Geography

Geography (from Greek: γεωγραφία, geographia. Combination of Greek words 'Geo' (The Earth) and 'Graphien' (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth.[1] Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science.[2] Geography has been called "a bridge between natural science and social science disciplines."[3]

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History of geography Graeco-Roman Chinese Islamic Age of Discovery History of cartography Environmental determinism Regional geography Quantitative revolution Critical geography
Human geography Fields Cognitive Cultural Development Economic Food Health Historical Internet Religion Social Political Population Transportation Tourism Urban
Physical geography Fields Biogeography Phytogeography Zoogeography Climatology / Paleoclimatology Coastal geography Earth science Geology Geomorphology Glaciology Hydrology / Hydrography Landscape ecology Limnology Oceanography Palaeogeography Pedology Quaternary science
Technical geography Fields Geodesign Geodesy Geoinformatics Geographic information science Geomatics Statistical geography Spatial analysis Time geography
Methods Cartography Computer cartography Web mapping Ethnography Geographic information systems Distributed GIS Internet GIS Web GIS Geostatistics Geovisualization Global Positioning System Map algebra Participant observation Photogrammetry Remote Sensing Statistical survey Qualitative methods
Theoretical Approaches Behavioral Critical Feminist Marxist Non-representational theory Modernism Structuralism Semiotics Postmodernism Post-structuralism Deconstruction
Societies Index Geographers
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The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as a title of a book by Greek scholar Eratosthenes (276–194 BC).[1] However, the concepts of geography (such as cartography) date back to the earliest attempts to understand the world spatially, with the earliest example of an attempted world map dating to the 9th century BCE in ancient Babylon.[4] The history of geography as a discipline spans cultures and millennia, being independently developed by multiple groups, and cross-pollinated by trade between these groups. The core concepts of geography consistent between all approaches are a focus on space, place, time, and scale.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Today, geography is an extremely broad discipline with multiple approaches and modalities. There have been multiple attempts to organize the discipline, including the four traditions of geography, and into branches.[11][3][12] Techniques employed can generally be broken down into quantitative[13] and qualitative[14] approaches, with many studies taking mixed-methods approaches.[15] Common techniques include cartography, remote sensing, interviews, and surveys.