Carl O Sauer one of the great contributors to modern American geography

• has contributed greatly to the field of cultural geography
• Sauer was of the opinion that human beings determine their own relationship with the environment, and thus he was able to reject the doctrine of environmental determinism
• he was a supporter of possibilism and believed in the human ability to control and alter nature, being guided by his culture and technology
• main themes of Sauer’s investigation of Human civilization and culture in different physical environments and the alteration of nature by man
• adopted ‘Inductive Approach’, proposed that data collected by direct observation and field survey should be analysed to conclude on whether nature controls man or man dominates on nature
• believed that relative domination should not be taken as predetermined
• Sauer’s influence in Geography is popularly known as ‘Berkeley School’
• in the second half of 20th century, Sauer introduced a new paradigm of ‘Landscape Study’
• The concept of ‘Landscape Study’ is similar to the ‘Landschaft’ of Otto Schluter and ‘Pays’ of Vidal de la Blache
• a ‘landscape’ is considered as the result of them combined interaction of physical, human and cultural attributes reflected in a region