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141-490: In geography , the antipode ( / ˈ æ n t ɪ ˌ p oʊ d , æ n ˈ t ɪ p ə d i / ) of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points antipodal ( / æ n ˈ t ɪ p ə d əl / ) to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Earth's center. Antipodal points are as far away from each other as possible. The North and South Poles are antipodes of each other. In
282-505: A tan ϕ {\displaystyle \textstyle {\tan \beta ={\frac {b}{a}}\tan \phi }\,\!} ; for the GRS 80 and WGS 84 spheroids, b a = 0.99664719 {\textstyle {\tfrac {b}{a}}=0.99664719} . ( β {\displaystyle \textstyle {\beta }\,\!} is known as the reduced (or parametric) latitude ). Aside from rounding, this
423-522: A Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection of the Earth, in yellow, overlaid on which is another map, in blue, shifted horizontally by 180° of longitude and inverted about the Equator with respect to latitude. Noon at one place is midnight at the other (ignoring daylight saving time and irregularly shaped time zones ) and, with the exception of the tropics , the longest day at one point corresponds to
564-408: A datum transformation such as a Helmert transformation , although in certain situations a simple translation may be sufficient. Datums may be global, meaning that they represent the whole Earth, or they may be local, meaning that they represent an ellipsoid best-fit to only a portion of the Earth. Examples of global datums include World Geodetic System (WGS 84, also known as EPSG:4326 ),
705-474: A "bitter river" ( Oceanus ), with seven islands arranged around it so as to form a seven-pointed star. The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the encircling ocean. The descriptions of five of them have survived. In contrast to the Imago Mundi , an earlier Babylonian world map dating back to the 9th century BC depicted Babylon as being further north from the center of the world, though it
846-467: A belief. The antipodes being an attribute of a spherical Earth , some ancient authors used their perceived absurdity as an argument for a flat Earth . However, knowledge of the spherical Earth was widespread during the Middle Ages, only occasionally disputed—the medieval dispute surrounding the antipodes mainly concerned the question whether people could live on the opposite side of the earth: since
987-650: A choice of geodetic datum (including an Earth ellipsoid ), as different datums will yield different latitude and longitude values for the same location. The invention of a geographic coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene , who composed his now-lost Geography at the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. A century later, Hipparchus of Nicaea improved on this system by determining latitude from stellar measurements rather than solar altitude and determining longitude by timings of lunar eclipses , rather than dead reckoning . In
1128-402: A consequence of accessibility ." Geography is a branch of inquiry that focuses on spatial information on Earth. It is an extremely broad topic and can be broken down multiple ways. There have been several approaches to doing this spanning at least several centuries, including "four traditions of geography" and into distinct branches. The Four traditions of geography are often used to divide
1269-526: A focus on space, place, time, and scale. Today, geography is an extremely broad discipline with multiple approaches and modalities. There have been multiple attempts to organize the discipline, including the four traditions of geography, and into branches. Techniques employed can generally be broken down into quantitative and qualitative approaches, with many studies taking mixed-methods approaches. Common techniques include cartography , remote sensing , interviews , and surveying . Geography
1410-418: A geographic information system). Remote sensing aids in land use, land cover (LULC) mapping, by helping to determine both what is naturally occurring on a piece of land and what human activities are taking place on it. Geostatistics deal with quantitative data analysis, specifically the application of a statistical methodology to the exploration of geographic phenomena. Geostatistics is used extensively in
1551-455: A great circle distance of 17,176 km (10,673 mi; 9,274 nmi). A hypothetically almost perfect antipodal flight would be Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport , Morocco ( IATA : TNG), to Whangarei Aerodrome , New Zealand (IATA: WRE), whose designated locators are 10,800 nautical miles (12,428 mi; 20,002 km) apart, almost the maximum possible distance. However, with only a length of 3,599 ft (1,097 m), Whangarei's runway
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#17327655175271692-610: A high level of information for Ptolemy to construct detailed atlases . He extended the work of Hipparchus , using a grid system on his maps and adopting a length of 56.5 miles for a degree. From the 3rd century onwards, Chinese methods of geographical study and writing of geographical literature became much more comprehensive than what was found in Europe at the time (until the 13th century). Chinese geographers such as Liu An , Pei Xiu , Jia Dan , Shen Kuo , Fan Chengda , Zhou Daguan , and Xu Xiake wrote important treatises, yet by
1833-493: A history, they also exist in space and have a geography. For something to exist in the realm of geography, it must be able to be described spatially. Thus, space is the most fundamental concept at the foundation of geography. The concept is so basic, that geographers often have difficulty defining exactly what it is. Absolute space is the exact site, or spatial coordinates, of objects, persons, places, or phenomena under investigation. We exist in space. Absolute space leads to
1974-692: A part of Antarctica. The Australian mainland is the largest landmass with its antipodes entirely in ocean, although some locations of mainland Australia and Tasmania are close to being antipodes of islands (Bermuda, Azores, Puerto Rico) in the North Atlantic Ocean. The largest landmass with antipodes entirely on land is the island of Borneo , whose antipodes are in the Amazon rainforest. Exact or almost exact antipodes: To within 100 km (62 mi), with at least one major city (population of at least 1 million): Taiwan (formerly called Formosa)
2115-608: A point on Earth's surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses (often called great circles ), which converge at the North and South Poles. The meridian of the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich , in southeast London, England, is the international prime meridian , although some organizations—such as
2256-565: A product with greater information than a two-dimensional image of places, names, and topography. This approach offers more inclusive strategies than more traditional cartographic approaches for connecting the complex layers that makeup places. Ethnographical research techniques are used by human geographers. In cultural geography , there is a tradition of employing qualitative research techniques, also used in anthropology and sociology. Participant observation and in-depth interviews provide human geographers with qualitative data. Geopoetics
2397-473: A region of the surface of the Earth. Some newer datums are bound to the center of mass of the Earth. This combination of mathematical model and physical binding mean that anyone using the same datum will obtain the same location measurement for the same physical location. However, two different datums will usually yield different location measurements for the same physical location, which may appear to differ by as much as several hundred meters; this not because
