This is the world geographer halford? Mackinder's concentrated summary of geopolitics, especially the "heartland" theory in the book "The Geographical Hub of History". The geographical hub of history is the foundation stone of western geopolitics.
Robert, former president of the American Library Association? Downs believes that this book is also one of the 16 books that changed the history of the world. The author of this book, huh? j .
Mackinder is regarded as the first person to analyze the world political power with the concept of global strategy. Huh? j .
Mackinder was born in Lincolnshire, England in 186 1. He graduated from Oxford University in his early years and 1887 became the first geography lecturer in Oxford University.
With his efforts and the support of the Royal Geographical Society, Oxford University founded the first geography department in Britain in 1899, which was founded by Ha? J Mackinder is the head of this department.
Mackinder also taught at the University of London, and served as Dean of the London School of Economics from 1903 to 1908. 19 19 to 1920 served as the British high Commissioner to south Russia, and was knighted when he returned to China: 1920 to 1945 served as the chairman of the imperial maritime commission.
19%? 193 1 served as consultant to the Privy Council and chairman of the Imperial Economic Committee. 1886 was elected as a member of the royal geographical society, and 1932 ~ 1936 served as the vice chairman of the society, and was awarded the gold medal by the American geographical society.
1947 died at his home in Dorset on March 6th. 1904 65438+ 10. In October, Mackinder read the famous paper "The Geographical Hub of History" at the Royal Geographic Society.
The paper compares vertically and horizontally, and analyzes the relationship between geography and strategy, which aroused the wide interest of the participants? After the meeting, this paper was officially published and widely circulated, and it was called Geopolitics, which had an impact on the progress of the world. Western scholars believe that Mackinder's research results are more important than Mahan's theory in understanding the changes of various political forces after the war and analyzing the strategic situation. Mackinder believes that when historians in the distant future look back on the centuries we are currently experiencing and shorten them as we study the Egyptian dynasty now, they will probably describe the last 400 years as the Columbian era, and say that this era will end soon after 1900 years.
The geographical exploration of Columbus era has passed, and the world of the 20th century has entered the era of closed political system, which will still be a worldwide problem. Turbulence in one part of the world will affect other parts of the world, so politicians in the world have turned their attention from territorial expansion to more vivid struggle.
Geography is closely related to history. For the first time, people can understand the causal relationship between various features and events on the whole world stage and geography, find formulas, and see through the opposing forces in the international struggle at that time. He believes that the relationship between man and nature is that man has played a positive role, not nature, but nature has played a leading role to a great extent, that is, nature has influenced the history of the world.
Mackinder believes that a cursory look at the "political map" of Europe reveals that there is an obvious connection between the natural environment and political organizations. Obviously, there are significant differences in natural conditions between the vast areas occupied by Russia and the narrow territories occupied by a number of western European countries.
Europe and Asia are connected into a continent, so the history of Europe is closely related to the history of Asia. It can be considered that European civilization is the result of long-term resistance to Asian invasion. In the Middle Ages, Europe was often threatened by Asians from the East. Nomads from the interior of Asia crossed the grassland, crossed the passage between the Urals and the Black Sea, and surprisingly entered central Europe.
When they encounter forests and mountains in Central Europe, their mobility to adapt to grassland conditions is obviously hindered. However, before the Mongolian invasion in15th century, the full significance of Asia's influence on Europe was not known.
Therefore, Mackinder believes that when analyzing these facts, we need to remove the geographical vision from Europe and consider the old continent as a whole, so as to see clearly.
2. In what year was the speech "Geographical Hub of History" published? This book contains two papers by Mackinder, the originator of modern English geography: The Scope and Method of Geography and the Geographical Hub of History.
Both articles were read at the Royal Geographical Society. The Scope and Method of Geography was finished in June 65438 +0887+10/October 65438, which immediately aroused great repercussions in Britain, pushed the geography teaching in Britain to a new stage and laid the ideological foundation of British geography today.
This paper is regarded as a classic of British geography. The historical geographical hub studied at the Royal Geographical Society in June 65438 +0904+10, which influenced world politics.
Whether the article "The Geographical Hub of History" can influence world politics, people have made such and such comments because Mackinder put forward the argument of "the heart zone" in the article.
3. What is the geographical hub of history? Mackinder's basic theory and thinking method are not out of date, but the specific links really need to be revised on a large scale.
In fact, the overall development speed and process of human society in the 20th century was far less than that of19th century, so that Mackinder's prediction based on the historical experience of19th century could not be fully realized. Some people say that this book is too backward and should even be used as a reference for medieval kings.
But I think on the contrary, this book is a bit too advanced. At the same time, due to the spiral development of things, too advanced concepts and backward concepts are similar on the surface, which affects many people's judgments.
There was no revolutionary progress in land transportation technology in the 20th century, so that the political history of great powers in the 20th century basically continued the old rules of sea power. However, the development of the international pattern in the 20th century (265,438+0) is still unclear, but clues can already be seen. If the popularization of long-distance high-speed railway technology can be realized, the land-based countries will once again gain great geographical advantages. The world pattern will also undergo tremendous changes.
This book may attract attention again.