ځمک انځورنه (جغرافيه)
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Geography is the study of locational and spatial variation in natural and human phenomena on the Earth. The word comes from the Greek words Ge (γη) or Gaea (γεια), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γραφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write". Modern geography is diverse and draws upon and contributes to almost every other arena of knowledge.
"Mere place names are not geography. To know by heart a whole gazeteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this... to trace out the great laws of nature and to mark their influence upon man. In a word, geography is a science, a thing not of mere names, but of argument and reason, of cause and effect." -- William Hughes (King's College, 1863)
Within the discipline there are many areas of specialism. Modern geographers tend to specialise in one of the broad branches (or sub-branches). However, most introductory geography syllabuses seek to ensure that geographers have at least working knowledge of the main focus of each branch of the subject.
نيوليک |
[سمادول] فيزيکي جغرافيه
Physical geography (or physiogeography) focuses on geography as an Earth science. It aims to understand the physical layout of the Earth, its weather and global flora and fauna patterns.
Physical geography relies on the following fields of study:
- Geology
- Geomorphology
- Hydrology
- Glaciology
- Biogeography
- Climatology
- Soil science
- Coastal/Marine studies
- Geodesy
- Palaeogeography and paleoclimatology
- Environmental Geography and management
- Landscape ecology
- Oceanography
[سمادول] Human geography
Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with various environments. It encompasses human, political, cultural, social, and economic aspects. While the major focus of human geography is not the physical landscape of the Earth (see physical geography) it is hardly possible to discuss human geography without referring to the physical landscape on which human activities are being played out, and environmental geography is emerging as a link between the two.
Human geography can be divided into many broad categories, such as:
- Economic geography
- Development geography
- Population geography or Demography*
- Urban geography
- Social geography
- Behavioral geography
- Cultural geography
- Political geography, including Geopolitics*
- Historical geography
- Regional geography
- Tourism geography
- Strategic geography
- Military geography
- Feminist geography
* Distinction between these fields of study have become increasingly blurred over time and the above list should not be considered definitive.
Related topics: Countries of the world - Country - Nation - State - Personal union - Province - County - City - Municipality - Central place theory - Urban morphology
[سمادول] Socio-environmental geography
During the time of environmental determinism, geography was defined not as the study of spatial relationships, but as the study of how humans and the natural environment interact. Though environmental determinism has lost support, there remains a strong tradition of geographers addressing the relationships between people and nature. There are two main subfields of socio-environmental geography:
- cultural and political ecology (CAPE) and
- risk-hazards research.
[سمادول] Cultural and political ecology
Cultural ecology grew out of the work of Carl Sauer in geography and a similar school of thought in anthropology. It examined how human societies adapt themselves to the natural environment. Sustainability science has been one important outgrowth of this tradition. Political ecology arose when some geographers used aspects of critical geography to look at relations of power and how they affect people's use of the environment. For example, an influential study by Michael Watts argued that famines in the Sahel are caused by the changes in the region's political and economic system as a result of colonialism and the spread of capitalism.
[سمادول] Risk-hazards research
Research on hazards began with the work of geographer Gilbert F. White, who sought to understand why people live in disaster-prone floodplains. Since then, the hazards field has expanded to become a multidisciplinary field examining both natural hazards (such as earthquakes) and technological hazards (such as nuclear reactor meltdowns). Geographers studying hazards are interested in both the dynamics of the hazard event and how people and societies deal with it.
[سمادول] Historical geography
Historical geography seeks to determine how cultural features of various societies across the planet emerged and evolved, by understanding their interaction with their local environment and surroundings.
For some in the United States, the term historical geography has a more specialized meaning: the name given by Carl Ortwin Sauer of the University of California, Berkeley to his program of reorganizing cultural geography (some say all geography) along regional lines, beginning in the first decades of the 20th century. To Sauer, a landscape and the cultures in it could only be understood if all of its influences through history were taken into account: physical, cultural, economic, political, environmental. Sauer stressed regional specialization as the only means of gaining sufficient expertise on regions of the world. Sauer's philosophy was the principal shaper of American geographic thought in the mid-20th century. Regional specialists remain in academic geography departments to this day. But some geographers feel that it harmed the discipline; that too much effort was spent on data collection and classification, and too little on analysis and explanation. Studies became more and more area-specific as later geographers struggled to find places to make names for themselves. These factors may have led in turn to the 1950s crisis in geography, which raised serious questions about geography as an academic discipline in the United States.
[سمادول] History of geography
- See main article: History of geography
The Greeks are the first known culture to actively explore geography as a science and philosophy. Mapping by the Romans as they explored new lands added new techniques. During the Middle Ages, Arabs such as Idrisi, Ibn Batutta, and Ibn Khaldun maintained the Greek and Roman techniques and developed new ones.
