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120-408: In geography , the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth . These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year and more distinct seasonal changes compared to tropical climates , where such variations are often small; they usually differ only in

240-474: 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

360-402: 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

480-424: A distinct four-season pattern, especially in the continental climate sector. Oceanic climates are created by the on-shore flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have mild summers and cool (but not cold) winters, and relative humidity and precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year. These climates are frequently cloudy and cool, and winters are milder than those in

600-472: A dry summer and wet winter. This climate occurs mostly at the western edges and coasts of the continents and are bounded by arid deserts on their equatorward sides that brings dry winds causing the dry season of summer, and oceanic climates to the poleward sides that are influenced by cool ocean currents and air masses that bring the rainfall of winter. The five main Mediterranean regions of the world are

720-806: A few highland areas of Tasmania , the Australian Alps and Southern Alps of New Zealand . This type of climate is even found in tropical areas such as the Papuan Highlands in Indonesia. Cfc is the categorization for this regime. Even in the middle of summer, temperatures exceeding 20°C (68 °F) are exceptional weather events in the most maritime of those locations impacted by this regime. In some parts of this climate, temperatures as high as 30°C (86°F) have been recorded on rare occasions, while temperatures as low as −15 °C (5 °F) have still been recorded on rare occasions. A cold variant of

840-418: 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

960-610: 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

1080-493: 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

1200-420: A huge impact on the productivity of agriculture which is less common. Temperate regions have the majority of the world's population, which leads to large cities . There are a couple of factors why the climate of large city landscapes differs from the climate of rural areas. One factor is the strength of the absorption rate of buildings and asphalt, which is higher than that of natural land. The other large factor

1320-565: 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

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1440-479: 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

1560-434: 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

1680-469: A summer accent on rainfall. Regions with humid continental climates include southeastern Canada, the upper portions of the eastern United States , portions of eastern Europe , parts of China , Japan and the Korean Peninsula . These are temperate climates that compared to the subtropics are on the poleward edge of the temperate zone. Therefore, they still have four marked seasons including

1800-439: 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

1920-434: A temperate region is found in southern Africa , where some 24,000 taxa (species and infraspecific taxa) have been described. Farming is a large-scale practice in the temperate regions (except for boreal/subarctic regions) due to the plentiful rainfall and warm summers, because most agricultural activity occurs in the spring and summer, cold winters have a small effect on agricultural production. Extreme winters or summers have

2040-417: 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

2160-645: A warmer one, but are far more influenced by the polar zones than any other but the very polar climates ( tundra and ice cap climate ). Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to polar regions. As a result of their location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or continental climates , featuring milder winters than these climates but still with similar summers. This variant of an oceanic climate

2280-407: Is an even sharper wet-dry season, called a monsoon subtropical climate or subtropical monsoon (Cwa). In these regions, winters are quite chilly and dry and summers have very heavy rainfall. Some Cwa areas in southern China report more than 80% of annual precipitation in the five warmest months (southwest monsoon). Mediterranean climates have the opposite rainfall pattern to dry-winter climates, with

2400-750: 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

2520-436: 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

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2640-414: 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

2760-479: 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

2880-626: Is found in parts of coastal Iceland , the Faroe Islands , parts of Scotland , northwestern coastal areas of Norway such as Lofoten and reaching to 70° north on some islands, uplands near the coast of southwestern Norway, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and northern parts of the Alaskan Panhandle , some parts of Southern Argentina and Chile (though most regions are still classified as continental subantarctic), and

3000-469: 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

3120-430: Is normally located along leeward lower east coasts of continents such as in southeast and central Argentina , Uruguay and south of Brazil , the southeast portions of East Asia , southern and portions of the northeast and midwestern United States and portions of, South Africa , Ethiopia , and eastern Australia . In some areas with a humid subtropical climate (most notably southeast China and North India ), there

3240-417: 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

3360-490: 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

3480-535: 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

3600-454: 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

3720-448: 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 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

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3840-430: 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

3960-583: Is the burning of fossil fuels from buildings and vehicles. These factors have led to the average climate of cities to be warmer than surrounding areas . Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία geōgraphía ; combining gê 'Earth' and gráphō 'write') 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

4080-588: Is the largest of the world's five Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub regions. It is home to a number of plant communities, which vary with rainfall, elevation, latitude, and soil. The Mediterranean basin is home to considerable biodiversity , including 22,500 endemic vascular plant species . Conservation International designates the region as a biodiversity hotspot , because of its rich biodiversity and its threatened status. The Mediterranean basin has an area of 2,085,292 km , of which only 98,009 km remains undisturbed. Endangered mammals of

