As "the bridge between the human and physical sciences," geography is divided into two main branches: • human geography • physical geography Other branches include: • integrated geography • technical geography • regional geography
Physical geography •
Physical geography – examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation and life, soil, water, and landforms are produced and interact. •
Climatology – study of
climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of
time. •
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and short-term forecasting (in contrast with climatology). •
Pedology – study of soils in their natural environment that deals with
pedogenesis,
soil morphology, and
soil classification. •
Palaeogeography – study of what geography was in times past, most often concerning the physical landscape and the human or cultural environment. •
Coastal geography – study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography (i.e., coastal geomorphology, geology, and oceanography) and the human geography (sociology and history) of the coast. It involves understanding coastal weathering processes, particularly wave action, sediment movement, and weather, as well as how humans interact with the coast. •
Quaternary science – focuses on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years, including the last ice age and the Holocene period. •
Landscape ecology – the relationship between spatial patterns of urban development and ecological processes on many landscape scales and organizational levels.
Approaches of physical geography •
Quantitative geography –
Quantitative research tools and methods applied to geography. See also the
quantitative revolution. •
Systems approach –
Human geography •
Human geography – one of the two main subfields of geography is the study of human use and understanding of the world and the processes that have affected it. Human geography broadly differs from physical geography in that it focuses on the
built environment and how space is created, viewed, and managed by humans, as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy.
Fields of human geography •
Cultural geography – study of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to spaces and places. It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government, and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially. •
Children's geographies – study of places and spaces of children's lives, characterized experientially, politically and ethically. Children's geographies rest on the idea that children as a social group share certain characteristics that are experientially, politically, and ethically significant and worthy of study. The pluralization in the title is intended to imply that children's lives will be markedly different in differing times and places and in differing circumstances such as gender, family, and class. The range of foci within children's geographies includes: • Children and the city • Children and the countryside • Children and technology • Children and nature, • Children and globalization • Methodologies of researching children's worlds • Ethics of researching children's worlds •
Otherness of childhood •
Animal geographies – studies the spaces and places occupied by animals in human culture because social life and space are heavily populated by animals of many different kinds and in many differing ways (e.g., farm animals, pets, wild animals in the city). Another impetus that has influenced the development of the field is ecofeminist and other environmentalist viewpoints on nature-society relations (including questions of animal welfare and rights). •
Language geography – studies the geographic distribution of language or its constituent elements. There are two principal fields of study within the geography of language: • Geography of languages – deals with the distribution through history and space of languages, •
Linguistic geography – deals with regional linguistic variations within languages. •
Sexuality and space – encompasses all relationships and interactions between human sexuality, space, and place, including the geographies of LGBT residence, public sex environments, sites of queer resistance, global sexualities, sex tourism, the geographies of prostitution and adult entertainment, use of sexualised locations in the arts, and sexual citizenship. •
Religion geography – study of the influence of geography, i.e., place and space, on religious belief. •
Development geography – study of the Earth's geography concerning its inhabitants' standard of living and quality of life. Measures development by looking at economic, political, and social factors and seeks to understand both the geographical causes and consequences of varying development, in part by comparing More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs) with Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs). •
Economic geography – study of the location, distribution, and spatial organization of economic activities worldwide. Subjects of interest include but are not limited to the location of industries, economies of agglomeration (also known as "linkages"), transportation, international trade and development, real estate, gentrification, ethnic economies, gendered economies, core-periphery theory, the economics of urban form, the relationship between the environment and the economy (tying into a long history of geographers studying culture-environment interaction), and globalization. •
Marketing geography – a discipline within marketing analysis that uses geolocation (geographic information) in the process of planning and implementation of marketing activities. It can be used in any aspect of the marketing mix – the product, price, promotion, or place (geo-targeting). •
