Geography (from Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of γεωγραφία - geographia, lit. "earth describe-write"^[1]) is the study of the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7] and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena.^[2] A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, elegiac poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist (276-194 B.C.). Four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis In statistics, spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. The phrase properly refers to a variety of techniques, many still in their early development, using different analytic approaches and applied in fields as diverse as of natural and human phenomena (geography as a study of distribution), area studies Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing both the social sciences and the humanities. Typical (places and regions), study of man-land relationship, and research in earth sciences Earth science , is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, oceans.^[3] Nonetheless, modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that foremost seeks to understand the Earth and all of its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. As "the bridge between the human and physical sciences Physical Science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the biological sciences. However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena," geography is divided into two main branches—human geography Human geography is an interdisciplinary field combining approaches from academic geography with the traditional subject matter of social science, thus emphasizing population issues such as tourism, urbanisation, and so on and physical geography Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography.^[4][5]

Introduction

Traditionally, geographers A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical environment and human habitat have been viewed the same way as cartographers Atlas • Cartography • Geography • Map • Map projection • Topography and people who study place names and numbers. Although many geographers are trained in toponymy Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Toponymy is distinct, though often confused with etymology, and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the spatial Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. In mathematics one examines ' and temporal A temporal database is a database with built-in time aspects, e.g. a temporal data model and a temporal version of Structured Query Language distribution of phenomena, processes and features as well as the interaction Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect. A closely related term is interconnectivity, which deals with the interactions of interactions within systems: combinations of many of humans and their environment The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof.[citation needed].^[6] As space and place affect a variety of topics such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary.

Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main subsidiary fields: human geography Human geography is an interdisciplinary field combining approaches from academic geography with the traditional subject matter of social science, thus emphasizing population issues such as tourism, urbanisation, and so on and physical geography Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography. The former focuses largely on the built environment The phrase built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter to neighborhoods to the large-scale civic surroundings and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate Climates encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements and their variations over periods up to two weeks, vegetation Vegetation is the plant life or the plant ground cover of a region, not the particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader than the term flora which refers exclusively to species composition. Perhaps the closest synonym is plant community, but vegetation can, and & life, soil Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics, water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam, and landforms In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields, a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography. Landform elements also include seascape and oceanic waterbody interface features such are produced and interact.^[8] As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is environmental geography Environmental geography is the branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. It requires an understanding of the dynamics of geology, meteorology, hydrology, biogeography, ecology, and geomorphology, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment. Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans.^[6]

Branches

Physical geography

Physical geography (or physiography) focuses on geography as an Earth science Earth science , is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, oceans. It aims to understand the physical lithosphere The lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. It comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater, hydrosphere A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet, atmosphere The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21%, pedosphere The pedosphere is the outermost layer of the Earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. It exists at the interface of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and global flora In botany, flora has two meanings: a flora (with a lower case 'f') refers to the plant life occurring in a particular region, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life, while a Flora (with a capital 'F') refers to a book or other work describing a flora and including aids for the identification of the plants it contains such as and fauna Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna" patterns (biosphere The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth. From the broadest biophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The). Physical geography can be divided into the following broad categories:

Biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity spatially and temporally. Over areal ecological changes, it is also tied to the concepts of species and their past, or present living 'refugium', their survival locales, or their interim living sites. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance. As writer David Quammen	Climatology Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences. Basic knowledge of climate can be used within shorter term weather forecasting using analog techniques such as the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), & paleoclimatology Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses records from ice sheets, tree rings, sediment, corals, shells and rocks to determine the past state of the climate system on Earth	Coastal geography Coastal geography is the study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography and the human geography (sociology and history) of the coast. It involves an understanding of coastal weathering processes, particularly wave action, sediment movement and weather, and also the ways in which humans	Env. geog. Environmental geography is the branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. It requires an understanding of the dynamics of geology, meteorology, hydrology, biogeography, ecology, and geomorphology, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment & management Environmental management is not, as the phrase could suggest, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of interaction by the modern human societies with, and impact upon the environment. The three main issues that affect managers are those involving politics , programs (projects), and resources (money, facilities, etc.)
Geodesy Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal motion, tides, and polar motion. For this they design	Geomorphology Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do: to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical modeling. Geomorphology is practiced	Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect : glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit. "study of ice") is the study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice	Hydrology Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth, including the hydrologic cycle and water resources. A practitioner of hydrology is a hydrologist, working within the fields of either earth or environmental science, physical geography, geology or civil and environmental engineering & Hydrography Hydrography focuses on the measurement of the depth and physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. Hydrography generally refers to the measurement and description of any waters, and specifically refers to those measurements and descriptions of navigable waters necessary for safe navigation of vessels. Oceanography and limnology are
Landscape ecology Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes on a multitude of landscape scales and organizational levels. As a highly interdisciplinary enterprise, landscape ecology integrates biophysical and analytical approaches with humanistic and holistic perspectives across	Oceanography Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and	Pedology Pedology is the study of soils in their natural environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things	Palaeogeography Palaeogeography is the study of what the geography was in times past. It is most often used about the physical landscape, although nothing excludes its use in reference to the human or cultural environment. If the topic is landforms it could also be called paleogeomorphology
Quaternary science

