The Development History of Biogeography

Abstract

Biogeography is a major branch of geography, often considered a subdivision of physical geography. This paper is a qualitative review of the historical perspective of its development. Although there is no conspicuous beginning to this subject it is clear that ideas pertaining to the geography of biota have a history running back to the pre-Christina era. This paper identifies five periods in the history of emergence of biogeography; early historic period, classical period, late modern to early modern period, modern period and the beginning of the 21" century. In the earliest days the subject was not a distinct discipline, but had gradually acquired a natural history tradition with accumulating knowledge on the distribution of plants and animals. It was with the great conditions of Alexander von Humboldt that biogeography became a clear branch of geography. Since then, it grew based on evolutionary and ecological theories. Since the late-middle of the 20111 century, biogeography became prominent within the main discipline of geography due advancements in geosciences and the growing environmental awareness. At the onset of the 21" century is has become a subject of immense breadth and remains a strong branch of geography, ecology and earth sciences in the developed countries. Although currently it is a minor sub-division of geography in Sri Lanka, a growth in the subject can be expected in the forthcom ing years due to the revival of geography in the curricula.