Transportation geography – branch of economic geography that investigates spatial interactions between people, freight, and information. It studies humans and their use of vehicles or other modes of traveling and how flows of finished goods and raw materials service markets. •
Health geography – application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care, to provide a spatial understanding of a population's health, the distribution of disease in an area, and the environment's effect on health and disease. It also deals with accessibility to health care and spatial distribution of health care providers. •
Time geography – study of the temporal factor on spatial human activities within the following constraints: • Authority - limits of accessibility to certain places or domains placed on individuals by owners or authorities • Capability - limitations on the movement of individuals based on their nature. For example, movement is restricted by biological factors, such as the need for food, drink, and sleep • Coupling - restraint of an individual, anchoring him or her to a location while interacting with other individuals to complete a task •
Historical geography – the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. It seeks to determine how cultural features of various societies across the planet emerged and evolved by understanding how a place or region changes through time, including how people have interacted with their environment and created the cultural landscape. •
Political geography – study of the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and how political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. The inter-relationships between people, state, and territory. •
Electoral geography – study of the relationship between election results and the regions they affect (such as the environmental impact of voting decisions), and of the effects of regional factors upon voting behavior. •
Geopolitics – analysis of geography, history, and social science concerning spatial politics and patterns at various scales, ranging from the level of the state to international. •
Strategic geography – concerned with the control of, or access to, spatial areas that affect the security and prosperity of nations. •
Military geography – applying geographic tools, information, and techniques to solve military problems in peacetime or war. •
Population geography – study of how spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places. •
Tourism geography – study of travel and tourism, as an industry and as a social and cultural activity, and their effect on places, including the
environmental impact of tourism, the geographies of tourism and leisure economies, answering tourism industry and management concerns and the sociology of tourism and locations of tourism. •
Urban geography – the study of urban areas, in terms of concentration, infrastructure, economy, and environmental impacts.
Approaches of human geography • • • • • • • • – •
Qualitative geography –
qualitative research tools and methods applied to geography.
Integrated geography •
Integrated geography – branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. It requires an understanding of the dynamics of geology, meteorology, hydrology, biogeography, ecology, and geomorphology, as well as the ways in which human societies conceptualize the environment.
Technical geography •
Technical geography – branch of geography and the discipline of studying, developing, and applying methods to gather, store, process, and deliver geographic or spatially referenced information. It is a widespread interdisciplinary field that includes the tools and techniques used in land surveying, remote sensing, cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Navigation Satellite Systems, photogrammetry, and related forms of earth mapping. •
Cyber geography – study of the physical network of broadband cables
Fields contributing to technical geography • • • • • • • •
Global navigation satellite systems represented by – Any system that uses satellite radio signals to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning • • • • • •
Regional geography Regional geography – study of world regions. Attention is paid to unique characteristics of a particular region such as its natural elements, human elements, and regionalization which covers the techniques of delineating space into regions. Regional geography breaks down into the study of specific regions.
Region – an area, defined by physical characteristics, human characteristics, or functional characteristics. The term is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. A region can be seen as a collection of smaller units, such as a country and its political divisions, or as one part of a larger whole, as in a country on a continent.
Continents Continent – one of several large
landmasses on
Earth. They are generally identified by
convention rather than any specific criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents. They are: ::
1. Africa (
outline) – ::
2. Antarctica – ::
3. Australia (
outline) – : The Americas: ::
4. North America (
outline) – ::
5. South America (
outline) – : Eurasia: ::
6. Europe (
outline) – ::
7. Asia (
outline) –
Subregions Subregion (list) Biogeographic regions Biogeographic realm The
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) developed a system of eight
biogeographic realms (ecozones): •
Nearctic 22.9 mil. km2 (including most of North America) •
Palearctic 54.1 mil. km2 (including the bulk of
Eurasia and
North Africa) •
Afrotropic 22.1 mil. km2 (including
Sub-Saharan Africa) •
Indomalaya 7.5 mil. km2 (including the
South Asian subcontinent and
Southeast Asia) •
Australasia 7.7 mil. km2 (including Australia,
New Guinea, and neighboring islands). The northern boundary of this zone is known as the
Wallace line. •
Neotropic 19.0 mil. km2 (including
South America and the
Caribbean) •
Oceania 1.0 mil. km2 (including
Polynesia,
Fiji and
Micronesia) •
Antarctic 0.3 mil. km2 (including
Antarctica).
