The Importance Of Geography

Globals, Locals, and Mobals: In the book “The Power of Place,” Harm de Blij introduces a new viewpoint of geography. Geography is much more than the terrain and physical makeup of the world. It is the culture, education, conditions, foods, politics, language, and opportunities. These things make people and places unique, and capture the true meaning of Human Geography.

Globalization- movement between people, ideas, and cultures. Moves people to interact on a global scale.

The Five Themes of Geography are: Location – Absolute points on a map or grid or Relative to where something may be; Place – The physical and/or human characteristics of a locations; Human/Environment Interactions – How humans have impacted the landscape or environment; Relationship between places Movement – How humans interact on the earth (i.e. how they communicate over distance (short or long)) and Regions – a unit of space that has commonalities defined by physical, human and environmental geography. The Explorers of the New World may have not known what the Five Themes of Geography were but they quickly learned. Of the five themes the ones that they all took advantage of was the physical Location and Place as they learned to navigate

Geography will never mean the same to me, the more I read the more I’ve learned it’ so much more than land and boundaries. What I’ve learned from this literature it seems to be the study of issues that affect people and the environment, and ways to solve the world’s problems. Geography is important because it affects all aspects of life. No matter what you are talking or thinking about geography is somehow involved. Everything in the world has a direct connection to place, location, interaction, movement, and region.

Geographers are known to research both the human and physical geography of foreign lands. They make connections of the information gathered between human and physical geography through their experiences. Geographers must interact with people and be aware of their own views of the world and should aspire to communicate unbiased opinions and understanding of the people’s cultures. In their writing authors ability to understand and work across cultural boundaries is the framework for an individual to attain knowledge while engaging in the culture and develop cross-cultural competence.

“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.

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.

Geography can alter many facets of history. It can determine the prosperity of the people in the civilization and the development of culture. Rivers and Mountains are two examples of geographic features that effect prosperity and culture. Many early civilizations developed near rivers.

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

To me, geography is simply the study of the earth. With that being said it breaks down into the study of land, weather, people, the migration of people, their role in altering nature, and the effect of nature on the people.

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 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.

Much of my passion for Geography is derived from the fact that it depicts relevance to all aspects of society. It is dynamic in a sense that my perception and understanding is constantly evolving with the growth in understanding and perception. What intrigues my further pursuit of geography is how Geography unlike other subjects has direct links to both human and physical attributes. By further pursuing geography at a higher education level, I wish to enrich my understanding of the wider significance of issues being faced and how it affects society on a local and global level. It is important to identify and understand the interconnecting aspects of the world around us and apply such knowledge towards a more sustainable future. Geography

Human geography is defined as “The study of interrelationships between people, places and environment and how these vary spatially and temporally across and between locations” (Castree, Kitchin and Rogers, 2013). It looks at how society shapes the environment and vice versa. Although physical geography and human geography are separate fields they both concentrate on spatial processes; physical geography more on the natural and physical sciences and human geography on the way in which human lives are shaped by processes in nature (Castree et al., 2013). A key principle of

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.