Definitions of GeographyThe science of geography is likely the oldest of all sciences. Geography is the answer to the question that the earliest humans asked, "What's over there?" Exploration and the discovery of new places, new cultures, and new ideas have always been basic components of geography.
Thus, geography is often called the "mother of all sciences" as studying other people and other places led to other scientific fields such as biology, anthropology, geology, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, among others.
Thus, geography is often called the "mother of all sciences" as studying other people and other places led to other scientific fields such as biology, anthropology, geology, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, among others.
Many famous geographers and non-geographers have attempted to define the discipline in a few short words. The concept of geography has also changed throughout the ages, making a definition for such a dynamic and all-encompassing subject difficult.
With the help of Gregg Wassmansdorf, here are some ideas about geography from throughout the ages:
"The purpose of geography is to provide 'a view of the whole' earth by mapping the location of places." - Ptolemy, 150 CE
"Synoptic discipline synthesizing findings of other sciences through the concept of Raum (area or space)." - Immanuel Kant, c. 1780
"Synthesizing discipline to connect the general with the special through measurement, mapping, and a regional emphasis." - Alexander von Humboldt, 1845
"Man in society and local variations in environment." - Halford Mackinder, 1887
"How environment apparently controls human behavior." - Ellen Semple, c. 1911
"Study of human ecology; adjustment of man to natural surroundings." - Harland Barrows, 1923
"The science concerned with the formulation of the laws governing the spatial distribution of certain features on the surface of the earth." - Fred Schaefer, 1953
"To provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable character of the earth surface." - Richard Hartshorne, 1959
"Geography is both science and art" - H.C. Darby, 1962
"To understand the earth as the world of man" - J.O.M. Broek, 1965
"Geography is fundamentally the regional or chorological science of the surface of the earth." - Robert E. Dickinson, 1969
"Study of variations in phenomena from place to place." - Holt-Jensen, 1980
"...concerned with the locational or spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena at the earth's surface" - Martin Kenzer, 1989
"Geography is the study of earth as the home of people" - Yi-Fu Tuan, 1991
"Geography is the study of the patterns and processes of human (built) and environmental (natural) landscapes, where landscapes comprise real (objective) and perceived (subjective) space." - Gregg Wassmansdorf, 1995
Post a Comment