Ecoregions Ecoregion Biogeographic realms are further divided into ecoregions. The World has over 800
terrestrial ecoregions.
See Lists of ecoregions by country. Geography of the political divisions of the World •
Geography of Africa (
Outline) • West Africa#Geography and climate •
Geography of Benin (
Outline) •
Geography of Burkina Faso (
Outline) •
Geography of Cape Verde (
Outline) •
Geography of Côte d'Ivoire (
Outline) •
Geography of Gambia (
Outline) •
Geography of Ghana (
Outline) •
Geography of Guinea (
Outline) •
Geography of Guinea-Bissau (
Outline) •
Geography of Liberia (
Outline) •
Geography of Mali (
Outline) •
Geography of Mauritania (
Outline) •
Geography of Niger (
Outline) •
Geography of Nigeria (
Outline) •
Geography of Senegal (
Outline) •
Geography of Sierra Leone (
Outline) •
Geography of Togo (
Outline) • North Africa#Geography •
Geography of Algeria (
Outline) •
Geography of Egypt (
Outline) •
Geography of Libya (
Outline) •
Geography of Mauritania (
Outline) •
Geography of Morocco (
Outline) •
Geography of Sudan (
Outline) •
Geography of Tunisia (
Outline) •
Geography of Western Sahara (
Outline) •
Central Africa •
Geography of Angola (
Outline) •
Geography of Burundi (
Outline) •
Geography of Cameroon (
Outline) •
Geography of Central African Republic (
Outline) •
Geography of Chad (
Outline) •
Geography of Democratic Republic of the Congo (
Outline) •
Geography of Equatorial Guinea (
Outline) •
Geography of Gabon (
Outline) •
Geography of Republic of the Congo (
Outline) •
Geography of Rwanda (
Outline) •
Geography of São Tomé and Príncipe (
Outline) • East Africa#Geography and climate •
Geography of Burundi (
Outline) •
Geography of Comoros (
Outline) •
Geography of Djibouti (
Outline) •
Geography of Eritrea (
Outline) •
Geography of Ethiopia (
Outline) •
Geography of Kenya (
Outline) •
Geography of Madagascar (
Outline) •
Geography of Malawi (
Outline) •
Geography of Mauritius (
Outline) •
Geography of Mozambique (
Outline) •
Geography of Rwanda (
Outline) •
Geography of Seychelles (
Outline) •
Geography of Somalia (
Outline) •
Geography of Tanzania (
Outline) •
Geography of Uganda (
Outline) • Southern Africa#Geography •
Geography of Botswana (
Outline) •
Geography of Lesotho (
Outline) •
Geography of Namibia (
Outline) •
Geography of South Africa (
Outline) •
Geography of Swaziland (
Outline) •
Geography of Zambia (
Outline) •
Geography of Zimbabwe (
Outline) • Dependencies in Africa •
Geography of British Indian Ocean Territory (
Outline) (UK) •
Geography of Mayotte (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of Réunion (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of Saint Helena (
Outline) (UK) • Canary Islands#Geography (
Outline) (Spain) •
Geography of Ceuta (
Outline) (Spain) •
Geography of Madeira (
Outline) (Portugal) •
Geography of Melilla (
Outline) (Spain) •
Geography of Socotra (
Outline) (Yemen) •
Geography of Puntland (
Outline) •
Geography of Somaliland (
Outline) •
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (
Outline) •
Geography of Antarctica (
Outline) •
Geography of Asia (
Outline) • Central Asia#Geography •
Geography of Kazakhstan (
Outline) •
Geography of Kyrgyzstan (
Outline) •
Geography of Tajikistan (
Outline) •
Geography of Turkmenistan (
Outline) •
Geography of Uzbekistan (
Outline) •
East Asia •
Geography of China (
Outline) •
Geography of Tibet (
Outline) •
Geography of Hong Kong (
Outline) •
Geography of Macau (
Outline) •
Geography of Japan (
Outline) •
Geography of North Korea (
Outline) •
Geography of South Korea (
Outline) •
Geography of Mongolia (
Outline) •
Geography of Taiwan (
