1899, 8).
Arstal was most critical of the fact that the Norwegian
curriculum did not amount to a coherent progression
between primary school, lower secondary school, upper
secondary school, and university education in geography. He
believed that students should progress though the different
stages of education rather than repeating them (Arstal 1899,
8). According to Arstal (1898), too much repetition could
make the subject boring and uninteresting.
However, sensor reports from upper secondary schools a
few years prior to the introduction of the 1897 reform in
secondary school education had shown that probably there
was a need to repeat topological geography. A report based
on geography exams from the school inspectors Carl Ludvig
Willoch Horn and Gustav Storm showed that students
performed well in physical geography and mathematical
geography, but lacked knowledge about topological geogra-
phy. The inspectors claimed that although the study of
topological geography was assumed completed in lower
secondary school, the basic skills of students at upper
secondary schools had proved inadequate. Horn argued
that the lack of knowledge in upper secondary schools could
be explained by a lack of focus on topological geography in
the examination syllabus, although topological geography
was included as part of the curriculum. Storm claimed that
the topology could be thought of as connected with physical
or political geography, and that textbooks were in need
of improvement with regard to topological geography
(Universitets- og skole-annaler 1888, 96
202).
The beginning of geography didactics in Norway 123
Arstal was negative towards the lack of ethnography in the
geography syllabus and claimed that ethnographical issues
should naturally be part of geography. Further, he pointed
out that it seemed poorly planned not to include ethno-
graphy, given that university students preparing for a degree
in linguistic-historical teaching in 1898 had to read ethno-
graphic geography, despite the fact that the topic was no
longer taught in upper secondary schools (Arstal 1898).
What did students think about geography about 100 years
ago? Recordings made in 1964 and 1981 of school memories
of the period 1885
1925 (Hodne 2010) revealed that most
students had a positive attitude towards geography and
many considered the subject interesting and instructive. Few
of them mentioned the textbooks used, but they remembered
the wall maps; with wall maps, one could explore the world.
Hodne (2010, 162) cites an informant who remembered with
pleasure the time when their teacher put up maps on the
wall: ‘Then, I could travel around the world. Right up to
now, I have had a great interest in maps.’
Geography in teacher education
The new school subjects demanded better teacher education
in geography. At university level, classical education with an
emphasis on Latin and Greek was losing ground to subjects
that were seen as more useful and related to practical
purposes. The large expansion of secondary schools in the
cities opened up a labour market for teachers. While teachers
in secondary schools in the 1870s had been mostly theolo-
gians, they had since become specialized in science or
philological studies (Collett 1999).
The upper secondary school curriculum in natural
sciences was first established in 1869. In 1850, Parliament
passed a resolution to establish a degree in science teaching,
and in 1871 revised the course curriculum to enable
specialization more closely related to the school curriculum
(Kyllingstad & Rørvik 2011). Teacher training was divided
into two separate degree courses: one leading to linguistic-
historical teacher certification and the other to mathema-
tical-scientific teacher certification. Geography was the only
subject to be taught in both courses (Kyllingstad & Rørvik
2011).
The linguistic-historical teaching certificate course con-
sisted of the four subjects groups: (1) classics, (2) Norwegian
language, including both Old Norwegian and German,
(3) French and English, and (4) history and geography.
The mathematics and science teaching certificate course
consisted of tuition in the following subject groups:
(1) mathematics and astronomy, (2) physics and chemistry,
(3) natural history and geography, and (4) an elective, either
Norwegian language or the subject group French and
English.
Reusch (1904) argued that there still were some differences
in geographical education between the two teacher training
programmes. Those who took the linguistic-historical teach-
ing degree were taught by Professor Nielsen, who specifically
addressed the ethnographic aspects of geographical areas,
while science students were taught by Professor Mohn
(climatology) and Reusch himself (physical geography).
 124 P.J. Sætre
Although no lectures were held in topological geography,
students were expected to study the subject in their own time
and be examined on it. Reusch (1904) complained that
philologists only occasionally learned about physical geo-
graphy and that students of natural sciences only briefly read
about ethnographic aspects of geographical areas.
