Environmental determinism- a nineteenth and early twentieth century approach to the study of geography which argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences, Geography was therefore the study of how the phy

Environmental determinism is a fundamental concept in human geography that posits that the physical environment plays a decisive role in determining the course of human history and development. This nineteenth and early twentieth century approach to the study of geography argued that the laws governing human behavior could be found in the physical sciences, and that the physical environment was ultimately responsible for the economic and social outcomes of a given region. Environmental determinism thus suggests that the physical environment was the most important factor in human activity, and that its influence was unavoidable and overriding. This theory was widely accepted at the time, and used to justify drastic interventions such as the European colonization of non-European countries and the forced relocation of their inhabitants. Environmental determinism has since been largely discredited, as more recent approaches to human geography have expanded the scope of inquiry to include economic, social, and political factors.