Historical Evolution of Political Geography

The earliest innovators of political geography have been Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle. Who gave mixed views for the ten subjects in the 17th century. In the middle of the 17th century, William Petty wrote a number of works in which political economics, political anatomy of Ireland, and political mathematics are important. Through them, he analyzed the geographical impact area of the state, elements of capital etc.

In the 18th century, Kant and his German disciples, Humboldt, Ritter, Retzal, etc. contributed to the development of this subject. Politische Geographic was the basis of the current development in the 15th century, the first systematic discussion of Raztel's book. This is where the concept of geopolitics developed.

The real development of political geography has begun since the 20th century. Rudolph Kjellin first used the term geopolitics and Karl Hashofer gave an analysis of it. Political geography developed in different countries.

France - Blash, Bansch wrote several articles related to geopolitics. Frewe and Demangians presented the relationship of political conditions to the influence of geographical conditions.

Russia - Influenced by Karl Marx's policy, Lenin (who was a world-famous politician) developed the geopolitics of Russia.

Great Britain - William Petty's name is known as a political scientist and economist. They solved complex geopolitical problems. Local elements have been discussed in the distribution of states, cities, and populations. Mackinder then presented the concept of "heart spot" as a world-renowned political geographer. Herbertson, Raxby, Fluor, Barnett, Mudi, etc. contributed significantly to this field. The following are some of the publications which took political geography on the path of development.

1. Political Studies from Spatial Perspective. - Burnett, 1981

2. Locational Approaches to Power and Conflict. - Cox, 1974

3. The Changing World Studies in Political Geography. - Gordon and Moodie, 1975

4. Geography and Voting behavior. - Busteed, 1975

Thus the publication of many papers and books in Britain gave impetus to the development of political geography.

The United States - Political Geography Branch grew the most in this country. The publication of quarterly magazine Quarterly 'Political Geography' began. American believed that political geography is the main weapon of any nation in understanding the art of war. A broader view of geopolitics was presented, particularly after World War II. Kumari Semple, Isa Bowman, encouraged political ideas in many articles. Bowman's 1954 Problems in Political Geography was published. Taylor provided a new form of geopolitics of political geography in America. Huntington and Carl Seaver explained politics on cultural grounds.

Similarly, Spiken's The Geography of Peace in 1944 introduced the notion of remand. Hartshorne and Whittlesy also made important contributions.

In Australia, Spate made extensive geopolitical studies of the state and development of capitals through several accounts. Presscoat gave views on election geography.

Majumdar, K.K. M. Pannikar, S. P. Chatterjee, S. Choudhary, V.A. Janaki, PP Karan, A.K. B. Mookerjee, R.K. N. Geographers like P. Sinha etc. have contributed to the development of this branch. Apart from this D. Dixit and Dr. B. L. Sukhwal has also contributed. Thus, this branch of human geography, political geography has become a development-oriented and dynamic subject.

Source : Rajeev Bansal's (SEPD)