2538-479: A single person from a single location. The European Age of Discovery during the 16th and the 17th centuries, where many new lands were discovered and accounts by European explorers such as Christopher Columbus , Marco Polo , and James Cook revived a desire for both accurate geographic detail and more solid theoretical foundations in Europe. In 1650, the first edition of the Geographia Generalis
2679-490: A standard full commercial passenger load. The current world record-holder Airbus A350-900ULR is capable of flying 18,000 kilometres (9,700 nmi; 11,000 mi), or roughly 90% of an average antipodal distance. Singapore Airlines currently holds the world record for the longest scheduled passenger flight , and utilizes this model in their non-stop Singapore to New York-JFK route SQ23/24. In 2019, Qantas completed separate non-stop flights taking 19–20 hours to encompass
2820-434: A structured or semi-structured approach during interviews involving specific questions or discussion points when utilized for research purposes. These questions are designed to extract focused information about the research topic while being flexible enough to allow participants to express their experiences and viewpoints, such as through open-ended questions. The concept of geography is present in all cultures, and therefore
2961-439: A system. The amount of time an individual, or group of people, spends in a place will often shape their attachment and perspective to that place. Time constrains the possible paths that can be taken through space, given a starting point, possible routes, and rate of travel. Visualizing time over space is challenging in terms of cartography, and includes Space-Prism, advanced 3D geovisualizations, and animated maps . Scale in
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#17327655175273102-549: A translation of the 13th century De Proprietatibus Rerum by Bartholomeus Anglicus , translated by John of Trevisa : Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that haue theyr fete ayenst our fete. ( In Modern English: Yonder in Ethiopia are the Antipodes, men that have their feet against our feet. ) The modern English singular antipode arose in the 16th or 17th century as a back-formation from antipodes ; antipous or
3243-417: A variety of fields, including hydrology , geology, petroleum exploration, weather analysis, urban planning , logistics, and epidemiology . The mathematical basis for geostatistics derives from cluster analysis , linear discriminant analysis and non-parametric statistical tests , and a variety of other subjects. Applications of geostatistics rely heavily on geographic information systems , particularly for
3384-411: Is 6,367,449 m . Since the Earth is an oblate spheroid , not spherical, that result can be off by several tenths of a percent; a better approximation of a longitudinal degree at latitude ϕ {\displaystyle \phi } is where Earth's equatorial radius a {\displaystyle a} equals 6,378,137 m and tan β = b
3525-480: Is 110.6 km. The circles of longitude, meridians, meet at the geographical poles, with the west–east width of a second naturally decreasing as latitude increases. On the Equator at sea level, one longitudinal second measures 30.92 m, a longitudinal minute is 1855 m and a longitudinal degree is 111.3 km. At 30° a longitudinal second is 26.76 m, at Greenwich (51°28′38″N) 19.22 m, and at 60° it
3666-522: Is 15.42 m. On the WGS 84 spheroid, the length in meters of a degree of latitude at latitude ϕ (that is, the number of meters you would have to travel along a north–south line to move 1 degree in latitude, when at latitude ϕ ), is about The returned measure of meters per degree latitude varies continuously with latitude. Similarly, the length in meters of a degree of longitude can be calculated as (Those coefficients can be improved, but as they stand
3807-502: Is a distance of 40,008 kilometres (24,860 mi). Any other closed great circle route starting on the equator and traveling at an angle between 0° (an equatorial route) and 90° (a polar route) would be between 40,075 and 40,008 kilometres (24,901 and 24,860 mi). In all of these cases, after half of the world has been traversed, every subsequent point will be antipodal to one already visited. There are currently no commercial aircraft capable of traveling non-stop between antipodes with
3948-558: Is a systematic study of the Earth (other celestial bodies are specified, such as "geography of Mars", or given another name, such as areography in the case of Mars), its features, and phenomena that take place on it. For something to fall into the domain of geography, it generally needs some sort of spatial component that can be placed on a map , such as coordinates , place names, or addresses . This has led to geography being associated with cartography and place names. Although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this
4089-750: Is an interdisciplinary approach that combines geography and poetry to explore the interconnectedness between humans, space, place, and the environment. Geopoetics is employed as a mixed methods tool to explain the implications of geographic research. It is often employed to address and communicate the implications of complex topics, such as the anthropocene . Geographers employ interviews to gather data and acquire valuable understandings from individuals or groups regarding their encounters, outlooks, and opinions concerning spatial phenomena. Interviews can be carried out through various mediums, including face-to-face interactions, phone conversations, online platforms, or written exchanges. Geographers typically adopt
4230-436: Is an ongoing source of debate in geography and is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Several laws have been proposed, and Tobler's first law of geography is the most generally accepted in geography. Some have argued that geographic laws do not need to be numbered. The existence of a first invites a second, and many have proposed themselves as that. It has also been proposed that Tobler's first law of geography should be moved to
4371-483: Is antipodal to Bermuda , the antipodes of Australia are in the North Atlantic Ocean , while parts of Spain , Portugal , France and Morocco are antipodal to New Zealand. Approximately 15% of land territory is antipodal to other land, representing approximately 4.4% of Earth's surface. Another source estimates that about 3% of Earth's surface is antipodal land. The largest antipodal land masses are
Antipodes - Misplaced Pages Continue
4512-472: Is attested in Plato 's dialogue Timaeus , already referring to a spherical Earth, explaining the relativity of the terms "above" and "below": For if there were any solid body in equipoise at the centre of the universe, there would be nothing to draw it to this extreme rather than to that, for they are all perfectly similar; and if a person were to go round the world in a circle, he would often, when standing at
4653-414: Is concerned with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere , hydrosphere , biosphere , and geosphere . Technical geography is interested in studying and applying techniques and methods to store, process, analyze, visualize, and use spatial data. It is the newest of the branches, the most controversial, and often other terms are used in the literature to describe
4794-479: Is credited to Hipparchus . He employed a sexagesimal system that was derived from Babylonian mathematics . The meridians were subdivided into 360°, with each degree further subdivided into 60 ( minutes ). To measure the longitude at different locations on Earth, he suggested using eclipses to determine the relative difference in time. The extensive mapping by the Romans as they explored new lands would later provide
4935-469: Is impacted by all other locations on Earth. In one of Yi-Fu Tuan 's papers, he explains that in his view, geography is the study of Earth as a home for humanity, and thus place and the complex meaning behind the term is central to the discipline of geography. Time is usually thought to be within the domain of history , however, it is of significant concern in the discipline of geography. In physics, space and time are not separated, and are combined into
