Geography World - Introduction

• The term geography was first coined by a Greek scholar Eratosthenes.

• The word geography carries basically two Greek terms i.e. ‘geo’ (meaning earth) and ‘graphos’ (meaning description), and the meaning of geography is ‘description of the earth.’

• Geography is an interdisciplinary subject as well as it is a discipline of ‘spatial synthesis.’

• Richard Hartshorne defines Geography as “Geography is concerned with the description and explanation of the areal differentiation of the earth’s surface.”

• Hettner defines Geography as “Geography studies the differences of phenomena usually related in different parts of the earth’s surface.”

• Further, the following diagram summarizes the concept of Geography as −

Approaches to Study Geography

• The major approaches to study geography are −

  • Systematic Approach and
  • Regional Approach.

• The systematic approach was introduced by a German geographer Alexander Von Humboldt.

• On the other hand, the regional approach was also developed by a German geographer namely Karl Ritter; he was a contemporary of Humboldt.

• In the systematic approach, first a phenomenon is studied world over as a whole, and then the identification of typologies or spatial patterns is done.

• On the other hand, in the regional approach, first the world is divided into regions at different hierarchical levels and then all the geographical phenomena in a particular region are studied.

• Because of the different approaches, geography is better known for its dualistic characteristics.

Branches of Geography

• Based on systematic approach, main branches of geography are −

  • Physical Geography

  • Human Geography

• However, Biogeography is the third branch, which is an interface between physical geography and human geography.

• Major branches of Physical Geography are − Geomorphology, Climatology, Hydrology, and Soil Geography.

• Major branches of Human Geography are − Social/Cultural Geography; Population and Settlement Geography; Historical Geography; Political Geography; and Economic Geography.

• Major branches of Biogeography are − Plant Geography, Zoo Geography, Ecology/ecosystem, and Environmental Geography.

• Based on Regional Approach, major branches of Geography are −

  • Regional Studies,
  • Regional Planning,
  • Regional Development, and
  • Regional Analysis.

• Besides, there are some branches that study both the approaches. The branches are Geographical Thought, (Philosophy) and Methods and Techniques.

• Methods and Techniques include Cartography, Quantitative Techniques/Statistical Techniques, Geo-informatics comprising techniques such as Remote Sensing, GIS, GPS, etc.