WikiDwarfBOT at 09:48, 1 May 2021

2021-05-01T09:48:52Z

New page

[[File:Map of the world by the US Gov as of 2016.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of [[Earth]] with [[country]] borders and big [[city|cities]] shown]]

'''Geography''' (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: {{lang|el|γεωγραφία}}, ''geographia'', literally "earth description")<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=geography |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |last=Harper |first=Douglas |website=Etymonline.com |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212215028/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=geography |archive-date=12 February 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> is the study of earth and its people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geography |work=The American Heritage Dictionary/ of the English Language, Fourth Edition |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/geography |access-date=October 9, 2006}}</ref> Its features are things like [[continent]]s, [[sea]]s, [[river]]s and [[mountain]]s. Its inhabitants are all the people and [[animal]]s that live on it. Its phenomena are the things that happen like [[tide]]s, [[wind]]s, and [[earthquake]]s.

A person who is an expert in geography is a geographer. A geographer tries to understand the world and the things that are in it, how they started and how they have changed.<ref>Geography: The Mother of Sciences [http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/morgans/lecture_2.prn.pdf] [https://web.archive.org/web/20081003084542/http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/morgans/lecture_2.prn.pdf]</ref>

Geography is divided into two main parts called [[physical geography]] and [[human geography]]. Physical geography studies the natural environment and human geography studies the human environment. The human environmental studies would include things such as the [[population]] in a country, how a country's [[economy]] is doing, and more. There is also environmental geography.

[[Map]]s are a main tool of geography, so geographers spend much time making and studying them. Making maps is called [[cartography]], and people who specialize in making maps are cartographers.

== Branches ==

=== Physical geography ===
{{Main|Physical geography}}
Physical geography (or physiography) focuses on geography as an [[Earth science]]. It aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of [[lithosphere]], [[hydrosphere]], [[Earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]], [[pedosphere]], and global [[flora]] and [[fauna]] patterns ([[biosphere]]).

<center>
'''Physical geography can be divided into many broad categories, including:'''

:{| style="border:1px solid #ddd; text-align:center; margin: auto;" cellspacing="15"
| [[File:Línea de Wallace.jpg|96px]] || [[File:Cyclone Catarina from the ISS on March 26 2004.JPG|96px]] || [[File:90 mile beach.jpg|96px]] || [[File:Gavin Plant.JPG|96px]]
|-
| [[Biogeography]] || [[Climatology]] & [[Meteorology]] || [[Coastal geography]] || [[Environmental management]]
|-
| [[File:Meridian convergence and spehrical excess.png|96px]] || [[File:Delicate Arch LaSalle.jpg|96px]] || [[File:Receding glacier-en.svg|96px]] ||[[File:Meander.svg|96px]]
|-
| [[Geodesy]] || [[Geomorphology]] || [[Glaciology]] || [[Hydrology]] & [[Hydrography]]
|-
| [[File:Khajuraho-landscape.jpg|96px]] || [[File:World11.jpg|96px]] || [[File:Soil profile.jpg|96px]] || [[File:Pangea animation 03.gif|96px]]
|-
| [[Landscape ecology]] || [[Oceanography]] || [[Pedology (soil study)|Pedology]] || [[Palaeogeography]]
|-
| [[File:Milankovitch Variations sv.png|96px]]
|-
| [[Quaternary science]]
|}
</center>

=== Human geography ===
[[File:Menschentraube.jpg|thumb|220px|A crowd of people around a band.]]
'''[[Human geography]]''' is the [[Social sciences|social science]] that covers the study of people and their communities, cultures, economies and their interaction with the environment. Geographers studying the human environment may look at:

* [[Population]]
* [[Country|Countries of the world]]
* [[Land use]]
* [[Agriculture]]
* [[City]]
* [[Industry]]
* [[Energy]]
* [[Pollution]]

==History==
The oldest known [[world map]] dates back to [[ancient Babylon]] from the 9th century BC.<ref name="Kurt A. Raaflaub & Richard J.A. Talbert 2009 147">{{Cite book |title=Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies |author=Kurt A. Raaflaub & Richard J.A. Talbert |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-4051-9146-3 |page=147 }}</ref> The best known [[Babylonia]]n world map is the ''[[Babylonian Map of the World|Imago Mundi]]'' of 600 BC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ancient%20Web%20Pages/103.html|title=Slide 103|last=Siebold|first=Jim|website=henry-davis.com|publisher=Henry Davis Consulting Inc.|access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> [[Star chart]]<nowiki/>s (maps of the sky) are of similar age.

During the [[Middle Ages]], people in [[Europe]] made fewer maps. People in the [[Muslim world|Islamic world]] made more.<ref name="needham volume 3 512">{{Cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|year=1959|title=Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Volume.html?id=jfQ9E0u4pLAC|journal=Science and Civilization in China|location=Taipei|publisher=Caves Books, Ltd.|volume=3|page=512|isbn=978-0-521-05801-8|access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> [[Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi|Abū Zayd al-Balkhī]] created the "Balkhī school" of mapping in [[Baghdad]].<ref name="E61-3">{{Cite journal|last=Edson|first=Evelyn|last2=Savage-Smith|first2=Emilie|title=Medieval Views of the Cosmos|journal=International Journal of the Classical Tradition|date=Winter 2007|volume=13:3|issue=3|pages=61–63|jstor=30222166}}</ref>

== Related pages ==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Geographer]]
* [[Geographical renaming]]
* [[International Geographical Union]]
* [[Landform]]
* [[Map]]
* [[Navigator]]
{{colend}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Other websites ==

* [http://www.dinksoftware.com Geography Trainer 1.3 - Educational game aimed at school children]
* [http://www.geoknow.net www.geoknow.net - Geography resources at your fingertips!]
* [http://www.populationdata.net PopulationData.net]
* [http://www.populationmondiale.com PopulationMondiale.com]
* [http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-4/high.htm Using Literature To Teach Geography in High Schools. ERIC Digest.]
* [http://ericdigests.org/1992-5/geography.htm Teaching Geography at School and Home. ERIC Digest.]
* [http://ericdigests.org/1996-1/geography.htm The National Geography Content Standards. ERIC Digest.]

[[Category:Geography| ]]

{{simple-Wikipedia}}

Geography - Revision history

WikiDwarfBOT at 09:48, 1 May 2021