The International Geographical Congress

Abstract

THE International Geographical Congress, now a recognised institution, has this year met for the first time on British ground. Originating in a festival organised to celebrate the inauguration of statues of Mercator and Ortelius at Antwerp and Rupelmond, the first Congress was held at Antwerp in August 1871, under the name of the “Congrès des Sciences géographiques, cosmographiques, et commerciales,” and under the influence of the revival of geographical learning subsequent to the Franco-German War, it has met from time to time at different centres, gaining strength and vitality on each occasion. The second Congress assembled at Paris in 1875; the third at Venice in 1881; the fourth at Paris in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1889; and the fifth at Berne in 1891. In each case the representative Geographical Society of the country concerned was responsible for the organisation and arrangement of the meeting, and at Berne it was definitely resolved that in future the Congress should be constituted at intervals of not less than three, nor more than five years, the resolution taking practical shape in the acceptance by the Royal Geographical Society of the responsibilities of a meeting in London in 1895. A proposal, emanating from the Berne Geographical Society, to the effect that the chief officials of each Congress shall retain office until the meeting of the next, is to be submitted this year, and its acceptance would mark a further step towards the establishment of a great permanent organisation for the systematic study and exploration of the globe.