In 1905 the groups of subjects were dissolved and some
degree of specialization was introduced. The realists had to
choose five subjects and the philologists had to choose three.
A master’s degree was introduced in several subjects, but
students could not take a master’s degree in geography until
1920 (Kyllingstad & Rørvik 2011).
The demands for primary teacher education increased
following changes in primary education. The primary school
teaching curriculum was expanded to ensure coverage of all
school subjects, including geography (Dokka 1988). Each
year, a written examination was held in either geography or
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science (Universitets- og skole-annaler 1887, 341). One exam
paper from 1897 indicates that topological geography was
emphasized and students were asked to write on the topic
‘Characteristics of the nature and industries of Italy’
(Universitets- og skole-annaler 1887, 352). Lists of sensors
show mainly the same sensors in history as in geography
(Universitets- og skole-annaler 1887, 342
349). This may
indicate that largely the same teachers taught both subjects.
Geography as a separate subject in schools also led to the
need for new textbooks in geography teaching. Arstal
responded to the issue and sent an application to the Ministry
of Education with a request for funding (Arstal 1904). The
request was recommended by the Teaching Council (by the
advisory committee on school cases) and the necessary grant
was approved by Parliament in 1899 (Arstal 1904). By
comparison, in Denmark, the Danish geographer Joachim
Frederik Schouw had published a textbook on teaching
geography already in 1851 (Holmelund 1986).
Establishment of geography at the
universities
Geography was taught at the University of Oslo
the only
university in Norway at the end of 19th century
by
different lecturers from the Faculty of Mathematics and
Sciences and the Faculty of Arts. However, the university did
not have a geography department until 1917. The first
professor of geography was Yngvar Nielsen, who was
professor of both ethnography and geography from 1890,
but from 1902 held a post purely as a professor of ethnology
(Hetzberg 1977). According to Arstal (1898), it was un-
fortunate that various geography teachers in schools em-
phasized different aspects of the subject and he wanted to
geography to form the scientific basis of all other teaching.
In his opinion, the chair of geography at the University of
Oslo should develop a uniform subject that could provide a
good scientific basis for the education of teachers.
Geography as a subject needed definition and methodical
development. Arstal therefore looked to Germany and
concluded: ‘Many boundary conditions could be pointed
out where the main cultured countries, particularly Germany,
NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
are subjected to staking out a frontier, whereas we unruly
countries are nomads in the wild’ (Arstal 1889, 14). Whereas
geography had previously been under historians’ domain, it
had now ‘come to tread on the toes of the geologist’ (Arstal
1889, 17).
The debate on the relationship between geography and
geology lasted for many years in Norway. The University of
Oslo had a strong professional milieu in geology, and some
of its scholars, such as Amund Helland, were conducting
research on physical geography. In 1907, the leading scholar
Waldemar Brøgger claimed that a professor of geography
should be a geologist (Kyllingstad & Rørvik 2011).
Due to geography’s close relation to geology, it became
necessary to demarcate the boundary between the two
subjects. In a lecture to the Norwegian Geological Society
in 1917, titled ‘Geography and geology’, Arstal explained
how he saw the distinction between them. He claimed that
geography differs from geology because it deals with land-
scapes and draws upon other sciences, such as botany,
geology, meteorology (climate), and history, and seeks to
explain landscapes as interdependent environments where
different elements of landscapes affect each other and where
human efforts are at the centre.
According to Arstal (1918), a further distinction between
geography and other sciences is the localization of study
objects in a spatial perspective, and the map as a methodo-
logical tool. Furthermore, geography does not have a
historical origin in geology and, in contrast to geology, it
focuses on external features. Whereas geology focuses on the
earth’s past, geography focuses on the present. Nevertheless,
geographers use knowledge of the main features of rocks
and Earth’s history to explain landscape features and
industries. Arstal highlighted the study of landscapes as a
main feature unique to geography (Arstal 1918).
