History of Geography

Unit One

4 Traditions of Geography

Developed by William Pattison a. Earth Science Tradition – physical geography,

Earth’s featuresb. Locational Tradition – making mapsc. Cultural Environment Tradition – describing

people and how they lived. Area-Analysis Tradition

Why did people study geography?

• Evolved over the last 5,000 years of human civilization

• Practical reasons: trade routes to distant and dangerous lands

• Phoenicians – sea faring culture, colonized the Mediterranean, travelled into the Atlantic– Modern alphabet comes from Phoenicians

Greek geographers

• Eratosthenes (Ἐρατοσθένης) 276BC-195BC– Chief librarian at Alexandria, Egypt– Accurately calculated the circumference of the

Earth, invented the term “geography”• Ptolemy (Πτολεμαῖος) AD90-168– Guide to Geography– Used a global grid system similar to latitude and

longitude

Eratosthenes Map of the World

Ptolemy’s Map of the World

Age of Exploration

• Little advance in geography was made until 1400 - (European Dark Ages AD 500 – 1000)

• Explorations by Chinese, Muslims and Europeans expanded human knowledge of the world

Zheng He

• Chinese explorer/trader in early 1400s• Indian Ocean, east coast of Africa

China’s 1418 World Map?

European Explorers

• Bartholomeu Dias – Tip of Africa, entered Indian Ocean

• Da Gama – sailed all the way to India, opened trade routes for Portugal

• Christopher Columbus – discovered the Caribbean while trying to get to India

• Magellan – first voyage to circumnavigate the Earth

1507 Map of the World

16th Century Map of Americas

Is geography still important?

• The whole world has been mapped and discovered– Google Earth

• Geography now focuses on the five themes – discovering patterns, looking at changes in places and people