Abstract
THE author offers this volume “as a contribution to ‘Education and the Empire,’” and since his contribution has taken the shape of an atlas, presumably he had in view geographical education. Now while the British Empire, as such, might well enter into college or university curriculum as an historical subject, it cannot be treated in a geographical course. The Empire is not a geographical unity; from a geographer's point of view it is a heterogeneous collection of the whole or parts of widely different natural regions. We must treat of fragments, large or small, of tropical West Africa, of an isolated scrap of South America, and a similar arbitrary selection from other continents. The majority of the colonies and dependencies of the Empire cannot be geographically treated apart from the regions to which they belong. To attempt to carry the criterion of political ownership into geography is, to say the least, unscientific. The author admits the necessity of considering the economic productions of the entire world as a basis for the study of British trade. In that he is right, but surely the only true understanding of the Empire and the right conception of its place in the world must be reached through a study of the geography of the entire globe.
The British Empire (and Japan). Its Features, Resources, Commerce, Industries, and Scenery together with the Physical and Economic Conditions of the World.
By W. Bisiker. 213 maps and 272 illustrations. (London: The Geographical Publishing Company, 1909.) Price 1l. 1s. net.
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The British Empire (and Japan) Its Features, Resources, Commerce, Industries, and Scenery together with the Physical and Economic Conditions of the World . Nature 80, 213 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/080213a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/080213a0