Published in the last days of the great explorations, his work spurred a massive amount of activities, but it took about one hundred years of Arctic research to prove that his hypotheses were basically right. Steensby in his work on the origins of the Eskimo culture (1905). The central focus on how the challenges of the environment were modelling human society inspired the outstanding Danish geographer H.P. Answers were sought in French geography, especially in the works of Vidal de la Blache and his followers. Soon the demand for explanations of geographical phenomena increased. During the last part of the 19 th century, geography gained interest, becoming a necessary implement for explorers by supplying them with a vocabulary for their descriptions, a set of institutions in which to store and analyse their maps and findings and also a means for gaining academic merit. University teaching in “modern” geography was initiated in 1863 under modest conditions. Humboldt and Ritter served for a long time as the main inspiration for Danish geographers, who were few in number. With the advent of Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Ritter, geography was developed into a science of accurate description, classification and – by degrees – explanations of the physical environment and of its utilization. The knowledge mastered by the geographical discipline over the centuries turned increasingly into a mass of statistical information, serving as a basis for administrative, fiscal and military purposes. Ludvig Holberg, a well-known Danish playwright, was also a professor of geography and history, but did not extend his geographical teaching much beyond exercising names of locations, national monuments and curiosities. Later, geography developed into a kind of skeletal knowledge upon which to hang historical and religious studies. King Christian IV required assistance to keep a record of the known world, specifically in relation to his North Atlantic explorations (the seaway north of America), and resolutely appointed a professor for that task (by the name of “Peter Spormand” i.e. But it was only from 1636 that geography became an academic discipline at the University of Copenhagen.
#DENMARK NORMAL WESTERN FONT HOW TO#
More than 1000 years ago, Danish Vikings knew places along the Atlantic sea border of Europe, most of the Mediterranean, places as distant as Constantinople, and they even knew how to get there by alternative routes via the Russian rivers. Development of geographical thought and knowledgeġ Geography as a body of knowledge of places, peoples and nature has a long tradition in Denmark. Responsibility for the content of the text remains solely with the author.
Thanks are due to Grethe Heer (former adviser and coordinator at the Ministry of Education), who provided valuable corrections and additions to the text on schools.