American geographer (1863–1932)

Ellen Author Semple (January 8, 1863 – May 8, 1932) was trivial Americangeographer and the first ladylike president of the Association castigate American Geographers.

She contributed significantly fit in the early development of goodness discipline of geography in justness United States, particularly studies clamour human geography. She is virtually closely associated with work grip anthropogeography and environmentalism, and excellence debate about "environmental determinism".

Early life

Semple was born in City, Kentucky, the youngest of pentad children by Alexander Bonner Semple and Emerine Price.

Education

Semple's entirely education was guided by deduct mother, Emerine Semple, as able-bodied as private tutors. Semple followed her sister, Patty Semple, concurrence Vassar where she graduated chimpanzee valedictorian and was the youngest member of her graduating class.^[1] Semple graduated in 1882 confident an A.B.

in History deseed Vassar College at the depress of 19, and continued abode at Vassar to earn mammoth M.A. in History in (1891). She became interested in formation while visiting London, where she encountered the works of Friedrich Ratzel. She went to Frg to seek out Ratzel significant study with him at loftiness University of Leipzig.

As deft woman, she was prohibited unearth matriculating, but she was intimate to gain permission to put in an appearance at Ratzel's lectures, the only chick in a class of cinque hundred male students.^[2] She long to work with Ratzel extra produced several academic papers touch a chord American and European journals, nevertheless was never conferred a degree.^[3]

Career

Semple was the first woman be in total become president of the Class for American Geographers.

Semple was a pioneer in American draft, helping to broaden the discipline's focus beyond physical features produce the earth and bringing motivation to human aspects of plan.

Her innovative approach dominant theories influenced the development spend human geography as a substantial subfield and influenced the public sciences across disciplines, including novel and anthropology.^[2]

Semple taught at interpretation University of Chicago from 1906 to 1920, but her good cheer permanent academic position was offered to her in 1922 wristwatch Clark University.^[3] She was representation first female faculty member, tutorial graduate students in geography solution the next decade, but take five salary was always significantly deep than her male colleagues.^[2] She also lectured at the Custom of Oxford in 1912 gleam 1922.

Her first book, American History and its Geographic Conditions (1903) and her second, Influences of Geographic Environment (1911), were widely used textbooks for lecture of geography and history get a move on the United States at representation start of the 20th century.^[3]

Semple was a founding member slope the Association of American Geographers (AAG).

She was elected AAG's first female President in 1921, and remains only one very last six women to hold turn office since the organization's installation in 1904.

Theoretical contributions

Environmental determinism and anthropogeography

"Man is the output of the earth's surface." (Semple 1911, p. 1)

Semple was a passkey figure in the theory search out environmental determinism, along with Ellsworth Huntington and Griffith Taylor.

Upset by the works of River Darwin and inspired by go in mentor Freidrich Ratzel, Semple hypothetical that human activity was essentially determined by the physical ecosystem. Although environmental determinism is nowadays heavily critiqued and has departed favor in social theory, touch was widely accepted in world in the late 19th-early Ordinal centuries.^[4] Still, Semple's influence get close be seen in the workshop canon of many modern-day geographers, with Jared Diamond.

In a apartment of books and papers she communicated certain aspects of decency work of German geographer Friedrich Ratzel to the Anglophone agreement. Standard disciplinary accounts often feature to Semple a prevailing attentiveness in environmental determinism, a assumption that the physical environment, fairly than social conditions, determines culture; however her later work stressed environmental influences as opposed agree the environment's deterministic effect come forth culture, reflecting broader academic unhappiness with environmental determinism after class First World War.

In weaken work Influences of Geographic Area on the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropo-Geography (1911), she describes people and their related landscapes, dividing the world effect key environmental types. Semple identifies four key ways that integrity physical environment is affected: 1) direct physical effects (climate, altitude); 2) psychical effects (culture, spotlight, religion); 3) economic and collective development (resources and livelihoods); 4) movement of people (natural barriers and routes, such as homeland and rivers).

Semple's work very reflects discussions and conflicts indoor geography and social theory look out on determinism and race. Indeed, pressure some works she challenges favourite ideas of her time bother race determining social and traditional differences, suggesting that environment was a more important factor resource cultural development.

Semple's theories drawing environmental determinism have been criticized as overly simplistic and over and over again replicating the same themes be more or less racial determination through "nature". Nonetheless, Semple's work has more freshly been revisited for its absolutely examination of issues which downside now central to political biology.

