At the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Ratzel dominated the German geographical scene. First of all, he was engaged in the natural sciences, and the science of the Earth became the link between them and the study of man. He received his doctorate in zoology, geology and comparative anatomy, and became the founder of anthropogeography.
Ratzel Friedrich: biography
Born in 1844, Ratzel was educated at several German universities. In 1872 he visited Italy and the USA and Mexico in 1874-75. Traveled in Eastern Europe and worked at the Universities of Munich and Leipzig. Darwin's contemporary was greatly influenced by the theory of evolution. Ratzel applied these concepts to human society. Before him, the foundation of systematic geography was laid by Alexander von Humboldt, and of regional geography by Karl Ritter. Paschel and Richthofen outlined the basic principles for the systematic study of the features of our planet.
Friedrich Ratzel was the first to compare the way of life of different tribes and peoples, and thus laid the foundation for systematic research in the fieldsocio-economic geography. He had a keen interest in tribes, races and nations, and after doing fieldwork, he coined the term "anthropogeography", characterizing it as the main direction of the study of the Earth. Ratzel developed Ritter's geography, dividing it into anthropological and political.
Widely famous was his organic theory of the state (living space or lebensraum), in which he compared its evolution with a living organism.
German Patriot
Ratzel, a scientist of versatile scientific interests, was a staunch patriot. At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he joined the Prussian army and was wounded twice during the fighting. After the unification of Germany in 1871, he devoted himself to studying the way of life of Germans living abroad. To do this, he visited Hungary and Transylvania. He continued his mission, and in 1872 he crossed the Alps and visited Italy.
Work in America
In 1874-75, Friedrich Ratzel traveled to the United States and Mexico, thereby expanding the scope of his research. In the USA, he studied the economy, social structure and habitat of indigenous people and tribes, especially the life of the Indians. In addition, he focused his attention on blacks and Chinese living in the central part of the United States, the Midwest and California. Based on his research, he tried to formulate some general concepts regarding geographical patterns caused by contact between aggressiveexpanding and retreating groups of people.
Friedrich Ratzel: anthropogeography
In 1875, after completing his studies in the US and Mexico, he returned to Germany, and in 1876 was appointed professor at the University of Leipzig. In 1878 and 1880 he published two books on North America, concerning its physical and cultural geography.
The book that made the German scientist famous all over the world was completed between 1872 and 1899. Friedrich Ratzel drew his main ideas from an analysis of the influence of various physical characteristics and terrain on people's lifestyles. The first volume of Anthropogeography is a study of the relationship between man and the earth, and the second is a study of its impact on the environment. Ratzel's work was based on the concept that human activity is determined by its physical environment. In the work, the author considers the geography of man in terms of individuals and races. In his opinion, society cannot remain suspended in the air. Subsequently, he dispelled some of the determinism of his theory, saying that man is included in the game of nature, and the environment is a partner, not a slave to human activity.
Ratzel applied Darwin's concept to human society. This analogy suggests that groups of people must struggle to survive in certain environmental conditions, just like plants and animals. This approach is called "social Darwinism". Ratzel's basic philosophy was "survival of the fittest" in physicalenvironment.
Propaganda of militarism
In the 1890s, he actively campaigned for the German takeover of overseas territories and the buildup of its own navy, capable of challenging Britain. His ideas expressed the spatial implications of the Darwinian struggle for existence. According to the "laws" of territorial growth, in order to prosper, states must expand, and "the higher forms of civilization must expand at the expense of the lower." These laws were ostensibly natural given the recent unification of Germany, interstate rivalries in Europe (General Schlieffen had already drawn up a plan to invade France), and the rise of empires (Africa was partitioned at the Berlin Conference in 1884-85). Ratzel's views corresponded to the territorial claims of the country. After his death and the First World War, German geopoliticians revived the ideas of the anthropogeographer to satisfy their own ambitions and, as a result, his works were condemned by Anglo-American scientists.
Right to living space
In 1897, Friedrich Ratzel wrote Political Geography, in which he compared the state to an organism. The scientist argued that it, like some simple organisms, must either grow or die, and can never stand still. Friedrich Ratzel's theory of "living space" gave rise to disputes about higher and lower races, arguing that highly developed peoples have the right to expand their territory ("living space") at the expense of lessdeveloped neighbors. He stated his views, saying that the expansion of the state of its borders at the expense of the weak is a reflection of its internal strength. The higher nations ruling the backward peoples fulfill a natural need. Thus, Friedrich Ratzel, whose geopolitics dominated Germany in the thirties, contributed to the outbreak of World War II.
Stages of social development
Discussing the influence of the physical environment on man, the German anthropogeographer argued that human society has progressed in stages. These steps are:
- hunting and fishing;
- hoe culture;
- tillage;
- mixed agriculture, in which farming and livestock are mixed;
- unmixed cattle breeding;
- plant growing.
He, however, argued that it is not necessary for all societies to go through the same economic stages.
Unity in Diversity
There was a huge increase in knowledge and information in those days; data came in large volumes from different parts of the world. Each region, distinguished by its own physical environment, was distinguished by different modes of production and lifestyles. Ratzel tried to build "fundamental unity in diversity".
A German scientist witnessed the birth of a debate concerning the dichotomy between physical and socio-economic geography. Scholars such as George Gerald believed that this science deals with the study of the earth inin general without reference to the person. They believed that exact laws could be established only if a person was excluded from it, since his behavior is extremely unpredictable. Ratzel put forward a radical point of view, declaring physical geography a field of science in which man is an important element. He put forward the principle of unity in diversity, stating that in various environmental conditions, a person has always adapted, and therefore, in order to fully understand the geographical shell of the Earth, it is necessary to synthesize a variety of physical and cultural phenomena.
Summarizing, Ratzel's writings were fruitful, especially given the amount of intellectual controversy they generated on both sides of the Atlantic. The worldview of the scientist, thanks to his teaching and scientific abilities, dominated for many decades.
