GEOGRAPHY
What is Geography?
Geography is the study of places
and the relationships between
people and their environments.
Geographers explore both the
physical properties of Earth’s
surface and the human societies
spread across it.
They also examine how
human culture interacts with the
natural environment, and the way
that locations and places can have an
impact on people.
Geography seeks to understand
where things are found, why they are
there, and how they develop and
change over time.
TOPOGRAPHY and CARTOGRAPHY
Map making came first before
Geography
What is Cartography?
Cartography is the science and art of map-
making.
The history of cartography goes much further
back in history than the time when the subject
was designated by a name and a definition.
A wall painting, dated to the 7th Millennium BC,
might be one of the oldest maps in the world.
The modern form of cartography started to
develop from the 6th Century BC onward.
Lascaux Cave Star Map
What is Topography?
The word topography itself is
derived from the Greek "topo,"
meaning place, and "graphia,"
meaning to write, or to record.
It is the arrangement of the natural
and artificial physical features of an
area.
Ancient Geography
The term "geography" comes to us
from the ancient Greeks, who
needed a word to describe the
writings and maps that were helping
them make sense of the world in
which they lived. In
Greek, geo means “earth” and
-graphy means “to write.”
Greeks were not the only people
interested in geography. Throughout
human history, most societies have sought
to understand something about their place
in the world, and the people and
environments around them.
Father of Geography
Eratosthenes, a Hellenistic
astronomer from Cyrenaica (276–194 BC),
estimated Earth's circumference around
240 BC.
Although philosophers and mathematicians
like Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and
Archimedes proposed that the earth was
round before Eratosthenes, he was the first
with a solid justification for it.
On Sept. 20, 1519, more than 1700 years later
after Eratosthenes justified the earth was
spherical, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan set out on what was to become the first
circumnavigation of the world.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF
GEOGRAPHY
Physical Geography
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
The branch of geography dealing with
natural features and processes.
Its purpose is to understand how the
Earth’s physical environment is the basis
for, and is affected by, human activity.
Physical geographers study Earth’s
seasons, climate, atmosphere, soil,
streams, landforms, and oceans.
Some disciplines within physical geography include:
Geomorphology-the study of landforms
and the processes that shape them.
Glaciology-focus on the Earth’s ice
fields and their impact on the planet’s
climate.
Pedology-study soil and how it is
created, changed, and classified.
Hydrology-is the study of Earth’s water:
its properties, distribution, and effects.
Climatology-study Earth’s climate
system and its impact on Earth’s
surface.
Biogeography-study the impact of the
environment on the distribution of
plants and animals.
Oceanography-discipline of physical
geography, focuses on the creatures and
environments of the world’s oceans.
Human geography is concerned with the
distribution and networks of people and
cultures on Earth’s surface.
Human geographers also study how people
use and alter their environments. When, for
example, people allow their animals to
overgraze a region, the soil erodes
and grassland is transformed into desert.
Human geographers study how
political, social, and economic
systems are organized across
geographical space. These
include governments, religious
organizations, and trade
partnerships. The boundaries of
these groups constantly change.
Branches of Human Geography
Cultural Geography- study how the
natural environment influences the
development of human culture, such as how
the climate affects the agricultural practices
of a region.
Political Geography- study the impact of
political circumstances on interactions
between people and their environment, as
well as environmental conflicts, such as
disputes over water rights.
Regional geography
Regional Geography
Regional geographers take a somewhat
different approach to specialization,
directing their attention to the general
geographic characteristics of a region.
A regional geographer might specialize
in African studies, observing and
documenting the people, nations, rivers,
mountains, deserts, weather, trade, and
other attributes of the continent.
Different ways you can define a region
There are different ways you can
define a region. You can look at
climate zones, cultural regions, or
political regions. Often regional
geographers have a physical or
human geography specialty as well
as a regional specialty.
