Chapter 1. What is Geography? Looking at Our World FREE
1. What is Geography? Looking at Our World
Have you ever wondered why it is hot in Durban but cold in the Drakensberg on the same day? Or why so many people live in Johannesburg, while the Karoo is wide and empty? These are exactly the kinds of questions that geography helps us answer. Geography is the study of our world: the land, the water, the weather, the plants and animals, and the people who live everywhere on Earth.
The word geography comes from two old Greek words: geo, which means "the Earth", and graphy, which means "to write about" or "to describe". So geography simply means describing the Earth. A person who studies geography is called a geographer, and you are about to become one!
What do geographers study?
Geographers look closely at our world and ask three big questions: Where is a place? What is it like there? And why is it like that? We can sort what they study into two main groups.
- Physical geography is about the natural world that was not made by people. This includes mountains like Table Mountain, rivers like the Orange River, oceans, deserts, weather and wild animals.
- Human geography is about people and the things they make and do. This includes towns and cities, roads, farms, where people live, how they earn money, and how they travel.
Often the two groups work together. For example, people in the Western Cape grow grapes because the climate there is just right. The natural climate (physical) shapes what people do (human).
Why is geography useful?
Geography is not just about learning the names of places. It helps us make good choices and care for our world. Here are a few examples:
- A farmer uses geography to decide which crops will grow well in the soil and rainfall of an area.
- Town planners use geography to decide where to build houses, schools and clinics.
- Geography helps us understand problems like droughts, floods and pollution, so we can protect our environment.
- It helps us understand and respect people from different places and cultures.
The tools geographers use
To describe the Earth, geographers use special tools. The most important ones are:
- Maps — flat drawings of an area seen from above, like a bird looking down.
- Globes — round models of the whole Earth.
- Atlases — books filled with many different maps.
- Photographs and satellite images — pictures taken from aeroplanes or from satellites in space.
In this part of your study guide, your focus is on map skills and on looking at the whole world. You will learn to read maps, find places, and understand the patterns you see on Earth.
Seeing the world from above
One of the most important ideas in geography is the bird's-eye view, which we also call a plan view. Imagine you are a hawk flying high above your school. Looking straight down, you would see the rooftops, the sports field as a green rectangle, and the parking area. A map shows places in exactly this way — from straight above.
Try a simple example. If you drew your desk on paper while standing next to it, you would draw the legs and the side. But a plan view of your desk, seen from above, would just be a flat rectangle with your book and pencil case on top. Maps work the same way: they turn the real, three-dimensional world into a flat drawing we can carry and study.
Big places and small places
Geographers study places at many different sizes, called different scales. We can zoom in or zoom out, a bit like the map app on a phone:
- A small, local place — like your classroom or your street in Soweto.
- A bigger place — like the city of Cape Town.
- A province — like KwaZulu-Natal.
- A country — like South Africa.
- A continent — like Africa.
- The whole Earth — our planet, seen on a globe.
Whether we look at one street or the whole planet, we are always asking the same geographer's questions: Where is it? What is it like? Why is it like that?
Quick worked example: counting places
Geographers also count and compare. Suppose a learner maps the shops on her street and finds 2 spaza shops, 1 bakery and 1 fruit stall. How many shops are there in total? We add them: \(2 + 1 + 1 = 4\) shops. If 2 of those 4 shops sell food you can eat right away (the bakery and the fruit stall), that is half, or [\frac{2}{4} = \frac{1}{2}] of the shops. Even simple counting like this is part of describing a place.
What you have learned
Geography means "describing the Earth". Geographers ask where, what and why. They study the natural world (physical geography) and the world of people (human geography), and they use maps, globes, atlases and photographs as their tools. In the chapters ahead, you will sharpen your map skills and travel across the whole world without leaving your desk.