Meaning Of Geography Vs Geography

Through reading How the States Got Their Shapes and Guns, Germs, and Steel I would define human geography as the study of how different factors such as culture, lifestyle, geography, and environment dictate where humans live and migrate. Both books are able to connect how the latter factors influence the pattern of human activity and movement.

Geography plays a large role in why people settled in areas that they did, why certain cities succeeded, and many other processes that made Earth the way it is today. Although many of us just think of geography as a class we had to take in grade school, it is much more than that. Geography has some responsibility for everything on the surface of the Earth, from your favorite fishing spot, to why New York is where it is today. Coming from a small town in northern Manitoba, Canada, you either learn to love or hate the prairies, there is no in-between. It is told that the prairies are flat and boring, but I see it very differently.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the word ‘geography’ is defined as “a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth's surface.” This simple word with its inquisitive definition were the answer to Papua New Guinea native, Yalle’s question for Dr. Jared Diamond on the success of white people. Papua New Guinea is a country in the Pacific that has existed for over 40,000 years. Jared Diamond has spent many months with the natives, learning their way of life but has never understood why the people have not been as successful as the Europeans were. Yalle had the same question for Diamond. At first when Diamond was faced with this thought-provoking

Geography is a main factor that has heavily influenced the course of human history. With the theory of environmental determinism in mind, geographical factors had the strongest influence towards the beginning of human civilizations when there was less technology powerful enough to challenge Mother Nature. As time passed and new technological advancements took place, nature began to have a bit less effect on what we, as humans, could or could not do, and thus the more flexible theory of possibilism came to light. Geographical elements such as rivers, mountains, and climate have changed our culture and history in ways that we often overlook. Where societies formed and flourished, why Europe seeked world domination, how countries survived invasions,

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.” ~(John F. Kennedy) Geography has impacted countries and regions dissimilarly throughout the duration of history. Geography influences the historical and social development of a country or region. These features can either cause an area to be hindered or prosperous in its development. Likewise, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia were essential because it provided fertile soil for crops, trade, transport and the necessities to food sources. Also, the mountainous terrain of Greece caused the country to have independent city- states. The mountains

History and geography are undividable; they represent two fundamental dimensions of the same phenomenon. History is the broader field, which involves human experience from the perspective of time. Geography's concern is narrower; its main focus is on human interaction with the physical environment from the perspective of space. Therefore, it can be said that these dimensions of time and space are in a perpetual interactive feedback loop in which one dimension is affected by the other one. History is as much shaped by geography as it is by almost any other factor. The physical geography of any region is the stencil upon which its history is drawn. Knowing what the features of the stencil are, it fluently allows us to understand the history more quickly and easily.

Geographers study the relationships between topics such as globalization, regions, mobility, nature, culture, and cultural landscapes. Human geography is centered on the study of people, places, and the relationship between people and the environment. Geographers have a way of studying the many patterns within people and the different spaces

This semester I learned that there are four different branches of human geography. First to define the different geographies: social, has to do with society and what that regions society values. An example of this would be school systems. Cultural geographies has to do with symbolic practices and shared sets of meaning, a simple example of this could be in Italy, most people are Roman Catholic, and share those values. Political, is the type of government that county has, for example North Korea is communist. Lastly, economic, is that countries economy, for example Greece, currently is in an economic crisis.

2. Acquiring geographic information: Geographic information is information about locations, the physical and human characteristics of those locations, and the geographic activities and conditions of the people who live in those places (NGS).

“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future”. This is a quote by one of the most successful and innovative men to ever live, Walt Disney. He was successful because he constantly kept looking to make a better future for himself and others. He did this through interactions with the world and everything around him. Interactions such as these can push mankind forward. They lead to innovations that revolutionize the world we live in. It only takes one great idea to change the world and make it a better place for everyone. Human geography deals with how human actions influence and impact other humans and the world’s environment.

Geography is the study of the Earth's landscapes, environments, places and people and this captivates me. Ever since I was young, I have been inspired to understand the world around us. When I was only four, my family visited the Scottish Highlands and I saw the landscape around me with majestic mountains and exquisite lochs and felt a feeling of awe. Then when I was seven, I began to understand the world more and my parents took me to China - the emerging superpower and this sparked my fascination even more. I wanted to learn about the changing environment of the country, the contrasting provinces, the rural-urban differences, the natural disasters that destroyed people's lives and China's development. From a young age, I knew I wanted to solve the world's problems as a geographer, such as tackling imminent issues of volcanoes and earthquakes and to grasp how people shape the planet we live on.

Geography is an important factor to consider when you look at this worlds past, present, or future. So whether it be the earths physical geographic features, the geopolitics stirring up trouble across the globe, or the economics of growing or shrinking countries; geography plays a major role. In todays society, geographic knowledge is one of the most important and valuable tools to possess. Without it, we are victims of ignorance and endanger ourselves, others, and the world. This ignorance, possessed by many, is posing a great risk of self-destruction. The author of “Why Geography Matters More Than Ever”, Harm de Blij, makes many strong points on this matter, but occasionally makes unsupported and unclear statements which tend to stray off topic.

In chapter five, we discussed several things on geography such as: ecology, the interaction of geography, demography, and environment. In the textbook they defined ecology as “the science concerned with the interactions between living things and their environment.” Human ecology which “is the part of ecology that deals with the way in which human societies adjusts to their environment. Ecological balance “is the term applied to the state achieved when plant or animal species, with its own characteristics and needs, has adjusted to its environment and survived, and when other species, which have likewise adjusted to the environment, prevent it from expanding indefinitely and from crowding them out. The environment is the sum `of all the external influences that impinge on the human organism. Geography is a social science that focuses on the spatial

Changes are an important part of history, and a natural part of life. In the case of geography throughout history, the world has made many changes to its borders and who has grievances with one another. From the High Middle Ages of olden Europe, to the twentieth century, change has occurred. These changes have unified and broken ties between countries and regions time and time again throughout history. There are many forces that push toward and against unity throughout time. The world map became what is today because of both unity and division marking change in the past.

As an intellectual discipline, geography is divided into the sub-fields of physical geography and human geography, the latter concentrating upon the study of human activities, by the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods.