Essay About Ancient Greek Contributions And Historical Development Of Geography

Historical Development of Geography
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Historical development of geography HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY1. BY: NOOR UL AIN 2. CONTENTS ♦ ♦ What is Geography?  Ancient Greek Contributions, Roman Contributions, Middle Ages Geography, Grows as a Science Two Opposing Views, Environmental Determinism and Characteristics Possibilism and Characteristics of Possibilism, Types of Geography, Conclusion References3. WHAT IS GEOGRAPHY ♦ The study of the earth and its features and of the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the effects of human activity.4. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS – Greek philosopher believe in a division of world into five region. At each of the poles was an uncharitably cold region. While extrapolating from the heat of Sahara it was deduced that the area around the equator was unbearably hot. Between these extreme regions both the northern and southern hemisphere had a temperature belt suitable for human habitation. Map showing ancient regions of western and northern Greece5. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS Eratosthenes (276-194BC) θ θ First time use the word of Geography by Eratosthenes Its described the known world and correctly divided Earth into 5 climatic regions (a torrid zone across the middle, two frigid zones at the extreme north and south, and two temperate bands in between) Eratosthenes also prepared one of the earliest maps of the known world6. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS Hipparchus ♦ ♦ ♦ Hipparchus insists that a geographic map must be based only on astronomical measurements of latitudes and longitudes and triangulation for finding unknown distances. He was the first to use the grade grid to determine ge.ographic latitude from star observations. Hipparchus listed latitudes for several tens of localities.7. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS Thales of Miletus (624-546 BC) ♦ Thales of Miletus was proposed that world was based on water. He also laid down many mathematical rules that would allow geography to be studied scientifically. He applied principles of geometry to measuring land area8. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS Anaximander This argued that the world was shaped like a cylinder. He learnt about the world by gathering previous work and speaking to the sailor and made a world map based on information from sailors. ♦ Herodotus Histories A work of history the book contain a wealth of geography description covering much of the know world He is the first to have noted the process by which large rivers, such as the Nile, build up deltas, and also the first recorded as observing that winds tend to below from colder region to warmer ones. ♦ Pythagoras He was perhaps the first to propose a spherical world arguing that the sphere was the most perfect form. ♦10. ANCIENT GREEK CONTRIBUTIONS Aristotle (384-322BC) ♦ He embraced the idea of Pythagoras. Aristotle presented empirical evidence a verify this. He noted that earth shadow during an eclipse is curved and also that stars increase in height as one moves north11. ROMAN CONTRIBUTIONS Strabo (63BC-24AD) Strabo described the known world in his 17 volume work, Geography. He regarded Earth as a sphere at the center of a spherical universe. ♦ Ptolemy (100-170 AD) Ptolemy wrote an 8 volume Guide to Geography based on information gathered by Roman merchants and soldiers. He prepared numerous maps, which were not improved upon for more than a thousand years ♦12. MIDDLE AGES Muslim Geographers ♦ In the middle age Muslim geographer such as Al-Idrisi, Al Yaqubi, AlMasudi, Ibn Al-Faqih, Al-Istakhri, Ibn Battuta, Ibn Khaldun etc maintained the Greek and roman techniques and developed new ones. The Islamic empire stretched form Spain to Indian, and Arab and Jewish traders travelled throughout Eurasia, Africa. And Indian ocean The world map of Al-Idrisi 14. MIDDLE AGES Abu Rayhan al-buruni ♦ ♦ ♦ In mathematical geography He combines mathematical equations in order to develop methods of pin pointing location by recording degree of latitude and longitude. He introduced techniques to measure the earth and distances on it using triangulation. He found the radius of the earth to 6339.6 km. A value not obtained in the west until 16th century15. GEOGRAPHY GROWS AS A SCIENCE ♣ ♣ ♣ German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) placed geography within a framework of scientific knowledge. He argued that all knowledge can be classified logically or physically. (Logical classification organizes plants/animals into a systematic framework of species, based on characteristics, regardless of when or where they existed. Physical classification identifies plants/animals that occur together in particular times and places.)17. TWO OPPOSING VIEWS Environmental Determinism ♦ ♦ Freidrich Ratzel (1844-1904) and his American student, Ellen Churchill (1863-1932) claimed that geography was the study of influences of the natural environment on people. Ellsworth Huntington (1876-1947) argued that climate was the major determinant of civilization (temperate climate of northwestern Europe produced greater human efficiency and better health conditions).18. TWO OPPOSING VIEWS Characteristics of Environmental Determinism ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Environment control human action and activities Human are badly depended on natural environment Human were live due to environmental force Human were naturalized Human attitude, decision making influence by environment19. TWO OPPOSING VIEWS Possibilism ♦ The geographic approach that emphasizes human environment relationships is now known as cultural ecology. To explain the relationship between human activities and the physical environment, modern geographers reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism (the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment)20. TWO OPPOSING VIEWS Characteristics of Possibilism ♦ ♦ ♦ Human were free to choose and decide their activities Natural did not control human being Nature provided opportunities and possibilities to human22. CONCLUSION ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ By the 18th century geography had become recognized as a discrete discipline and became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe and Paris and Berlin. The royal geographical society was founded in England in 1830. The first real geographical intellect to emerge in United Kingdom geography was Helford john appointed reader at Oxford university in 1887 The national geographic Society was founded in the USA in 188823. CONCLUSION ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ In writing geography constructed historically relationship with people. Scientists from all the periods in the development of the geography and made strong beneficial relation with the people. Now geography is further divided in branched major are human geography and physical geography as well as sub other branches. All time its valuable but now a day’s geography becomes important and valuable subject which have much influence in development of man GPS system is one the example of this24. REFERENCES ♦ ♦ ♦ Johnston, Ron (2000). “Human Geography”. In Johnston, Ron; Gregory, Derek; Pratt, Geraldine et al. The Dictionary of Human Geography. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 353 360. Royal Geographical Society. History Retrieved 10 January 2014 R. Jagannathan, Elements of geography, Anmol publication PVT. LTD, New Delhi- 110 002 India