Geography is a science that studies all the physical features of the Earth's surface, including its

climate and the distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

- deals with the distribution and arrangement of all elements of the earth
surface.

 Geo –earth

 The word geography was adopted in the 200s BC by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes,
means “earth description.”

 Geographic study encompasses the environment of the earth's surface and the relationship
of humans to this environment, which includes physical, cultural and regional
geographic features.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF GEOGRAPHY

Physical (Natural) elements Cultural (Human) elements

Water features: Population – numbers, density, patterns of

 Major bodies – oceans, seas, big distribution and migration
lakes and rivers, soil water,
underground water
 Minor bodies – small lakes, rivers,
bays and gulfs, ponds, canal, sheet
flows
Landforms: Cultural heritage:
 Major – plains, hills, plateaus,  Material culture
mountains  Non-material culture
 Minor – mesa, delta, hill, coastal
bars
Soil – loose material that covers land Economic activities
surface. It supports the growth of plants and a. Primary – hunting, gathering,
trees. fishing, mining, lumbering,
agriculture and animal industry
b. Secondary – manufacturing
c. Tertiary – trade and services
Minerals – actual and potential Major works and accomplishments –
infrastructure, rural and urban settlements,
networks and modes of transportation and
communication
Climate and weather – long term and short Political systems
conditions of the atmosphere
Natural vegetation – trees, grasses, desert
plants
Wild animal life – first, second, third level
consumers
 BRANCHES OF GEOGRAPHY

1. Physical / Natural - deals with the distribution, measurement and arrangement of all
elements of the earth's surface.
A. Geomorphology, the branch of geology that examines the formation and structure of
the land’s surface of the Earth or of another planet and the process that mold them.

B. Climatology, which involves meteorology and is concerned with the prevailing state
of the atmosphere.

C. Biogeography, which uses biology and deals with the spatial distribution of past and
present individual categories of plants and animal life.

D. Soil geography which is concerned with the areal distribution of soil types over the
land and the principal factors in the formation of different types of soil.

E. Oceanography, which deals with the waves, tides, and currents of oceans and the
ocean floor; Hydrography, which concerns the distribution of seas, lakes, rivers, and
streams in relation to their uses.

F. Resource Management – it emphasizes human direction in the utilization of natural

resources for benefits of human usually on a long term basis.

G. Environmental Studies – it tends to focus on the animal world and on the threats
posed to them by human activities and the degradation of the atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and lithosphere by pollution of many types.

2. Cultural / Human - explains the distribution, characteristics and achievements of people

and all phases of human social life in relation to the physical earth.

A. Economic geography, analyzes the characteristics and differences among movements

in between areas in the production, exchange and consumption of goods and services.

B. Political geography is concerned with the study of the organizations of the world into
states, functions, delimitations, demarcations of boundaries, selection of capital sites,
territorial waters, maritime boundaries and laws of the seas.

C. Cartography or mapmaking is the graphic representation and measurement of the

surface of the earth.

D. Population- examines the distribution of population in relation to its various

characteristics such as growth, numbers, density, age, sex, fertility and occupations.

E. Urban geography – studies the factors affecting the location of individual cities, urban
systems, regional differences in urbanization and functional types of cities.

F. Medical geography – studies the diffusion of infectious diseases from the center of
occurrence.

G. Historical geography – is concerned with the description of the past periods or dates
or with changes overtime as landscapes evolves.
 3. Regional geography is concerned with various areas of the earth, particularly the unique
combinations of physical and cultural features that characterize each region and
distinguish one region from another.

Geography’s position amidst the sciences

“the synthesis and mother of all sciences’ and the parent of all sciences”

It has connection with:

1. Natural Science- studies nature: the water, landforms, minerals, soil, climate, and
flora and fauna over or close to the earth’s surface.

2. Social Science – deals with structure and functions of society and its subsystems. It
studies man’s political system, economic system, religious system, population, the
family, man’s cultural values, folkways, beliefs as well as technology.

3. Humanities –geography studies artistic works, and is involved with the arts like
painting, sculpture music, literature, and dance, particularly in terms of spatial
distribution and differentiation.