4200-644: Is the only plant family endemic to the region. Among the endemic plant genera are: The genera Aubrieta , Sesamoides , Cynara , Dracunculus , Arisarum and Biarum are nearly endemic. Among the endemic species prominent in the Mediterranean vegetation are the Aleppo pine , stone pine , Mediterranean cypress , bay laurel , Oriental sweetgum , holm oak , kermes oak , strawberry tree , Greek strawberry tree , mastic , terebinth , common myrtle , oleander , Acanthus mollis and Vitex agnus-castus . Moreover, many plant taxa are shared with one of

4320-536: 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

4440-624: Is unlikely from a geodynamic point of view. The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the Mediterranean basin's climate. Fossil evidence shows that the Mediterranean basin had a relatively humid subtropical climate with summer rainfall during the Miocene, which supported laurel forests . The shift to a Mediterranean climate occurred within the last 3.2–2.8 million years, during the Pliocene epoch, as summer rainfall decreased. The subtropical laurel forests retreated, although they persisted on

4560-566: The Alpine orogeny , occurred mostly during the Oligocene (34 to 23 million years ago ( mya )) and Miocene (23 to 5.3 mya) epochs. The Neotethys became larger during these collisions and associated folding and subduction. About 6 mya during the late Miocene, the Mediterranean was closed at its western end by drifting Africa, which caused the entire sea to evaporate. There followed several (debated) episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as

4680-692: The Canary Islands while others include the whole Macaronesia (with the Azores and Cape Verde ). In Western Asia, it covers the western and southern portions of the peninsula of Anatolia, as far as Iraq , but excluding the temperate-climate mountains of central Turkey. It includes the Mediterranean Levant at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, bounded on the east and south by the Syrian and Negev deserts. The northern portion of

4800-638: The Dinaric Alps along the eastern Adriatic , and the Balkan and Rila - Rhodope mountains of the Balkan Peninsula divide the Mediterranean from the temperate climate regions of Western , Northwestern or Northern Europe , Central Europe , and Eastern Europe . The Mediterranean basin was shaped by the ancient collision of the northward-moving African–Arabian continent with the stable Eurasian continent. As Africa–Arabia moved north, it closed

4920-569: 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

Temperate climate - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-451: The Köppen climate classification . In contrast to oceanic climates, they are created by large land masses and seasonal changes in wind direction. This causes humid continental climates to have severe temperatures for the season compared to other temperate climates, meaning a hot summer and cold winter. Precipitation may be evenly distributed throughout the year, while in some locations there is

5160-689: The Maghreb region of northwestern Africa has a Mediterranean climate, separated from the Sahara Desert , which extends across North Africa , by the Atlas Mountains . In the eastern Mediterranean the Sahara extends to the southern shore of the Mediterranean, with the exception of the northern fringe of the peninsula of Cyrenaica in Libya , which has a dry Mediterranean climate. Europe lies to

5280-702: The Mediterranean Basin in North Africa , Southern Europe , and West Asia , coastal California in the United States , the South and West states of Australia , the Western Cape of South Africa and the south and southwestern coast of Chile . Subtropical highland climates are climate variants often grouped together with oceanic climates found in some mountainous areas of either

5400-661: The Mediterranean floristic region , which belongs to the Tethyan Subkingdom of the Boreal Kingdom and is enclosed between the Circumboreal , Irano-Turanian , Saharo-Arabian and Macaronesian floristic regions . The Mediterranean region was first proposed by German botanist August Grisebach in the late 19th century. The monotypic Drosophyllaceae , recently segregated from Droseraceae ,

5520-546: The Messinian Salinity Crisis , which ended when the Atlantic last re-flooded the basin at the end of the Miocene. Recent research has suggested that a desiccation-flooding cycle may have repeated several times during the last 630,000 years of the Miocene epoch, which could explain several events of large amounts of salt deposition. Recent studies, however, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding

5640-528: 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

5760-628: 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

5880-638: The Sahara , which became a grassland , with lakes, rivers, and wetlands. After a period of climatic instability, the Sahara settled into a desert state by the 4th millennium BCE . One of the earliest modern studies of the Mediterranean was Fernand Braudel 's La Méditerranéee et le monde méditerranéen à l époque de Philippe II (The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II), published in 1949. S.D. Goitein 's multivolume study of

