Characteristics Of Geography

The geography is a scientific discipline that combines the knowledge of other disciplines to make representations of the territories, landscapes and populations that exist on the planet. The word geography is of Greek origin and means image or representation of the earth.

Geography originally consisted of descriptions made by ancient historians, especially in the works of Herodotus (484-420 BC. C), who in his books described physical characteristics of the regions, some rivers, cities and the customs and peculiarities of their inhabitants.

This tradition persisted to a greater or lesser extent, together with the work of cartographers, who made maps of the known lands (Europe, Asia and Africa), and of the newly discovered lands. Among the stories that spoke about the characteristics of the islands, ports, cities and customs of the inhabitants of the new world, the stories of the navigator Américo stand out. Vespucci, who wrote a series of letters with his accounts, and even in 1507 a German cartographer, credited him with being the discoverer of the new lands, which he called America. Although he corrected the error in 1513, pointing out that the discoverer was actually Christopher Columbus, the name of America had become popular and ended up becoming general.

Modern geography is configured during the 18th century, with the travels and descriptions of the naturalist Alexander de Humbolt, on the American continent and Carl Ritter, on Asia and Africa, in which descriptions of the natural and orographic environment, the existence of resources, flora and fauna correlate with the development of societies and cultures human. From then on, this structure shaped the subject of study of geography.

Currently geography is divided into several specialized branches in different aspects that have to do in one way or another with human life.

Branches of geography and their characteristics:

Physical geography

It is the branch of geography that studies the physical environment of the earth, that is, the surface of the earth, its accidents and characteristics related to climate, rain, water, plants, animals, ecosystems, etc.

Branches and auxiliary sciences of physical geography:

1. Orography, which studies the surface of the earth and its accidents: plains, mountains, valleys, cliffs, basins; as well as other related characteristics, such as its height above sea level.
   
2. geology. Study the different layers that make up the earth, its components and age. It uses paleontology to study fossil remains and man-made instruments, to be able to date them and determine how old they are.
   
3. Hydrography, which studies the various bodies of water that can be found in the interior of the continents, such as rivers, lakes, as well as the rain cycles in a certain area.
   
4. Oceanography, is in charge of studying the seas and oceans, their physical conditions such as the amount of light that enters and its temperature, and the way in which they affect the animals and plants that develop in the sea.
   
5. Meteorology. It focuses on the study of atmospheric conditions that affect climate, temperature, humidity, winds, seasonal cycles, hurricanes, storms, droughts, and all those phenomena that affect the conditions of heat, temperature and humidity of the areas in study.
   
6. Ecology. It focuses on the study of climatic conditions in their relationship with the existence and development of flora and fauna, classifying them into general types (biomes), and studying the relationships of animals and plants in a region, with their physical environment (ecosystems).

Human geography

Studies geography from the point of view of the human population, its relationship with the environment in which it develops, as well as changes environmental product of their action on the environment, such as the construction of villas or cities and their location in certain types of territory; its forms of social and political organization, social divisions, population distribution, its density, composition, as well as other human activities.

Branches of human geography:

1. Political geography: which is responsible for the study of the division of the planet into territories, known as states or countries, the classification and study of these territories by their forms of organization as societies, and the borders established between them as limits of their nations.
   
2. Economic geography: This branch is responsible for studying the relationship of human societies with the raw materials obtained from nature, the location and control of these raw materials, the location of the factories or establishments where to transform these raw materials into finished products, and the forms of commercial exchange and the flow of goods between the different countries.
   
3. Cultural geography: Study the modifications of the environment that are the product of the cultural activity of the human being. It is in charge of the architectural study and of the monuments, as well as the layout of the cities, as products of the culture of man that modify and even create geographic spaces under design, and not only as adaptations to the environment surrounding.
   
4. Historical geography: Study the geographical spaces that ancient civilizations occupied, as well as the changes that a territory, both in the aspect of its constructions, population and culture, as well as in the various modifications of its borders.
   
5. Demographic geography: Studies the quantity, distribution and density of the population within a geographical area, be it natural or political (states, provinces, countries), as well as natural and social areas related to these population centers (main economic activities, education, industrialization, types and areas of work, areas they inhabit and types of housing, etc.).

Biological geography

Biological geography combines the study of physical geography with ecology, botany and zoology, to make a classification and understanding of the flora and fauna of a region, studying ecosystems, classifying them into biomes that are sets of ecosystems that share common characteristics (such as deserts, forests or bed sheets). Recently this study has been considered as a specialized branch of geography, known as the environmental geography, which together with the study of biomes and ecosystems, also studies the impact caused by human activity on ecosystems, especially on the alteration or extinction of species of the climate, flora and fauna in certain places or ecosystems, providing data and studying solutions for the restoration or conservation of the environment environment.