Aleksey Postnikov

The author deals with a history and modem state of studies on the history of geography in Western Europen, American and Russian literature. An enfluence of the philosophy of science (theory of scientific revolutions, for example) on the development of geography is shown as well as importance of some recent currents in geographical thought, such as radical geography and some post-modern enfluences. It is proved that a theoretical orientation notwithstanding, nowadays the majority of historians of geography is keen on looking for impor tance of ideological, phsicological, sociological, cultural and other external factors for the development of geography. On the other hand, for the educational aims it is very essential to study an «internal» history of geography as a science and a field of human practics especially in regards to the development of ideas and methods of this science. Eurocentrism is pointed out as a real lacuna in the foreign histori ography of geography.