Following the journeys of Marco Polo, interest in geography spread throughout Europe. The great voyages of exploration in 16th and 17th centuries revived a desire for both accurate geographic detail, and more solid theoretical foundations. This period is also known as Great Geographical Discoveries. By the 18th century, geography had become recognized as a discrete discipline and became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe (especially Paris and Berlin).
Over the past two centuries the quantity of knowledge and the number of tools has exploded. There are strong links between geography and the sciences of geology and botany, as well as economics, sociology and demographics. In the West during the 20th century, the discipline of geography went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography.
[سمادول] Geographic techniques
As spatial interrelationships are key to this synoptic science, maps are a key tool. Classical cartography has been joined by a more modern approach to geographical analysis, computer-based geographic information systems (GIS).
- Cartography studies the representation of the Earth's surface with abstract symbols (map making). Although other subdisciplines of geography rely on maps for presenting their analyses, the actual making of maps is abstract enough to be regarded separately. Cartography has grown from a collection of drafting techniques into an actual science. Cartographers must learn cognitive psychology and ergonomics to understand which symbols convey information about the Earth most effectively, and behavioral psychology to induce the readers of their maps to act on the information. They must learn geodesy and fairly advanced mathematics to understand how the shape of the Earth affects the distortion of map symbols projected onto a flat surface for viewing. It can be said, without much controversy, that cartography is the seed from which the larger field of geography grew. Most geographers will cite a childhood fascination with maps as an early sign they would end up in the field.
- Geographic information systems (GIS) deal with the storage of information about the Earth for automatic retrieval by a computer, in an accurate manner appropriate to the information's purpose. In addition to all of the other subdisciplines of geography, GIS specialists must understand computer science and database systems. GIS has revolutionized the field of cartography; nearly all mapmaking is now done with the assistance of some form of GIS software.
- Geographic quantitative methods deal with numerical methods peculiar to (or at least most commonly found in) geography. In addition to spatial analyses, you are likely to find things like cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, and non-parametric statistical tests in geographic studies.
- Geographic qualitative methods, or ethnographic research techniques, are used by human geographers. In cultural geography there is a tradition of employing qualitative research techniques also used in anthropology and sociology. Participant Observation and in-depth interviews provide human geographers with qualitative data.
In their study, geographers use four interrelated approaches:
- Systematic - Groups geographical knowledge into categories that can be explored globally.
- Regional - Examines systematic relationships between categories for a specific region or location on the planet.
- Descriptive - Simply specifies the locations of features and populations.
- Analytical - Asks why we find features and populations in a specific geographic area.
[سمادول] Related fields
[سمادول] Urban, regional and spatial planning
Urban planning, regional planning and spatial planning use the science of geography to assist in determining how to develop (or not develop) the land to meet particular criteria, such as safety, beauty, economic opportunities, the preservation of the built or natural heritage, and so on. The planning of towns, cities and rural areas may be seen as applied geography although it also draws heavily upon engineering, the arts, the sciences, lessons of history, and politics. Some of the issues facing planning are considered briefly under the headings of rural exodus, urban exodus and smart growth.
[سمادول] Regional science
In the 1950s the regional science movement led by Walter Isard arose, to provide a more quantitative and analytical base to geographical questions, in contrast to the descriptive tendencies of traditional geography programs. Regional science comprises the body of knowledge in which the spatial dimension plays a fundamental role, such as regional economics, resource management, location theory, urban and regional planning, transport and communication, human geography, population distribution, landscape ecology, and environmental quality.
[سمادول] See also
- List of geography topics
- Geographical terms
- List of countries
- Geography reference tables
- Map
- Geographical renaming
- National Geographic Society (United States)
- National Geographic Bee (United States)
- Royal Geographical Society (United Kingdom)
- List of geographers
[سمادول] External links
- Confluence.org - A work in progress, involving travelling to every point on the globe where the lines of longitude and latitude intersect and taking a photograph in each direction.
- Association of American Geographers
- GISuser.com, information-rich portal about GIS
- PopulationData.net
- Free Maps Germany
- Geography discussion forums
- Using Literature To Teach Geography in High Schools. ERIC Digest.
- Teaching Geography at School and Home. ERIC Digest.
- The National Geography Content Standards. ERIC Digest.
- Geo-Guide extensive list of academic resources on geography and earth science
- Geopium: Geopolitics of Illicit Drugs in Asia
- National Geographic Online
- Royal Geographical Society
- Royal Canadian Geographical Society
- Canadian Geographic
- Geography in Action
- Hypergeo : Geographical Encyclopedia
- Antique and Rare Maps - Art Source International - Links to rare and antique maps and to cartography resources.
- MapInfo GIS Software
- Excellent Free Online Geography-Learning Games from Sheppard Software
- UNEP's GEO Data Portal database with >450 statistical and geospatial data sets