-he made marvelous topographical descriptions Erastosthenes- he accepted that earth is round and calculated its circumference -he divided the earth into five climatic descriptions. Hipparchus-He drew imaginary lines on the earth’s surface to describe the location of places. Thales of Miletus- applied geometric principles to the measurement of land areas. Anaximander- argued that the world shaped like a cylinder. He made a map of the world based on information from sailors of Miletus. Aristotle- was the first to demonstrate the earth was sphere. He observed all matter tended to fall together towards a common center. He also explained that the earth’s shadow on the moon was circular and that the configuration of stars changes as one traveled to the north or south. Strabo- wrote the seventeen volumes geographics providing an encyclopedic description of the old world. He regarded the earth as sphere at the center of spherical universe. Ptolemy-wrote an eight volume guide to geography. He prepared a number of maps whose quality was unsurpassed for more than a thousand years. Well known Geographers Bernhard Varenius- a German wrote Geographica Generalis. His book served as the standard treatise on systematic geography for more than a century.
Immanuel Kant- was a German
philosopher who provided the philosophical underpinning of geography. He justified its place among science. Alexander von Humboldt & Carl Ritter- they championed empiricism & inductive explanation through field observation. This means that geography should use scientific methods to explain the reasons for the presence or absence of certain phenomena. Friedrich Ratzel & Ellen Churchill -they believed that geography was the study of the influences of the natural environment on people. Ratzel was recognized as the founder of human geography. Ellworth Huntington- an early American geographer argued that climate was a major determinant of civilization. Paul Vidal da la Blache & Jean Brunhes- They developed what is known as the regional geography approach, sometimes called the cultural landscape Carl Saver & Robert Platt- both American geographer, adopted the regional geography approach developed by Blache & Brunhes. Relationship of Geography with other Disciplines Climatology- deals with general weather conditions Meteorology- science of the atmosphere and the origin of the prediction of weather. Phytogeography- is related to botany the science that deals with plants, their life, structure & growth. Zoogeography- related to zoology the science of animal life in the area & ecology , the study of interrelationship of organisms & their environment. Human geography – is related to one or more Social Sciences. Economic geography- is related to economics. Political geography – is related to political science. Both studies the comparative government. Social geography- converges with sociology & anthropology. Both deal with the people in the communities and their relations to the total environment. Geography is also related to history & archeology. Geographical geography is concerned with the significance of geography in the explanation of historical events.