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Introduction To Geography

The document defines geography as the study of people, their activities, and physical features on Earth. It discusses the four branches of geography: physical, human, regional, and cartography. The five themes of geography are also outlined: location, place, human-environmental interaction, movement, and regions. Finally, the importance of geography is described as providing understanding of the environment, raising issues for modern society, and enabling careers that incorporate geographical knowledge.

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Victor Ikechukwu Azodo
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70 views

Introduction To Geography

The document defines geography as the study of people, their activities, and physical features on Earth. It discusses the four branches of geography: physical, human, regional, and cartography. The five themes of geography are also outlined: location, place, human-environmental interaction, movement, and regions. Finally, the importance of geography is described as providing understanding of the environment, raising issues for modern society, and enabling careers that incorporate geographical knowledge.

Uploaded by

Victor Ikechukwu Azodo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Definition geography
 Scope of geography
 Branches of geography
 Themes of geography
 The importance of geography
Introduction to Geography

The word geography was


coined from two Greek So, geography can be
words ‘’geo’’ meaning defined as the
the earth and ‘’graph’’ description of the earth.
meaning to describe.
However, geography is more than mere description of the
earth. Hence it is better defined as the study of people, their
activities, places and physical things within the earth.

Definition of Geography deals with the study of different people in


different locations of the earth including their activities like

geography agriculture, mining, fishing, trading, manufacturing and


construction. It also involves the study of places like USA,
China, Nigeria, Kano, South Africa, Ghana etc.

Above all, geography also deals with the study of physical


things within the earth such as rocks, mountains, plains,
oceans, rivers, climate, vegetation, soils, atmosphere etc.
Scope of geography

• Geography is a social science subject which deals with the


study of man and his activities within his environment. In other
words, geography ideas are real, practical and easy to
understand because they are relevant to our everyday life
experiences.
• Geography touches many other disciplines such as
Mathematics, Agricultural science, Government, History,
Economics etc. It is a subject which cuts across many other
fields of human study.
Branches of geography

There are four branches of geography which are;


1.Physical geography: This examines the natural environment and how the
climate, vegetation and life, soil, water and landforms are produced and
interact.

The fields of study under physical geography include;


• Geomorphology: This is the study of landforms and the processes that
control the topography of any planet
• Hydrology: This is the study of the movement, distribution and quality of
water throughout the earth.
• Glaciology: This is the study of glaciers or ice
• Oceanology: It is the study of of oceans, marine
organisms, ocean currents and waves.
• Climatology: This is the study of climate that is
weather conditions over a long period of time.
• Meteorology: This is the study of the
atmosphere that is weather condition over a
short term.
• Pedology: This is the study of the soils in their
natural environment
2. Human geography: This is the branch of
geography that deals with human activities and
how it affects or is influenced by the earth’s
surface.
The fields of study under human geography
includes
• Cultural geography: This is the study of
cultural products and norms and their variations
across and relations to spaces and places. It
focuses on the language, religion, economy,
government, and other cultural phenomena
• Animal geography: This is the study of spaces
and places occupied by animals in human
culture
3. Regional geography: This is the study of the
world regions. Attention is paid to unique
characteristics of a particular region such as it’s
natural elements, human elements, and
regionalization which covers the techniques of
delineating space into regions. The regional
geography splits the earth in countries and
continents.
4. Cartography: This is the study of the practice of
making maps. Cartography focuses on ways in
which the entire mapping procedure can be
technologically advanced by creating maps that are
generally of higher quality. It includes everything
from gathering information, evaluating data and
processing it to become a graphical and
informative representation of a map.
Themes of geography

• There are five themes of geography namely;

1. Location: This is the first step in understanding an aspect of the earth and involves providing a
reference to describe where a particular place is on the earth. This is further divided into

a. Absolute location: This is when a location is based on a definite reference that rarely changes such
as, latitude or longitude or on an address.

b. Relative location: This when a location is described relative to its environment or its connection to
other locations.

2. Place: This is the description of the physical and human characteristics of the location being studied.
This could involve describing the mountains, valleys, rivers, beaches and the living organisms that inhabit it.
It also includes human features like land-use infrastructure and communication.

3. Human-environmental interaction: It is the study of ho humans affect the environment and vice
versa.

4. Movement: It involves describing and discussing the effects of anything that moves across the earth. It
is related to the movement of humans ,goods and services. It is also related to the migration of animals.

5. Regions: This is the division of the world into manageable units for geographic study. Regions can be
formal, functional or vernacular
Importance of geography

• It enables man to have a better understanding of his environment.


• Geography raises issues, problems and solutions vital to modern society.
• It consists of knowledge of the world around us i.e. it enables us to study the ways of lives of other
people in other parts of the world.
• A well-trained geographer can perform many vital roles in the politics and socio-economic sector
of society. He can use his geographical knowledge in such areas as urban, economic, rural or
regional planning.
• Geography helps us to understand some other related topics in physics, chemistry, biology,
economics, history, mathematics etc.
• It enables us to have a better understanding of physical things around us such as vegetation,
climate, rivers, soil, oceans, mountains etc.
• It enables us to choose a career from which we can earn a living.

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