Geography

Geography (from Greek: , geographia, literally "earth description") is the study of earth and its people. Its features are things like continents, seas, rivers and mountains. Its inhabitants are all the people and animals that live on it. Its phenomena are the things that happen like tides, winds, and earthquakes.

A person who is an expert in geography is a geographer. A geographer tries to understand the world and the things that are in it, how they started and how they have changed.

Geography is divided into two main parts called physical geography and human geography. Physical geography studies the natural environment and human geography studies the human environment. The human environmental studies would include things such as the population in a country, how a country's economy is doing, and more. There is also environmental geography.

Maps are a main tool of geography, so geographers spend much time making and studying them. Making maps is called cartography, and people who specialize in making maps are cartographers.

Branches

Physical geography 

Physical geography (or physiography) focuses on geography as an Earth science. It aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, and global flora and fauna patterns (biosphere).

Physical geography can be divided into many broad categories, including:

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| Biogeography || Climatology & Meteorology || Coastal geography || Environmental management
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| Geodesy || Geomorphology || Glaciology || Hydrology & Hydrography
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| Landscape ecology || Oceanography || Pedology || Palaeogeography
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| Quaternary science
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Human geography 

Human geography is the social science that covers the study of people and their communities, cultures, economies and their interaction with the environment. Geographers studying the human environment may look at:
 Population
 Countries of the world
 Land use
 Agriculture
 City
 Industry
 Energy
 Pollution

History
The oldest known world map dates back to ancient Babylon from the 9th century BC. The best known Babylonian world map is the Imago Mundi of 600 BC. Star charts (maps of the sky) are of similar age.

During the Middle Ages, people in Europe made fewer maps. People in the eastern countries made more. Abū Zayd al-Balkhī created the "Balkhī school" of mapping in Baghdad.

Western Europe became known as the leader of geographic thought during the European Renaissance and The Age of Exploration (1400–1600). The printing press made maps and information about the world available to everyone.

This caused more interest in how the world worked.

In the 1700s and 1800s scientists started to study the relationship between the environment and its people

Related pages
 Geographer
 Geographical renaming
 Geopolitics
 International Geographical Union
 Landform
 Map
 Navigator

References

Other websites 
 Geography Trainer 1.3 - Educational game aimed at school children 
 www.geoknow.net - Geography resources at your fingertips!
 PopulationData.net
 PopulationMondiale.com
 Using Literature To Teach Geography in High Schools. ERIC Digest. 
 Teaching Geography at School and Home. ERIC Digest. 
 The National Geography Content Standards. ERIC Digest.