5076-456: Is known as a graticule . The origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km (390 mi) south of Tema , Ghana , a location often facetiously called Null Island . In order to use the theoretical definitions of latitude, longitude, and height to precisely measure actual locations on the physical earth, a geodetic datum must be used. A horizonal datum
5217-417: Is not certain what that center was supposed to represent. The ideas of Anaximander (c. 610–545 BC): considered by later Greek writers to be the true founder of geography, come to us through fragments quoted by his successors. Anaximander is credited with the invention of the gnomon , the simple, yet efficient Greek instrument that allowed the early measurement of latitude . Thales is also credited with
5358-438: Is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the Earth's spatial and temporal distribution of phenomena, processes, and features as well as the interaction of humans and their environment . Because space and place affect a variety of topics, such as economics, health, climate , plants, and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary. The interdisciplinary nature of the geographical approach depends on an attentiveness to
5499-535: Is one of the broadest, is consistent with the naming convention of the other two branches, has been in use since the 1700s, and has been used by the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems to divide geography into themes. As academic fields increasingly specialize in their nature, technical geography has emerged as a branch of geography specializing in geographic methods and thought. The emergence of technical geography has brought new relevance to
5640-534: Is partly antipodal to the province of Formosa in Argentina . Capital cities within 200 km (120 mi) of each other's antipodes: Other major cities or capitals close to being antipodes: Gibraltar is approximately antipodal to Te Ārai about 85 km (53 mi) north of Auckland , New Zealand . This illustrates the old yet correct saying that the sun never sets on the British Empire ;
5781-425: Is possible by walking in a circle around one of the poles—but such trips are shorter than a minimum circumnavigation. On the other hand, the greatest straight line distance that could in theory be covered is a trip exactly on the Equator, a distance of 40,075 kilometres (24,901 mi). The Earth's equatorial bulge makes this slightly longer than a north–south trip around the world along a set of meridian lines, which
Antipodes - Misplaced Pages Continue
5922-454: Is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." As spatial interrelationships are key to this synoptic science, maps are a key tool. Classical cartography has been joined by a more modern approach to geographical analysis, computer-based geographic information systems (GIS). In their study, geographers use four interrelated approaches: Quantitative methods in geography became particularly influential in
6063-626: Is replaced by its supplementary angle while E is exchanged for W. For example, the antipode of the point in China at 37° N 119° E (a few hundred kilometres from Beijing ) is the point in Argentina at 37° S 61° W (a few hundred kilometres from Buenos Aires ). The word antipodes comes from the Greek: ἀντίποδες (antípodes), plural of ἀντίπους (antipous), "with feet opposite (ours)", from ἀντί (antí, “opposite”) + πούς ( poús , “foot”). The Greek word
6204-430: Is spherical in shape, with the credit going either to Parmenides or Pythagoras . Anaxagoras was able to demonstrate that the profile of the Earth was circular by explaining eclipses . However, he still believed that the Earth was a flat disk, as did many of his contemporaries. One of the first estimates of the radius of the Earth was made by Eratosthenes . The first rigorous system of latitude and longitude lines
6345-536: Is the study of earth's seasons, climate , atmosphere , soil , streams, landforms, and oceans. Physical geographers will often work in identifying and monitoring the use of natural resources. Human geography (or anthropogeography) is a branch of geography that focuses on studying patterns and processes that shape human society. It encompasses the human, political, cultural , social, and economic aspects. In industry, human geographers often work in city planning, public health, or business analysis. Various approaches to
6486-542: Is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth . Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities —not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science . Geography has been called "a bridge between natural science and social science disciplines." Origins of many of
6627-773: Is too short to accommodate any current (as of 2015) commercial jet airliner, especially one with the required range. Traveling between them would currently need at least two plane changes. Other near-antipodal major city pairs include: The ambiguous airport designation HLA could refer to either Lanseria International Airport ( IATA : HLA , ICAO : FALA , 25°56′S 027°55′E) in South Africa or Huslia Airport ( IATA : HSL , ICAO : PAHL , FAA LID : HLA, 65°42′N 156°21′W) in Alaska. While these airports are not quite antipodal (only 15,581 km (9,682 mi; 8,413 nmi) apart), they are notable considering that they share
6768-465: Is used to precisely measure latitude and longitude, while a vertical datum is used to measure elevation or altitude. Both types of datum bind a mathematical model of the shape of the earth (usually a reference ellipsoid for a horizontal datum, and a more precise geoid for a vertical datum) to the earth. Traditionally, this binding was created by a network of control points , surveyed locations at which monuments are installed, and were only accurate for
6909-715: The Airbus A350 , the ACJ350 , which entered into service in 2020, has a range of 20,550 km (12,770 miles), enabling it to operate between any two available antipodes. As of September 2021, there are three ACJ350s now in service globally. The owner of the first ACJ350, the German Government, has already taken it on a close to antipodal flight with a flight from Cologne, Germany to Canberra, Australia in November 2020. The upcoming Boeing business jet variant,
7050-457: The BBJ 777-8 , will also have an antipodal reach with its published range of 21,570 km (13,403 miles). Both aforementioned variants from Airbus and Boeing are the first aircraft designed to handle flights exceeding the Earth's average antipodal distance of 20,000 km (12,420 miles). Among flights with fuel stop and crew-change stop but still same flight number, Air New Zealand previously had
7191-464: The COVID-19 pandemic . In March 2021, a Comlux 787-8 , registered P4-787, flew a non-scheduled (chartered), non-stop flight from Seoul Incheon to Buenos Aires , which are nearly antipodal points. This set a new record for the longest commercial non-stop flight with paying passengers, covering 19,483 kilometres (10,520 nmi; 12,106 mi) in 20 hours 19 minutes. The business jet variant of
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#17327655175277332-569: The Earth radius was only 16.8 km less than the modern value of 6,356.7 km. In contrast to his predecessors, who measured the Earth's circumference by sighting the Sun simultaneously from two different locations, al-Biruni developed a new method of using trigonometric calculations based on the angle between a plain and mountain top, which yielded more accurate measurements of the Earth's circumference, and made it possible for it to be measured by
