NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Geography Chapter 1 - Geography as a Discipline

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66. Multiple choice questions.

(i) Which one of the following scholars coined the term ‘Geography’?

(a) Herodotus

(b) Erathosthenese

(d) Aristotle

Ans. (a) Erathosthenese

(ii) Which one of the following features can be termed as ‘physical feature’?

(a) Port

(b) Road

(d) Water park

Ans. (c) Plain

(iii) Make correct pairs from the following two columns and mark the correct option.

Column I	Column II
Meteorology	A. Population Geography
Demography	B. Soil Geography
Sociology	C. Climatology
Pedology	D. Social Geography

(a) 1B,2C,3A,4D

(b) 1A,2D,3B,4C

(d) 1C,2A,3D,4B

Ans. (d) 1C,2A,3D,4B

(iv) Which one of the following questions is related to cause-effect relationship?

(a) Why

(b) Where

(d) When

Ans. (a) Why

(v) Which one of the following disciplines attempts temporal synthesis?

(a) Sociology

(b) Geography

(d) History

Ans. (d) History

67. Answer the following questions in about 30 words:

(i) What important cultural features do you observe while going to school? Are they similar or dissimilar? Should they be included in the study of geography or not? If yes, why?

Ans. When we go to school we see shops, commercial properties, roads, religious temples, houses, government offices, etc. on the way. These represent cultural features. All of these features are dissimilar.

Since these features are an inseparable part of human geography, these all must be included in the study of geography.

(ii) You have seen a tennis ball, a cricket ball, an orange and a pumpkin. Which one amongst these resembles the shape of the earth? Why have you chosen this particular item to describe the shape of the earth?

Ans. An orange resembles the most with the shape of the earth. It closely matches with the geoid shape of the earth.

(iii) Do you celebrate Van Mahotsav in your school? Why do we plant so many trees? How do the trees maintain ecological balance?

Ans. Van Mahotsav is celebrated every year in our school. Trees are planted for their environmental and economic benefit. Plants consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen to maintain ecological balance.

(iv) You have seen elephants, deer, earthworms, trees and grasses. Where do they live or grow? What is the name given to this sphere? Can you describe some of the important features of this sphere?

Ans. All these creatures live in biosphere. Biosphere is a zone of contact between lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere that supports life. In biosphere all the living organism make an ecological balance for the survival.

(v) How much time do you take to reach your school from your house? Had the school been located across the road from your house, how much time would you have taken to reach school? What is the effect of the distance between your residence and the school on the time taken in commuting? Can you convert time into space and vice versa?

Ans. My school is located at a distance of 30 minutes from my home. If the school had been located across the road from my house, it would take 10 minutes. More distance between house and school takes more time. We cannot convert time into space.

68. Answer the following questions in about 150 words.

(i) You observe every day in your surroundings that there is variation in natural as well as cultural phenomena. All the trees are not of the same variety. All the birds and animals you see, are different. All these different elements are found on the earth. Can you now argue that geography is the study of “areal differentiation” ?

Ans. We observe large-scale variations in natural and man-made or cultural phenomena over the surface-of the earth. These variations are concerned with both physical and man-made environment. One of the primary objectives of geography is to study aerial differentiation. As per the Hettner “Geography studies the difference of phenomena usually related in different part of the earth’s surface.” Aerial differentiation or variations in the phenomena over the earth’s surface are the concern of geography. For example, there are variations in climate change, which are associated with variations in climate, global warming, pollution etc. The geography also tries to probe causal relationship between any two phenomena. With this view in mind, Richard Hartshorne gave his definition of geography in these words, “Geography is concerned with the description and explanation of the aerial differentiation of the earth’s surface”.

(ii) You have already studied geography, history, civics and economics as parts of social studies.
Attempt an integration of these disciplines highlighting their interface.

Ans. Since geography, history, civics, and economics are the part and parcel of social sciences, they are all closely related to one another.

Geography is a discipline of synthesis. Its approach is holistic in nature and recognises the interdependence that exists in the world. Geography helps in understanding the reality in totality in its spatial perspective. The relation of geography with several natural, social, and biological sciences clearly depicts that these sciences are closely related to geography because there are spatial changes in their elements. Geography is a subject, which is capable of making us understand the reality in totality in its spatial perspective. Thus, geography takes note of spatial variations in the phenomena and integrates them holistically. A geographer is supposed to have the basic knowledge of all the related fields so that he is able to integrate them. The integration of the related fields is necessary to have a proper understanding of geography.