Exploration and description
Topic: Human Geography: Nature, Scope and Approaches · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Human Geography: Nature and Scope"
Meaning
Exploration and description was the first stage of human geography, in the early colonial period. European powers were searching for new lands, often for empire and trade. Geographers wrote long, encyclopaedia-like accounts of the places they found. These accounts covered their people, goods, ports and routes. The aim was to describe places, not yet to explain why they differed.
Example
After Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar coast of Kerala in 1498, Europeans wrote detailed accounts of its spices, ports and trade. These accounts are typical of the exploration and description stage.
Don't confuse with
- Regional analysis: it came next, in the later colonial period. It studied every aspect of a single region in depth, rather than broadly listing newly found lands.