1st Istanbul International Geography Congress Proceedings Book
An attempt of the past: Nafi Atuf Kansu’s geography education guide for primary schools
Haluk KayıcıGeography education guide for elementary schools prepared by Nafi Atuf [Kansu] was published sequentially in various issues of the “Saʽy ü Tetebbu” periodical disseminated by teachers in Edirne between the years of 1911 – 1912 towards education. What motivated Mr. Nafi Atuf for this attempt, with his own words, was the fact that geography lessons were prominent as the most complicatedly, erratically, and jadedly given lessons in schools of the era. Having served as a geography teacher erstwhile and having published a book titled “Vatanımın Coğrafyası” (the Geography of My Homeland) as an introductory to geography, Nafi Atuf issued a geography guide which was more oriented in practice. Main objective of this study is to show that the aforesaid geography guide can be amended and used in the present, and to unearth this work which was prepared in consideration of elementary school students even though it was tough times of the Ottoman Empire. Being written in the old alphabet, chapters of the guide have been gathered from eight different issues of the periodical, have been translated, and simplified so as to make it easier to read in our day. In addition to this, the old geography terms have been left untouched and used with their present day synonyms, and the geography guide, which was drawn up as twenty-eight separate lessons, has been classified in main topics.
