The geographic studies of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944) offered an understanding of human activities on Earth's surface that differed from the geographic theories and practices of his Euro-American predecessors and Japanese contemporaries. With his rejection of geographic determinism and its imperialist/colonial orientation he sought to configure a decentered world, or a world centered on the lives of people in the unique settings of their local communities. In the second half of the nineteenth century geographic determinism was linked with the newly influential ideas of evolution, in particular with interpretations that directly transposed ideas of biological competition and survival of the fittest to the realm of human society. Under the rubric of Social Darwinism, these ideas of competition and dominance justified existing domestic and international orders as the inevitable outcome of natural processes. Makiguchi sought to redefine the concept of competition using the term "jindoteki kyoso" ([Japanese characters omitted])--humanitarian or humane modes of competition. In doing this he sought to find ways of enabling the realization of the positive outcomes of competition--striving for excellence, inventiveness, innovation--while containing the more negative outcomes. The key to this, for Makiguchi, was to ensure that competition was conducted within an understanding of human interconnection and interdependence.