From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Main articles: Geography and World
The following is an overview and list of basic geography
topics.
Themes
The themes of the 18 National Geography Standards of the
National Council for Geographic Education are:[1][2][3]
Branches
Geography is divided into two main branches: physical
geography and human geography.
Human
geography
Physical
geography
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Geographic
multi-disciplinary fields
Fields that draw upon various disciplines and have applications
in geography:
Location and
place
Concepts concerning location or place:
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Population density per square kilometre by country, 2006
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Tasks and
tools
- Main articles: Geosophy and Philosophy of
geography
The approaches and activities of geographers, and the tools they
use:
The world
- Main article: World
The field of geography does not operate in a vacuum, and is
greatly interconnected with other fields of study. This is most
evident at the global level.
Geography,
Earth science, and Earth's spheres
Geography is a key component of earth science, used along with physics, geology, meteorology, mathematics, chemistry, and biology to build a quantitative understanding
of the principal areas or interactive spheres
of the Earth system, including its:
Other interpretations of this model of the Earth include the
following additional spheres:
Regions of
the world
- Main articles: Region,
Subregions, Location, and Lists of
places
Regions are areas, and can be defined by physical
characteristics, human characteristics, and functional
characteristics. The term is used in various ways among the
different branches of geography. A region can be seen as a
collection of smaller units, such as a country and its political
divisions, or as one part of a larger whole, as in a country on a
continent.
Supercontinents
Earth may have had a single supercontinent called "
Pangaea"
- Main article: List of
supercontinents
A supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton.
Continents
- Main article: Continent
A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention
rather than any specific criteria, but seven areas are commonly
regarded as continents. They are:
-
- 1. Africa
- 2. Antarctica
- 3. Australia
- The Americas:
- 4. North America
- 5. South America
- Eurasia:
- 6. Europe
- 7. Asia
Biogeographic regions
Ecozone
- Main article: Ecozone
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) developed a
system of eight biogeographic realms (ecozones):
Ecoregions
- Main article: Ecoregion
Ecozones are further divided into ecoregions. The World has over
800 terrestrial ecoregions. See Lists of ecoregions by
country.
Countries
of the World
- Main article: Political division
A political division, usually a country, is a region under the
control of a government. Countries are further divided
into administrative divisions
including states, counties, cities, etc.
Countries
by continent
Country subdivision
types
- Main article: Country subdivision
A country subdivision is a designated territory created within a country for
administrative or identification purposes. Examples of the types of
country subdivisions:
More
region or area types
Some
specific areas
Geographical features
Regions are further differentiated by virtue of being
geographical features, or by the geographical features in them (or
both). A geographical feature is a landform, a body of water, or an artificial creation
large enough to show up on a regional map.
Natural geographical
features
Features of the World that are naturally
occurring:
Landforms
- Main article: Landform
A landform is part of the terrain, defined by its shape and location in
the landscape, and is typically an element of topography. Landforms are characterized by
aspects such as elevation, slope, orientation, stratification,
rock exposure, and soil type. Examples of
landforms:
Bodies of
water
- Main article: Body of water
A body of water is any significant accumulation of water on a geographical scale. Some
bodies of water can be man-made, but most are naturally occurring.
Some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and
streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans.
Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways.
Manmade geographical
features
Manmade geographical features, artificial creations large enough
that they may show up on a regional map,:
Geography of specific
regions
- See also: Regional geography
Demographics by region
- Main articles: Demography and World population
Demography is the statistical study of populations. It is an applied science used
to analyze dynamic populations, that is, those
that change over time or space. It encompasses the study of the
size, structure and distribution of populations, and spatial and/or
temporal changes in them in response to birth, death,
migration and aging.
History of
geography
- Main articles: History of geography and Historical geography
Topics pertaining to the geographical study of the World
throughout history:
Geographical
institutions and societies
Geography
awards
Some awards and competitions in the field of geography:
Notable
geographers
- Main article: Geographer, List of geographers, List of Graeco-Roman
geographers
A geographer is a scientist who studies Earth's physical environment and human habitat.
Geographers are historically known for making maps, the subdiscipline of geography known as cartography. But they
are not only capable of studying the physical details of the
environment but also its impact on human and wildlife ecologies, weather and climate patterns, economics, and culture. Geographers especially focus on the
spatial relationships between these elements.
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The Greek
geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving.
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Geography
lists
- Main article: Lists of places
Lists of geographical
features
Lists of
landforms
Lists
of bodies of water
Lists of manmade
geographical features
References
See also
- Index of geography
articles
- Outline of astronomy - while
geography studies and maps the World, astronomy is the study of the rest of the
universe, and maps the stars and galaxies.
- Earth - there's a lot more
to a planet than its geography. Some fields closely related to
geography are:
- Geology - while
geography studies the surface of the Earth and the location of
things on it, geology is the study of the Earth itself, that is,
its solid matter: the ground, what it is made of, and what is
beneath it.
- Oceanography -
while geography names and maps bodies of water, oceonography
studies the large ones, the water they contain, and the life they
contain.
- Universe - the place
where the World exists.
External
links
Teaching
geography
Multimedia geography
resources
Geographical
associations and pressure groups
Wikis
Quiz
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