Geography | World Geography
- Geography is the science that studies the land, the features, the inhabitants and the phenomena on the Earth.
- The discipline of geography was invented in the 2nd Century BC by the Greek Scholar Eratosthenes.
Geography: Branches of Geography
Geography is divided into two main branches
Human Geography
Human Geography is a branch of geography that studies the world, its people, communities, and cultures, with an emphasis on relations of land across space and place.
The field of human geography are as follows:
- Cultural geography- It is the study of the many cultural aspects found throughout the world and how they relate to the spaces and places where they originate and then travel as people continually move across various ares.
- Development geography- It is the study of how wealth and the quality of life of people living on our planet varies from place to place.
- Economic geography- It is the study of the variation of human economic activities such as production, consumption, etc.
- Transport geography- It is a branch of study that studies transportation and examines the transportation or movement of people, goods, and information in or across different regions and all aspects related to it and geography of an area.
- Historical geography- It is the study of past landscapes with the purpose of identifying and understanding environmental changes and problemcaused by the human society.
- Political geography- It is the study that deals with human governments, the situations of cities and the boundaries and subdivisions of political units.
- Population geography- It is the study of human division that focuses on the people, their density, characteristics and their spatial distributions and variations in births, deaths, migration, composition, and growth of populations.
- Settlement geography- It is the study of human geography concerned with the description and analysis of cultural landscapes.
Physical Geography
Physical geography deals with the physical environment and the various process that bring about changes in the physical environment on the Earth’s surface.
The fields of physical geography are as follows:
- Geomorphology: It is the scientific study of landforms and processes that shape them.
- Hydrology: It is the study of the movement, distribution and quality of water on Earth, including the hydrological cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.
- Climatology: It is the sudy of climate, which is scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time.
- Pedology: It is the study of soils in their natural environment.
- Glaciology: It is the study of glaciers and ice sheets.
- Biogeography: It is the study of relationships of organisms with their environment.
Some Contributors to Geography
Eratosthenes was the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth and also calculate the tilt of the Earth’s axis.
Anaximander created the first map of the world.
Varahamihira’s Brihatsamhita gave a thorough description of planetary movements, rainfall, clouds, etc.
Ptolemy first presented India on the world map.
The History of Mankind was written by Friedrich Ratzel.
Universe
It is believed that 4,600 million years ago stars and planets were formed from a giant cloud of gases and tiny dust particles called a nebula. Nebula is a Latin word, meaning dust and cloud. This nebula was spinning and had its own gravity. Fragments of the nebula were attracted to each other and collided with a great speed. The collision caused the release of gases such as hydrogen and helium, which gave out an enormous amount of heat, and thus the universe including its stars, planets, galaxies, and other bodies within, was created. This explosion was so powerful that some matter is still spinning away from it.
For more information about Universe visit: https://theeducationking.com/universe-solar-system-the-sun-planets-the-moon
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What is Physical Geography?
Physical geography deals with the physical environment and the various process that bring about changes in the physical environment on the Earth’s surface.
Who was Eratosthenes?
Eratosthenes was the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth and also calculate the tilt of the Earth’s axis.
Who wrote the History of Mankind?
The History of Mankind was written by Friedrich Ratzel.