Explain why 1859 is a critical year in geography

he emergence of scientific geography resulted from a new concern with empirical observation during the European voyages of discovery at the end of the eighteenth century. It was made possible by technical and conceptual developments affecting man's understanding of time, of space and scale, and of his own effects on the environment. The methods of classification and comparison helped to make sense of the great diversity of new information about the Earth. Darwin's theory of evolution in 1859 supplied a key to the interrelationships of phenomena in time and space which had eluded both Humboldt and Ritter; and as the new professional geography became established in changing social conditions at the end of the nineteenth century, Kropotkin and Reclus supplied a component of social concern which has remained central to the subject. The dominant themes of modern geography were thus largely established in Europe between 1785 and 1885 and still provide a guide to modern action

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