Geography

Geography is the study of the surface of the Earth. The word is derived from the Greek words geo (“the Earth”) and graphein (“to write”).

Geography is the exact and organized knowledge of the distribution of phenomena on the surface of the Earth. It deals with the form and motion of the planet so far as a knowledge of these is necessary for fixing positions on the surface, more fully with the forms of the lithosphere or stony crust of the Earth, the extent of the water envelope or hydrosphere, the movements of the water and of the all surrounding atmosphere, the distribution of plants and animals and very fully with that of the human race and all the interactions and relationships between these distributions.

The surface of the Earth is the interface of the atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. It provides the habitat, or environment, in which humans are able to live. This habitable zone has a number of special characteristics. One of the most important is the complex interaction among many physical, biologic, and human elements of the Earth, such as land surface, climate, water, soil, vegetation, agriculture, and urbanization. Another characteristic is the high variability of the environment from place to place – hot tropics to cold polar regions, dry deserts to humid equatorial forests, vast level plains to rugged mountains and uninhabited ice caps to densely settled metropolitan areas. Yet another is the consistency with which significant patterns occur, which makes possible generalizations about distributions; obvious examples are measurements of temperature and rainfall which are the most important climatic elements affecting farming and many other human activities.

Geographic study is particularly concerned with location, with areal patterns with the interrelationships of phenomena (especially of the relationship between human society and the land, as in ecology), with regionalization, and with ties among areas. Typical areas of inquiry include where people live; in what sort of patterns they are distributed over the Earth’s surface; what factors of environment, resources, culture, and economic development account for this distribution; whether or not significant regions can be recognized by types of population, livelihood, and culture, and what types of movements and relations occur among places.

Geography is a synthetic science, largely dependent for its data on the results of specialized sciences such as astronomy, physics, geology, oceanography, meteorology, biology and antropology and always having respect to the natural regions of the world. Viewed in this light geography is a unified and definite science of wide outlook and comrehensive grasp.

Geography is divided into systematic fields and regional specializations, which can be grouped under three main headings: physical geography, human geography and regional geography. There is a number of subdivisions, such as mathematical geography, which deals with the shape, size and movements of the earth; political geography, which studies the world’s political divisions; economic geography deals with estimation of the environment and resources, distribution of economy and population; historical geography the nature of which has been interpreted in a wide variety of ways. Human geography, is sometimes regarded as synonymous with anthropogeography. Physical geography, which usually includes a study of climate, natural vegetation and oceanography, is sometimes assumed, to be synonymous with physiography.

The principal activities of the physical geographer include observing, measuring and describing the surface of the earth. The growing complexity of geographic inquiry has resulted in increased specialization within the field. The principal branches of physical geography are geomorphology, climatology, biogeorgraphy and soil geography. As human activity has become more able to affect the landscape and ecology of the world, two more branches have emerged: resource management and environmental studies.

Geographers use a variety of tools to carry out their work. The tools that most people identify with geography are those that are still most important to geographers today – globes and maps. Modern geographers, however, also use tools such as aerial photographs, satellite images, and computer programs to help them analyze the interactions between people and their environments. The best tool to use often depends on the geographic theme that is the focus of the research.