Friedrich Ratzel (August 30, 1844 – August 9, 1904) was a German
geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
and
ethnographer, notable for first using the term ''
Lebensraum
(, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...
'' ("living space") in the sense that the
National Socialists later would.
Life
Ratzel's father was the head of the household staff of the
Grand Duke of Baden. Friedrich attended high school in Karlsruhe for six years before being apprenticed at age 15 to
apothecaries. In 1863, he went to
Rapperswil
Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...
on the
Lake of Zurich,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where he began to study the
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
. After a further year as an apothecary at
Moers near
Krefeld
Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...
in the
Lower Rhine region (1865–1866), he spent a short time at the high school in Karlsruhe and became a student of
zoology
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
at the universities of
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
,
Jena and
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, finishing in 1868. He studied zoology in 1869, publishing ''Sein und Werden der organischen Welt'' on
Darwin.
After the completion of his schooling Ratzel began a period of travels that saw him transform from zoologist/biologist to geographer. He began field work in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, writing letters of his experiences. These letters led to a job as a traveling reporter for the ''
Kölnische Zeitung'' ("Cologne Journal"), which provided him the means for further travel. Ratzel embarked on several expeditions, the lengthiest and most important being his 1874-1875 trip to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, and
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. This trip was a turning point in Ratzel's career. He studied the influence of people of German origin in
America, especially in the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
, as well as other ethnic groups in North America.
He produced a written account of his travels in 1876, ''Städte-und Kulturbilder aus Nordamerika'' (Profile of Cities and Cultures in North America), which would help establish the field of
cultural geography
Cultural geography is a subfield within human geography. Though the first traces of the study of different nations and cultures on Earth can be dated back to ancient geographers such as Ptolemy or Strabo, cultural geography as academic study fir ...
. According to Ratzel, cities are the best place to study people because life is "blended, compressed, and accelerated" in cities, and they bring out the "greatest, best, most typical aspects of people". Ratzel had traveled to cities such as
New York,
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Washington,
Richmond,
Charleston,
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, and
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
Upon his return in 1875, Ratzel became a lecturer in geography at the Technical High School in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. In 1876, he was promoted to assistant professor, then rose to full professor in 1880. While at Munich, Ratzel produced several books and established his career as an academic. In 1886, he accepted an appointment at
Leipzig University. His lectures were widely attended, notably by the influential American geographer
Ellen Churchill Semple as well as
Martha Krug-Genthe, the first woman to obtain a doctorate in geography.
Ratzel produced the foundations of
human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban ...
in his two-volume ''Anthropogeographie'' in 1882 and 1891. This work was misinterpreted by many of his students, creating a number of
environmental determinists. He published his work on
political geography, ''Politische Geographie'', in 1897. It was in this work that Ratzel introduced concepts that contributed to
Lebensraum
(, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...
and
Social Darwinism. His three volume work ''The History of Mankind'' was published in English in 1896 and contained over 1100 excellent engravings and remarkable
chromolithography.
Ratzel continued his work at Leipzig until his sudden death on August 9, 1904, in Ammerland,
Lake Starnberg, Germany.
Ratzel, a scholar of versatile academic interest, was a staunch German. During the outbreak of Franco-Prussian war in 1870, he joined the Prussian army and was wounded twice during the war.
Writings
Influenced by thinkers including Darwin and
zoologist
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
Ernst Heinrich Haeckel, he published several papers. Among them is the essay ''Lebensraum'' (1901) concerning
biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities o ...
, creating a foundation for the uniquely German variant of
geopolitics
Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of State (polity), states: ''de fac ...
: ''
Geopolitik''.
Ratzel's writings coincided with the growth of
German industrialism after the
Franco-Prussian war
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and the subsequent search for
markets that brought it into competition with
Britain. His writings served as welcome justification for
imperial expansion. Influenced by the
American geostrategist Alfred Thayer Mahan, Ratzel wrote of aspirations for German naval reach, agreeing that
sea power was self-sustaining, as the profit from
trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
would pay for the
merchant marine, unlike
land power.
Ratzel's idea of ''Raum'' (space) would grow out of his organic state conception. His early concept of ''lebensraum'' was not political or economic but spiritual and racial
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
expansion. The ''Raum-motiv'' is a historically-driving force, pushing peoples with great ''Kultur'' to naturally expand. Space, for Ratzel, was a vague concept, theoretically unbounded. ''Raum'' was defined as where
German peoples live, and other weaker states could serve to support German peoples economically, and
German culture could fertilize other cultures. However, it ought to be noted that Ratzel's concept of ''raum'' was not overtly aggressive, but he theorized simply as the natural expansion of strong states into areas controlled by weaker states.
The book for which Ratzel is acknowledged all over the world is ''Anthropogeographie''. It was completed between 1872 and 1899. The main focus of this monumental work is on the effects of different physical features and locations on the style and life of the people.
Quotations
* "Der Grenzraum ist das Wirkliche, die Grenzlinie ist das Abstraktion davon" (The borderlands are the reality, the boundary line is an abstraction thereof). (Ratzel, 1895)
*"A philosophy of the history of the human race, worthy of its name, must begin with the heavens and descend to the earth, must be charged with the conviction that all existence is one—a single conception sustained from beginning to end upon one identical law."
* "Culture grows in places that can adequately support dense labor populations."
Selected bibliography
Here are his other notable writings:
* ''Wandertage eines Naturforschers'' (Days of wandering of a student of nature, 1873–74)
* ''Vorgeschichte des europäischen Menschen'' (Prehistory of Europeans, 1875)
* ''Die Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika'' (The United States of North America, 1878–80)
* ''Die Erde, in 24 Vorträgen'' (The Earth in 24 lectures, 1881)
* ''Völkerkunde'' (Ethnology, 1885,1886,1888)
* ''Der Staat und sein Boden''
* ''Politische Geographie'', (Political Geography, 1897)
* ''Die Erde und das Leben'' (The Earth and life, 1902)
See also
*
Carl Ritter
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*Dorpalen, Andreas. ''The World of General Haushofer.'' Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., New York: 1984.
*Martin, Geoffrey J. and Preston E. James. ''All Possible Worlds.'' New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc: 1993.
*Mattern, Johannes. ''Geopolitik: Doctrine of National Self-Sufficiency and Empire.'' The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore: 1942.
*Wanklyn, Harriet. ''Friedrich Ratzel, a Biographical Memoir and Bibliography.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 1961.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratzel, Friedrich
1844 births
1904 deaths
German geographers
Geopoliticians
Heidelberg University alumni
University of Jena alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich
Human geographers
Writers from Karlsruhe