User:LGreg/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge (LG seminar)/Group 2/History/History of Geography/

GROUP MEMBERS: Becca, Esther, Katie

Geography has emerged as an academic university discipline in 1904, but the roots can be traced back to the ancient Greeks as they tried to comprehend the world through writings and maps. This can be seen through the word itself, with “geo” meaningful “earth” and “graphy” meaning to write (“What is Geography?”, National Geographic). Due to the nature of Geography, geography can be traced back to times such as the Islamic Golden Age and explorers. This was done through the creation of maps and the study of said maps in order for past communities to navigate and understand their surrounding environment.

How has geography changed as a discipline?

From its conception, geography started out with a focus on physical spaces and location, exemplified by the mapping out the Earth to demonstrate spatial separations between nations. In the late 19th century the discipline shifted from solely being concerned with space and started to explore human interactions with this environment. Then in the 20th century the inter-relationships between humans and their environment were furthered with Ellen Semple's idea that the "environment apparently controls human behaviour".

How is it studied?

The methods of studying physical geography have evolved since 1970, it engages with other scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry and biology for understanding the physical matter and processes along with mathematical methods for their analysis. Later, with the further development in technology and laboratory measurement and data analysis, the study of geography has become even more technically sophisticated and s depended almost entirely on such skills.

The future of geography and the Anthropocene period

According to the National Geographic Organization, the Anthropocene period is an unofficial epoch “used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems”. In other words, it is the most recent epoch in which ‘humanity’ or economic growth or capitalism has an noticeable impact on the earth system. The rise of the temperatures, the ocean acidification, species extinction, depletion of fossil fuel, plastic pollution - all these catastrophes are damaging the earth and as the same time are affecting the evolution of geography. This controversial concept of “Anthropocene” epoch has been introduced in an article from the IGBP by the two laureates Paul Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer in 2000.