Unit I

GEOGRAPHY AS A SCIENCE

“The Earth is our only suitable habitat. Geography’s task is to discover and capture its horizons in order to understand how people live and work and utilize their resources. This understanding is more urgently required than ever before because of new global realities – the interconnected, integrated, and interdependent character of our lives.”

The Earth. Apollo 17, NASA

Reading Material Text a

Task

1. Before reading the text try to discuss the following questions.

• What is geography about?

• What kind of science is geography?

• What does the term “geography” mean?

2. Now read the text, translate it and get ready to do the exercises after the text. Geography

Geography is the study of the surface of the Earth. The word is derived from the Greek words geo (the Earth) and graphein (to write).

Geography is the exact and organized knowledge of the distribution of phenomena on the surface of the Earth. It deals with the form and motion of the planet so far¹ as the knowledge of these is necessary for fixing positions on the surface. Geography is concerned also with the forms of the lithosphere or stony crust of the Earth, the extent of the water envelope or hydrosphere, the movements of the water and of the all surrounding atmosphere. The distribution of plants and animals and that of the human race and all the interactions and relationships between these distributions are within the areas of geographical inquiry as well.

The surface of the Earth is the interface² of the atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. It provides the habitat, or environment, in which humans are able to live. This habitable zone has a number of special characteristics. One of the most important is the complex interaction among many physical, biologic, and human elements of the Earth, such as land surface, climate, water, soil, vegetation, agriculture, and urbanization. Another characteristic is the high variability of the environment from place to place – hot tropics to cold polar regions, dry deserts to humid equatorial forests, vast level plains to rugged mountains and uninhabited ice caps to densely settled metropolitan areas. Yet another is the consistency³ with which significant patterns occur, which makes possible generalizations about distributions.

Geographic study is particularly concerned with location, with areal patterns⁴ with the interrelationships of phenomena, with regionalization⁵, and with ties among areas. Typical areas of inquiry⁶ include where people live; in what sort of patterns they are distributed over the Earth’s surface; what factors of environment, resources, culture, and economic development account for⁷ this distribution; whether or not significant regions can be recognized by types of population, livelihood⁸, and culture, and what types of movements and relations occur among places.

Geography is a synthetic science, largely dependent for its data on the results of specialized sciences such as astronomy, physics, geology, oceanography, meteorology, biology and antropology and always having respect to the natural regions of the world. Viewed in this light geography is a unified and definite science⁹ of wide outlook and comrehensive grasp¹⁰.

Geography is divided into systematic fields and regional specializations, which can be grouped under three main headings: physical geography, human geography and regional geography. There is a number of subdivisions, such as mathematical geography, which deals with the shape, size and movements of the earth. Political geography studies the world’s political divisions. Economic geography deals with estimation of the environment and resources, distribution of economy and population. Historical geography examines the ways in which the relationship between people and their environments has changed over time. Human geography is concerned with human activities and organization in so far as these relate to the interaction of people with their physical environment and with the environments created by human beings themselves, and the consequences of these interrelationships. Physical geography is concerned with the physical characteristics and processes of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. The principal branches of physical geography are geomorphology, climatology, biogeorgraphy and soil geography.

Regional geography studies distinctive regions of the world, the people and their environment, their economies and cultures.

As human activity has become more able to affect the landscape and ecology of the world, two more branches have emerged: resource management and environmental studies.

Notes:

1. so far – до сих пор, пока

2. interface – отражение, взаимодействие

3. consistency – постоянство

4. areal patterns – элементы территориальной (пространственной) структуры

5. regionalization – 1.районирование; 2. региональный подход

6. areas of inquiry – области исследования

7. account for – объяснять

8. livelihood – средства к жизни

9. unified and definite science – унифицированная и точная наука

10. comprehensive grasp – зд. всеобъемлющие знания