Human geography

Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with various environments. It encompasses human, political, cultural, social, and economic aspects. While the major focus of human geography is not the physical landscape of the Earth (see physical geography), it is hardly possible to discuss human geography without referring to the physical landscape on which human activities are being played out, and environmental geography is emerging as a link between the two. Human geography can be divided into many broad categories, such as:

Cultural geography	Development geography	Economic geography	Health geography
Historical & Time geog.	Political geog. & Geopolitics	Pop. geog. or Demography	Religion geography
Social geography	Transportation geography	Tourism geography	Urban geography

Various approaches to the study of human geography have also arisen through time and include:

• Behavioral geography
• Feminist geography
• Culture theory
• Geosophy

Environmental geography

Environmental geography is the branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. It requires an understanding of the traditional aspects of physical and human geography, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment.

Environmental geography has emerged as a bridge between human and physical geography as a result of the increasing specialisation of the two sub-fields. Furthermore, as human relationship with the environment has changed as a result of globalization and technological change a new approach was needed to understand the changing and dynamic relationship. Examples of areas of research in environmental geography include emergency management, environmental management, sustainability, and political ecology.

Geomatics

Geomatics is a branch of geography that has emerged since the quantitative revolution in geography in the mid 1950s. Geomatics involves the use of traditional spatial techniques used in cartography and topography and their application to computers. Geomatics has become a widespread field with many other disciplines using techniques such as GIS and remote sensing. Geomatics has also led to a revitalization of some geography departments especially in Northern America where the subject had a declining status during the 1950s.

Geomatics encompasses a large area of fields involved with spatial analysis, such as Cartography, Geographic information systems (GIS), Remote sensing, and Global positioning systems (GPS).

Regional geography

Regional geography is a branch of geography that studies the regions of all sizes across the Earth. It has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to understand or define the uniqueness or character of a particular region which consists of natural as well as human elements. Attention is paid also to regionalization which covers the proper techniques of space delimitation into regions.

Regional geography is also considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences (similar to quantitative or critical geographies, for more information see History of geography).

Related fields

• Urban planning, regional planning and spatial planning: use the science of geography to assist in determining how to develop (or not develop) the land to meet particular criteria, such as safety, beauty, economic opportunities, the preservation of the built or natural heritage, and so on. The planning of towns, cities, and rural areas may be seen as applied geography.
• Regional science: In the 1950s the regional science movement led by Walter Isard arose, to provide a more quantitative and analytical base to geographical questions, in contrast to the descriptive tendencies of traditional geography programs. Regional science comprises the body of knowledge in which the spatial dimension plays a fundamental role, such as regional economics, resource management, location theory, urban and regional planning, transport and communication, human geography, population distribution, landscape ecology, and environmental quality.
• Interplanetary Sciences: While the discipline of geography is normally concerned with the Earth, the term can also be informally used to describe the study of other worlds, such as the planets of the Solar System and even beyond. The study of systems larger than the earth itself usually forms part of Astronomy or Cosmology. The study of other planets is usually called planetary science. Alternative terms such as Areology (the study of Mars) have been proposed, but are not widely used.

Techniques

As spatial interrelationships are key to this synoptic science, maps are a key tool. Classical cartography has been joined by a more modern approach to geographical analysis, computer-based geographic information systems (GIS).

In their study, geographers use four interrelated approaches:

• Systematic - Groups geographical knowledge into categories that can be explored globally.
• Regional - Examines systematic relationships between categories for a specific region or location on the planet.
• Descriptive - Simply specifies the locations of features and populations.
• Analytical - Asks why we find features and populations in a specific geographic area.

