SSED 42 Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Grade

( CULTURE & GEOGRAPHY )

Christian L. Villanueva

CHAPTER 5
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

People engages in the study of geography because it satisfies their natural

curiosity about foreign places and different ways of life. Geography helps people
with their experience with natural elements. It also assists them in finding
directions.

Geography is an organized field of study which is as old as ancient Greece. The

ancient Greeks made the first contribution to the subject. Some of the early
geographer-scientists who studied Geography and their contributions are as
follows:

1. Herodotus ( 485-426 B.C) made marvelous topographical descriptions.

2. Eratosthenes (3rd Century B.C) accepted the concept that the earth is round
and calculated its circumference to within 0.5 percent accuracy. He described the
known areas of the world and divided the earth into five climatic regions. He also
prepared one of the earliest maps of the known world.
3. Hipparchus ( 4th century B.C) was a great astronomer of the ancient world. He
drew imaginary lines. On the earth’s surface to describe the locations of places,
thus developing the concept of meridians and parallels.
4. Thales of Miletus ( 6th century B.C ) applied geometric principles to the
measurement of land areas.
5. Anaximander argued that the world was shaped like a cylinder. He made a map
of the world based on information from sailors of Miletus.
6. Aristotle ( 384-322 B.C) was the first to demonstrate that the earth was a
sphere. He observed that all matter tended to fall together towards a common
center, that during an eclipse, the earth’s shadow on the moon was circular and
that the configuration of stars change as one traveled to the north or south.
7. Strabo ( 64 B.C – A.D.20 ) wrote the seventeen-volume Geographic’s providing
and encyclopedic description of the old world. He regarded the earth as a sphere
at the center of a spherical universe.
8. Ptolemy ( A.D. 100-170) wrote an eight-volume Guide to Geography. He
prepared a number of maps whose quality was unsurpassed for more than a
thousand years.

Ptolemy marked the end of progress in the development of geographic concepts

in the ancient world. In the fifth century, the word geography almost disappeared
from the European vocabulary. But during the Middle Ages, geographic inquiry
continued outside Europe.

Muslim writers such as Edrisi ( 1099-1154) Ibn Batuta ( 1304 – 1378), and
Ibn Khaldun ( 1332-1406) collected accurate information about the location of
coastlines, rivers, and mountain ranges in areas conquered by Muslims.
Phei Hsiu, Known as the father of Chinese cartography, produced an elaborate
Map of China in A.D. 267.

After a long lull, there was a revival of geographic study in Europe in the
seven-teenth century. America joined the quest for geographic knowledge. The
following are the contributions of geographers.

1.Bernnard Varenius ( 1622-1650 ), a German wrote Geographica Generalis. His

book served as the standard teatise on systematic geography for more than a
century. He recognized the duality of Physical and Human Geography.

2. Immanuel Khant ( 1724 – 184 ) was the German Philosopher who provided the
philosophical underspinnings of geography. He justified its place among sciences.

3. Alexander von Humboldt ( 1769 - 1859 ) and Carl Ritter ( 1779 – 1859 ) were
both German geographers. They championed empiricism and inductive
explanation through field observation. This means that geography should use
scientific methods to explain the reasons for the presence or absence of certain
phenomena. This started the “where” and “ why” approach in geography.

4. Friedrich Rutzel ( 1844-904) and Ellen Churchill Semple ( 1863 – 1932 )

believed that geography was the study of the influences of the natural
environment on people. Ratzek was widely recognized as the founder of Human
Geography. His important publications is Anthropogeography.
5. Ellsworth Huntington ( 1876-947) an early American geographer, argued that
climate was a major determinant of civilization.

6. Paul Vidal de la Blache ( 1848 – 918 ) and Jean Brunhes ( 1869 – 1930 ) used
the same orientation as that of Humboldt and Ritter. They developed what is
known as the regional geography approach, sometimes called the cultural
landscape approach.

7. Carl Saver ( 1889 – 197 ) and Robert Platt ( 1880-1950) both American
geographer, adopted the regional geography approach developed by Blache and
Brunhes.

This listing of geographer and geographical studies on the developing world can
go on. However, it is sufficient to conclude that geographers continue to make
practical contributions to regional and global programs like desertification, policy-
oriented research in attempts to influence policy change in favor of the urban
poor, and host of other worldwide problems and issues.

SSED 42 Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Grade

( CULTURE & GEOGRAPHY )
Christian L. Villanueva

CHAPTER 6
Relationship of Geography with Other Disciplines

Geography is an inherently encompassing discipline. It brings together facts from many others
sciences --- physical, biological, and social. The rapidly developing branches of geography are
closely related to or even considered part of other fields of study. Physical geography is related
to the Physical Sciences, Biogeography to the Biological Sciences, and Human geography to the
Social Sciences and Humanities. Cartography, the art of making maps or charts, and geology,
the sciences of measuring or determining the shape of the Earth, are other fields of
specialization closely allied to geography.

The different branches of Physical Geography are Geomorphology which is related to

geology; Climatology – to Meteorology; and Pedageography ( soil geography ) – to Pedology.
Geomorphology is the interpretative description of the landforms or relief features of the
Earth’s surface. It partakes of the characteristics of Geology, the science of the structures of the
Earths crust. From the study of the origin of landforms, the geographer gains insight into the
forms and distribution of these features and their significance in human affairs.

Climatology deals with the average or general weather conditions ( climate ) of broad area
while Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and the origin or predictions of weather.
Pedageography or soil geography I concerned with the distribution of soils; the characteristic
association of the soil with vegetation, drainage, relief, rocks, and climate and the significance
of soils in the economy and culture of the region. Geographers have contributed much to the
development of Pedology or soil science.

Phytogeography or plant geography is related to Botany, the science that deal with plans, their
life, structures, and growth. The Geographer is interested in vegetation or plant communities
while the botanist is concerned with studies involving taxonomic units or the study of single
species. The geographer and the botanist find a broad area of common interest in plant
geography.

Zoogeography is concerned with the distribution of animals and with their adaptations, or their
restrictions by environment. This branch is related to Zoology, the science of the animal life of an are, to
Paleontology, the study of Fossils; and to Ecology, the study of the interrelationship of oraginisms and
their environment. Geography is indeed enmeshed in an intricate web of the interrelationshio with
other physical sciences.

The branches of Human Geography are related to one or more of the Social Sciences. Economics
Geography is concerned with the economic activities fo man as manifested in specific localities and as
related to the other phenomena with which they are associated. It is related to Economics inasmuch as
both are concerned with the search for general laws in the form of mathematical equations describing a
real relationship and spatial interchange of economic goods.

Political Geography consider the significance of geography behind political problems, activities and
situations. It is the study of the political unit as a geographical region and is closely related to Political
Science. Both are concerned with the comparative study of difference governments and international
relations

Social Geography converges with Sociology and Anthropology. But whereas these sciences are
concerned with the people and their communities and organizations, for their own sakes, Social
Geography is concerned with their distributions from one area to another, and their relation to the total
environment.

Geography is also related to History and Achaelogy. Concepts and methods in history are applicable to
all branches of geography. A Closely related subject, Geographical History, is concerned with the
significance of geography in the explanation of historical events. In simplest terms, geography is a very
broad field of inquiry and “borrows” its objects of study from all of these related disciplines.