Outline) • North Asia#Geography •
Geography of Russia (
Outline) • Southeast Asia#Geography •
Geography of Brunei (
Outline) •
Burma (Myanmar) -
Outline) •
Geography of Cambodia (
Outline) •
East Timor (Timor-Leste) -
Outline) •
Geography of Indonesia (
Outline) •
Geography of Laos (
Outline) •
Geography of Malaysia (
Outline) •
Geography of the Philippines (
Outline) •
Geography of Singapore (
Outline) •
Geography of Thailand (
Outline) •
Geography of Vietnam (
Outline) • South Asia#Geography •
Geography of Afghanistan (
Outline) •
Geography of Bangladesh (
Outline) •
Geography of Bhutan (
Outline) •
Geography of India (
Outline) •
Geography of Maldives (
Outline) •
Geography of Nepal (
Outline) •
Geography of Pakistan (
Outline) •
Geography of Sri Lanka (
Outline) • Western Asia#Geography • Armenia#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Azerbaijan (
Outline) •
Geography of Bahrain (
Outline) •
Geography of Cyprus (
Outline), including: •
Geography of Northern Cyprus (
Outline) (disputed territory) •
Georgia (
Outline) •
Geography of Iran (
Outline) •
Geography of Iraq (
Outline) •
Geography of Israel (
Outline) •
Geography of Jordan (
Outline) •
Geography of Kuwait (
Outline) •
Geography of Lebanon (
Outline) •
Geography of Oman (
Outline) •
Geography of the Palestinian territories (
Outline) •
Geography of Qatar (
Outline) •
Geography of Saudi Arabia (
Outline) •
Geography of Syria (
Outline) •
Geography of Turkey (
Outline) •
Geography of United Arab Emirates (
Outline) •
Geography of Yemen (
Outline) • Caucasus#Geography and ecology (a region considered to be in both Asia and Europe, or between them) •
North Caucasus •
Geography of Russia (
Outline) (the following parts of Russia are in the North Caucasus: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Adyghea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai) •
South Caucasus •
Georgia (
Outline), including: •
Geography of Abkhazia (
Outline) (disputed territory) •
Geography of South Ossetia (
Outline) (disputed territory) • Armenia#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Azerbaijan (
Outline), including: •
Geography of Nagorno-Karabakh (
Outline) (disputed territory) •
Geography of Europe (
Outline) •
Geography of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (
Outline) •
Geography of Åland (
Outline) •
Geography of Albania (
Outline) •
Geography of Andorra (
Outline) •
Geography of Armenia (
Outline) •
Geography of Austria (
Outline) •
Geography of Azerbaijan (
Outline) •
Geography of Belarus (
Outline) •
Geography of Belgium (
Outline) •
Geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina (
Outline) •
Geography of Bulgaria (
Outline) •
Geography of Croatia (
Outline) •
Geography of Cyprus (
Outline) •
Geography of Czech Republic (
Outline) •
Geography of Denmark (
Outline) •
Geography of Estonia (
Outline) • Faroe Islands#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Finland (
Outline) •
Geography of France (
Outline) •
Geography of Georgia (
Outline) •
Geography of Germany (
Outline) •
Geography of Gibraltar (
Outline) •
Geography of Greece (
Outline) •
Geography of Guernsey (
Outline) •
Geography of Hungary (
Outline) •
Geography of Iceland (
Outline) • Republic of Ireland#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of the Isle of Man (
Outline) •
Geography of Italy (
Outline) •
Geography of Jersey (
Outline) •
Geography of Kazakhstan (
Outline) •
Geography of Kosovo (
Outline) •
Geography of Latvia (
Outline) •
Geography of Liechtenstein (
Outline) •
Geography of Lithuania (
Outline) •
Geography of Luxembourg (
Outline) •
Geography of Malta (
Outline) •
