There is a long tradition of geography at Cambridge stretching back to the first University Lecturer in Geography,
Henry Guillemard, appointed in 1888 which was funded by the
Royal Geographical Society, which was keen to promote the teaching of Geography at Oxford and Cambridge. and in 1933 the department moved into its own accommodation. That building, which now constitutes the eastern end of the department, was considerably extended in the 1930s, with the construction of new lecture theatres and laboratories. In the 1980s, the building was further extended with the addition of a top floor to provide a new laboratory for computing, remote sensing and geographical information systems. In 1999 the department expanded again, to occupy two floors in an adjacent building where new laboratories, seminar rooms and offices are housed. Since then, the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure (CAMPOP) has been integrated into the teaching and research activities of the Department (2001), and the
Scott Polar Research Institute became a sub-department in 2002. Today, the Department has 35 academic staff including ten professors and four readers. ==Research==