7473-481: The International Date Line , which diverges from it in several places for political and convenience reasons, including between far eastern Russia and the far western Aleutian Islands . The combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The visual grid on a map formed by lines of latitude and longitude
7614-772: The Malay Archipelago , antipodal to the Amazon basin and adjoining Andean ranges; east China and Mongolia , and small sections of southeast Russia , antipodal to Argentina and Chile ; and Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago , antipodal to East Antarctica . There is a general paucity of antipodal land because the Southern Hemisphere has comparatively less land than the Northern Hemisphere and, of that,
7755-528: The National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers in 1984. These themes are Location, place, relationships within places (often summarized as Human-Environment Interaction), movement, and regions. The five themes of geography have shaped how American education approaches the topic in the years since. Just as all phenomena exist in time and thus have
7896-755: The Northern Hemisphere , "the Antipodes" may refer to Australia and New Zealand , and Antipodeans to their inhabitants. Geographically, the antipodes of the British Isles are in the Pacific Ocean , south of New Zealand. This gave rise to the name of the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand, which are close to the antipode of London . With the exception of a part of the Perth metropolitan area near Baldivis and Rockingham that
8037-628: The Royal Danish Geographical Society in 1876 and the National Geographic Society in 1888. The influence of Immanuel Kant , Alexander von Humboldt , Carl Ritter , and Paul Vidal de la Blache can be seen as a major turning point in geography from philosophy to an academic subject. Geographers such as Richard Hartshorne and Joseph Kerski have regarded both Humboldt and Ritter as the founders of modern geography, as Humboldt and Ritter were
8178-664: The Spatial or Locational Tradition, the Man-Land or Human-Environment Interaction Tradition (sometimes referred to as Integrated geography ), the Area Studies or Regional Tradition, and the Earth Science Tradition. These concepts are broad sets of geography philosophies bound together within the discipline. They are one of many ways geographers organize the major sets of thoughts and philosophies within
8319-472: The built environment and how humans create, view, manage, and influence space. Physical geography examines the natural environment and how organisms , climate, soil , water, and landforms produce and interact. The difference between these approaches led to the development of integrated geography , which combines physical and human geography and concerns the interactions between the environment and humans. Technical geography involves studying and developing
8460-470: The first law of geography , "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." This law summarizes the first assumption geographers make about the world. The discipline of geography, especially physical geography, and geology have significant overlap. In the past, the two have often shared academic departments at universities, a point that has led to conflict over resources. Both disciplines do seek to understand
8601-607: The interpolation (estimate) of unmeasured points. Geographers are making notable contributions to the method of quantitative techniques. Qualitative methods in geography are descriptive rather than numerical or statistical in nature. They add context to concepts, and explore human concepts like beliefs and perspective that are difficult or impossible to quantify. Human geography is much more likely to employ qualitative methods than physical geography. Increasingly, technical geographers are attempting to employ GIS methods to qualitative datasets. Qualitative cartography employs many of
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#17327655175278742-452: The lithosphere , atmosphere , hydrosphere , and biosphere . Places do not exist in a vacuum and instead have complex spatial relationships with each other, and place is concerned how a location is situated in relation to all other locations. As a discipline then, the term place in geography includes all spatial phenomena occurring at a location, the diverse uses and meanings humans ascribe to that location, and how that location impacts and
8883-506: The quantitative revolution , and critical geography . The strong interdisciplinary links between geography and the sciences of geology and botany , as well as economics, sociology, and demographics , have also grown greatly, especially as a result of earth system science that seeks to understand the world in a holistic view. New concepts and philosophies have emerged from the rapid advancement of computers, quantitative methods, and interdisciplinary approaches. In 1970, Waldo Tobler proposed
9024-546: The rocks on the Earth's surface and the processes that change them over time. Geology employs many of the tools and techniques of technical geographers, such as GIS and remote sensing to aid in geological mapping . However, geology includes research that goes beyond the spatial component, such as the chemical analysis of rocks and biogeochemistry . The discipline of History has significant overlap with geography, especially human geography. Like geology, history and geography have shared university departments. Geography provides
9165-461: The "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad . Suhrāb, a late tenth century Muslim geographer accompanied a book of geographical coordinates, with instructions for making a rectangular world map with equirectangular projection or cylindrical equidistant projection. Abu Rayhan Biruni (976–1048) first described a polar equi- azimuthal equidistant projection of the celestial sphere . He
9306-552: The 15th century and "St. Augustine doubts" was a response to Columbus's proposal to sail westwards to the Indies. The author of the Norwegian book Konungs Skuggsjá , from around 1250, discusses the existence of antipodes. He notes that (if they exist) they will see the sun in the north in the middle of the day and that they will have seasons opposite those of the Northern Hemisphere. Herodotus recorded that Pharaoh Necho II of
9447-507: The 16,013 km (9950 miles) from New York and 17,016 km (10,573 miles) from London, both to Sydney, Australia with a limit of 49 passengers on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and who underwent medical tests on the flight. The London-Sydney direct routes are said to be the world's most profitable ultra-long haul flights annually. Their plans for the same pair of experiments were quickly put on hold due to global travel restrictions throughout
9588-662: The 17th century advanced ideas and methods of Western-style geography were adopted in China. During the Middle Ages , the fall of the Roman empire led to a shift in the evolution of geography from Europe to the Islamic world . Muslim geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi produced detailed world maps (such as Tabula Rogeriana ), while other geographers such as Yaqut al-Hamawi , Abu Rayhan Biruni , Ibn Battuta , and Ibn Khaldun provided detailed accounts of their journeys and
9729-526: The 1st or 2nd century, Marinus of Tyre compiled an extensive gazetteer and mathematically plotted world map using coordinates measured east from a prime meridian at the westernmost known land, designated the Fortunate Isles , off the coast of western Africa around the Canary or Cape Verde Islands , and measured north or south of the island of Rhodes off Asia Minor . Ptolemy credited him with
9870-529: The 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC) commissioned an expedition of Phoenicians which in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile, and that " as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya (Africa), they had the sun on their right "— to northward of them, proving that they had been in the Southern Hemisphere. The earliest surviving account by a European who had visited
