Ratzel, Friedrich, 1844-1904, German geographer. He traveled as a journalist in Europe (1869) and in Cuba, Mexico, and the United States (1872-75). Thereafter he devoted himself to geographical studies and taught geography at the polytechnical school in Munich (1876-86) and at the Univ. of Leipzig (from 1886). He was a pioneer in developing the school of anthropogeography and was the founder of modern political geography. He emphasized the importance of physical environment as a factor determining human activity. His geographic concepts had a profound influence on European and American geographers and he had many followers. The most noted of his many works are Anthropogeographie (2 vol., 1882-91) and Politische Geographie (1897).