Ratzel Biography

Friedrich Ratzel; August 30, Karlsruhe - August 9, ammersland near Lake Starnbergerza - German geographer and ethnologist, sociologist; The founder of anthropogeography, geopolitics, as well as the creator of the theory of diffusionism and one of the founders of the theory of cultural circles. Professor of the University of Leipzig since the year. Born in Ratzel was educated at several German universities.

He traveled around Eastern Europe and worked at the universities of Munich and Leipzig. On the contemporary of Darwin, the theory of evolution had a great influence. Ratzel applied these concepts to human society. Before him, the foundation of systematic geography was laid by Alexander von Humboldt, and the regional one - Karl Ritter. Posl and Richtgofen outlined the basic principles for the systematic study of the characteristics of our planet.

Friedrich Ratzel was the first to compare the lifestyle of different tribes and peoples, and thus laid the foundation for systematic research in the field of socio-economic geography. He experienced a lively interest in tribes, races and nations, and after fulfilling field surveys he came up with the term “anthropogeography”, characterizing it as the main direction of studying the Earth.

Ratzel developed Ritter's geography, dividing it into anthropological and political. His organic theory of the state of living space or Lebensraum gained wide fame, in which he compared its evolution with the living organism. Patriot of Germany Ratzel, a scientist of versatile scientific interests, was a convinced patriot. At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War of the year, he entered the ranks of the Prussian army and was wounded twice during hostilities.

After the unification of Germany in the city, for this, he visited Hungary and Transylvania. He continued his mission, and in the year, crossing the Alps, he visited Italy. In the United States, he studied the economy, social structure and habitat of indigenous residents and tribes, especially the life of the Indians. In addition, he focused on the blacks and Chinese living in the central part of the United States, in the Middle West and in California.

Based on his research, he tried to formulate some general concepts regarding the geographical laws caused by the contact between the aggressively expanding and retreating groups of people. Friedrich Ratzel: Anthropogeography. In the years, he published two books about North America regarding its physical and cultural geography. The book, thanks to which the German scientist became known all over the world, was completed between and years.

Friedrich Ratzel scored the main ideas from the analysis of the influence of various physical characteristics and terrain on people's lifestyle. The first volume of “anthropogeography” is a study of the relations of man and earth, and the second is the study of its influence on the environment. Ratzel's works were based on a concept according to which human activity is determined by his physical environment.

In the work, the author considers the geography of a person in terms of individuals and races. In his opinion, society cannot remain suspended in the air. Subsequently, he dispelled some determinism of his theory, saying that a person is included in the game of nature, and the environment is a partner, and not a slave to human activity. Ratzel applied Darwin's concept to human society.

This analogy suggests that groups of people should fight in order to survive in certain environmental conditions, like plants and animal organisms. This approach is called "social darwinism." The basic philosophy of Ratzel was the "survival of the strongest" in the physical environment. In the system of views of the German scientist, many ideas of the founder of sociology of the Frenchman Auguste Comte are visible: evolutionism, recognition of the influence of the geographical environment on the development of the people, the state, the role of demographic and cosmic factors in the functioning of political systems, the life of ethnic groups and the state.

The influence of O. Comte is visible in the works of F. Ratzel: “Earth and life. Comparative landship ”,“ National Studies ”and in the fundamental book“ Political Geography ”.

Ratzel also actively used the term “lebensraum” “living space”, introduced into scientific circulation by Karl Ritter and developed the concept of the organic model of the state. He deduced seven laws of expansion, or “spatial growth of the state”, being sure that “the growing people needs new lands to increase their number.” The laws withdrawn by him strictly justified the inevitability of territorial conquests.