The History of Geography

The word geography was invented by the ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes and literally means "writing about the earth." The word can be divided into two parts - ge and graphy. Ge means the earth and graphy refers to writing. Of course, geography today means much more than writing about the earth but it's a difficult discipline to define. Many geographers have done their best to define geography using a few words but a typical dictionary definition today reads, "The science of the earth's physical features, resources, climate, population, etc."

While serving as the head librarian and scholar at the Great Library at Alexandria in 240, Eratosthenes wrote a comprehensive treatise about the world, called Geography. Eratosthenes also measured the circumference of the earth to be 25,000 miles, just 100 miles over the actual circumference at the equator (24,901 miles).

What is Geography?

Physical Geography is the study of the land. Geography has a history of being about place names. Come dispel this myth in Physical Geography. In this class we explore the Physical landscape of Earth. From it's fiery origins through earthquakes and massive volcanoes to the atmosphere and weather conditions. We also look at the processes which have shaped the earth throughout its' history to the way we see it today.

Cultural Geography also known as human geography, covers a wide swath of human interaction with the land. Cultural geography includes language, religion, medicine, cities, economics, entertainment, and much more. The demographic transition model seeks to explain the transformation of countries from having high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates. In developed countries this transition began in the eighteenth century and continues today. Less developed countries began the transition later and are still in the midst of earlier stages of the model.

Maps & Atlases

Today, satellite images and aerial photography show us the face of the Earth in precise detail. From our earliest history we have evidence of humans trying to depict the world through maps and charts.

In 1589 Gerardus Mercactor used the word "atlas" to describe a collection of maps. Atlases have become a unique and indispensable reference for graphically defining the world and answering the question"Why?"

Map Scale: A map represents a portion of the earth's surface. True distance along the ground may be influenced by the topology of the ground in question. Map scale is the relative difference between a unit length on the map and the corresponding distance “as the crow flies” (even if the crow has to fly very high and level).

Geographic Information Systems [GIS] combines the benefit of computers and the ability to analyze, manipulate and display any type of data that is spatial.  Spatial data is any data with real world coordinates like latitude and longitude.  Essentially, GIS is a way of displaying tabular data in a graphic or map form  for use by the general public, businesses, industries and is already widely used by government agencies

Simply put, a GIS combines layers of information about a place to give you a better understanding of that place. What layers of information you combine depends on your purpose—finding the best location for a new store, analyzing environmental damage, viewing similar crimes in a city to detect a pattern, and so on.

What about the Weather?

Rain, sunshine, snow and storms are all types of weather. These help us decide what clothes to wear, what food we eat, and what kind of life we lead. Weathers affects how animals and plants survive. Different types of weather are caused by what is happening in the atmosphere. Weather can be the most important factor in your life. Learn more is GIS 111.