Norway’s first professor of physical geography, Werner
Werenskiold claimed that geology had too much influence
on geography (Werenskiold 1926). He saw the development
of geography in the context of development of neighbouring
sciences, in which not only geologists, botanists, and
geologists, but also philologists and historians had begun
to show interest in geography by studying geographical
issues. Werenskiold (1926, 2) provided the following defini-
tion: ‘Geography is the study of how the human condition is
dependent on natural conditions.’ He admitted that the
study of geography involved a comprehensive programme
but that in common with other disciplines there were very
few who mastered all aspects of the subject.
Whereas geography was taught at the University of Oslo
by natural scientists and specialists in historical philology, it
had a different disciplinary foundation in Finland. In
Finnish schools, geography was treated as part of the history
until 1906, after which it was combined with biology to form
a subject named ‘biology and geography’. Ragnar Hult had
played a central role in this transformation of geographic
education in Finland. He was a former secondary school
teacher and in 1890 became the first professor of geography
at the University of Helsinki. He was initially a botanist, but
like Arstal he had learned about geography through study
tours to Germany (Rikkinen 1982). According to Hult,
geography should be founded on natural sciences and
 NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
geography teachers should be trained accordingly. He
believed that geography would not gain an independent
role as long as the subject was related to history, and he
claimed that history teachers did not have enough knowl-
edge of the natural resource base to use as a basis for
understanding human activity. Consequently, he was a
driving force when geography was separated from history
and instead associated with natural history disciplines
(Rikkinen 1982, 318). Whereas historians resisted the
separation, the national school authorities supported it.
They decided that geography and biology should be viewed
in context and that the two subjects should be based on local
studies.
Also in Denmark, geography acquired a foundation in the
natural sciences. In common with Hult, Joachim Fredrik
Schouw was originally a botanist and became a driving force
in the establishment of geography as a taught subject in
Downloaded by [North West University] at 04:26 19 December 2014
Danish schools and universities (Holmelund 1986). Another
similarity between Schouw and Hult is that they worked for
the establishment of geography as a natural science subject.
A brief comparison between geography 100
years ago and geography in schools today
Based on the above presentation outlining the history of
geography as a subject in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries in Norway, I claim that the foundations of
geography as a subject taught in present-day schools were
developed in that period. However, there were some inequal-
ities compared to geography as subject taught in schools
today, which I discuss in this section.
What was then called general geography is now called
thematic geography, but with the difference that thematic
geography is far more complicated and extensive due to the
influence of human geography. There have also been several
developments in physical geography, but some of the basic
theories regarding the formation of Norway’s natural land-
scapes and meteorological processes were known already a
century ago.
Today, topological geography is called regional geography.
It is still important in primary and lower secondary schools
in Norway and other Nordic countries (Sætre 2009).
However, from c.1970 onwards, regional geography ceased
to be covered in textbooks published for upper secondary
schools, and instead geography has been based on a thematic
approach (Fjær 1997).
The comprehensive mathematical geography taught 100
years ago no longer exists, but elements of it remain in the
way that students learn about the earth’s orbit around the
sun and how to calculate distance and scale. The difference
in teaching is greatest in relation to upper secondary schools,
where mathematical geography was pivotal 100 years ago
but has little emphasize today.
Map-making and map-reading were strongly emphasized
in geography didactic writings in the late 1800s and early
1900s. For example, the Norwegian school curriculum stated
that students should learn about contour lines and other
map symbols, as well as how maps represent the physical
The beginning of geography didactics in Norway 125
landscape. A learning goal was that when reading a map, a
student should not only see points, lines, and polygons but
also places. Ideally, maps should bring landscapes alive to
students, enabling them to imagine places (Arstal 1904, 5).
Drawing maps and sketching the outlines of continents
and countries were seen as part of a basic method for
learning about and remembering topological geography.
Arstal called drawing maps the backbone of the geography
teaching because outlines help students to remember the
geography of places. The importance of drawing maps was
clear also to Horn (1894) and Flood (1895). Reusch shared
the same enthusiasm about the value of drawing maps but
argued that it should not dominate the content of a course
because otherwise there would be a risk that the method
would become a goal in itself (Reusch 1904). Since the
introduction of GIS in schools, a similar debate has been
taking place about finding a good balance between learning
about GIS and learning with GIS (e.g. Rød et al. 2010).
