GEOGRAPHY AS A DISCIPLINE

     

What is Geography?

"The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together." 

BRANCHES OF GEOGRAPHY

1. Physical Geography

(i) Geomorphology is devoted to the study of landforms, their evolution and related processes.

(ii) Climatology encompasses the study of structure of atmosphere and elements of weather and climates and climatic types and regions.

(iii) Hydrology studies the realm of water over the surface of the earth including oceans, lakes, rivers and other waterbodies and its effect on different lifeforms including human life and their activities.

(iv) Soil Geography is devoted to study the processes of soil formation, soil types, their fertility status, distribution and use.

2. Human Geography

(i) Social/Cultural Geography encom- passes the study of society and its spatial dynamics as well as the cultural elements contributed by the society.

(ii) Population and Settlement Geography(Rural and Urban). It studies population growth, distribution, density, sex ratio, migration and occupational structure etc. Settlement geography studies the characteristics of rural and urban settlements.

(iii) Economic Geography studies economic activities of the people including agriculture, industry, tourism, trade, and transport, infrastructure and services, etc.

(iv) Historical Geography studies the historical processes through which the space gets organized . Every region has undergone some historical experiences before attaining the present day status. The geographical features also experience temporal changes and these form the concerns of historical geography.

(v) Political Geography looks at the space from the angle of political events and studies boundaries, space relations between neighboring political units, delimitation of constituencies, election scenario and develops theoretical framework to understand the political behavior of the population.

                                                

    

3. Biogeography

The interface between physical geography and human geography has lead to the development of Biogeography which includes:

(i) Plant Geography which studies the spatial pattern of natural vegetation in their habitats.

(ii) Zoo Geography which studies the spatial patterns and geographic characteristics of animals and their

habitats.

(iii) Ecology /Ecosystem deals with the scientific study of the habitats characteristic of species.

(iv) Environmental Geography concerns world over leading to the realization of environmental problems such as land gradation, pollution and concerns for conservation has resulted in the introduction of this new branch in geography.

BRANCHES OF GEOGRAPHY BASED ON REGIONAL APPROACH

1. Regional Studies/Area Studies Comprising Macro, Miso

and Micro Regional Studies

2. Regional Planning Comprising Country/Rural and Town/ Urban Planning

3. Regional Development

4. Regional Analysis

There are two aspects which are common to every discipline, these are:

(i) Philosophy

            (a) Geographical Thought

            (b) Land and Human Interaction/ Human Ecology

(ii) Methods and Techniques

   

             (a) Cartography including Computer Cartography

       

             (b) Quantitative Techniques/Statistical Techniques

            (c) Field Survey Methods

            (d) Geo-informatics comprising techniques such as Remote Sensing, GIS, GPS, etc.

The above classification gives a comprehensive format of the branches of geography. Generally geography curricula is taught and learnt in this format but this format is not static. Any discipline is bound to grow with new ideas, problems, methods and techniques. For example, what was once manual cartography has now been transformed into computer cartography. Technology has enabled scholars to handle large quantum of data. The internet provides extensive information. Thus, the capacity to attempt analysis has increased tremendously. GIS has further opened vistas of knowledge. GPS has become a handy tool to find out exact

locations. Technologies have enhanced the capacity of attempting synthesis with sound theoretical understanding.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ITS IMPORTANCE

This chapter appears in the book entitled Fundamentals of Physical Geography. The contents of the book clearly reflect its scope. It is therefore, appropriate to know the importance of this branch of geography. Physical geography includes the study of lithosphere (landforms, drainage, relief and physiography), atmosphere (its composition, structure, elements and controls of weather and climate; temperature, pressure, winds, precipitation, climatic types, etc.), hydrosphere (oceans, seas, lashes and associated features with water realm) and biosphere ( life forms including human being and macro-organism and their sustaining mechanism, viz. food chain, ecological parameters and ecological balance). Soils are formed through the process of pedogenesis and depend upon the parent rocks, climate, biological activity and time. Time provides maturity to soils and helps in the development of soil profiles. Each element is important for human beings. Landforms provide the base on which human activities are located. The plains are utilized for agriculture. Plateaus provide forests and minerals. Mountains provide pastures, forests, tourist spots and are sources of rivers providing water to lowlands. Climate influences our house types, clothing and food habits. The climate has a profound effect on vegetation, cropping pattern, livestock  farming  and  some industries, etc. Human beings have developed technologies which modify climatic elements in a restricted space such as air conditioners and coolers. Temperature and precipitation ensure the density of forests and quality of grassland. In India, monsoonal rainfall sets the agriculture rhythm in motion. Precipitation recharges the ground water others which later provides water for agriculture and domestic use. We study oceans which are the store house of resources. Besides fish and other sea-food, oceans are rich in mineral resources. India has developed the technology for collecting manganese nodules from oceanic bed. Soils are renewable resources, which irifluence a number of economic activities such as agriculture. The fertility of the soil is both naturally determined and culturally induced. Soils also provide the basis for the biosphere accommodating plants, animals and micro organisms. The study of physical geography is emerging as a discipline of evaluating and managing natural  resources.  In order  to achieve this objective, it is essential to understand the intricate relationship between physical environment and  human beings. Physical environment provides resources, and human beings utilize these resources and ensure their economic and cultural development. Accelerated pace of resource utilization with the help of modem technology has created ecological imbalance in the world. Hence, a better understanding of physical environment is absolutely essential  for sustainable development.