Cartography

Cartography studies the representation of the Earth's surface with abstract symbols (map making). Although other subdisciplines of geography rely on maps for presenting their analyses, the actual making of maps is abstract enough to be regarded separately. Cartography has grown from a collection of drafting techniques into an actual science.

Cartographers must learn cognitive psychology and ergonomics to understand which symbols convey information about the Earth most effectively, and behavioral psychology to induce the readers of their maps to act on the information. They must learn geodesy and fairly advanced mathematics to understand how the shape of the Earth affects the distortion of map symbols projected onto a flat surface for viewing. It can be said, without much controversy, that cartography is the seed from which the larger field of geography grew. Most geographers will cite a childhood fascination with maps as an early sign they would end up in the field.

Geographic information systems

Geographic information systems (GIS) deal with the storage of information about the Earth for automatic retrieval by a computer, in an accurate manner appropriate to the information's purpose. In addition to all of the other subdisciplines of geography, GIS specialists must understand computer science and database systems. GIS has revolutionized the field of cartography; nearly all mapmaking is now done with the assistance of some form of GIS software. GIS also refers to the science of using GIS software and GIS techniques to represent, analyze and predict spatial relationships. In this context, GIS stands for Geographic Information Science.

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about Earth features from measurements made at a distance. Remotely sensed data comes in many forms such as satellite imagery, aerial photography and data obtained from hand-held sensors. Geographers increasingly use remotely sensed data to obtain information about the Earth's land surface, ocean and atmosphere because it: a) supplies objective information at a variety of spatial scales (local to global), b) provides a synoptic view of the area of interest, c) allows access to distant and/or inaccessible sites, d) provides spectral information outside the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, and e) facilitates studies of how features/areas change over time. Remotely sensed data may be analyzed either independently of, or in conjunction with, other digital data layers (e.g., in a Geographic Information System).

Quantitative methods

Geostatistics deal with quantitative data analysis, specifically the application of statistical methodology to the exploration of geographic phenomena. Geostatistics is used extensively in a variety of fields including: hydrology, geology, petroleum exploration, weather analysis, urban planning, logistics, and epidemiology. The mathematical basis for geostatistics derives from cluster analysis, linear discriminant analysis and non-parametric statistical tests, and a variety of other subjects. Applications of geostatistics rely heavily on geographic information systems, particularly for the interpolation (estimate) of unmeasured points. Geographers are making notable contributions to the method of quantitative techniques.

Qualitative methods

Geographic qualitative methods, or ethnographical; research techniques, are used by human geographers. In cultural geography there is a tradition of employing qualitative research techniques also used in anthropology and sociology. Participant observation and in-depth interviews provide human geographers with qualitative data.

History

The oldest known world maps date back to ancient Babylon from the 9th century BC.^[9] The best known Babylonian world map, however, is the Imago Mundi of 600 BC.^[10] The map as reconstructed by Eckhard Unger shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by a circular landmass showing Assyria, Urartu^[11] and several cities, in turn surrounded by a "bitter river" (Oceanus), with seven islands arranged around it so as to form a seven-pointed star. The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the encircling ocean. The descriptions of five of them have survived.^[12] In contrast to the Imago Mundi, an earlier Babylonian world map dating back to the 9th century BC depicted Babylon as being further north from the center of the world, though it is not certain what that center was supposed to represent.^[9]

The ideas of Anaximander (c. 610 B.C.-c. 545 B.C.), considered by later Greek writers to be the true founder of geography, come to us through fragments quoted by his successors. Anaximander is credited with the invention of the gnomon,the simple yet efficient Greek instrument that allowed the early measurement of latitude. Thales, Anaximander is also credited with the prediction of eclipses. The foundations of geography can be traced to the ancient cultures, such as the ancient, medieval, and early modern Chinese. The Greeks, who were the first to explore geography as both art and science, achieved this through Cartography, Philosophy, and Literature, or through Mathematics. There is some debate about who was the first person to assert that the Earth is spherical in shape, with the credit going either to Parmenides or Pythagoras. Anaxagoras was able to demonstrate that the profile of the Earth was circular by explaining eclipses. However, he still believed that the Earth was a flat disk, as did many of his contemporaries. One of the first estimates of the radius of the Earth was made by Eratosthenes.^[13]

