Geography
Geography isstudy oflocationalspatial variationboth physicalhuman phenomena on Earth. The word derives fromGreek words gê ("the Earth")graphein ("to write", as"to describe").Geographyalsotitlevarious historical books on this subject, notablyGeographia by Klaudios Ptolemaios (2nd century).
Geographymuch more than cartography,studymaps. It not only investigates whatwhere onEarth, but also why it's therenot somewhere else, sometimes referredas "locationspace". It studies this whethercausenatural or human. It also studiesconsequencesthose differences.
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2 Methods 3 Branches 4 Geographic Techniques 5 Related Fields 6 External Links 7 See also |
HistoryGeography
The Greekss arefirst known cultureactively explore geography assciencephilosophy,major contributors including ThalesMiletus, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Aristotle, DicaearchusMessana, Strabo,Ptolemy. Mapping byRomanss asexplored new lands added new techniques.
DuringMiddle Ages, Arabs such as Idrisi, Ibn Battuta,Ibn Khaldun built onmaintainedGreekRoman learnings. FollowingjourneysMarco Polo, interestgeography spread throughout Europe. DuringRenaissanceinto16th17th centuriesgreat voyagesexploration reviveddesiresolid theoretical foundationsaccurate detail. The Geographia Generalis by Bernhardus VareniusGerardus Mercator's world mapprime examples.
By18th century, geography had become recognized asdiscrete disciplinebecame part oftypical university curriculum. Overpast two centuriesquantityknowledge andnumbertools has exploded. Therestrong links between geography andsciencesgeologybotany.
InWest during20th century,disciplinegeography went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography,quantitative revolution,critical geography.
Environmental determinism istheory that characteristicspeopleculturesdue toinfluence ofnatural environment. Prominent environmental determinists included Carl Ritter, Ellen Churchill Semple,Ellsworth Huntington. Popular hypotheses included "heat makes inhabitants oftropics lazy""frequent changesbarometric pressure make inhabitantstemperate latitudes more intellectually agile." Environmental determinist geographers attemptedmakestudysuch influences scientific. Around1930s, this schoolthought was widely repudiated as lacking any basisbeing prone(often bigoted) generalizations. Environmental determinism remains an embarassmentmany contemporary geographers,leadsskepticism among manythemclaimsenvironmental influence on culture (such astheoriesJared Diamond).
Regional geography representedreaffirmation thatproper topicgeography was spaceplace. Regional geographers focused oncollectiondescriptive information about places, as well asproper methodsdividingearth up into regions. The philosophical basisthis field was laid out by Richard Hartshorne.
The quantitative revolution was geography's attemptredefine itself asscience, inwake ofrevivalinterestscience followinglaunchSputnik. Quantitative revolutionaries, often referredas "space cadets," declared thatpurposegeography wastest general laws aboutspatial arrangementphenomena. They adoptedphilosophypositivism fromnatural sciencesturnedmathematics -- especially statistics -- aswayproving hypotheses. The quantitative revolution laidgroundwork fordevelopmentgeographic information systems.
Though positivistpost-positivist approaches remain importantgeography, critical geography arose ascritiquepositivism. The first straincritical geographyemerge was humanist geography. Drawing onphilosophiesexistentialismphenomenology, humanist geographers (such as Yi-Fu Tuan) focused on people's sense of,relationship with, places. More influential was Marxist geography, which appliedsocial theoriesKarl Marxhis followersgeographic phenomena. David HarveyRichard Peetwell-known Marxist geographers. Feminist geography is, asname suggests,useideas from feminismgeographic contexts. The most recent straincritical geographypostmodernist geography, which employsideaspostmodernistpoststructuralist theoristsexploresocial constructionspatial relations.
Methods
Spatial interrelationshipskeythis synoptic science,it uses maps askey tool. Classical cartography has been joined bymore modern approachgeographical analysis, computer-based geographic information systems (GIS).
Geographers use four interrelated approaches:
- Systematic - Groups geographical knowledge into categories that can be explored globally
- Regional - Examines systematic relationships between categories forspecific region or location onplanet.
- Descriptive - Simply specifieslocationsfeaturespopulations.
- Analytical - Asks why we find featurespopulations inspecific geographic area.
Branches
Physical geography
This branch focuses on Geography as an Earth science, making usebiologyunderstand global florafauna patterns,mathematicsphysicsunderstandmotion ofearthrelationshipother bodies insolar system. It also includes landscape ecologyenvironmental geography.
Related Topics: atmosphere -- archipelago -- continent -- desert -- island -- landform -- ocean -- sea -- river -- ecology -- climate -- soil -- geomorphology -- biogeography - Timelinegeography, paleontology
Human geography
The human, or political/cultural, branchgeography - also called anthropogeography focuses onsocial science, non-physical aspects ofwayworldarranged. It examines how humans adapt themselves toland andother people,in macroscopic transformationsenact onworld. It can be divided intofollowing broad categories: economic geography, political geography (including geopolitics), social geography (including urban geography), feminist geography,military geography.
