AIM: to develop a basic understanding of the history of geography.

Brief History of GeographyPart One

Introduction

• “Geography is the description of the Earth’s surface and the people and processes that shape its landscapes.”

• + • “Geography is not only a social science but a

way of thinking.”• Geography is all about understanding the

spatial relationship that exists between human beings and the planet they live on.

Geo graphy

Maps(our attempts to spatially make sense of the world) are very old.

Abauntz “Map” from the Navarra region of northern Spain 14,000 years old

Create a map of the world

Intermission

AIM: to develop a basic understanding of the history of geography.

Brief History of GeographyPart Two

Greek Geography Firsts

• First to establish the science of geography.• Named three continents: Europe, Asia, Libya.

(What is Libya?)• First (Pythagoras) to put forth the idea that

the Earth is round (a sphere); furthered by Aristotle, Socrates, Plato. Eratosthenes calculates Earth’s circumference.

• Eratosthenes first to use the term geography; thus “Father of Geography.”

Eratosthenes’ Map

The “Father of Geography.”

First to put forth the idea that the Earth is round (a sphere); furthered by Aristotle, Socrates, Plato… and

Eratosthenes’ “Round” Earth

Anaximander (610-546 BCE) first person credited with creating a (world) map.

Hecataeus of Miletus’ Map (+ - 500BCE)

Homer’s Iliad…

…and the Odyssey use geography.

Plato's Timaeus and Critias (360 BCE) discusses Atlantis (and other

geography)

(1669)

Roman Era

• Claudius Ptolemy wrote a “Guide to Geography.” (Geographica) Okay, so he was a

bit wrong with that Geocentric Model of the Universe idea… but then so to was Aristotle. Should’ve all listened to Aristarchus.

Roman Road Atlas

Notice the conceptual similarity?

Medieval Time Period (600-1400)• Mohammed Al-Idrisi constructs a world map (1154)

(Mappa mundi)

Mapa mundis (Medieval European

maps of the world) are almost all

round.

China• Chinese first

map of all of China in 267CE

• Zheng He explores Indian Ocean (and the Pacific Ocean possibly reaching the West Coast of North America).

Is this really from 1418?

Renaissance – European Age of Exploration (1400 -1600CE)

• Massive amount of world wide exploration. Europe flooded with new (often inaccurate) geographic information.

• Cartography (map making) becomes very important.

• Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) produces the world’s most influential map.

Mercator Projection Map (1569)

Not the 1569 map. The 569 map consisted of 18 separate sheets.

Waldseemuller Map (1507) very significant to the USA because…?

“Modern Time Period” (1800 -)

• Royal Geographical Society established in London(1830)• National Geographic

Society founded in 1888 in Washington D.C.

John Snow’s Broad Street Cholera Map, London (1854)

First epidemiological map. First time maps used to provide data.

Environmental determinism vs. (geographic) possibilism

To what extent does geography and the environment have an impact on culture and

development?

21st Century

• Global Positioning Systems (GPS)• Geographic Information

Systems (GIS)

Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Fin… but

The End