---
title: "Geography"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:57:52.593175+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The European Age of Discovery during the 16th and 17th centuries, where many new lands were discovered, and accounts by European explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, and James Cook revived a desire for both accurate geographic detail and more solid theoretical foundations in Europe. In 1650, the first edition of the Geographia Generalis was published by Bernhardus Varenius, which was later edited and republished by others, including Isaac Newton. This textbook sought to integrate new scientific discoveries and principles into classical geography and approach the discipline like the other sciences emerging, and is seen by some as the division between ancient and modern geography in the West.
The Geographia Generalis contained both theoretical background and practical applications related to ship navigation. The remaining problem facing both explorers and geographers was finding the latitude and longitude of a geographic location. While the problem of latitude was solved long ago, the problem of longitude remained; agreeing on which meridian should be zero was only part of the problem. It was left to John Harrison to solve it by inventing the chronometer H-4 in 1760, and later in 1884 for the International Meridian Conference to adopt by convention the Greenwich meridian as zero meridians.
The 18th and 19th centuries were the periods when geography was recognized as a distinct academic discipline. They became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe (especially Paris and Berlin). The development of many geographic societies also occurred during the 19th century, with the foundations of the Société de Géographie in 1821, the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, Russian Geographical Society in 1845, American Geographical Society in 1851, the Royal Danish Geographical Society in 1876 and the National Geographic Society in 1888. The influence of Immanuel Kant, Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritter, and Paul Vidal de la Blache can be seen as a major turning point in geography from philosophy to an academic subject. Geographers such as Richard Hartshorne and Joseph Kerski have regarded both Humboldt and Ritter as the founders of modern geography, as Humboldt and Ritter were the first to establish geography as an independent scientific discipline.

Over the past two centuries, advancements in computer technology have led to the development of geomatics and to the incorporation of new practices, such as participant observation and geostatistics, into geography's portfolio of tools. 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. The strong interdisciplinary links between geography and the sciences of geology and botany, as well as economics, sociology, and demographics, have also grown greatly, especially as a result of earth system science that seeks to understand the world in a holistic view. New concepts and philosophies have emerged from the rapid advances in computing, quantitative methods, and interdisciplinary approaches. The 1962 book Theoretical Geography by William Bunge, which argued for a nomothetic approach to geography and that from a purely spatial perspective there was no real difference between human and physical geography, has been described by Kevin R. Cox as "perhaps the seminal text of the spatial-quantitative revolution." In 1970, Waldo Tobler proposed the first law of geography, "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." This law summarizes the first assumption geographers make about the world.

== Related fields ==

=== Geology ===

The disciplines of geography, especially physical geography, and geology have a significant overlap. In the past, the two have often shared academic departments at universities, a point that has led to conflict over resources. Both disciplines do seek to understand the rocks on the Earth's surface and the processes that change them over time. Geology employs many of the tools and techniques of technical geographers, such as GIS and remote sensing to aid in geological mapping. However, geology includes research that goes beyond the spatial component, such as the chemical analysis of rocks and biogeochemistry.

=== History ===

The discipline of history has a significant overlap with geography, especially human geography. Like geology, history and geography have shared university departments. Geography provides the spatial context within which historical events unfold. The physical geographic features of a region, such as its landforms, climate, and resources, shape human settlements, trade routes, and economic activities, which in turn influence the course of historical events. Thus, a historian must have a strong foundation in geography. Historians employ the techniques of technical geographers to create historical atlases and maps.

=== Planetary science ===

While the discipline of geography is normally concerned with the Earth, the term can also be informally used to describe the study of other worlds, such as the planets of the Solar System and even beyond. The study of systems larger than the Earth itself usually forms part of Astronomy or Cosmology, while the study of other planets is usually called planetary science. Alternative terms such as areography (geography of Mars) have been employed to describe the study of other celestial objects. Ultimately, geography may be considered a subdiscipline within planetary science, and planetary science links geography with fields like astronomy and physics.

== See also ==

== Notes ==

== References ==

== External links ==
 
Geography at the Encyclopaedia Britannica website