You have studied Geography as one of the components of social sciences up to secondary stage. Now, you will study Geography as an independent subject and learn about the physical environment of the earth, human activities and their interaction. We live on the surface of the earth. Our lives are affected by our surroundings in many ways. We depend on the resources to sustain ourselves in the surrounding areas. In Geography, you learn about the diverse lands and people. You should be curious to know about all the phenomena which vary over space. You should also be interested in understanding the changes which have taken place over time. Geography equips you to appreciate diversity and investigate into the causes responsible for creating such variations over time and space. This variation provides a clue to the understanding of the relationship between the physical environment and social & cultural features. Geographers not only study the variations in the phenomena over the earth’s surface but, also study the associations with the factors which cause these variations. They further try to study the relationship within these factors. A geographer explains the phenomena in a cause-and-effect relationship. This not only helps in interpretation but, also in foreseeing the phenomena in the future. Geographical phenomena, both physical and human, are not static but highly dynamic. This is the result of interaction between ever changing earth and human beings. This course on “Fundamentals of Physical Geography”, deals with the Origin and Evolution of the Earth, Landforms and their evolution, Climate, Submarine relief, Movement of ocean water, Biosphere and many more from class XI Geography course. Dr. Aparna Pandey Professor, Department of Education in Social Sciences (DESS), NCERT will be interacting with you during the course. Each module of the course will have five quadrants: e-Tutorial (Video/Audio), e-text, Web resources, Self Assessment questions (MCQs, right wrong, one word answers etc.) and transcription of the video. Hope you will enjoy the course, wish you all the best.