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Political geography is a legitimate child of human geography, Both deal with the interplay of physical and human factors, with the interrelationship between earth and man. Both try to discover and explain the influences of the physical world on human society and the limitations it puts on human activities; they deal with diverse manifestations of a symbiosis of nature and man.

The life patterns revealed in this symbiosis are the subject matter of human geography. Out of the study of human geography evolves a better understanding of human groups within their natural environment, of civilizations formed and grown in a variety of environments, and of the physical causes which influenced this growth.

It is, perhaps, the roots of human groups in their natural environment that most influence their development. These are, however, not the only formative factors in human society. Historical and sociological motivations, as well as cultural influences, cannot be discounted. Yet to be rooted in a natural and cultural landscape and environment is the essence of life to the individual and to the group. The roots are manifold; so strong and interwoven is their net that man and his natural environment are inseparable. Human geography, in its many manifestations, draws its inspiration from this complex symbiosis. It focuses our attention on man and his environment, on man as a geographical factor, thus growing beyond descriptive narrative. Human geography evolves as a discipline whose primary target is "the study of human society in relation to earth background." As such it ranks alongside of other social sciences whose common purpose is to study the structure and behavior of human society.

By this definition of the scope of human geography we have, by implication, excluded geographical, speculations which are not borne out by scientific research. Numerous concepts have been developed over the last fifty years. These range from "environmental determinism," which postulates a causal relationship between the characteristics of the earth and the activities of man, to modified theories of "possibilism," which grants man and human groups a number of possible choices among the limits set and the opportunities offered by the physical environment. In a philosophical vein and in lofty language the concept of "possibilism" was expressed by Alexis de Tocqueville:

I am aware that many of my contemporaries maintain that nations are never their own masters here below, and that they necessarily obey some unsurmountable and intelligent power, arising from anterior events, from their race, or from the soil and climate of their country. Such. principles are false and cowardly; such principles can never produce aught but feeble men and pusillanimous nations. Providence has not created mankind entirely dependent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free; as it is with men, so with communities.

These theories of determinism and of possibilism, developed mainly by geographers in Europe, especially in Germany and France, were also accepted readily by several geographers in the United States. Later a healthy reaction occurred, primarily based on the realization that although significant changes in the physical environment will often strongly condition human affairs, a positive determinism cannot be demonstrated in a relatively stable environment. The general concept commonly accepted today is "that the physical character of the earth has different meaning for different people: that the significance to man of the physical environment is a function of the attitudes, objectives, and technical abilities of man himself. With each change in any of the elements of the human culture the resource base provided by the earth must be re evaluated." We shall re-examine these ideas later, when distinguishing between political geography and geopolitics.

Political geography, a subdivision of human geography, is concerned with a particular aspect of earth--man relationships and with a special kind of emphasis. It is not the relationship between physical environment and human groups or societies as such that attracts us here but the relationship between geographical factors and political entities. Only where man's organization of space and historical and cultural influences upon geographical patterns are related to political organizations, are we in the realm of political geography. In contrast to the "natural regions" of physical geography, the area units of political geography are those of states and nations. To determine how these organizations are influenced by and adjusted to physiographical conditions, and how these factors affect international relations, is the aim of political geography. . .

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