history of geographical thought

7/27/2019 History of Geographical Thought

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Weeks 3 & 4:

Classical Greek Contributions


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Classical Greek Contributions

Geography is derived from two Greek

words, Ge Earth, and Graphe

Description.

Coined by Greek Geographer Eratosthenes who

viewed geography as descriptions of the earth.

But others (Egyptians, Sumerians, Phoenicians)

thought geographically before him, makinggeography possibly as old as humanity itself.

We are however mostly concerned with geography

as a systematic or organized body of knowledge

with defined concepts and procedures.


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The Greeks had

A geographic curiosity often associated with

commercial and military interests and often

extending beyond their empire.

Seafaring skills and a need to improve them.

A robust mythology closely intertwined with a

polytheistic belief system that contained a godfor just about everything.


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The Greeks had

A belief that celestial objects were epitomes

of gods, and therefore worthy of close

scrutiny. A need for a geometry and associated tools

to study the location and movement of

celestial objects.


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The Greeks didnt have

At the beginning, any kind of information

source (other than word of mouth) that we

now take for granted.

Basic location and navigation skills

(including the compass).

An accurate system of measurement overlong distances.

Basic cartographic tools and techniques.


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The Greeks didnt have

An understanding of the shape and size of

earth and of basic earth-sun relationships.

A understanding of basic earth scienceincluding erosion, deposition and

meteorology.

An appreciation of the adaptability of humanbeings to different climatic contexts.


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Greek contributors

Homer

Thales of Miletus

Anaximander

Hecataeus

Herodotus Plato

Aristotle

Alexander the Great

Pytheas

Eratosthenes

Hipparchus

Posidonius Strabo


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Homer

Reportedly livedsometime between 1300 850 BC.

Considered by some to

be The father ofgeography because TheOdyssey, one of his epicpoems, provides the

earliest geographicaldescription of the fringeof the Greek world.

Also Wrote the Iliad

(1280-1180 BC) Mostlyhistorical.

The Odyssey


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Thales of Miletus

(ca. 624 ca. 546 BC)

Advocated for a rational explanation of the

natural realm without reference to mythology.

Major contributor to field of geometry (e.g. circle

divided into two by diameter) and astronomy.

Credited with the development of the mathematical

tradition for his concern with measures of

location, distance and areas of things on the earths

surface (possibly for personal business reasons).

Speculated about the origins of the earth and

proposed a flat disc earth floating on water.


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Teleological explanation vs. Mechanical explanation

Mechanical explanation

Phenomena and observations are theresults of purely natural (non-divine)

causes.

As related to geography, Earths

attributes are the products of natural

processes that may be explained byphysics, mathematics, biology and

other realms of human knowledge

whose contents rely on careful

observation, verification and testing.

Established explanations must be ableto withstand the test of time. Thus,

they may be replaced if subsequent

observation and analysis provide new

explanations that are superior to old

ones.

Teleological explanation

From the Greekteleos, meaningpurpose or end.

Things happen for a reason or purpose

that suggests Divine will.

As related to geography, Gods will is

revealed in nature as well as inscripture.

The world we inhabit was created by

God and exhibits an order, complexity

and purpose as designed by the

Creator. A careful inventorying of the worlds

attributes, as by geographical

exploration and analysis, may help us

understand Gods will even as it

proves Gods existence.


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Anaximander

(ca. 610 ca. 546 BC)

Disciple of Thales

Claimed that nature is ruled by laws, just like

human society. Introduced the gnomon/Sundial (Babylonian) to

Greece.


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From the gnomon it was possible to tell the

varying positions of the sun, being shortest at

noon. Varying noon shadow lengths from seasonto season also helped to establish whether it was

summer solstice (shortest) or winter solstice

(longest). The direction of shadows at sunrise and

sunset also helped to tell the time of the equinox

(sunrise and sunset shadows are colinear but

opposite.


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Anaximander

Credited for being first

Greek to draw a world

map with distance and

direction to scale.

Helped establish the

cartographic tradition.

Tried to explain howsun rises in the east and

sets in the west but

rises again in the east. Interpretation of Anaximanders world map


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Hecataeus

(ca. 550 ca. 475 BC)

No known artistic portrayal; name may refer to

more than one person.

Credited with the literary tradition.

Advocated taking stock of what is around us

and putting the accumulated knowledge of the

world together in a usable form.

First known Greek to collect and classify

information brought to Miletus not only from

the known Greek world, but also from

unknown lands beyond.


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Hecataeus

(ca. 550 ca. 475 BC)

A principal founder of

idiographic/descriptive

tradition in geography.

UsedEurope,Asia, and

Libya as regional

divisions for his world

geography.

Interpretation of the World Map of Hecateaus


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Herodotus

(484 ca. 425 BC)

Stressed the interrelationship between history and

geography all history must be treated geographically

and all geography must be treated historically

Travelled widely knew the shores of the

Mediterranean, travelled several days northward across

the Russian steppes, went eastwards over the PersianEmpire and south to Egypt.

Argued against the tradition of dividing Asians from

Libyans along the Nile river and insisted Egyptians are

not divided into Asians and Libyans along the Nile


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Applied historical geographical methods to

correctly interpret the Nile delta as being

formed by silt deposits from Ethiopia. He was also fascinated by the summer flooding

of the Nile since other rivers flooded in winter.

Also credited with the idea of the wind blowingfrom colder to warmer places.

Sought explanations that reflected the notion of

an earth that was arranged symmetrically.


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Herodotus

Mapped the known world with the Mediterranean

in the center and surrounded by Oceanus.


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Plato

(428 348 BC)

Master at deductive reasoning

Deductive Method involves theorizing from the

general to particular events.

General/intuition/theory Particular Event

Proposed the idea that the world was deteriorating

from perfect state. Could well be the source of the

notion of environmental degradation.

Questioned the belief of a flat earth and confirmed

Pythagoras (6th century BC) hypothesis of a

spherical earth.


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Plato

Appears to be the first

Greek philosopher to

announce and look forevidence to support the

concept of a round earth

centrally located in the

universe with celestial

bodies in circular

motion around it.


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Aristotle

(384-322 BC)

Master of inductive reasoning

generalizing or formulating theories from

particular cases/events

Particular General/Theory

Suggested the physical environment is

improving towards a perfect state.

Sought an explanation of Platos idea of a

spherical earth.


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Aristotle

(384-322 BC)

Postulated the concept of varying habitability

of the earth based on latitude. Accordingly:

The world consists of 5 climatic zones

The torrid zonecentered on the equator is

uninhabitable excessive heat.

The frigid zonecentered on the north and south

poles is uninhabitable too cold.

An intermediate/temperate zone called ekumene

located between the tropics and arctic and

Antarctic is habitable just right.


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