Geography of Moldova (
Outline), including: •
Geography of Transnistria (
Outline) (disputed territory) •
Geography of Monaco (
Outline) •
Geography of Montenegro (
Outline) •
Geography of Netherlands (
Outline) •
Geography of North Macedonia (
Outline) •
Geography of Norway (
Outline) •
Geography of Poland (
Outline) •
Geography of Portugal (
Outline) •
Geography of Romania (
Outline) •
Geography of Russia (
Outline) •
Geography of San Marino (
Outline) •
Geography of Serbia (
Outline) •
Geography of Slovakia (
Outline) •
Geography of Slovenia (
Outline) •
Geography of Spain (
Outline) •
Geography of Svalbard (
Outline) •
Geography of Sweden (
Outline) •
Geography of Switzerland (
Outline) •
Geography of Turkey (
Outline) •
Geography of Ukraine (
Outline) •
Geography of United Kingdom (
Outline) •
Geography of England (
Outline) •
Geography of Northern Ireland (
Outline) •
Geography of Scotland (
Outline) •
Geography of Wales (
Outline) •
Geography of Vatican City (
Outline) •
Geography of North America (
Outline) •
Geography of Canada (
Outline) • By province •
Geography of Alberta •
Geography of British Columbia (
Outline) •
Geography of Manitoba •
Geography of New Brunswick •
Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador •
Geography of Nova Scotia •
Geography of Ontario •
Geography of Prince Edward Island •
Geography of Quebec (
Outline) •
Geography of Saskatchewan (
Outline) • By territory •
Geography of the Northwest Territories •
Geography of Nunavut •
Geography of Yukon •
Geography of Greenland (
Outline) •
Geography of Mexico (
Outline) •
Geography of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (
Outline) •
Geography of United States (
Outline) •
Geography of Alabama (
Outline) •
Geography of Alaska (
Outline) •
Geography of Arizona (
Outline) •
Geography of Arkansas (
Outline) •
Geography of California (
Outline) •
Geography of Colorado (
Outline) •
Geography of Connecticut (
Outline) •
Geography of Delaware (
Outline) •
Geography of Florida (
Outline) •
Geography of Georgia (
Outline) •
Geography of Hawaii (
Outline) •
Geography of Idaho (
Outline) •
Geography of Illinois (
Outline) •
Geography of Indiana (
Outline) •
Geography of Iowa (
Outline) •
Geography of Montana (
Outline) •
Geography of Kansas (
Outline) •
Geography of Kentucky (
Outline) •
Geography of Louisiana (
Outline) •
Geography of Maine (
Outline) •
Geography of Maryland (
Outline) •
Geography of Massachusetts (
Outline) •
Geography of Michigan (
Outline) •
Geography of Minnesota (
Outline) •
Geography of Mississippi (
Outline) •
Geography of Missouri (
Outline) •
Geography of Nebraska (
Outline) •
Geography of Nevada (
Outline) •
Geography of New Hampshire (
Outline) •
Geography of New Jersey (
Outline) •
Geography of New Mexico (
Outline) •
Geography of New York (
Outline) •
Geography of North Carolina (
Outline) •
Geography of North Dakota (
Outline) •
Geography of Ohio (
Outline) •
Geography of Oklahoma (
Outline) •
Geography of Oregon (
Outline) •
Geography of Pennsylvania (
Outline) •
Geography of Rhode Island (
Outline) •
Geography of South Carolina (
Outline) •
Geography of South Dakota (
Outline) •
Geography of Tennessee (
Outline) •
Geography of Texas (
Outline) •
Geography of Utah (
Outline) •
Geography of Vermont (
Outline) •
Geography of Virginia (
Outline) •
Geography of Washington (state) (
Outline) •
Geography of West Virginia (
Outline) •
Geography of Wisconsin (
Outline) •
Geography of Wyoming (
Outline) •
Geography of Washington, D.C. (
Outline) (Washington, D.C.) • Central America#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Belize (
Outline) •
Geography of Costa Rica (