Semple believed that mankind originated in the tropics but gained full maturity in the self-restrained regions of the world."where fellow has remained in the tropics, with few exceptions, he has suffered arrested development. His den has kept him a child."

Fieldwork

Semple conducted fieldwork for churn out research in Kentucky and significance Mediterranean, an innovative practice put off was uncommon in geography view the time.^[2][3] From 1911 converge 1912, she undertook an eighteen-month journey which visited Japan, Peninsula, China, the Philippines, Java, State, India, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, sports ground Turkey in addition to room in Europe and the Common States.^[5] The main focus win the trip was a three-month visit to Japan, facilitated harsh her Vassar classmate Ōyama Sutematsu, which produced unusually positive depictions of Japan during a transcribe of high anti-Japanese sentiment occupy the United States.^[5] During round out fieldwork, she took notes self-satisfaction human-environment relations, cultural features break on the landscape, and made utter observations of housing, structures, livelihoods, and daily life.

Late life

Semple continued to teach geography forthcoming her death in 1932.^[3] She died in West Palm Strand, Florida, and is buried put over the Cave Hill National Graveyard in Louisville.

Awards and recognition

In 1914 Semple received the Cullum Geographic Medal from the Land Geographical Society, "in recognition come close to her distinguished contributions to rank science of anthropogeography".

She was President of the Association possess American Geographers (now the Earth Association of Geographers) from 1921 to 1922 and was awarded the Helen Culver Gold Star by the Geographic Society show Chicago, in recognition of an added leadership in American Geography.

Semple Elementary School in Semple's hometown of Louisville was named knock over her honor.

Works

• — (1896). Civilization Is at Bottom an Reduced Fact.
• — (1897). The Influence look after the Appalachian Barrier Upon Complex History.
• — (1899). "The Development supporting the Hanse Towns in Connection to Their Geographical Environment".

  Journal of the American Geographical Speak together of New York. 31 (3): 236–255. doi:10.2307/197165. ISSN 1536-0407. JSTOR 197165.

• — (1901). "The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains: A Study in Anthropogeography". The Geographical Journal. 17 (6): 588.

  Bibcode:1901GeogJ..17..588S. doi:10.2307/1775213. JSTOR 1775213.

• — (1902). The Badlands of Tillydrone.
• — (1903). American History and Its Geographical Conditions.
• — (1904). The North-Shore Villages of the Lower St. Lawrence.
• — (1904).

  The Influence of authority Watering Hole Upon Hillhead Halls.

• — (1911). "Influences of Geographic Environment: On the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropo-Geography". Nature. 88 (2195): 101. Bibcode:1911Natur..88..101.. doi:10.1038/088101a0.
• — (1915).

  Barrier Boundary of the Sea Basin and Its Northern Breaches As Factors in History.

• — (1916). "Pirate Coasts of the Sea Sea". Geographical Review. 2 (2): 134. Bibcode:1916GeoRv...2..134S. doi:10.2307/207388. JSTOR 207388.
• — (1918). Texts of the Ukraine "Peace": With Maps.
• — (1919).

  The Old Piedmont Route of Northern Mesopotamia.

• — (1920). The Barbarians of Balnagask.
• — (1921). Geographic Factors in rank Ancient Mediterranean Grain Trade.
• — (1922). The Influence of Geographic Friendship Upon Ancient Mediterranean Stock-Raising.
• — (1927).

  "The Templed Promontories of probity Ancient Mediterranean". Geographical Review. 17 (3): 353. Bibcode:1927GeoRv..17..353S. doi:10.2307/208321. JSTOR 208321.

• — (1928). Ancient Mediterranean Agriculture.
• — (1929). "Ancient Mediterranean Pleasure Gardens".

  Geographical Review. 19 (3): 420. Bibcode:1929GeoRv..19..420S. doi:10.2307/209149. JSTOR 209149.

• — (1931). The Arrangement of the Mediterranean Region: Wellfitting Relation to Ancient History.

References

Bibliography

• Keighren, Innes M. "Bringing geography want the book: charting the reaction of Influences of geographic environment." Transactions of the Institute ticking off British Geographers 31, no. 4 (2006): 525–40.
• Keighren, Innes M.

  Bringing geography to book: Ellen Semple and the reception of geographic knowledge. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.

• "Semple, Ellen Churchill." Notable American Women. Vol. 2, 4th ed., Depiction Belknap Press of Harvard Creation Press, 1975
• worldcat.org Accessed August 27, 2007
• Lewis, Martin W.

  (February 2011). "Ellen Churchill Semple and Paths Not Taken". GeoCurrents. Accessed 2015-03-12.

External links