6000-664: 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

6120-606: The Tropic of Cancer (approximately 23.5° north latitude) to the Arctic Circle (approximately 66.5° north latitude). The south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn (approximately 23.5° south latitude) to the Antarctic Circle (at approximately 66.5° south latitude). In some climate classifications, the temperate zone may be divided into several smaller climate zones, based on monthly temperatures,

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6240-615: The Wisconsin glaciation ( Würm in Southern European contexts), reached its maximum extent approximately 21,000 years ago, and ended approximately 12,000 years ago. A warm period, known as the Holocene climatic optimum , followed the ice age. Food crops, including wheat , chickpeas , and olives , along with sheep and goats , were domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean in the 9th millennium BCE , which allowed for

6360-472: 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

6480-426: The establishment of agricultural settlements . Near Eastern crops spread to southeastern Europe in the 7th millennium BCE . Poppy and oats were domesticated in Europe from the 6th to the 3rd millennium BCE. Agricultural settlements spread around the Mediterranean basin. Megaliths were constructed in Europe from 4500 – 1500 BCE. A strengthening of the summer monsoon 9000–7000 years ago increased rainfall across

6600-470: 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

6720-607: 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

6840-452: 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

6960-506: 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

7080-546: 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

7200-461: 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

7320-714: 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

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7440-473: 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 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

7560-512: The Cwb classification have significant monsoon influence, usually having dry winters and wet summers. These climates occur in the middle latitudes, between approximately 35° and 66.5° north and south of the equator. There is an equal climatic influence from both the polar and tropical zones in this climate region. Two types of climates are in this zone, a milder oceanic one and more severe seasonal continental one. Most prototypical temperate climates have

7680-470: 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

7800-493: 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

7920-529: 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

8040-424: 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

8160-701: The Mediterranean basin include the Mediterranean monk seal , the Barbary macaque , and the Iberian lynx . The WWF identifies 22 Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions in the Mediterranean basin, most of which featuring sclerophyll plant species: Neanderthals inhabited western Asia and the non-glaciated portions of Europe starting about 230,000 years ago. Modern humans moved into western Asia from Africa less than 100,000 years ago. Modern humans, known as Cro-Magnons , moved into Europe approximately 50–40,000 years ago. The most recent glacial period,

8280-408: The Mediterranean basin includes regions not in the drainage basin ( Portugal , Jordan and Iraq ). It has a varied and contrasting topography. The Mediterranean region offers an ever-changing landscape of high mountains, rocky shores, impenetrable scrub, semi-arid steppes, coastal wetlands, sandy beaches and a myriad of islands of various shapes and sizes dotted amidst the clear blue sea. Contrary to

8400-436: The amount of precipitation . In temperate climates, not only do latitudinal positions influence temperature changes, but various sea currents, prevailing wind direction, continentality (how large a landmass is) and altitude also shape temperate climates. The Köppen climate classification defines a climate as "temperate" C , when the mean temperature is above −3 °C (26.6 °F) but below 18 °C (64.4 °F) in

8520-507: 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

8640-458: 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

8760-406: 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

8880-408: 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

9000-463: The classic sandy beach images portrayed in most tourist brochures, the Mediterranean is surprisingly hilly. Mountains can be seen from almost anywhere. By definition, the Mediterranean basin extends from Macaronesia in the west, to the Levant in the east, although some places may or may not be included depending on the view, as is the case with Macaronesia: some definitions only include Madeira and

9120-405: The coldest month to account for the persistence of frost. However, some adaptations of Köppen set the minimum at 0 °C (32.0 °F). Continental climates are classified as D and considered to be varieties of temperate climates, having more extreme temperatures, with mean temperatures in the coldest month usually being below −3 °C (26.6 °F). The north temperate zone extends from

9240-450: The coldest month, and rainfall. These can include the subtropical zone ( humid subtropical and Mediterranean climate ), and the cool temperate zone ( oceanic and continental climates ). These climates are typically found in the more equatorial regions of the temperate zone, between 23.5° and 35° north or south. They are influenced more by the tropics than by other temperate climate types, usually experiencing warmer temperatures throughout

9360-438: 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

9480-405: 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

9600-408: The continental climate. Regions with oceanic climates include northwestern Europe , northwestern North America , southeastern and southwestern South America , southeastern Australia and most of New Zealand . Humid continental climates are considered as a variety of temperate climates due to lying in the temperate zones, although they are classified separately from other temperate climates in

9720-452: 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

9840-399: 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

9960-514: 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

10080-518: 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

10200-489: 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 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

10320-552: 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

10440-407: 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

10560-518: 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 ,

10680-796: The former Tethys Sea , which formerly separated Eurasia from the ancient super continent of Gondwana , of which Africa was part. At about the same time, 170 mya in the Jurassic period, a small Neotethys ocean basin formed shortly before the Tethys Sea was closed at the eastern end. The collision pushed up a vast system of mountains, extending from the Pyrenees in Spain to the Zagros Mountains in Iran . This episode of mountain building, known as

10800-450: The four neighboring floristic regions only. According to different versions of Armen Takhtajan 's delineation, the Mediterranean region is further subdivided into seven to nine floristic provinces : Southwestern Mediterranean (or Southern Moroccan and Southwestern Mediterranean), Ibero-Balearian (or Iberian and Balearian), Liguro-Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, East Mediterranean , South Mediterranean and Crimeo-Novorossiysk. The Mediterranean basin

10920-504: 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

11040-449: 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

11160-600: 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

11280-455: The islands of Macaronesia off the Atlantic coast of Iberia and North Africa, and the present Mediterranean vegetation evolved, dominated by coniferous trees and sclerophyllous trees and shrubs, with small, hard, waxy leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers. Much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what

11400-402: 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

11520-546: The monsoon-influenced subtropical highland climate similar to subpolar oceanic climates occurs in small areas in Yunnan, Sichuan and parts of the Altiplano between Bolivia , Peru and Chile , where summers are sufficiently short to be Cwc with fewer than four months over 10 °C (50 °F) due to the high altitudes at these locations. El Alto, Bolivia , is one of the few confirmed towns that features this variation of

11640-700: The north of the Mediterranean. The European portion of the Mediterranean basin loosely corresponds to Southern Europe . The three large Southern European peninsulas, the Iberian Peninsula , Italian Peninsula , and the Balkan Peninsula , extend into and comprise much of the Mediterranean-climate zone. A system of folded mountains, including the Pyrenees dividing Spain from France , the Alps dividing Italy from Central Europe ,

11760-648: The opposite rainfall pattern. This climate is rare and is predominantly found in climate fringes and isolated areas of the Cascades and Andes Mountains , as the dry-summer climate extends further poleward in the Americas than elsewhere. The vast majority of the world's human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the Northern Hemisphere , due to its greater mass of land and lack of extreme temperatures. The biggest described number of taxa in

11880-414: 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

12000-402: 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

12120-457: 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

12240-473: 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

12360-438: 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

12480-533: 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

12600-445: 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

12720-675: 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

12840-538: 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

12960-403: 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

13080-613: The study of other celestial objects. Ultimately, geography may be considered a subdiscipline within planetary science. Mediterranean Basin The Mediterranean basin covers portions of three continents: Europe , Africa , and Asia . It is distinct from the drainage basin , which extends much further south and north due to major rivers ending in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Nile and Rhône . Conversely,

13200-509: The subtropical highland climate. Cold summer mediterranean climates ( Csc ) are present in high-elevation areas around coastal Csb climate areas, where the strong maritime influence prevents the average winter monthly temperature from dropping below 0 °C. Despite the maritime influence, they are classified alongside other mediterranean climates in the Köppen classification rather than oceanic climates like subtropical highland climates due to

13320-572: 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,

13440-494: 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

13560-471: The tropics or subtropics. They have characteristically mild temperatures year-round, featuring the four seasons in the subtropics and no marked seasons in the tropics, the latter usually remaining mild to cool through most of the year. Subtropical highland climates under the Cfb classification usually have rainfall spread relatively evenly in all months of the year similar to most oceanic climates while climates under

13680-401: 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

13800-408: 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, 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

13920-486: The year, with longer, hotter summers and shorter, milder winters. Freezing precipitation is uncommon in this part of the temperate zone. Humid subtropical climates generally have long, hot and humid summers with frequent convective showers in summer, and a peak seasonal rainfall in the hottest months. Winters are normally mild and above freezing in the humid subtropics. Warm ocean currents are usually found in coastal areas with humid subtropical climates. This type of climate

14040-615: 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

14160-650: Was once a heavily wooded region. Phytogeographically , the Mediterranean basin together with the nearby Atlantic coast, the Mediterranean woodlands and forests and Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe of North Africa , the Black Sea coast of northeastern Anatolia , the southern coast of Crimea between Sevastopol and Feodosiya in Ukraine and the Black Sea coast between Anapa and Tuapse in Russia forms

14280-551: 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

14400-523: 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

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