It should be borne in mind that drawing was mandatory
in Norwegian education from primary school level to
university level, and hence pupils and students were accus-
tomed to being asked to draw objects. Following his study
tour in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium in
1888, Arstal stated that drawing maps outlining different
sketches of continents and countries was central to geogra-
phy lessons in the countries he had visited. He referred to
German professor Alfred Kirchhoff, of the University of
Halle-Wittenberg, who had stated: ‘except where the map is
drawn by heart, there is no guarantee that the geographical
substances are known’ Arstal (1889, 36). German geography
lessons were inspired by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and his
thoughts about learning by observation and reflection, in
which geography, with its visual approach, was a useful
starting point.
For Arstal (1904), wall maps and atlases were indispen-
sable in geography teaching. However, good school maps
were a scarce teaching resource. Arstal therefore encouraged
the map-maker Ivar Refsdal to make wall maps and atlases
for use in schools (Refsdal 1902). New commercial printing
methods made it easier and less expensive to produce such
maps (Sæbø 1995).
Reusch (1904) pointed out that good school maps for
Norway had only recently been released in 1898. He praised
the maps made by Refsdal, which he called unusual and
original (Reusch 1904, 46). However, Reusch claimed that
the wall map of Norway could have been more accurately
drawn and not so overloaded with railways and roads. He
was most positive about the many small maps with much
information; their visual approach was a useful starting
point from which to learn geography.
Map-reading is very important in the geography curricula
in schools today. However, the curricula do not mention the
drawing of maps outlining continents and countries as
among the basic skills that students are supposed to master;
apparently, drawing maps is no longer common in geogra-
phy teaching. However, map-making using GIS has become
an important activity in upper secondary schools (Rød et al.
2010), although the use of GIS in primary and lower
secondary schools is still not common (Andersland 2010).
 126 P.J. Sætre
A comparison of Arstal’s 1904 textbook on teaching
geography and the recently published textbook edited by
Mikkelsen & Sætre (2010) reveals that the basic view of
learning presented in the two textbooks is quite similar,
namely that geography is learned best through observation
and activity. The difference is that the modern textbooks on
teaching geography have a broader and more general
approach to geography teaching, whereas Arstal’s textbooks
provide a more detailed review of how to teach various
geographical topics.
Concluding remarks
This article shows that in Norway geography teaching was
marked by strong development at the end of 1800s and
beginning of the 1900s. When the Norwegian school
Downloaded by [North West University] at 04:26 19 December 2014
curriculum was reformed in 1889, geography became a
mandatory subject in primary schools. After the 1897 school
reform, geography became a mandatory subject also in both
lower and upper secondary schools. The need for better
teaching prompted some textbooks writers to write about
educational issues on how to teach geography. Such early
textbooks contain reflections on geography and teaching
geography that have many similarities with issues that today
come under the heading of geography didactics. My opinion
is that scholars of geography who were teaching c.100 years
ago can be regarded as the pioneers of geography didactics.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries were characterized by
nationalism, but also by public enlightenment, traces of
which be found in textbooks from the period.
The status of geography as a school subject made it
important to establish geography also as a university subject.
Geography as a subject was included in both natural sciences
and linguistic-historical teaching courses. The establishment
of geography as a university subject made it necessary to
define geography as a discipline, especially in relation to
geology.
Today, the relationship between school geography and
university geography is not as strong as it was c.100 years
ago. One reason may be that at geography taught at
university level involves specialization in many different
topics, whereas schools still have a general approach to
geography. In addition, many geography departments in
Norway’s universities currently seem to have a low level of
interest in geography taught in schools, and consequently a
minority of geography students become schoolteachers
specializing in geography. Hopefully, this situation will
change as new master’s programmes in geography teaching
are established at Norwegian universities.
Note
1 All translations have been made by the author.
Manuscript submitted 5 June 2012; accepted 4 March 2013
NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 67 (2013)
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