10011-606: The Antipodes, discovered for the King of Castile by Christopher Columbus of Genoa). In spite of having been discovered relatively late by European explorers, Australia was inhabited very early in human history; the ancestors of the Indigenous Australians reached it at least 50,000 years ago. To make the longest distance trip around the planet, a traveler would have to pass through a set of antipodal points. All meridians can be crossed in one hemisphere—indeed, this
10152-470: The Earth for automatic retrieval by a computer in an accurate manner appropriate to the information's purpose. In addition to all of the other subdisciplines of geography, GIS specialists must understand computer science and database systems. GIS has revolutionized the field of cartography: nearly all mapmaking is now done with the assistance of some form of GIS software . The science of using GIS software and GIS techniques to represent, analyse, and predict
10293-456: The Earth is approximated as a perfect sphere or as a reference ellipsoid . In terms of the usual way these geographic coordinates are given, this transformation can be expressed symbolically as that is, for the latitude (the north–south coordinate) the magnitude of the angle remains the same but N is changed to S and vice versa, and for the longitude (the East/West coordinate) the angle
10434-493: The Earth most effectively and behavioural psychology to induce the readers of their maps to act on the information. They must learn geodesy and fairly advanced mathematics to understand how the shape of the Earth affects the distortion of map symbols projected onto a flat surface for viewing. It can be said, without much controversy, that cartography is the seed from which the larger field of geography grew. Geographic information systems (GIS) deal with storing information about
10575-529: The Earth's land surface , ocean, and atmosphere, because it: (a) supplies objective information at a variety of spatial scales (local to global), (b) provides a synoptic view of the area of interest, (c) allows access to distant and inaccessible sites, (d) provides spectral information outside the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum , and (e) facilitates studies of how features/areas change over time. Remotely sensed data may be analyzed independently or in conjunction with other digital data layers (e.g., in
10716-474: The Earth's land surfaces have ocean at their antipodes; this is a natural consequence of most of the Earth's surface being covered in water. The antipode of any place on Earth is distant from it by 180° of longitude and as many degrees to the north of the Equator as the original is to the south (or vice versa); in other words, the latitudes are numerically equal, but one is north and the other south. The maps shown here are based on this relationship; they show
10857-457: The Earth's surface move relative to each other due to continental plate motion, subsidence, and diurnal Earth tidal movement caused by the Moon and the Sun. This daily movement can be as much as a meter. Continental movement can be up to 10 cm a year, or 10 m in a century. A weather system high-pressure area can cause a sinking of 5 mm . Scandinavia is rising by 1 cm a year as a result of
10998-424: The Earth's surface, the activity and use that occurs, has occurred, and will occur at the coordinates, and the meaning ascribed to the space by human individuals and groups. This can be extraordinarily complex, as different spaces may have different uses at different times and mean different things to different people. In physical geography, a place includes all of the physical phenomena that occur in space, including
11139-729: The European ED50 , and the British OSGB36 . Given a location, the datum provides the latitude ϕ {\displaystyle \phi } and longitude λ {\displaystyle \lambda } . In the United Kingdom there are three common latitude, longitude, and height systems in use. WGS 84 differs at Greenwich from the one used on published maps OSGB36 by approximately 112 m. The military system ED50 , used by NATO , differs from about 120 m to 180 m. Points on
11280-536: The French Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière —continue to use other meridians for internal purposes. The prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres , although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E. This is not to be conflated with
11421-543: The Latinate antipus would have been closer to the original singular. Most dictionaries suggest a pronunciation of / ˈ æ n t ɪ ˌ p oʊ d / for this form. Pomponius Mela , the first Roman geographer, asserted that the earth had two habitable zones, a North and South one, but that it would be impossible to get into contact with each other because of the unbearable heat at the Equator ( De orbis situ 1.4). Third-century AD Christian philospher Augustine of Hippo
11562-569: The Southern Hemisphere is that of Marco Polo (who, on his way home in 1292, sailed south of the Malay Peninsula ). He noted that it was impossible to see the star Polaris from there. The idea of dry land in the southern climes, the Terra Australis , was introduced by Ptolemy and appears on European maps as an imaginary continent from the 15th century. Antipodes was what Giovanni Contarini , on his world map of 1506 called
11703-542: The antipodes of Australia are in the North Atlantic Ocean , while the antipodes of southern Africa are in the North Pacific Ocean . Since the antipode of any place on the Earth is the place that is diametrically opposite of it, a line drawn from one to the other will pass through the centre of Earth and form a true diameter . For example, the antipodes of New Zealand's lower North Island lie in Spain. Most of
11844-516: The antipodes of his former position, speak of the same point as above and below; for, as I was saying just now, to speak of the whole which is in the form of a globe as having one part above and another below is not like a sensible man. The term is taken up by Aristotle ( De caelo 308a.20), Strabo ( Geographica 1.1.13), Plutarch ( On the Malice of Herodotus 37) and Diogenes Laërtius ( Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers book 3), and
11985-507: The art, science, and technology of making maps. Cartographers study the Earth's surface representation with abstract symbols (map making). Although other subdisciplines of geography rely on maps for presenting their analyses, the actual making of maps is abstract enough to be regarded separately. Cartography has grown from a collection of drafting techniques into an actual science. Cartographers must learn cognitive psychology and ergonomics to understand which symbols convey information about
12126-458: The book expanded on these key concepts by adding "Environmental systems," "Social Systems," "Nature," " Globalization ," "Development," and "Risk," demonstrating how challenging narrowing the field can be. Another approach used extensively in teaching geography are the Five themes of geography established by "Guidelines for Geographic Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools," published jointly by
12267-406: The broad discipline of geography by serving as a set of unique methods for managing the interdisciplinary nature of the phenomena under investigation. While human and physical geographers use the techniques employed by technical geographers, technical geography is more concerned with the fundamental spatial concepts and technologies than the nature of the data. It is therefore closely associated with
