O geographic space is the object of study of the geography, and for this reason it is considered one of the key concepts of this science. The ways to define geographic space vary according to the different currents of geographic thought, and there is no consensus on the term. In general terms, the geographic space can be understood as the space modified by human action. Thus, it is composed of the natural space and the society, and is in a constant process of construction and transformation.
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What is geographic space?
Geographic space is one of the main concepts of geography, since it is the object of study of this science. As in other fields of knowledge, does not exist a single way to define geographic space. From the current of traditional geography, passing through the quantitative, the critical and reaching the humanist and culturally, many authors have contributed to the construction of an understanding of what geographical space is.
Thus, the geographical space is understood as the natural space modified by the action of human beings. As a result,
one of the most striking aspects of this space is its dynamism, that is, it is constantly changing.
When we talk about human actions, we are dealing with a variety of relationships and activities developed by society. This includes work, the economy (from the economic structure to the flows of money, merchandise), culture, interpersonal relationships, power relations and direct actions on the natural substrate, to name a few examples. Therefore, to study and understand the geographic space is to understand the interactions between society and the environment in which it lives in all its dimensions and particularities.
Finally, geography has categories that help us in the study of geographic space, they are: landscape, territory, region and place.
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Examples of geographic space
A classic example of geographic space is the City. Cities are areas intensely modified by human activity and the location of a large diversity of activities, flows and exchanges, which condition the construction and constant transformation of that space.
Plantations and the various forms built, even in isolated areas, such as roads, hydroelectric plants, bridges, represent human intervention in nature and, therefore, a representation of geographic space.
Elements that make up the geographic space
Given the definition and examples presented above, we have that the geographic space is formed by the interaction of two main elements, they are:
THE nature (or natural space);
THE society.
Milton Santos
The geographer Milton Santos is recognized as one of the greatest thinkers in the country and in Brazilian geography. It has an extensive bibliography in which, in addition to theoretical discussion about geographic science itself, it analyzes in depth the Brazilian and world geographic space from a perspective critical.
Many of Milton Santos' works address the definition of the object of study in geography. in your book THE nonature of andspace, he defines the geographic space as a formed set pera action system and an object system. Objects cannot be separated from actions, and that is why the author describes the whole as inseparable.
In the same work, saints highlights the fact that these objects are becoming more and more artificial. He cites as examples: railways and highways, hydroelectric dams, ports, modern farms, and cities. It is clear, therefore, the importance that technique, that is, technological instruments and different ways of doing things, have in the construction of geographic space.
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Mind Map: Geographic Space
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Brazilian geographic space
The Brazilian geographic space went through intense transformations from the 16th century onwards, which represents the beginning of colonization. This process gave rise to an economic system based on plant extraction, large agricultural properties and exports. The population was concentrated on the coast, and gradually went inland.
Until the nineteenth century, the Brazilian space was under a system called the archipelago. This designation has its origins in the way in which the spatial distribution of economic activities took place and in the isolation of these areas. The existing connection was with the foreign market, where production was directed. The main (but not the only) economic cycles that developed during this period were:
the of sugar cane, at the North East;
the of rubber, at the Nhell;
the one of gold and, later, of the coffee, at the Southeast.
THE greater integration of Brazilian space began in the 19th century with the process of industrialization, which gained strength from the 1950s. At the same time, the national capital was transferred to the Midwest, and new ways of transport and communication were opened with other parts of the national territory.
This period also represented the intensification of urbanization it's the principle of technical modernization in the field, which, with the state incentive, culminated in the expansion of agricultural frontiers in the 1970s.
Technological advance and spatial restructuring were not restricted to the field. there was the industrial production reorganization, marked by the concentration of industries in the Southeast region. Starting in the 1980s, industries relocated to other regions of the country, provoking once again a profound transformation in the Brazilian geographic space.
World geographic space
the advent of First Industrial Revolution, which brought us innovations such as the steam engine and the use of coal as fuel, provided the expansion of the scale of transformation of geographic space and the increase in the speed with which this process did. As new technical instruments emerged, O capitalismand the work underwent modifications that implied the reorganization of world space.
From the Second Industrial Revolution, the technical environment improvesor, and the differences between countries considered industrialized and non-industrialized were deepened.
With the globalization, the world geographic space entered its most recent stage, that of the technical-scientific-informational environment. This is characterized by rapid and intense technological advances, especially in the means of information and communication, which allowed the greater integration of people, companies and places on an international scale. The economic dynamics have changed, and the same has happened with the regionalization of the world space and the geopolitics global.
solved exercises
Question 1 - (UECE 2015) “The now globalized geographic space is redefining itself through the combination of signs. His study assumes that these new data revealed by modernization and by the agricultural capitalism, by the regional specialization of activities, by new forms and location of industries.”
(SAINTS, Milton. Technique, Space and Time. Rio de Janeiro: Hucitec, 1996.)
The excerpt above expresses new determinations of geographic space identified with
A) the exclusion territories.
B) dystopian landscapes.
C) the technical, scientific and informational environment.
D) the redefinition of urban hierarchies.
Resolution
Alternative C. In the excerpt brought by the statement of the question, the author describes the current technical period of the world geographic space, called technical-scientific-informational environment.
Question 2 - (Unemat) One of the great debates in Geography, since it reached the status of science, between the end of the century. 18th and early 20th century XIX, has been alluding to its object of study. Currently, taking as a reference the arguments of geographers such as Milton Santos and Roberto Lobato Corrêa, it is understood that Geography has geographic space as its object of study. Thus, we define it as “the science of spatial organization”.
On the concept of geographic space and its scope in the study of Geography, check the alternative incorrect.
A) The geographic space does not constitute a homogeneous totality, as it reflects the different singularities of the nature and dimensions of human work.
B) The geographic space encompasses, in addition to natural elements and human artifacts, the network of relationships created by the flow of people, goods, capital and information.
C) The geographic space constitutes a homogeneous totality, since it reflects the result of the interactions of human work and its interactions with nature.
D) Geographic space is the material product of the interaction, mediated by techniques, between societies and the terrestrial surface in which they are inserted.
E) The geographic space is dynamic and is, at the same time, organizing and reorganizing itself. In this sense it can be said that Geography analyzes the spatial organization.
Resolution
Alternative C. The geographic space is formed through the interaction of society with the natural space and, also, of the various components, processes and structures that integrate and are built by different social groups, which are extremely diverse. Due to its own construction and transformation process, geographic space is not a homogeneous space.
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography teacher
