The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume IX, No. 4 [‎221v] (113/172)

430 THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN RELATION TO HISTORY.
As an example of how one of these epochs might be studied, and how enor
mously the early training in physical geography would help the student, I will
take the times of Chaucer (about 1380). I must first, however, explain what
geographical knowledge the student should bring to the study of this epoch. It
would, perhaps, be well at this point to answer a possible objection to the study
of geography in connection with history, namely, that geography is a science, and
should take its place among the sciences. It is quite possible that one of the
obstacles that have hindered its introduction into schools has been that the teach-
in 01 ' of geography has been confounded with that of the sciences from which it
draws its materials, and that in consequence the teaching of geography is con
sidered as simply an extension of science-teaching. It is obviously far more
important, to take an instance, that a boy should understand the part that Vienna
played in history as one of the outposts of civilization, than that he should know
the rainfall of Vienna, and I can understand a teacher who regards geography in
this way failing to appreciate its importance for history.
But it must not be forgotten that geography gives us the causes which made
Vienna what it was, and that the rainfall was only one, and possibly the least
important, of the factors. There is, therefore, a real danger to be avoided in the
teaching of geography in English schools, which lies in the manifolding of statistics,
whether these consist in diagram maps or lantern slides. This, however, is simply
due to a bad selection of the materials, and need not prejudice geographical teaching.
I might here point out, with regard to the admirable lantern-slide maps which
have been and are being prepared by the Geographical Association for use in schools,
that they are not, as some teachers have thought them, a royal road to geography,
but simply a convenient diagrammatic form of showing statistics. It would seem
unnecessary to mention this, if I did not know that many teachers have actually
shown a series of these maps, comprising population, rainfall, language, physical
features, etc., just as they would have shown a series of views. Lantern-slide maps
are, however, if properly used, of immense value, as they can be seen by large
audiences, and save great labour in the preparation of wall maps.
To return to the consideration of the preliminary study of physical geography
in connection with history. This should in no way differ from the training in
observation which has so often been described by numerous authorities; I need
only refer here to “ Geographical Education,” by A. J. Herbertson, in the Scottish
Geographical Magazine for August, 1896, and other months. The early training in
geography must be partly scientific, and in connection with the sciences, such as
meteorology, geology, botany, chemistry, etc.; that is to say, a boy must first be
taught to observe the laws of nature and physical conditions that determine the
environment of his school and home. It is not, however, necessary for the special
purpose in view—the geographical training necessary to understand history—to
carry this too far. To take an instance, it is not necessary to be a meteorologist
to understand the influence that climate has exerted in the past and does exert in
the present on the history of life and race, in Ireland and the west of the British
Isles, any more than it is necessary to be a statistician to know something, in the
ordinary study of English history, about the increase of population at different
epochs. Unfortunately, this training stops short, as a rule, with observation, but to
be of any use it must go much further, and lead on to the comparison and contrast
of the district he knows with the rest of the British Isles, and, in less detail, with
Europe and the British Colonies.
ihe geography of the world must, of course, not be neglected, but it should
only come after the study of the countries which are in more intimate relation
with his home. In fact, both in the early training in physicil geography and