12408-522: The center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels , as they are parallel to the Equator and to each other. The North Pole is 90° N; the South Pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the Equator , the fundamental plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The Equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres . The longitude λ of
12549-438: The concept of spacetime . Geography is subject to the laws of physics, and in studying things that occur in space, time must be considered. Time in geography is more than just the historical record of events that occurred at various discrete coordinates; but also includes modeling the dynamic movement of people, organisms, and things through space. Time facilitates movement through space, ultimately allowing things to flow through
12690-424: The concepts in geography can be traced to Greek Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who may have coined the term "geographia" ( c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC ). The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as the title of a book by Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy (100 – 170 AD). This work created the so-called "Ptolemaic tradition" of geography, which included "Ptolemaic cartographic theory." However,
12831-468: The concepts of geography (such as cartography ) date back to the earliest attempts to understand the world spatially, with the earliest example of an attempted world map dating to the 9th century BCE in ancient Babylon . The history of geography as a discipline spans cultures and millennia, being independently developed by multiple groups, and cross-pollinated by trade between these groups. The core concepts of geography consistent between all approaches are
12972-405: The context of a map is the ratio between a distance measured on the map and the corresponding distance as measured on the ground. This concept is fundamental to the discipline of geography, not just cartography, in that phenomena being investigated appear different depending on the scale used. Scale is the frame that geographers use to measure space, and ultimately to understand a place. During
13113-649: The default datum used for the Global Positioning System , and the International Terrestrial Reference System and Frame (ITRF), used for estimating continental drift and crustal deformation . The distance to Earth's center can be used both for very deep positions and for positions in space. Local datums chosen by a national cartographical organization include the North American Datum ,
13254-452: The different historical approach theories geographers have taken to the discipline. In contrast, geography's branches describe contemporary applied geographical approaches. Geography is an extremely broad field. Because of this, many view the various definitions of geography proposed over the decades as inadequate. To address this, William D. Pattison proposed the concept of the "Four traditions of Geography" in 1964. These traditions are
13395-542: The diplomatist Peter Martyr who, in a letter he wrote from Barcelona dated 14 May 1493, said: "A few days since, a certain Christopher Columbus, a Ligurian, returned from the Western Antipodes". Perhaps influenced by this, Fernão Vaz Dourado in his Atlas of 1571 inscribed over the map of Mexico and adjacent parts of America, Tera Antipodum regis Castelle inventa a Xforo Columbo Januensi (Land of
13536-399: The discipline during the quantitative revolution of the 1950s and 60s. These methods revitalized the discipline in many ways, allowing scientific testing of hypotheses and proposing scientific geographic theories and laws. The quantitative revolution heavily influenced and revitalized technical geography, and lead to the development of the subfield of quantitative geography. Cartography is
13677-514: The discipline into a section containing content such as cartographic techniques and globes. There are several other terms, often used interchangeably with technical geography to subdivide the discipline, including "techniques of geographic analysis," "Geographic Information Technology," "Geography method's and techniques," " Geographic Information Science ," " geoinformatics ," " geomatics ," and "information geography". There are subtle differences to each concept and term; however, technical geography
13818-518: The discipline of geography is normally concerned with the Earth, the term can also be informally used to describe the study of other worlds, such as the planets of the Solar System and even beyond. The study of systems larger than the Earth itself usually forms part of Astronomy or Cosmology . The study of other planets is usually called planetary science . Alternative terms such as areography (geography of Mars) have been employed to describe
13959-552: The discipline. In another approach to the abovementioned four traditions, geography is organized into applied branches. The UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems organizes geography into the three categories of human geography , physical geography , and technical geography . Some publications limit the number of branches to physical and human, describing them as the principal branches. Geographers rarely focus on just one of these topics, often using one as their primary focus and then incorporating data and methods from
14100-490: The distance they give is correct within a centimeter.) The formulae both return units of meters per degree. An alternative method to estimate the length of a longitudinal degree at latitude ϕ {\displaystyle \phi } is to assume a spherical Earth (to get the width per minute and second, divide by 60 and 3600, respectively): where Earth's average meridional radius M r {\displaystyle \textstyle {M_{r}}\,\!}
14241-680: The earth's land has an antipode on land. Rough calculation shows that, of the 29% of the earth that is covered by land, if 15% of that has antipodes on land, then about 4% (0.15 × 29% = 4.35%) of the earth's surface has antipodes that are both land surfaces. Spilhaus estimates this at about 3%. The two largest human-inhabited antipodal areas are located in East Asia (mainly eastern China) and South America (mainly Argentina and Chile). The two largest monolithic antipodal land areas are most of Chile and Argentina along with eastern and central China and Mongolia, and most of Greenland along with
14382-407: The emerging category. These branches use similar geographic philosophies, concepts, and tools and often overlap significantly. Physical geography (or physiography) focuses on geography as an Earth science . It aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of lithosphere , hydrosphere , atmosphere , pedosphere , and global flora and fauna patterns ( biosphere ). Physical geography
14523-518: The first to establish geography as an independent scientific discipline. Over the past two centuries, the advancements in technology with computers have led to the development of geomatics and new practices such as participant observation and geostatistics being incorporated into geography's portfolio of tools. In the West during the 20th century, the discipline of geography went through four major phases: environmental determinism , regional geography ,
14664-474: The full adoption of longitude and latitude, rather than measuring latitude in terms of the length of the midsummer day. Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography used the same prime meridian but measured latitude from the Equator instead. After their work was translated into Arabic in the 9th century, Al-Khwārizmī 's Book of the Description of the Earth corrected Marinus' and Ptolemy's errors regarding
14805-504: The geography of the regions they visited. Turkish geographer Mahmud al-Kashgari drew a world map on a linguistic basis, and later so did Piri Reis ( Piri Reis map ). Further, Islamic scholars translated and interpreted the earlier works of the Romans and the Greeks and established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad for this purpose. Abū Zayd al-Balkhī , originally from Balkh , founded
