CHAPTER 1: Geography as a Discipline NCERT SOLUTION CLASS 11TH Geography| EDUGROWN NOTES

Short Answer Type Querstion:

Q1. 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?

Answer
While going to school, we see some cultural features like shops, schools, clubs, offices, temples, mosques, houses. These features are dissimilar.Yes, they should be included in the study of geography as they are an essential part of human geography. 

Q2.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?
Answer
An orange resembles the shape of the earth because all others are almost sphere while pumpkin is long in shape.Earth is not a perfect sphere, it rotates on its axis. It is of geoid shape, flatter toward poles like an orange.

Q3.Do you celebrate Van Mahotsava in your school? Why do we plant so many trees? How do the trees maintain ecological balance?

Answer
Yes, we do celebrate Van Mahotsava in our school.We plant so many trees because trees provide us food, oxygen, clean air, economical products such as rubber and paper. help in making medicine etc.By taking in carbon dioxide and giving oxygen, trees maintain ecological balance.

Q4. 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?

Answer
The sphere where elephants, deer, earthworms, trees and grasses live and grow is known as biosphere. Important features of this sphere are:→ The biosphere is the layer of the planet Earth where life exists.→ Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, thus, biosphere overlaps all other three spheres→ Plants and animals are biotic elements of biosphere while soil, water, air are abiotic elements.

Q5. 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?
Answer
It takes me around half an hour to reach my school. Had my school been located across the road from my house, I could reach there within four minutes. Due to the long distance between my residence and school, a lot of time gets wasted in commuting which affects my studies hour as well as playing hours negatively.
Time can be converted into space, vice versa is also true, i.e., we can convert space into time.

Q6. 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”?
Answer
There is vast variation in natural as well as cultural phenomena. The study of ‘areal differentiation’ is part of geography, however, geography is not only limited to ‘areal differentiation’. Geography as a discipline is related to space and takes note of spatial characteristics and attributes. It studies the patterns of distribution, location and concentration of phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns. It takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns. It also takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena resulting from the dynamic interaction between human beings and their physical environment.

Geography helps in understanding the reality in totality in its spatial perspective. Geography, thus, not only takes note of the differences in the phenomena from place to place but integrates them holistically which may be different at other places.

Q7.You have already studied geography, history, civics and economics as parts of social studies. Attempt an integration of these disciplines highlighting their interface.
Answer
• Geography and History: Geography influences historical events. Spatial distance itself has been a very potent factor to alter the course of history of the world. Spatial depth provided defence to many countries, particularly in the last century. In traditional warfare, countries with large size in area, gain time at the cost of space. Every geographical phenomenon undergoes change through time and can be explained temporally. The changes in landforms, climate, vegetation, economic activities occupations and cultural developments have followed a definite historical course.

• Geography and Civics: The core concern of political science is territory, people and sovereignty while political geography is also interested in the study of the state as a spatial unit as well as people and their political behaviour.

• Geography and Economics: Economics deals with basic attributes of the economy such as production, distribution, exchange and consumption. Each of these attributes also has spatial aspects and here comes the role of economic geography to study the spatial aspects of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Long Answer Type Questions:

Q1.What is the importance of Physical Geography?
Answer:
Physical geography includes study of Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Biosphere. Each element is very important for human beings. Landforms provide base for agriculture, industries, transport and communication, and settlements. Mountains provide water to rivers, forests-center for tourist spots. Climate influences on the cropping pattern, livestock, food and clothes of the people. Climate and precipitation influence the type of forests. Oceans provide food, water transport, and influence the climate; they are the source of hydrological cycle.

Each element of physical environment is important for human beings. Landforms provide the base on which human activities are located. The plains are utilised for agriculture. Plateaus provide forests and minerals. Mountains provide pastures, forests, tourist spots and are sources of rivers providing water to lowlands. Climate influences our house types, clothing and food habits.

The study of physical geography is emerging as a discipline of evaluating and managing natural resources. In order to achieve this objective, it is essential to understand the intricate relationship between physical environment and human beings. Physical environment provides resources, and human beings utilise these resources and ensure their economic and cultural development. Accelerated pace of resource utilisation with the help of modern technology has created ecological imbalance in the world. Therefore, abetter understanding of physical environment is essential in study of Geography.

Q2.Physical and human factors both are dynamic not static. Explain.
Answer:
The geographical phenomena, both the physical and human, are not static but highly dynamic. They change over times as a result of the interactive processes between ever changing earth and untiring and ever-active human beings.

1. Primitive human societies were directly dependent on their immediate environment. Human beings have come to terms with nature through adaptation and modification.

2. The present society has passed the stage of primitive .societies, which were directly dependent on their immediate physical environment for sustenance. Present societies have modified their natural environment by inventing and using technology and thus, have expanded the horizon of their operation by appropriate utilisation of the resources provided by nature.

3. With the gradual development of technology, human beings were able to loosen the shackles of their physical environment. Technology helped in reducing the harshness of labour, increased labour efficiency and provided leisure to human beings to attend to the higher needs of life. It also increased the scale of production and the mobility of labour. The interaction between the physical environment and human beings has put their imprints everywhere and created new possibilities in collaboration with nature. Thus, we find humanised nature and naturalised human beings and geography studies this interactive relationship.

4. The space got organised with the help of the means of transportation and communication network. The links (routes) and nodes (settlements of all types and hierarchies) integrated the space and gradually, it got organised.

5. It takes note of the associations and interrelationships between the phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns. It also takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena resulting from the dynamic interaction between human beings and their physical environment.

Q3.Explain different branches of Physical geography.
Answer:
It has four sub-branches which are as fallows:

• Geomorphology: It is concerned with the study of landforms, their evolution and related processes.
• Climatology: It is concerned with the study of structure of atmosphere and elements of weather and climates and climatic types and regions.
• Hydrology: It studies the realm of water over the surface of the earth including oceans, lakes, rivers and other water bodies and its effect on different life forms including human life and their activities.
• Soil Geography: It is concerned with the study of the processes of soil formation, soil types, their fertility status, distribution and use.

Q4.What matters are studied under Human Geography?
Answer:
Following facts are studied under Human Geography:

• Social/Cultural Geography: It is concerned with the study of society and its spatial dynamics as well as the cultural elements contributed by the society.
• Population Geography: It studies population growth, distribution, density, sex ratio, migration and occupational structure, etc.
• Settlement Geography: It studies the characteristics of rural and urban settlements.
• Economic Geography: It studies economic activities of the’people including agriculture, industry, tourism, trade, and transport, infrastructure and services, etc.
• Historical Geography: It studies the historical processes through which the space gets organised. In other words, it studies how history has influenced the geography of a region.
• Political Geography: It studies the impact of political events and studies boundaries, space relations between neighbouring political units, delimitation of constituencies, election scenario and develops theoretical framework to understand the political behaviour of the population.