Outline) •
Geography of El Salvador (
Outline) •
Geography of Guatemala (
Outline) •
Geography of Honduras (
Outline) •
Geography of Nicaragua (
Outline) •
Geography of Panama (
Outline) •
Geography of the Caribbean (
Outline) •
Geography of Anguilla (
Outline) •
Geography of Antigua and Barbuda (
Outline) •
Geography of Aruba (
Outline) •
Geography of Bahamas (
Outline) •
Geography of Barbados (
Outline) •
Geography of Bermuda (
Outline) • British Virgin Islands#Geography (
Outline) • Cayman Islands#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Cuba (
Outline) •
Geography of Dominica (
Outline) • Dominican Republic#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Grenada (
Outline) •
Geography of Haiti (
Outline) •
Geography of Jamaica (
Outline) •
Geography of Montserrat (
Outline) • Netherlands Antilles#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Puerto Rico (
Outline) •
Geography of Saint Barthélemy (
Outline) •
Geography of Saint Kitts and Nevis (
Outline) •
Geography of Saint Lucia (
Outline) •
Saint Martin (
Outline) •
Geography of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (
Outline) •
Geography of Trinidad and Tobago (
Outline) • Turks and Caicos Islands#Geography (
Outline) • United States Virgin Islands#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Oceania (includes the continent of Australia) (
Outline) •
Australasia •
Geography of Australia (
Outline) • Dependencies and territories of Australia •
Geography of Christmas Island (
Outline) • Cocos (Keeling) Islands#Geography (
Outline) •
Geography of Norfolk Island (
Outline) •
Geography of New Zealand (
Outline) •
Geography of Melanesia •
Geography of Fiji (
Outline) •
Geography of Indonesia (
Outline) (Oceanian part only) •
Geography of New Caledonia (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of Papua New Guinea (
Outline) •
Geography of the Solomon Islands (
Outline) •
Geography of Vanuatu (
Outline) •
Geography of Micronesia •
Geography of Federated States of Micronesia (
Outline) •
Geography of Guam (
Outline) (USA) •
Geography of Kiribati (
Outline) •
Geography of Marshall Islands (
Outline) •
Geography of Nauru (
Outline) • Northern Mariana Islands#Geography and climate (
Outline) (USA) •
Geography of Palau (
Outline) •
Geography of Wake Island (
Outline) (USA) •
Geography of Polynesia •
Geography of American Samoa (
Outline) (USA) • Chatham Islands#Geography (
Outline) (NZ) • Cook Islands#Geography (
Outline) (NZ) • Easter Island#Location and physical geography (
Outline) (Chile) •
Geography of French Polynesia (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of Hawaii (
Outline) (USA) • Loyalty Islands#Geography (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of Niue (
Outline) (NZ) • Pitcairn Islands#Geography (
Outline) (UK) •
Geography of Samoa (
Outline) •
Geography of Tokelau (
Outline) (NZ) •
Geography of Tonga (
Outline) •
Geography of Tuvalu (
Outline) •
Geography of Wallis and Futuna (
Outline) (France) •
Geography of South America (
Outline) •
Geography of Argentina (
Outline) •
Geography of Bolivia (
Outline) •
Geography of Brazil (
Outline) •
Geography of Chile (
Outline) •
Geography of Colombia (
Outline) •
Geography of Ecuador (
Outline) •
Geography of the Falkland Islands (
Outline) •
Geography of French Guiana (
Outline) •
Geography of Guyana (
Outline) •
Geography of Paraguay (
Outline) •
Geography of Peru (
Outline) •
Geography of Suriname (
Outline) •
Geography of Uruguay (
Outline) •
Geography of Venezuela (
Outline)
Other regions •
Atlantic World •
Bermuda Triangle •
Pacific Rim •
Pacific Ring of Fire == History of geography ==