The first rigorous system of latitude and longitude lines is credited to Hipparchus. He employed a sexagesimal system that was derived from Babylonian mathematics. The parallels and meridians were sub-divided into 360°, with each degree further subdivided 60′ (minutes). To measure the longitude at different location on Earth, he suggested using eclipses to determine the relative difference in time.^[14] The extensive mapping by the Romans as they explored new lands would later provide a high level of information for Ptolemy to construct detailed atlases. He extended the work of Hipparchus, using a grid system on his maps and adopting a length of 56.5 miles for a degree.^[15]

From the 3rd century onwards, Chinese methods of geographical study and writing of geographical literature became much more complex than what was found in Europe at the time (until the 13th century).^[16] Chinese geographers such as Liu An, Pei Xiu, Jia Dan, Shen Kuo, Fan Chengda, Zhou Daguan, and Xu Xiake wrote important treatises, yet by the 17th century, advanced ideas and methods of Western-style geography were adopted in China.

During the Middle Ages, the fall of the Roman empire led to a shift in the evolution of geography from Europe to the Islamic world.^[16] Muslim geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi produced detailed world maps (such as Tabula Rogeriana), while other geographers such as Yaqut al-Hamawi, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun provided detailed accounts of their journeys and the geography of the regions they visited. Turkish geographer, Mahmud al-Kashgari drew a world map on a linguistic basis, and later so did Piri Reis (Piri Reis map). Further, Islamic scholars translated and interpreted the earlier works of the Romans and Greeks and established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad for this purpose.^[17] Abū Zayd al-Balkhī, originally from Balkh, founded the "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad.^[18] Suhrāb, a late tenth century Muslim geographer, accompanied a book of geographical coordinates with instructions for making a rectangular world map, with equirectangular projection or cylindrical equidistant projection.^[18] In the early 11th century, Avicenna hypothesized on the geological causes of mountains in The Book of Healing (1027).

Abu Rayhan Biruni (976-1048) first described a polar equi-azimuthal equidistant projection of the celestial sphere.^[19] He was regarded as the most skilled when it came to mapping cities and measuring the distances between them, which he did for many cities in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. He often combined astronomical readings and mathematical equations, in order to develop methods of pin-pointing locations by recording degrees of latitude and longitude. He also developed similar techniques when it came to measuring the heights of mountains, depths of valleys, and expanse of the horizon. He also discussed human geography and the planetary habitability of the Earth. He hypothesized that roughly a quarter of the Earth's surface is habitable by humans.^{[citation needed]} He also calculated the latitude of Kath, Khwarezm, using the maximum altitude of the Sun, and solved a complex geodesic equation in order to accurately compute the Earth's circumference, which were close to modern values of the Earth's circumference.^[20] His estimate of 6,339.9 km for the Earth radius was only 16.8 km less than the modern value of 6,356.7 km. In contrast to his predecessors who measured the Earth's circumference by sighting the Sun simultaneously from two different locations, al-Biruni developed a new method of using trigonometric calculations based on the angle between a plain and mountain top which yielded more accurate measurements of the Earth's circumference and made it possible for it to be measured by a single person from a single location.^[21] He also published a study of map projections, Cartography, which included a method for projecting a hemisphere on a plane.^{[citation needed]}

The European Age of Discovery during the 16th and 17th centuries, where many new lands were discovered and accounts by European explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo and James Cook, revived a desire for both accurate geographic detail, and more solid theoretical foundations in Europe. The problem facing both explorers and geographers was finding the latitude and longitude of a geographic location. The problem of latitude was solved long ago but that of longitude remained; agreeing on what zero meridian should be was only part of the problem. It was left to John Harrison to solve it by inventing the chronometer H-4, in 1760, and later in 1884 for the International Meridian Conference to adopt by convention the Greenwich meridian as zero meridian.^[22]

The 18th and 19th centuries were the times when geography became recognized as a discrete academic discipline and became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe (especially Paris and Berlin). The development of many geographic societies also occurred during the 19th century with the foundations of the Société de Géographie in 1821,^[23] the Royal Geographical Society in 1830,^[24] Russian Geographical Society in 1845,^[25] American Geographical Society in 1851,^[26] and the National Geographic Society in 1888.^[27] The influence of Immanuel Kant, Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritter and Paul Vidal de la Blache can be seen as a major turning point in geography from a philosophy to an academic subject.

