LANDSCAPE

• Geography


  Means "Description of the earth"
• Greek word "Geographia" is derived from "geos" = earth and "graphein" = to write
• The four traditions of geography

  • Spatial or Locational Tradition
  • Area Studies or Regional Tradition
  • Man-Land Tradition
  • Earth Science Tradition
• Spatial or Locational Tradition


  • In-depth analysis of the particulars of a place using quantitative techniques and tools
  • Attempts to explain the course of human settlements in terms of location, growth, and in relation to other locales
  • Separates aspects of distance, form, direction, and position from events themselves
• Area Studies or Regional Tradition


  • Determines as much as possible to glean about a particular place in order to define, describe, and differentiate it from other regions or areas
  • Focuses on the nature of places, their characteristics, and differentiation
• Man-Land Tradition


  • Studies the relationship between human beings and the land they live on
  • Looks at the impact people impose on their local environment and how natural hazards can influence human life
  • Considers the ramifications that cultural and political practices have on the given area of study
• Earth Science Tradition


  • Studies planet Earth as the home to humans and its systems
  • Focuses on the physical geography of the planet, including how the planet's location in the solar system affects its seasons and how changes in the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere impact human life
• Offshoots of the Earth Science Tradition of geography are geology, mineralogy, paleontology, glaciology, geomorphology, and meteorology
• The core concepts of the Earth Science Tradition are the study of water, land, and atmosphere, which make geography part of the hard sciences
• Core concepts of the Earth Science Tradition

  • Atmosphere
  • Lithosphere
  • Biosphere
  • Hydrosphere
  • Anthrosphere
  • Cryosphere
• J. Lewis Robinson noted that Pattison's model left out several important aspects of geography, such as the factor of time as it relates to historical geography and cartography (mapmaking)
• Robinson wrote that by dividing geography into these categories, Pattison's precepts lacked a unifying focus, but he conceded that Pattison had done a good job of creating a framework for the discussion of the philosophical tenets of geography
• Pattison's traditions have become essential to the study of geography since first being adopted, and many of the more recent specialized areas of geographic study are new and improved versions of Pattison's original ideas
• Location


  Where a phenomenon or anything is (absolute or relative)
• Place


  An area defined by everything in it, with features that distinguish them from each other
• Region


  An area defined by certain similar characteristics (physical, natural, human, cultural)
• Movement


  The way a phenomenon goes from point A to point B
• Human-Environmental Interaction


  How people depend on, adapt to, and modify the environment
• A map is a 2D representation of the surface of the earth that can represent an individual's perception of the world and can be politically motivated
• Early map-makers


  • Eratosthenes
  • Anaximander of Miletus
  • Strabo
  • Ptolemy
  • Biblical
• Eratosthenes


  • First person to measure the circumference of the Earth
  • Considered as the father of geography
  • The first to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis