History of Geography Unit One

4 Traditions of Geography Developed by William Pattison Earth Science Tradition – physical geography, Earth’s features Locational Tradition – making maps Cultural Environment Tradition – describing people and how they live Area-Analysis Tradition

Why did people study geography? Evolved over the last 5,000 years of human civilization Practical reasons: trade routes to distant and dangerous lands Phoenicians – sea faring culture, colonized the Mediterranean, travelled into the Atlantic Modern alphabet comes from Phoenicians

Greek geographers Eratosthenes (Ἐρατοσθένης) 276BC-195BC Chief librarian at Alexandria, Egypt Accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth, invented the term “geography” Ptolemy (Πτολεμαῖος) AD90-168 Guide to Geography Used a global grid system similar to latitude and longitude

Eratosthenes Map of the World

Ptolemy’s Map of the World

Age of Exploration Little advance in geography was made until 1400 - (European Dark Ages AD 500 – 1000) Explorations by Chinese, Muslims and Europeans expanded human knowledge of the world

Zheng He Chinese explorer/trader in early 1400s Indian Ocean, east coast of Africa

China’s 1418 World Map?

European Explorers Bartholomeu Dias – Tip of Africa, entered Indian Ocean Da Gama – sailed all the way to India, opened trade routes for Portugal

Christopher Columbus – discovered the Caribbean while trying to get to India

Magellan – first voyage to circumnavigate the Earth

1507 Map of the World

16th Century Map of Americas

Is geography still important? The whole world has been mapped and discovered Google Earth Geography now focuses on the five themes – discovering patterns, looking at changes in places and people