NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Geography Chapter 1 Geography as A Discipline

Ans : (i) (b) Eratosthenes
(ii) (c) Plain
(iii) (d) 1C,2A,3D,4B
(iv) (a) Why
(v) (d) History 

Ans : (i) While going to school, we see some cultural features like shops, schools, clubs, offices, temples, mosques, houses. These features are dissimilar. Yes, they should be included in the study of geography as they are an essential part of human
geography.


(ii) An orange resembles the shape of the earth because all others are almost sphere while pumpkin is long in shape. Earth is not a perfect sphere, it rotates on its axis. It is of geoid shape, flatter toward poles like an orange.


(iii) Yes, we do celebrate Van Mahotsava in our school. We plant so many trees because trees provide us food, oxygen, clean air, economical products such as rubber and paper. help in making medicine etc. By taking in carbon dioxide and giving oxygen, trees maintain ecological balance. 


(iv) The sphere where elephants, deer, earthworms, trees and grasses live and grow is known as biosphere.Important features of this sphere are:
The biosphere is the layer of the planet Earth where life exists.Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, thus, biosphere overlaps all,other three spheres.
Plants and animals are biotic elements of biosphere while soil, water, air are abiotic elements.


(v) It takes me around half an hour to reach my school. Had my school been located across the road from my house, I could reach there within four minutes. Due to the long distance between my residence and school, a lot of time gets wasted in commuting which affects my studies hour as well as playing hours negatively. Time can be converted into space, vice versa is also true, i.e., we can convert space into time. 

Ans : (i) There is vast variation in natural as well as cultural phenomena. The study of 'areal differentiation' is part of geography, however, geography is not only limited to 'areal differentiation'. Geography as a discipline is related to space and takes note of spatial characteristics and attributes. It studies the patterns of distribution, location and concentration of phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns. It takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena over space and interprets them providing explanations for these patterns. It also takes note of the associations and inter-relationships between the phenomena resulting from the dynamic interaction beüeen human beings and their physical environment. Geography helps in understanding the reality in totality in its spatial perspective. Geography, thus, not only takes note of the differences in the phenomena from place to place but integrates them holistically which may be different at other places.


(ii) 
 Geography and History: Geography influences historical events. Spatial distance itself has been a very potent factor to alter the course of history of the world. Spatial depth provided defence to many countries, particularly in the last century. In traditional warfare, countries with large size in area, gain time at the cost of space. Every geographical phenomenon undergoes change through time and can be explained temporally. The changes in landforms, climate, vegetation, economic activities occupations and cultural developments have followed a definite historical course.
 Geography and Civics: The core concern of political science is territory, people and sovereignty while political geography is also interested in the study of the state as a spatial unit as well as people and their political behaviour.
 Geography and Economics: Economics deals with basic attributes of the economy such as production, distribution, exchange and consumption. Each of these attributes also has spatial aspects and here comes the role of economic geography to study the spatial aspects of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.