Nature - autonomous learning

2THE ‘NATURE’ OF GEOGRAPHY‘What is the relation between the nature of geography as a disciplineand the nature that geographers believe ought to be the object of theirstudy?’(Olwig 1996: 63)INTRODUCTIONIn this chapter I want to offer a potted history of the ways in whichgeographers have understood nature since geography was founded asa university subject in the late nineteenth century. I want to do this for acouple of reasons. First, this chapter will set the scene for those that follow.It will introduce readers, in very simple terms, to some of the geographicalknowledges of nature examined more closely later in the book. So, if youlike, this chapter is a ‘primer’ for the rest of Nature.This explains why it’sa rather long chapter (I recommend that it be read in three stages, taking acouple of sections at a time). Because I cover a lot of ground in this chapterI have chosen not to include many boxes or activities, since this wouldsimply add to the length. Second, since the later chapters will focus oncontemporary geographical understandings of nature, I wanted to ensurethat readers could place this recent work within a longer temporal frame.Nature is not a book about the whole history of geographers’ understandingsof nature. Even so, it seems to me important to place present-day research