Related Topics: Countries ofworld -- country -- nation -- state -- union -- province -- county -- city -- municipality
Human-environment geography
Duringtimeenvironmental determinism, geography was defined not asstudyspacial relationships, but asstudyhow humans andnatural environment interact. Though environmental determinism has died out, there remainsstrong traditiongeographers addressingrelationships between peoplenature. Theretwo main subfieldshuman-environment geography: culturalpolitical ecology (CAPE),risk-hazards research.
Culturalpolitical ecology
Cultural ecology grew out ofworkCarl Sauergeography andsimilar schoolthoughtanthropology. It examined how human societies adapt themselves tonatural environment. Sustainability science has been one important outgrowththis tradition. Political ecology arose when some geographers used aspectscritical geographylook at relationspowerhowaffect people's use ofenvironment. For example, an influential study by Michael Watts argued that famines inSahelcaused bychanges inregion's politicaleconomic system asresultcolonialism andspreadcapitalism.
Risk-hazards research
Research on hazards began withworkgeographer Gilbert White, who soughtunderstand why people livedisaster-prone floodplains. Since then,hazards field has expandedbecomemultidisciplinary field examining both natural hazards (such as earthquakes)technological hazards (such as nuclear reactor meltdowns). Geographers studying hazardsinterestedbothdynamics ofhazard eventhow peoplesocieties dealit.
Historical geography
This branch seeksdetermine how cultural features ofmultifarious societies acrossplanet evolvedcame into being. Study oflandscapeonemany key focithis field - much can be deduced about earlier societies from their impact on their local environmentsurroundings.
What's inname? Historical Geography andBerkeley School
"Historical Geography" can indeed refer toreciprocal effectsgeographyhistory on each other. But inUnited States,hasmore specialized meaning: This isname given by Carl Ortwin SauerThe UniversityCalifornia, Berkeleyhis programreorganizing cultural geography (some say all geography) along regional lines, beginning infirst decades of20th Century.
To Sauer,landscape andcultures incould only be understood if allits influences through history were taken into account: Physical, cultural, economic, political, environmental. Sauer stressed regional specialization asonly meansgaining expertise on regions ofworld.
Sauer's philosophy wasprincipal shaperAmerican geographic thought inmid-20th century. Regional specialists remainacademic geography departmentsthis day. But many geographers feel thatharmeddiscipline inlong run: Too much effort was spent on data collectionclassification,too little on analysisexplanation. Studies became moremore area specific as later geographers struggledfind placesmake namesthemselves. This probably ledturn to1950's crisisGeography which nearly destroyedas an academic discipline.
Geographic Techniques
- Cartography studiesrepresentation ofEarth's surfaceabstract symbols. It can be said, without much controversy, that cartography isseed from whichlarger fieldGeography grew. Most geographers will citechildhood fascinationmaps as an early signwould end up infield. Although other subdisciplinesgeography rely on mapspresenting their analyses,actual makingmapsabstract enoughbe regarded separately.
Cartography has grown fromcollectiondrafting techniques into an actual science. Cartographers must learn cognitive psychologyergonomicsunderstand which symbols convey information aboutEarth most effectively,[behavioral psychology]inducereaderstheir mapsact oninformation. They must learn geodesy fairly advanced mathematicsunderstand howshape ofEarth affectsdistortionmap symbols projected ontoflat surfaceviewing.
- Geographic Information Systems deals withstorageinformation aboutEarthautomatic retrieval bycomputer,an accurate manner appropriate toinformation's purpose. In additonall ofother subdisciplinesgeography, GIS specialists must understand computer sciencedatabase systems. GIS has so revolutionizedfieldcartography that nearly all mapmakingnow done withassistancesome formGIS software.
- Geographic quantitative methods dealnumerical methods peculiar(or at least most commonly found in) geography. In additionspatial analyses, youlikelyfind things like cluster analysis, discriminant analysis,non-parametric statistical testsgeographic studies.
Related Fields
UrbanRegional Planning
Urban planningregional planning usesciencegeographyassistdetermining howdevelop (or not develop)landmeet particular criteria, such as safety, beauty, economic opportunities,preservation ofbuilt or natural heritage, etcetera. The planningtowns, citiesrural areas may be seen as applied geography althoughalso draws heavily uponarts,scienceslessonshistory. Some ofissues facing planningconsidered briefly underheadingsrural exodus, urban exodusSmart Growth.
Regional Science
In1950sregional science movement arose, led by Walter Isardprovidemore quantitativeanalytical basegeographical questions,contrast tomore qualitative tendenciestraditional geography programs. Regional Science comprisesbodyknowledgewhichspatial dimension playsfundamental role, such as regional economics, resource management, location theory, urbanregional planning, transportationcommunication, human geography, population distribution, landscape ecologyenvironmental quality.
External Links
- Using Literature To Teach GeographyHigh Schools. ERIC Digest.
- Teaching Geography at SchoolHome. ERIC Digest.
- The National Geography Content Standards. ERIC Digest.
See also
Listcountries