Over the past two centuries the advancements in technology such as computers, have led to the development of geomatics and new practices such as participant observation and geostatistics being incorporated into geography's portfolio of tools. In the West during the 20th century, the discipline of geography went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography. The strong interdisciplinary links between geography and the sciences of geology and botany, as well as economics, sociology and demographics have also grown greatly especially as a result of Earth System Science that seeks to understand the world in a holistic view.

Notable geographers

• Eratosthenes (276BC - 194BC) - calculated the size of the Earth.
• Ptolemy (c.90–c.168) - compiled Greek and Roman knowledge into the book Geographia.
• Al Idrisi (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي‎; Latin: Dreses) (1100–1165/66) - author of Nuzhatul Mushtaq.
• Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) - innovative cartographer produced the mercator projection
• Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) - Considered Father of modern geography, published the Kosmos and founder of the sub-field biogeography.
• Carl Ritter (1779–1859) - Considered Father of modern geography. Occupied the first chair of geography at Berlin University.
• Arnold Henry Guyot (1807–1884) - noted the structure of glaciers and advanced understanding in glacier motion, especially in fast ice flow.
• William Morris Davis (1850–1934) - father of American geography and developer of the cycle of erosion.
• Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918) - founder of the French school of geopolitics and wrote the principles of human geography.
• Sir Halford John Mackinder (1861–1947) - Co-founder of the LSE, Geographical Association
• Carl O. Sauer (1889–1975) - Prominent cultural geographer
• Walter Christaller (1893–1969) - human geographer and inventor of Central place theory.
• Yi-Fu Tuan (1930-) - Chinese-American scholar credited with starting Humanistic Geography as a discipline.
• David Harvey (1935-) - Marxist geographer and author of theories on spatial and urban geography, winner of the Vautrin Lud Prize.
• Edward Soja (born 1941) - Noted for his work on regional development, planning and governance along with coining the terms Synekism and Postmetropolis.
• Michael Frank Goodchild (1944-) - prominent GIS scholar and winner of the RGS founder's medal in 2003.
• Doreen Massey (1944-) - Key scholar in the space and places of globalization and its pluralities, winner of the Vautrin Lud Prize.
• Nigel Thrift (1949-) - originator of non-representational theory.

Institutions and societies

• Anton Melik Geographical Institute (Slovenia)
• National Geographic Society (U.S.)
• American Geographical Society (U.S.)
• National Geographic Bee (U.S.)
• Royal Canadian Geographical Society (Canada)
• Royal Geographical Society (UK)

Publications

• African Geographical Review
• Geographical Review

See also

• Association of American Geographers
• Canadian Association of Geographers
• Gazetteer
• Geographer
• Geographical renaming
• Geography in Russia
• Geography and places reference tables
• International Geographical Union
• Landform
• List of explorers
• List of geographers
• Map
• Navigator
• Philosophy of geography
• World map

Notes and references

1. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=geography. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
2. ^ "Geography". The American Heritage Dictionary/ of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/geography. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
3. ^ Pattison, W.D. (1990). "The Four Traditions of Geography". Journal of Geography 89 (5): 202–6. doi:10.1080/00221349008979196. ISSN 0022-1341. http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~kclarke/G200B/four_20traditions_20of_20geography.pdf. Reprint of a 1964 article.
4. ^ http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/morgans/lecture_2.prn.pdf
5. ^ "1(b). Elements of Geography". Physicalgeography.net. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/1b.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
6. ^ ^{a b} Hayes-Bohanan, James. "What is Environmental Geography, Anyway?". http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/environmentalgeography.htm. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
7. ^ Hughes, William. (1863). The Study of Geography. Lecture delivered at King's College, London by Sir Marc Alexander. Quoted in Baker, J.N.L (1963). The History of Geography. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. pp. 66.
8. ^ "What is geography?". AAG Career Guide: Jobs in Geography and related Geographical Sciences. Association of American Geographers. http://www.aag.org/Careers/What_is_geog.html. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
9. ^ ^{a b} Kurt A. Raaflaub & Richard J. A. Talbert (2009). Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 147. ISBN 1405191465
10. ^ Siebold, Jim Slide 103 via henry-davis.com - accessed 2008-02-04
11. ^ http://www.jstor.org/pss/1151277 IMAGO MVNDI, Vol.48 pp.209
12. ^ Finel, Irving (1995). A join to the map of the world: A notable discover. pp. 26–27.
13. ^ Jean-Louis and Monique Tassoul (1920). A Concise History of Solar and Stellar Physics. London: Princeton University Press.
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