The Historical Evolution of Geography through Various Ages - Essay Example

The Historical Evolution of Geography through Various Ages Evolution of Geography through Various Ages Whether in the ancient or contemporary societies, social processes often precede other aspects of the society. Throughout the history of various civilizations, people have only focused on the development after satisfying their social needs. However, people invent or innovate whenever they are faced with a challenge or want to live enhanced lifestyles. The need to pursue advanced geography, which is the reason behind the evolution of the discipline, was mainly motivated by the desire to explore the world (Unwin, 1992). Different societies living in different periods developed particular interests that could only be served mainly through geographical explorations. That has been a major driver of Geographical evolution throughout the ages. In Germany, for example, the subject was considerably explored during the Hitler regime that sought to conquer the world (Aber, 2003). The impression is that human behaviour has played a significant role towards the growth and development of geography. Human interests and needs is in fact the cause of Geography and its historical developments. The historical development is better illustrated by referring to the various ages. This paper demonstrates the relationship between space and human behaviour with reference to the evolution of geography through various ages. It is shown that human behaviour causes changes and developments in space. Geography is used to represent space. Like any other aspect of life, geography has undergone various developmental stages. “Greek geography” where geographical climates were referred to as igalim, the Greek word for inclination, is seemingly the ancient geography known. This formed the basis for Ptolemaic Cartography System (Meri). The use of the term aqalim in Greek traditions is not consistent mainly because of the influence from Syrian translators. Individual geographical treaties such as al-Khuwarizmi among other encyclopedic works reproduced the original Ptolemy climates. Residence in the various Iqalim affected the lives and capabilities of residents. The impact affected the residents’ mental status, physical appearance, body structure, and skin color (Snyder, 2000 ). Medieval authors, especially those interested in geography, distinctly demonstrated preference for middle latitudes. The middle latitudes represented regions perceived to exhibit climatic balance in both seasonality and temperature. A major advantage of this theory by those authors is that Baghdad, being the capital of Caliphate during the Abbasis Dynasty was situated precisely in the fourth and middle climate. It was advantageously located to signify the essence of ta’adil, also the equilibrium /moderation. (Finel, 1995) Towns were situated according to geographical factors, in this case climate. These longitudinal divisions, however, were later refuted and reworked by medieval geographers. These later geographers sought to categorize the world in what they referred to as more civilized and administrative terms. Remarkably, the medieval geographers maintained the seven-region definitional notion of aqalim (Yarshater, 2005). The Persian perspective of Kishvar regions, where each of the regions was constituted of a large civilization or empire, led to the formulation of a method that represented world climates with circles rather than longitudinal bands (Hudson). Later, geographers living during the era of descriptive geography provided an administrative logic to define regions. This was in the tenth century when the number of regions was increased to fourteen. Detailed description of these regions was offered later to account for environmental and cultural factors (Meri). Virtually, medieval geographical classifications based on the notion of iqlim was intended to serve as a framework for presenting information on settlements, cities, populations, and topography (Thompson, 1997). Here, geography was evolving in an effort to understand these areas for reasons such as administration and protection from invasion. The Greek geography entered a dark stagnation period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Many manuscripts were destroyed and other lost because no one had interest in geographical information after the collapse. Different though parallel culture of science evolved in the east, particularly in china after the Roman decline. The subsequent focus of global intellectuality and scientific knowledge would be encountered here under the southern Sung and Tang dynasties (Unwin, 1992). The practice of geographical writing emerged just as it had emerged in the Roman world. Researchers interested in the history of geography have revealed that this emergency was fueled largely by military conquests. Another influential aspect was the need and desire for emperors to understand their territories (Lewis, 2001). Such knowledge was considered necessary for retention of power positions and protection of territory. Chinese geographers devised new cartographic and surveying approaches that enabled them to produce quality maps. Their work was more appealing than whatever had been produced in the medieval Europe. Some of the Chinese earliest geographical manuscripts include the Yu Kung, a chapter in Shu Ching. The manuscript gives an inventory of Chou Empire in terms of physical geography. More information included in the Yu Kun is the list of provinces within the empire, type of soils, characteristic products, and waterways that crossed the empire (Massey, 2001). In this case, geography helped societies to know their territory and hence protect them from intrusion. People knew what their land could produce from geographical knowledge. The Chinese geography sought to serve the interest of the society. The fact that the interests of the society fueled the evolvement confirms that human behavior causes space. Chinese geography, however, was later surpassed after the reemergence of European geography also called the “New Geography” (Yarshater, 2005). The new geography that started in 1870s, the same period capitalism evolved and developed to imperialism, evolved to a distinctive academic discipline. This was particularly in the United States and Europe although it also occurred in the then newly emergent Japan. Colonialism and imperialism had significant influence on geography and geographical studies throughout the 19th century (Massey, 2001). In fact, researchers of the historical developments have emphasized that geographers and organizations interested in geography encouraged the establishment and development of overseas civilizations and empires. The study and hence development of geography was significantly promoted by the desire to serve the interests of imperialism in various aspects. Aspects in this case included territorial acquisition, class and race domination, and economic exploitation (Meri). With regard to whatever was happening during the imperialism period, it is clear that geography evolved consequential to human behavior. Geographers worked because they wanted to meet the needs of the people of that time. Earlier attempts to explore and advance geography often stalled until the time of the evolution of capitalism. Specialist geographers were only sought mainly because the capitalistic society had a high demand for scientific geography. Then, there were only a few scholars and specialist in the subject since earlier generations had not emphasized on the subject. However, because of the increased demand for geographers to serve in the new order, geography lecturers were appointed to teach the subject at the university (Aber, 2003). These were recruited from geology and history ranks among other related fields. From this, it is clear that the efforts of the “grand old men” did not lead to the new geography, as it should have been the case. Rather, the new geography resulted from the demand for precise geographical knowledge during the imperialism. If it were not for the imperialism, geography would most like have never developed to what it is today. It is inappropriate to fail to appreciate that the new geography did not focus solely on imperialist interests. Some of the advocates of geography had authentic scholarly interests. These included mainly scholars in other disciplines who felt that geography would supplement their disciplines and fields (Lewis, 2001). Classical scholars and historians, for instance advocated for the learning of geography at advanced academic levels. They perceived of such knowledge as necessary for proper comprehension of their fields. The scholarship demands, though, did not have significant influence in Britain. Being an imperialistic country, geography was a crucial science study they people had to reckon with (Unwin, 1992). Indeed, the study was considered to pay eminently. In summary, space and human behavior are highly interrelated as shown through the analysis of the history of geography through various ages. It is clear that human behavior comes before and is in fact the cause of space. With reference to the gradual evolvement of geography until it became an academic discipline, it is shown that human desires and interests fueled the evolution. Different emperors needed to know their territories well for the sake of maintaining their power or protection from invasion. Europeans wanted to explore the world for imperialist interests. These needs required them to have succinct knowledge in geography, which necessitated the exploration of the field. Geography, although initially disregarded served imperialism interests such as conquering and establishing overseas territories for exploitation of resources. References Aber, J. S. (2003). Alberuni calculated the Earths circumference at a small town of Pind Dadan Khan, District Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan. Emporia : Emporia State University. Finel, I. (1995). A join to the map of the world. A notable discover , 26-27. Hudson, B. The New Geography. University of the West Indies. Lewis, M. (2001). Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Massey, D. (2001). Introduction: Geography Matters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Meri, J. W. 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