1. History of Geography
Unit One

2. 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

3. 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

5. 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

7. Eratosthenes Map of the World

8. Ptolemy’s Map of the World

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

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

11. China’s 1418 World Map?

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

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

14. Magellan – first voyage to circumnavigate the Earth

15. 1507 Map of the World

16. 16th Century Map of Americas

17. 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