[Rezension zu] Ernst Friedrich: Geographie des Welthandels und des Weltverkehrs

Eugen Peter Schwiedland: Review of Ernst Friedrich (1912)

Schwiedland’s review of Geographie des Welthandels und des Weltverkehrs assesses Friedrich’s empirical presentation and conceptual framework. It begins with the distinction defining the book’s scope:

Friedrich scheidet die Wirtschaftsgeographie in Produktionsgeographie — welche die örtliche Verteilung der Produktion erheben und erklären soll — und in eine Handels- und Verkehrsgeographie.

English translation: Friedrich divides economic geography into a geography of production — which is to ascertain and explain the local distribution of production — and a geography of trade and transport.

Friedrich treats the latter field, proceeding from the natural and cultural foundations of trade and transport to worldwide and regional accounts. Schwiedland welcomes statistics extending to 1909 and six maps showing production and trade in major commodities. His approval emphasizes the usefulness of geographical presentation, but does not extend unreservedly to its quantitative foundations:

Dagegen ist auf Seite 99 die angenommene Gesamtmenge der Handelsumsätze der Welt nicht angegeben.

English translation: On page 99, by contrast, the assumed total volume of the world's commercial turnover is not stated.

The absent aggregate marks a limit to the book’s statistical account. Schwiedland also questions the explanatory gain from classifying economies as reflexive, instinctive, traditional, and scientifically rational. The review consequently balances appreciation of empirical coverage and cartographic innovation against reservations about incomplete quantification and economic periodization.