Geography: what it has unravelled

It is no secret that a major part of our lives is governed by the knowledge we have of the world. But, how did we learn about the world around us, especially in the early days? Through travel and the maps of the newly discovered lands that were drawn up subsequently.

The basis of modern geographical knowledge is maps, which show not merely the position of certain places in the world, but also their shapes and relative sizes.

It is only by studying such maps that it has been possible to arrive at a certain conclusion concerning man and his relationship with the Earth in which he lives. It is to this relationship, in all its aspects, between man and his environment, the name geography is given.

While history is concerned with what man does on the Earth, geography deals with what he is and how he comes to be where he is, today.

Our civilization therefore rests on a foundation of geography we could say without any doubt. Why? Because until man had learned to travel, he couldn't make maps or compare and contrast what was present in different parts of the world, compile statistics, open up trade routes or discover new raw material.

So, you can see that the scope of geography (a subject many of you may not even like), is as wide as the Earth itself. In fact, it overlaps the frontiers of many subjects you may even like such as geology, botany and zoology, not to mention physics; all these subjects are important branches of knowledge in their own right.

Our geographical knowledge of the world has been acquired over many centuries, gradually, growing due to the endeavours of ancient explorers. If they had not ventured out to penetrate into distant places, follow rivers to their sources, cross deserts in hazardous conditions, and climb mountains, we would not have known as much about the world around us as we do now.

We would have continued to live in our own little corner of the world, within a limited framework of knowledge, not able to develop as much as we have done today.

Geography consists of observation and comparisons. The first geographers who were travellers and explorers recorded all what they saw, drew maps, made collection of objects, described people and places in detail and gave us a new picture of the world around us.

Later, geographers who collected the information provided by these early travellers and explorers wrote more comprehensive accounts of the various countries and the continents giving us a comprehensive picture of the world's oceans, continents, its deserts and fertile deltas, rivers and mountain ranges, the people who inhabited these lands, the plants and animals found in such places and the general conditions of life.

It is because of geography that we first learnt about the deserts where hardly any plants grew, areas where man cannot cultivate because the temperature is very high or low, or the soil is too wet, salty or dry and so on.

It is through the knowledge of geography that man gradually gained control of nature and began to build dams or divert rivers, irrigate land to cultivate, form new links of communication by boring through tunnels and improve the standards of life step by step.

Without geographical knowledge, most of these wouldn't have been possible. Today, there isn't much unknown territory existing in this world, thanks to the advances made in travel and exploration.