Discover the World

Geography: A Study of Lands and Inhabitants

• Geography is a field of science that studies the Earth, its features, inhabitants, and phenomena.

• The first recorded use of the word "geography" was by Greek scholar Eratosthenes.

• Geography seeks to understand Earth and its human and natural complexities.

• Geography is highly interdisciplinary and combines physical and human phenomena and their spatial patterns.

• Space, place, time, and scale are fundamental concepts in geography.

• Geography is split into three main branches: human geography, physical geography, and technical geography.

• The four traditions of geography are the spatial or locational tradition, area studies or regional tradition, human-environment interaction tradition, and earth science tradition.

• The branches of geography are human geography, physical geography, and technical geography.

• Physical geography focuses on Earth as an Earth science.

• Human geography focuses on studying patterns and processes that shape human society.

• Technical geography concerns studying and developing tools, techniques, and statistical methods employed to collect, analyze, use, and understand spatial data.

• Maps and GIS are key tools used in geography, and quantitative methods and geomatics are important approaches used in geographic research and analysis.An Overview of Geography

• Cartography is the science of map-making, which has evolved from a collection of drafting techniques into a full-fledged science.

• Geographic information systems (GIS) store accurate information about the Earth for retrieval by computers.

• Remote sensing is the art of obtaining information about the Earth's features from a distance.

• Geostatistics is the application of statistical methodology to the study of geographic phenomena.

• Qualitative geography is descriptive, focusing on human concepts that are difficult or impossible to quantify.

• Qualitative cartography employs the same software and techniques as quantitative cartography.

• Ethnography is a research technique used by human geographers to provide qualitative data.

• The history of geography dates back to ancient Babylon in the 9th century BC and includes contributions from the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, and the Muslims.

• The 18th and 19th centuries were the times when geography became recognized as a discrete academic discipline.

• Over the past two centuries, geography has gone through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography.

• Geography is interdisciplinary, with strong links to geology, botany, economics, sociology, and demographics.

• The first law of geography, proposed in 1970, states that "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."