Why Do We Study Geography??

From the older post we knew that geography is not only about the universe, but also about its relations with the creatures inside the universe like humans, animals, and plants. That statement might leads us to the next interesting question. “What makes geography important to study??”

Firstly, we, humans, take part of the relation that geography study about. That is the relation between the nature’s activity and the effects that humans feel.  Actually, we don’t really care about landscape, the properties under the sea, or the view of the sky. What should we care about is how they can harm or benefit us.  The rift of plate tectonics, for example, can cause a harmful earthquake. Another example is how mind can help the fisherman’s daily works.

Secondly, by knowing more about the condition of the planet we live in, we will be able to know how to prevent its damages, how to maintain, and how to recover the damages.  Hence, when we talk about the newest issue such as “the global warming issue” we will know what makes that happens, how it happens, and what can we do to stop it.

Thirdly, when we talk about geography, we talk about nature. Nature is what surrounds us. It is where we are, what we eat, what we see, what we feel, and etc. Therefore, studying geography means we study about what all around us. This is so important because it determines our behavior.  For example, how can we adapt in the certain weather and how to live in certain places.

Finally, since geography is related to any other studies, it can be a reference for any other studies like biology, chemistry, physics, etc. Gold mine projects, oil refining projects, and natural power generating projects are some of the examples.

What is Geography?

When we heard the word “geography” there would be a lot of physical phenomenon comes to our mind. Things like landscape, sea, natural disaster, stone, weather, climates, and the earth itself are closely related to the word “geography”.

However, we also familiar to any other branches that specifically study about certain topics. Oceanography for example, is a study that reviews everything about the ocean including the ocean’s ecosystem dynamics, waves, plate tectonics, the geology of the sea floor, the physical properties in the ocean, etc. Another example can be biogeography. Biogeography studies about the distribution of animals and plans on the earth and the factors that impact the distribution.  On the other hand, anthropogeography studies about the human’s population and how it relates with the nature.

From the examples above, we can see that actually the word “geography” can be extremely comprehensive. It is not only about some specific topics, but it also explains about the relations between each topics.  The relations can be between humans and nature, landscapes and the populations around, natural disaster and the effect, etc.  Since it is the relations that matters in the study, geography itself, needs some ‘supporting studies’ such as biology, chemistry, and mathematics.