Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904) was a German thinker, considered one of the main classical theorists of geography and the forerunner of Geopolitics and Geographical Determinism. It is worth remembering that the expression “determinism” was not used by Ratzel himself, as it is a conceptual attribution that was given from readings about his thought. His main published work was the Anthropogeography.
Ratzel owes the emphasis of geographical studies on man. However, the Ratzelian theory saw the human being from a biological (non-social) point of view and that, therefore, it could not be seen outside of the cause-and-effect relationships that determine the conditions of life in the environment. environment.
This conception was called geographic determinism, in which man would be a product of the environment, that is, natural conditions determine life in society. Man would be a slave to his own space.
This thinker was greatly influenced by the work of Charles Darwin, who defended the postulate that evolution would be based on fight between the different species, so that those that had the characteristics of better adaptation to the environment would survive. Ratzel, in a way, applied these ideas to the species and its life in society. The fittest human beings, races and ethnicities would conquer and dominate the peoples considered inferior.
Such ideals based and theoretically justified the domination of the European peoples, who set themselves up as a civilization more evolved and developed, with the mission of dominating inferior peoples and imposing on them their culture and their way of life. His ideas also influenced what later came to be called Nazism.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Ratzel was also a profound student of the concept and behavior of the modern state. For him, the State would be the society organized to build, defend or expand its territory. He also considered this to be a form of organization that would come naturally to any advanced society. The State, for Ratzel, was a living organism.
From this conception, he elaborated the concept of living space, which would be the spatial and natural conditions for the maintenance or consolidation of the State's power over its territory. These would be the natural conditions available for the strengthening of a given society or people. Those populations that had better living space would be better able to develop and conquer other territories.
This notion was fundamental given the historical context of Germany, which had just gone through its process of reunification and needed a basis to justify and assert itself as a State, with the capacity for growth, expansion and domination.
Despite considering himself the "father of Geopolitics", Ratzel never used this expression, which was created by one of his disciples, the Swedish thinker Rudolf Kjellen. It can be said, however, that his ideas were constitutive of a true Geography of Power.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PENA, Rodolfo F. Alves. "Friedrich Ratzel"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/friedrich-ratzel.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
