GENERAL PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

If it is necessary to define an "environment" within the general framework of the concept of geography, the environments in which living and non-living beings coexist, in communication with each other in the form of energy and matter exchange, and the distribution of these environments on the earth should come to mind.
The issue of what the basic starting point should be in human-environment or human-environment interaction is a matter of debate even today. Because today, human beings can change the physical characteristics of the environment in which they live, in line with their own interests. When necessary, hills and river valleys can be destroyed in order to open up residential areas, or by removing the natural surface cover (such as cutting forests, creating large water bodies by building dams), the energy exchange between the earth and the atmosphere, and thus the local climate, is changed.
Although humans cause some environmental changes by changing the surface in local areas, the factors that determine the boundaries of settlement and human activities are physical geography elements. Large water bodies such as oceans and seas, the upper parts of the mountains after a certain level (may vary depending on geographical latitude), desert areas are the main limiting factors, but rivers and seasides and areas with fertile plains have been the general centers of attraction.
Geography has developed its own schools over these concepts. Geographers, who took part in the movement that emerged in the 1850s, developed "environmental determinism" based on the interpretation that human activities are affected by physical geography elements, in other words, the physical environment or environment shapes man. On the other hand, in the following years, the interpretation of "possibilism", in which it is argued that people can determine how the opportunities offered by the environment to people, will be used, has been developed.
In this book, the general structure and characteristics of all the basic components that make up our world, mountains, plains, plateaus, oceans and seas, and undoubtedly the atmosphere, which we define as the environment, space or earth, which are the basis of these discussions, and their interactions with each other, are discussed in a clear and understandable language. has been written.