Introduction to Geography
, the branch of knowledge that deals with the earth, its life, and its resources. The name comes from Greek and Latin words meaning “earth description.” Geography is concerned with the distribution of people and things and the location of places on the earth's surface, and with the relationships between people and their natural environment.
A knowledge of geography is helpful for an understanding of current events and foreign relations, why some countries are rich and others poor, and why world trade is important. On the national level geography is an aid to understanding regional differences, which often result in conflicting economic, political, and social interests. In the United States, for example, the economic interests of the wheat and cattle farmers of the Great Plains are quite different from those of either the industrial workers of the East or the cotton farmers of the South.
Geography is important to the armed forces and to any business concerned with commerce or transportation. Knowledge of the subject is required in government, especially in the departments of a national government that deal with foreign countries.
In elementary schools and in many high schools, geography is usually taught as part of the social studies curriculum. Colleges and universities offer specialized courses.
What Geography Includes
Modern geography is a broad subject covering many fields. Its most elementary form deals with the location of people, places, and things. It is sometimes called place geography and can be learned by studying maps and globes. Another important phase of geography is concerned with the distribution of the earth's resources and the locations of its natural features.
Geography is concerned also with the changing face of the earth. Since the beginning of time there have been violent upheavals of land, erosion of mountain chains, downwarps that formed seas, and advancing and retreating glaciers that scoured and changed the land. Cities have been built, rivers dammed, forests cleared, and swamps drained. These and other changes are important in geography because they have helped to produce the world in which we live.
One of geography's chief tasks is to study the relations between nature, or the natural environment, and the human race. These relations are important because people and nature each play a role in creating the differences and similarities between the various regions and countries of the world.
Topography (the overall arrangement of the land), landforms (mountains, plateaus, plains, and the like), and climate have strong influences on the ways people use the land. Landforms, for example, help determine the location of farming regions and the routes of major transportation lines. Some landforms, such as mountains, are barriers to trade, communication, and exchange of culture. Also considered in the study of geography are the relationships between humans and such features of the natural environment as plants and animals, soils, minerals, and water resources.
Branches of Geography
The subject matter of geography can be divided into two broad categories—physical geography and human geography. Each has many subdivisions, some of which overlap. Some are closely akin to the physical, biological, and social sciences. Geography can also be divided into two categories according to the method of study; the subject can be approached systematically or regionally. Either approach will involve physical geography, human geography, or both.
is the study of land and water features and the natural forces responsible for their occurrence. It is not a distinct science, but brings together the subject matter of many earth sciences to give a general knowledge of the nature of the environment. Physical geography's subdivisions include:
the study of weather conditions over an extended period of time. It deals with the kinds, causes, and characteristics of climates throughout the world. Its final aim is to recognize the many different types of climates and to interpret their regional pattern of distribution over the earth's surface.
which seeks to explain the origin and development of landforms and to interpret their arrangement and distribution over the earth. This science, concerned mainly with surface features and topography, is closely related to geology. Related fields are hydrology, the study of surface and underground waters; and physical oceanography, dealing mainly with ocean currents, tides, waves, and undersea landforms.
which deals with the earth's size, shape, and movements. It is also concerned with the effects of heavenly bodies, such as the sun and moon, on the earth. Tides and seasons of the year are examples of such effects.
Plant geography and soil geography are concerned with the kinds and distribution of the earth's natural vegetation and soils. Plant geography is often grouped with animal geography, the study of the distribution of the world's animals, in a category called biogeography.
is the study of the way human beings live in their physical and cultural environments. The subdivisions of human geography include:
the study of the geographical distribution of cultural traits. Cultural geography is a highly diverse discipline that includes the study of the geography of languages, religions, and music.
the study of how people make a living. It is especially concerned with the earth's natural resources and how they are used. Specialized phases of the study include agriculture geography, manufacturing geography, and transportation geography.
the study of the influence of geography on nations, national interests, and international relations. Such things as area growth and development, boundaries, and territorial size, shape, and location are considered.
the study of the geographical distribution of humans and the analysis of changes in distribution patterns. Population geographers study a variety of statistical information, including birth and death rates and migration patterns.
the study of cities and towns in relation to their location, size, shape, and function.
include historical geography and social geography.
keeps the entire world in view while investigating a single element, such as landforms, climate, agriculture, or manufacturing. For example, a systematic study of climate includes such things as the world distribution of temperature, precipitation, pressure, and winds. It also classifies climates and deals with their distribution throughout the world.
instead of dealing with a single element, focuses attention on a particular country or region. The goal of regional geography is to view an area in its entirety, bringing into consideration such factors as the natural environment, the people, and economic and cultural activities.
History of Geography
Geography dates to the dawn of history, when investigations and explanations of the world first began. The ancient Greeks made many contributions. Aristotle denied the widely held belief that the earth is flat and suggested that it has a spherical shape. Later, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with remarkable accuracy and developed the concepts of latitude and longitude. Herodotus, called “the father of history,” and Strabo, a Greek geographer living in Rome, wrote many volumes describing the then-known lands of the earth. Early advances in geography were also made by the Chinese, Egyptians, Arabs, Romans, and others.
Most geographic ideas of the ancient world, including that of the spherical shape of the earth, were lost by Europeans during the Middle Ages. Marco Polo's accounts of his travels in the late 1200's revived interest in geography. Explorations during and after the late 1400's, such as those of Dias, Columbus, da Gama, and Magellan, proved the world was round and ushered in an age of great discoveries. With it came improved maps and a knowledge of the world never before attainable. One of the great map makers of the time was Gerhardus Mercator, a 16th-century Flemish geographer.
Curiosity and scholarship prompted the writings of such 16th- and 17th-century geographers as Richard Hakluyt, an Englishman, and Bernhard Varen, a Dutchman. The 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant was one of the first persons to write on the subject matter of geography.
As a field of learning, geography thrived and developed many schools of thought, especially in Europe during the 1800's and in the United States around 1900. Among notable geographers were Alexander von Humboldt, Karl Ritter, Friedrich Ratzel, and Albrecht Penck, in Germany; Jean Brunhes and Vidal de la Blache, in France; Sir Halford Mackinder, in Scotland; and William M. Davis, in the United States.
Many present-day geographers in America and in other parts of the world are engaged primarily in government work and teaching.
