Physical Geography, History of

Early Greeks and Romans

The early Greeks were the first civilization to practice a form of physical geography that was more than just drawing the location of natural and human-made features on maps. The ancient Greeks were also interested in the shape, size, and geometry of Earth. Aristotle hypothesized and logically demonstrated that Earth has a spherical shape. Evidence for this idea came from his observations of lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses occur when Earth casts its circular shadow onto the moon's surface.

The first individual to accurately calculate the circumference of Earth was the Greek geographer Eratosthenes. Eratosthenes calculated the equatorial circumference to be 40,233 km (kilometers; 25,000 mi. [miles]) using simple geometric relationships. This calculation was unusually accurate, considering the primitive technology used. Measurements using advanced satellite technology have computed Earth's circumference to be 40,072 km (24,900 mi.).

Most of the Greek accomplishments in physical geography were passed on to the Romans. Military commanders and administrators used this information to help direct the expansion of the Roman Empire. The Romans also made several important contributions to human and physical geography. Strabo wrote an extensive 17-volume series, the Geographica. Strabo traveled widely across the Roman Empire, and Geographica records what he had observed and experienced from a geographical perspective.

During the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy made a number of important contributions. Ptolemy's publication Geographike hyphegesis, or Guide to Geography, compiled and summarized much of the Greek and Roman geographic information accumulated at that time. Some of his other important contributions include the creation of three different methods for projecting Earth's surface on a map, the calculation of coordinate locations for some 8,000 places on Earth, and the development of the concepts of latitude and longitude.

Middle Ages to 1800

Little academic progress in geography occurred after the Roman period. For the most part, the Middle Ages (5th–13th centuries AD) were a time of intellectual stagnation in Europe. The Vikings of Scandinavia were the only group of people carrying out active exploration of new lands. In the Middle East, Arab academics began translating the works of Greek and Roman scholars, starting [Page 2179]in the 8th century, and exploring the physical and human geography of southwestern Asia and Africa. Some of the important Arab geographers include al-Idrisi, Ibn Battutah, and Ibn Khaldun. al-Idrisi is best known for his skill at making maps and for his work of descriptive geography Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq, or The Pleasure Excursion of One Who Is Eager to Traverse the Regions of the World. Ibn Battutah and Ibn Khaldun are well known for writing about their extensive travels in North Africa and the Middle East. In China, academics were using sophisticated geometric techniques to produce high-quality maps of their homeland.

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