Geographical Factors in Bengal History: Conceptual Issues 1

Geographical Factors in Bengal History:

Conceptual Issues/Theoretical Context
Dr Aksadul Alam
Professor of History
University of Dhaka
[email protected]

• It is necessary to evolve certain methods and premises in the approach to the

study of the geographical basis of cultural and economic aspects of early Bengal.
We would not like to follow the concepts of ‘geographical determinism’ and the
counter theory of ‘possibilism’ entirely in this research. Rather, a middle way
between ‘extreme determinism’ and ‘extreme possibilism’, which approximates
Griffith Taylor’s theory of ‘Stop-and-Go’ and Spate’s theory of ‘probabilism’ or
‘neo-determinism’ will be taken into consideration.

• At the very outset, it will be worthwhile to clarify some conceptual issues and
difficulties. This arises out of our awareness of the fact that ‘historical geography’
is one of the branches of the discipline of geography and it is not easy for a
student of history to approach it from that angle. Without entering into a long
discussion on the nature and scope of historical geography, it may be worthwhile
to clarify the point of view from which we have attempted to approach the
subject. More than a century ago, Macaulay faced difficulty in reconstructing the
landscape of 17th century England. The difficulties facing the historian of Bengal
before the 13th century is incomparably greater. For the latter, documentation is
scanty; evidence of geology and botany slight, and that of archaeology all too
meagre and often inconclusive.

• The term ‘historical geography’ has been understood by geographers suggest a

variety of approaches – from ‘the study of geographical explorations and of
geographical sciences, to the history of changing political frontiers and to the
study of the influences of geographical factors upon historical events’, and as a
study of ‘the activity of human society in relation to their habitats, which at the
same time offer them opportunities and set them limitations’. Historical
geography has been identified with another line of thought whose data are, of
necessity, historical, but whose outlook is geographical.
 Geographical Factors in Bengal History: Conceptual Issues 2

• The complex nature of human activity both in relation to space and time has for
long been recognised by both geographers and historians. Hence the geographer
has postulated the need for two complementary principles---‘that which studies
variations essentially along the time scale is History; that which studies
variations essentially along the space scale is Geography’. The primary concern
of historical geography has thus been recognised as an area within the discipline
of geography as ‘a study of the relationship of man and land’ in the scale of time
or as ‘the study of spatial variation of temporal change’.

• Researchers often fall back on theories of determinism in explaining human

behavioural pattern and the evolution of society, culture and civilisation in
general. Amongst them, a significant theory is that of ‘geographical determinism’
or ‘climatic determinism’. To be precise, geographical determinism entails a
theoretical perspective which readily emphasizes the salience of geographical
and geological factors in the construction of human nature, society and culture. It
claims that the natural environment impels, controls and determines the socio-
economic, political, cultural and religious life of human beings. It has been less
severely criticised in comparison to other deterministic theories and has been
more or less acknowledged by both Marxist and non-Marxist scholars. Though
the inadequacy of ‘geographical determinism’, the master key to historical
causation, has been clearly shown, the value of geography in providing a context
to human activities cannot be denied.

• ‘Determinism’ is the theory that the nature of human activity was controlled by
the parameters of the physical world within which it was set. The essence of the
deterministic school of thought is that the history, culture, living style and stage
of development of a social group or nation are exclusively or largely governed by
the physical factors of environment. Herodotus (485-425 BC), the first and
foremost historian, placed historical events in a geographical setting. He was a
strong supporter of the idea that ‘all history must be treated geographically and
all geography must be treated historically’. The idea that environmental factors
like prevailing temperature and humidity and climate changes have a
determining effect on human history is not new. On the Aegean island of Kos
around 5th century BC, the Greek philosopher Hippocrates (460-376 BC)
reputedly observed that the constitutions and habits of people follow the nature
of the land where they live. After the Greeks, the Romans’ major contribution
was to historical and regional geography whereas the Greeks contributed to the
field of physical geography only. The Roman philosopher Vitruvius (40 BC) noted
that ‘peoples and cultures are as they are because of environmental conditions’.
In 14th century Ibn-Khaldun (1332-1406 AD) made a significant contribution to
geography. His monumental work known as Muqaddimah begins with a
discussion of man’s physical environment and its influence on the living styles of
people. Majid Husain commented that Ibn-Khaldun can be considered the ‘first
 Geographical Factors in Bengal History: Conceptual Issues 3

environmental determinist’ who tried to correlate man with environment in a

scientific way.

• In 18th century Europe, an urge for connecting ‘racial category’ with

environmental factors led to the emergence of the theory of ‘climatic
determinism’. This theory was popularised by the writings of the French
intellectual Montesquieu (1689-1755 AD) who asserted that people in cold
climates are physically stronger, more courageous, frank, less suspicious and less
cunning than those in the warmer climates. Elsworth Huntington (1876-1947
AD) was also highlighting climatic influences on civilization in a deterministic
style. The environmental and climatic determinism continued throughout the
19th century and in the second half of the 19th century it was gradually
superseded by ‘biological determinism’ whose proponents, generally known as
Social Darwinists, argued that Europeans of the 19th century dominated the non-
European world because they were biologically superior, indicating belief in the
theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ in the natural selection process of the world.
However, the biological discourse of culture was gradually replaced by
psychological explanations and, in the 20th century, particularly in the post-
World War II period, the intellectual practice of associating ‘race’ with
environment lost ground and a more dynamic interpretation of nature surfaced
as exemplified in the approach of longue duree which traced the development of
civilisation and culture in long-term environmental trajectories in a holistic
sense.

• Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904), the German intellectual, supplemented ‘classical’

geographical determinism with elements of ‘Social Darwinism’ and developed a
theory – ‘man’ as the end-product of evolution in which the mainspring was the
natural selection of types according to their capacity to adjust themselves to
physical environment. In another opinion of Ratzel, ‘similar locations lead to
similar mode of life’. Spate criticized the fanatic approach of environmental
determinists. He, for example, states that ‘environment taken by itself is a
meaningless phrase; without man environment does not exist’.

• On the other hand, ‘possibilism’ in geography developed as a reaction to extreme

generalisations of environmental determinists that led to a counter thesis, of
possibilism, which presented the man as an active rather than a passive agent.
‘Environmental possibilism’ was actually developed by the French geographer
Paul Vidal de la Blanche (1845-1918), and it was further refined by Lucien
Febvre (1924). The concept of genre de vie (way of life) was Vidal Blache’s
formulation to resolve the man-environment duality, in that the life styles of the
people in particular locales revealed that physical geographical factors and
human ingenuity collaborated to create distinctive genre de vie. French historian
Lucien Febvre supported Vidal’s view in his famous phrase ‘There are no
 Geographical Factors in Bengal History: Conceptual Issues 4

necessities, but everywhere possibilities; and man as master of these

possibilities is the judge of their use’.

• Febvre opposed the view strongly that nature and natural environment are
decisive and sovereign forces acting deterministically and blindly on man
making him subservient to nature. Febvre’s credit lies in his formulation and
juxtaposition of ‘possibilism’ as a conceptual counterweight to the theory of
geographical determinism. He argued that there are different modes of
utilization of possibilities by humans in the geographical environment. Different
geographical regions of the world have diverse, heterogeneous ‘possibilities’, i.e.,
condition for utilization of natural resources. Some of these possibilities or
conditions are hostile or inadaptable to some ethnic groups. Such natural
adversities can always be overcome by ‘persistent will’ of man. According to
Febvre, nature is not a deterministic, supreme, objective force, nor the ‘essential
cause’, but compelled to become flexible by humans according to his own specific
needs in specific circumstances. Febvre believes firmly that man has always
taken the initiative to which the nature responded.

• Men, whatever they are doing, never get absolutely free from the grip of their
environment. Taking this into consideration Febvre commented that humans
utilize their geographical circumstances, more or less, according to what they
are, and take advantage more or less completely of their geographical
possibilities. However, though Febvre rightly ascribes due importance to the
human agency or the role of culture, he underestimates the element of
reciprocity and constant interaction between man and nature. Just as man
largely modifies the nature according to his own needs and utilizes natural
resources, it cannot be altogether denied that nature also acts on man, his nature
and activities.

• The possibilistic approach has been criticized by Griffith Taylor (1880-1963 AD),
a leading Australian geographer, who wrote that the task of geography is to
study the natural environment and its effect on man, not all problems connected
with man or the ‘cultural landscape’. Possibilism tended to exaggerate the role of
culture and to neglect the importance of natural environment. Taylor coined the
term ‘stop-and-go determinism’ to describe his views and these views can be
very vividly explained by the role of a traffic controller. Taylor’s ‘determinism’
was likened to a traffic control system which determined the rate but not the
direction of progress. He argued that “man is able to accelerate, slow or stop the
progress of a country’s (region’s) development... but he should not, if he is wise,
depart from directions as indicated by the natural environment. Man is like the
traffic controller in a large city who alters the rate but not the direction of
progress”. The human agency, through the use of technology, can modify the
 Geographical Factors in Bengal History: Conceptual Issues 5

force of nature but it cannot escape it. Thus, the role of human agency is similar
to that of the traffic regulator.

• Mention must be made about another concept put forward by O.H.K. Spate
(1957) named ‘probabilism’. Spate suggested the term as a mid-way or
compromise between extreme positions of environmental determinism of Ratzel
on the one hand, and radical possibilism of Vidal and Febvre on the other.
Probabilism held the view that although the physical environment does not
exactly determine human actions, it does exert considerable influence on human
action so that certain responses are more likely than the others. According to
Spate, ‘human action was represented as not so much a matter of all-or-nothing
choice or compulsion, but a balance of probabilities’. The concept of probabilism
is closely parallel to the neo-environmentalist view of ‘stop-and-go determinism’.

• Our attempt is simply to highlight how the culture and economic life and
traditions have been influenced and moulded by the geographical factors typical
of this region. It is our assumption that this process has been regulated in deltaic
Bengal by the interaction between man and geographical environment.
Therefore, ‘neo-determinism’ (stop-and-go and probabilism) might be taken into
consideration in this research. We are aware that there exists considerable
overlap in the conceptual approach to the subject. Historians are primarily
concerned with past human activities and that will not be sufficiently intelligible
without a proper understanding of the ‘setting’ or the physical arena of activity.
History must concern itself with the location of events. But the task is not very
easy. With the limited nature of information at one’s disposal and without the aid
of maps and other pertinent tools, the historian of early Bengal is severely
handicapped.