14946-449: The heights of mountains, depths of the valleys , and expanse of the horizon . He also discussed human geography and the planetary habitability of the Earth. He also calculated the latitude of Kath, Khwarezm , using the maximum altitude of the Sun, and solved a complex geodesic equation to accurately compute the Earth's circumference , which was close to modern values of the Earth's circumference. His estimate of 6,339.9 km for
15087-600: The history of the discipline is a series of competing narratives, with concepts emerging at various points across space and time. The oldest known world maps date back to ancient Babylon from the 9th century BC. The best known Babylonian world map, however, is the Imago Mundi of 600 BC. The map as reconstructed by Eckhard Unger shows Babylon on the Euphrates , surrounded by a circular landmass showing Assyria , Urartu , and several cities, in turn surrounded by
15228-587: The land later named America by Martin Waldseemüller . When the land discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral in April 1500, Brazil , was formally named Santa Cruz by the assembled Portuguese court on 20 May 1503, it was also referred to in the official record of the proceedings as the “Land of the Antipodes”: terra Antipodum . The land reached by Columbus in 1492 was identified as that of the Antipodes by
15369-817: The largest island of the Philippines , is antipodal to eastern Bolivia . Santa Vitória do Palmar , the most southerly town of more than 10,000 people in Brazil , is antipodal to Jeju Island , the southernmost territory of South Korea . Hawaii is antipodal to parts of Botswana . The Big Island of Hawaii is antipodal to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, with the island's largest city, Hilo , antipodal to Nxai Pan National Park . Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία geōgraphía ; combining gê 'Earth' and gráphō 'write')
15510-402: The laws of nature and to mark their influences upon man. This is 'a description of the world'—that is Geography. In a word, Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause and effect. Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into three main branches: human geography , physical geography , and technical geography . Human geography largely focuses on
15651-728: The length of the Mediterranean Sea , causing medieval Arabic cartography to use a prime meridian around 10° east of Ptolemy's line. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes ' recovery of Ptolemy's text a little before 1300; the text was translated into Latin at Florence by Jacopo d'Angelo around 1407. In 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference , attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt
15792-461: The location has moved, but because the reference system used to measure it has shifted. Because any spatial reference system or map projection is ultimately calculated from latitude and longitude, it is crucial that they clearly state the datum on which they are based. For example, a UTM coordinate based on WGS84 will be different than a UTM coordinate based on NAD27 for the same location. Converting coordinates from one datum to another requires
15933-595: The longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich , England as the zero-reference line. The Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911. The latitude ϕ of a point on Earth's surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through (or close to)
16074-463: The melting of the ice sheets of the last ice age , but neighboring Scotland is rising by only 0.2 cm . These changes are insignificant if a local datum is used, but are statistically significant if a global datum is used. On the GRS 80 or WGS 84 spheroid at sea level at the Equator, one latitudinal second measures 30.715 m , one latitudinal minute is 1843 m and one latitudinal degree
16215-466: The opposite side of the Earth), as well as to a geographical place: Apart from these three parts of the world, there exists a fourth part beyond the interior Ocean; it is in the south and is unknown to us because of the burning heat of the Sun; within its borders the fabled Antipodeans are reputed to dwell. In using the form antipodas rather than the more usual Latin antipodes Isidore simply transcribed
16356-505: The original Greek αντίποδας, the singular case of the name: the plural case is αντίποδες (antipodes), used in converting the name into Latin. These people came to play a role in medieval discussions about the shape of the Earth . In 748, in reply to a letter from Boniface , Pope Zachary declared the belief "that beneath the earth there was another world and other men, another sun and moon" to be heretical. In his letter, Boniface had apparently maintained that Vergilius of Salzburg held such
16497-414: The other branches. Often, geographers are asked to describe what they do by individuals outside the discipline and are likely to identify closely with a specific branch, or sub-branch when describing themselves to lay people. Human geography studies people and their communities, cultures, economies, and environmental interactions by studying their relations with and across space and place. Physical geography
16638-402: The prediction of eclipses. The foundations of geography can be traced to ancient cultures, such as the ancient, medieval, and early modern Chinese . The Greeks , who were the first to explore geography as both art and science, achieved this through Cartography , Philosophy , and Literature , or through Mathematics . There is some debate about who was the first person to assert that the Earth
16779-457: The quantitative revolution, geography shifted to an empirical law-making ( nomothetic ) approach. Several laws of geography have been proposed since then, most notably by Waldo Tobler and can be viewed as a product of the quantitative revolution. In general, some dispute the entire concept of laws in geography and the social sciences. These criticisms have been addressed by Tobler and others, such as Michael Frank Goodchild . However, this
16920-473: The relationship between physical and human phenomena and their spatial patterns. Names of places...are not geography...To know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the political world, in so far as it treats of the latter), to compare, to generalize, to ascend from effects to causes, and, in doing so, to trace out
17061-401: The same designation. Automated systems that select the wrong airport from a database could lead to navigation errors or large outliers in data analysis. Around 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans , and seven-eighths of the Earth's land (when excluding Antarctica) is confined to the land hemisphere , so the majority of locations on land do not have land-based antipodes. About 15% of
17202-438: The same software and techniques as quantitative cartography. It may be employed to inform on map practices, or to visualize perspectives and ideas that are not strictly quantitative in nature. An example of a form of qualitative cartography is a Chorochromatic map of nominal data, such as land cover or dominant language group in an area. Another example is a deep map , or maps that combine geography and storytelling to produce
17343-533: The second and replaced with another. A few of the proposed laws of geography are below: Additionally, several variations or amendments to these laws exist within the literature, although not as well supported. For example, one paper proposed an amended version of Tobler's first law of geography, referred to in the text as the Tobler–von Thünen law , which states: "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things, as
