Geography: Studying Territories, Physical and Human Elements

1. Geography: Studying Territories

Knowledge about the environment has been a constant human need since ancient times. Geography was born out of this necessity, as a discipline that describes territories and explains the processes behind their creation.

1.1 Geography: The Science of Territories

• Physical geography is the study of the natural environment: relief, climates, water, plants, soil structure and fauna.

• Human geography is the study of human populations and their characteristics, such as types of settlements, the use of resources and transport, as well as social, cultural and political activity. Human geography investigates all human activity that affects the Earth.

• Regional geography studies the natural or artificial units modified by humans and relates them to all their physical and human elements. This branch of geography studies continents, countries, supranational units, smaller territories such as autonomous regions, counties and municipalities.

Cartography

• Cartography is the branch of geography concerned with representing territories from the smallest ones to the whole Earth. This is achieved by means of the creation and interpretation of geographical maps.

GPS

• GPS is a type of technology that allows us to know the exact location of any place. Using this information, computer software can use databases that enable people to travel from one place to another in the most efficient way. It is mostly found in cars and phones.

Projection types

Projection types

Cylindrical projection: this type of projection is formed by using a cylinder to surround the Earth, taking the line of the Equator as a reference. All the parts of the Earth are then projected onto it, creating a world map.

Conical projection: the Earth is placed inside a cone that spreads out like a fan. Meridians are then converted into straight lines that start at the pole, and the parallels take the form of concentric circles. The problem with this type of projection is that it can only represent one hemisphere at a time.

Flat projection: the Earth is projected onto a flat surface. The resulting projection creates a circle around its central point that becomes a reference between the map and the sphere. Generally, this point is one of the poles. Flat projection cannot represent more than one hemisphere at a time.