better around the world, but in some cases worse. Our previous list of the most polluted cities in the world changed in a surprising way. The people of the world became healthier, lived a bit longer, became more literate, donated more money, re-engineered rivers, and preserved forests; the list is endless. Centuries-old disputes over geography still spawn conflict and resolution around the world. A convergence of technology and political geography causes a country like China to alter the map of the world by building tiny islands in a nearby sea.
Interesting companies that are creating new ways to use maps and to visualize data are fueling our renewed interest in geographical concepts. Google’s Street View lets users drill down to see mailboxes at specified GPS coordinates, or to see the front door of their next door neighbor’s house, something that was inconceivable only a few years ago.
A friend recently gave me a geography textbook from 1890. The city of Los Angeles, which is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world today, had a population of approximately 51,000 people. There were only three cities in the U.S. with populations greater than one million. Today, there are ten. People had access to very little information beyond what they garnered from this little geography textbook in their first year of high school. Many countries that exist today were not on the map at that time, and many colonies that had been established centuries before were still in existence. Great natural disasters occurred in the nineteenth century, but information about them would take months before they would be in the national consciousness. Today, billions of people are made aware of nearly any reported event, anywhere in the world, in seconds.
This access to information will hopefully translate into a future in which the study of geography will be revived at all levels of our educational system, and people will remember a time when a geography department was started at their university, instead of when it was closed, as in my case.
Our mission for this edition of The Handy Geography Answer Book is to provide you with a helpful grid on the field of geography, and populate the chapters of the book with really interesting questions and answers that make the field of geography come to life. Perhaps it will inspire an argument or two, or make you want to read more about the subject. The book will capture you no matter what your background or experience is.
What is the origin of the word “geography”?
The word “geography” is from the Greek word geographia and can be divided into two parts, geo, meaning the Earth, and graphy, which refers to writing. So geography can be loosely translated as “writing about the Earth.” Ancient geography was often filled with descriptions of remote places, but modern geography has become much more than writing about the Earth. Contemporary geographers have a difficult time defining the discipline. Some popular definitions include “the bridge between the human and the natural sciences,” “the mother of all sciences,” and “anything that can be mapped.”
Who invented geography?
The Greek philosopher Thales was one of the first to argue about the shape of the world in the sixth century B.C.E. And Chinese texts of the fifth century B.C.E. describe the provinces of China in great detail. However, the Greek scholar Eratosthenes is credited with the first use of the word “geography” in the third century B.C.E. He is also known as the “father of geography” for his geographical writing and accomplishments, including the measurement of the circumference of the Earth, the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the distance from the Earth to the sun, and the concept of “Leap Day.”
What is geologic time?
Geologic time is a time scale that divides the history of the planet Earth into eras, periods, and epochs from the birth of the planet to the present. The oldest era is the Precambrian Era, which began 4.6 billion years ago and ended about 570 million years ago. Next came the Paleozoic Era, which lasted from 570 to 245 million years ago, followed by the Mesozoic Era, from 245 to 66 million years ago. We’re now living in the Cenozoic Era, which began 66 million years ago. The Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras are each divided into periods. Additionally, the Cenozoic Era is divided into even smaller units of time called epochs. The present epoch that we live in today, which spans the last ten thousand years (the time since the last significant Ice Age), is called the Holocene Epoch.
When did geography begin?
We must assume that humans have always wanted to know where sources of food are located, places to live, and the location of one’s protective group. Geographic thought has been present for thousands of years. Maps drawn in the sand, etched in stone, or painted on the walls of caves, as well as explorations to distant lands, were made by the earliest civilizations. Geographic knowledge has been accumulating since the beginning of humankind.
What new epoch has recently been proposed by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen?
Most epochs last approximately more than 3 million years, enough time to deposit traces of subtle changes in the conditions on the planet, for scientists to discover in future years. Dutch atmospheric chemist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen coined the term “Anthropocene,” or “New Man,” epoch because changes to our planet, brought on by human activities like habitat destruction, environmental degradation, and the extinction of thousands of plant and animal species since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution two hundred years ago, will leave an indelible mark in the boundary layer of the surface of our planet. But some scientists disagree and assert that it really is not a new epoch, just a warm period during our current Holocene Epoch, or Ice Age, which should continue for another million years.
What is the AAG?
The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is a professional organization of academic geographers and geography students. The AAG was founded in 1904 and publishes two key academic journals in geography, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and the Professional Geographer, as well as the AAG Review of Books and the online AAG Newsletter. The AAG also holds annual conferences and supports regional and specialty groups of geographers. Its membership spans more than sixty countries.
What is the NCGE?
The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) is an organization of educators that seeks to promote geographic education. The NCGE was founded by educator George Miller and was chartered in 1915 with a stated mission to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching from kindergarten through university. The NCGE publishes the Journal of Geography and holds conferences every year.
What is the National Geographic Society?
Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the largest scientific and educational institutions in the world. It has supported exploration, cartography, and discovery, and it publishes the popular magazine National Geographic, in English and many other languages, and is the fifth-most-popular magazine in the United States. The society’s publishing operations reach a global audience of over 600 million people each month.
What do modern geographers do?
While there are a few jobs with the title of “geographer,” many geography students use their analytical ability and knowledge of the world to work in a variety of fields. Geography students often take jobs in fields such as city planning, cartography, marketing, real estate, environment, and teaching.
