What is geography?

Geography is the study of Earth’s physical and human features. Geographers apply spatial perspective and organization to search for patterns and relationships between physical features and human activities on Earth.

Geographers study:

• Where things are or where events happened

• Why things are there or why events happened in that place as a result of physical and human factors in that place or in other places and as a result of physical and human patterns that can be found

• How might changes affect conditions in that place and others

The Growth of Geography

Over the past 3,000 years, geographers have created maps and globes to represent Earth.

The knowledge of the world imparted by maps and globes has led to advancements in trade, technology, and cultural innovations.

Geography’s Evolution

600 B.C.E.

Babylonians inscribe the oldest known world map on a clay tablet. It shows Babylon in the center of the world surrounded by a “bitter river” assumed to be the ocean.

247 B.C.E.

Eratosthenes calculates Earth's circumference by measuring the angle of the sun on the same day at two Egyptian cities, and then using the distance between the cities and basic geometry to suggest that the circumference was 46,250 kilometers (28,738 miles). He was only off by about 175 km (109 miles)! He also mapped the world, with remarkable accuracy around the Mediterranean.

77 C.E.

Pliny publishes an encyclopedia of geography which provides descriptions and distances for cities and landmarks in Europe, Asia, and the far south and far east, including India.

150

Ptolemy's map of the world includes the first use of a coordinate system similar to latitude and longitude.

1519

Ferdinand Magellan begins the first-ever voyage around the world with five ships and 250 men. About three years later, one ship and 18 of the original men return to Spain. Magellan lost his life in the Philippines.

1714

After about 2,000 sailors lose their lives in one night because a navigator could not determine the correct longitude at sea. The British government offers a reward equal to several million dollars today to anyone who could develop a reliable method. The prize is not awarded until nearly 60 years later. An untrained clockmaker develops a clock that would continually keep accurate time in a ship's home port.

1804

The Lewis and Clark expedition produces the first accurate maps of the western areas of North America.

1864

George Perkins Marsh publishes Man and Nature, which is considered the first book to connect human actions to environmental degradation. He suggests that clearing woodlands could lead to desertification.

1909, 1911

Explorers reach the poles for the first time. Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole in 1909 and Captain Roald Amundsen reaches the South Pole in 1911.

1969

An estimated 600 million people watch Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon for the first time.

2000

GPS becomes 10 times more accurate and more accessible when President Clinton orders GPS signals to be unscrambled.

Physical, Human, and Environmental Geography

Geographers to know:

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) – A German scientist who advanced the field of physical geography through his research and emphasis on the impact of physical features on regions

Carl Ritter (1779-1859) – A German geographer who theorized that the physical environment played a significant role in the development of human societies. This theory is also known as environmental determinism.

Carl Sauer (1889-1975) – An American geographer who developed the field of cultural geography and emphasized the relationship between different cultures and their environments

Branches of Geography:

Physical Geography:

• focuses on natural forces in Earth’s physical and biological systems, such as climates, landforms, natural disasters, and types of vegetation

• it asks where these forces exist and why they exist there

• Physical geographers also search for patterns in the distribution of these forces

• Within physical geography, a field called Earth System Science studies the interaction of physical systems on a global scale

• Physical geographers also study a particular phenomenon, such as desertification, and everywhere it appears on Earth, as opposed to its occurrence in only a single location

Human Geography:

• The study of human activities on Earth’s surface

• Asks where human activities (such as cities, religions, and businesses) are located and why they are located there

• They might study the distribution of major research centers for medical technology and the reasons for those locations

Environmental Geography:

• Can be described as an intersection of physical and human geography

• Effects of pollution, deforestation, nuclear accidents, and acid rain all provide fertile areas of study for environmental geographers

• All social sciences have emphasized the importance of quantitative methods through the use of computers, mathematical models, and the scientific method to develop hypotheses and test them using hard data

Branches of Human Geo

• Political Geography: The study of political processes, political entities, boundaries, and the relationship between governments at the international, state, and local levels

• Population Geography: The study of where people live, the socioeconomic characteristics of a given population, the movement of people, and the causes for population change

• Urban Geography: The study of areas with high population densities and high densities of man-made structures, including the location and relationships between cities, and the function of systems within individual cities

• Agricultural Geography: The study of agricultural practices within a particular area and how those practices are related to the environment and practices in other locations

• Social Geography: The study of divisions within society that may be based on economic class, religion, ethnic background, age, sexual orientation, or other factors and how those divisions are exhibited spatially

• Economic Geography: The study of economic activities across the Earth's surface, including their location, distribution, and spatial organization

• Behavioral Geography: The study of human behavior related to the physical environment, including behaviors based on environmental factors and those based on perceptions of those facts.

• Cultural Geography: The study of culture and norms, how they are developed, and how they vary and stay the same in different locations