The Royal Geographical Society and the development of surveying 1870-1914

Between 1870 and the beginning of the World War I, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) played a significant role in the development and teaching of surveying. In part, this was prompted by the lack of alternative sources of instruction for would-be explorers and the growing number of colonial officials following the 'scramble for Africa'. The debates of the kind of surveying that should be taught throw light on the conflicts within the RGS between the 'explorers' and the systematisers and between the Navy and the Army over the kind of geography that the RGS should represent. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.