17484-408: The shortest day at the other, and midwinter at one point coincides with midsummer at the other. Sunrise and sunset do not quite oppose each other at antipodes due to refraction of sunlight. If the geographic coordinates ( latitude and longitude ) of a point on the Earth's surface are ( φ , θ ), then the coordinates of the antipodal point are (− φ , θ ± 180°). This relation holds true whether
17625-445: The spatial context within which historical events unfold. The physical geographic features of a region, such as its landforms, climate, and resources, shape human settlements, trade routes, and economic activities, which in turn influence the course of historical events. Thus, a historian must have a strong foundation in geography. Historians employ the techniques of technical geographers to create historical atlases and maps. While
17766-675: The spatial relationships is called geographic information science (GISc). Remote sensing is the art, science, and technology of obtaining information about Earth's features from measurements made at a distance. Remotely sensed data can be either passive, such as traditional photography , or active, such as LiDAR . A variety of platforms can be used for remote sensing, including satellite imagery , aerial photography (including consumer drones), and data obtained from hand-held sensors. Products from remote sensing include Digital elevation model and cartographic base maps. Geographers increasingly use remotely sensed data to obtain information about
17907-538: The spatial tradition of geography while being applied to the other two major branches. A technical geographer might work as a GIS analyst, a GIS developer working to make new software tools, or create general reference maps incorporating human and natural features. All geographic research and analysis start with asking the question "where," followed by "why there." Geographers start with the fundamental assumption set forth in Tobler's first law of geography , that "everything
18048-403: The study of human geography have also arisen through time and include: Technical geography concerns studying and developing tools, techniques, and statistical methods employed to collect, analyze, use, and understand spatial data. Technical geography is the most recently recognized, and controversial, of the branches. Its use dates back to 1749, when a book published by Edward Cave organized
18189-400: The study of other celestial objects. Ultimately, geography may be considered a subdiscipline within planetary science. Geographic coordinate A geographic coordinate system ( GCS ) is a spherical or geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on Earth as latitude and longitude . It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of
18330-608: The sun still does not set on the Commonwealth of Nations . The northern part of New Caledonia , an overseas territory of France, is antipodal to some thinly populated desert in Mauritania , a part of the former French West Africa . Portions of Suriname , a former Dutch colony, are antipodal to Sulawesi , an Indonesian island spelled Celebes when it was part of the Netherlands East Indies . Luzon ,
18471-572: The times when geography became recognized as a discrete academic discipline , and became part of a typical university curriculum in Europe (especially Paris and Berlin ). The development of many geographic societies also occurred during the 19th century, with the foundations of the Société de Géographie in 1821, the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, Russian Geographical Society in 1845, American Geographical Society in 1851,
18612-494: The tools and techniques used by geographers, such as remote sensing, cartography, and geographic information system. Narrowing down geography to a few key concepts is extremely challenging, and subject to tremendous debate within the discipline. In one attempt, the 1st edition of the book "Key Concepts in Geography" broke down this into chapters focusing on "Space," "Place," "Time," "Scale," and "Landscape." The 2nd edition of
18753-494: The torrid clime was considered impassable, it would have been impossible to evangelize them. This posed the problem that Christ told the apostles to evangelize all mankind; with regard to the unreachable antipodes, this would have been impossible. Christ would either have appeared a second time, in the antipodes, or left the damned irredeemable. Such an argument was forwarded by the Spanish theologian Alonso Tostado as late as
18894-461: The various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate tuple like a cartesian coordinate system , the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface. A full GCS specification, such as those listed in the EPSG and ISO 19111 standards, also includes
19035-401: The view of the world as a photograph, with everything frozen in place when the coordinates were recorded. Today, geographers are trained to recognize the world as a dynamic space where all processes interact and take place, rather than a static image on a map. Place is one of the most complex and important terms in geography. In human geography, place is the synthesis of the coordinates on
19176-528: The world's longest active plane route—the Auckland – Los Angeles – London marathon, at 19,240 km (11,960 mi) over Los Angeles (directly 18,360 km or 11,410 mi)—until the airline cancelled this route late in 2019. The current record holder for such a flight is co-owned by Qantas and British Airways in their operating of the Kangaroo Route 's Sydney—Singapore—London flights covering
19317-437: Was adopted into Latin as antipodes . The Latin word changed its sense from the original "under the feet, opposite side" to "those with the feet opposite", i.e. a bahuvrihi referring to hypothetical people living on the opposite side of the Earth. Medieval illustrations imagine them in some way "inverted", with their feet growing out of their heads, pointing upward. In this sense, Antipodes first entered English in 1398 in
19458-471: Was finding the latitude and longitude of a geographic location. While the problem of latitude was solved long ago, but that of longitude remained; agreeing on what zero meridians should be was only part of the problem. It was left to John Harrison to solve it by inventing the chronometer H-4 in 1760, and later in 1884 for the International Meridian Conference to adopt by convention the Greenwich meridian as zero meridians. The 18th and 19th centuries were
19599-551: Was published by Bernhardus Varenius , which was later edited and republished by others including Isaac Newton . This textbook sought to integrate new scientific discoveries and principles into classical geography and approach the discipline like the other sciences emerging, and is seen by some as the division between ancient and modern geography in the West. The Geographia Generalis contained both theoretical background and practical applications related to ship navigation. The remaining problem facing both explorers and geographers
19740-523: Was regarded as the most skilled when it came to mapping cities and measuring the distances between them, which he did for many cities in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent . He often combined astronomical readings and mathematical equations to develop methods of pin-pointing locations by recording degrees of latitude and longitude . He also developed similar techniques when it came to measuring
19881-510: Was skeptical of the notion. Augustine asserted that "it is too absurd to say that some men might have set sail from this side and, traversing the immense expanse of ocean, have propagated there a race of human beings descended from that one first man." In the Early Middle Ages , Isidore of Seville 's widely read encyclopedia presented the term "antipodes" or, as he said "antipodas" as referring to antichthones (people who lived on
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