Y.

Songsri St Edmund’s College

Where can geography take you?

When one is asked where one can be taken to by geography or any other particular subjects, an obvious answer typically
revolves around career prospects. Geography, by definition, is the study of relationships between physical features and humans.
Geographers expertise in topics ranging from studying landforms to evaluating the global governance system, due to geography’s
extensive sub-branches ranging from urban and economic geography to cartography and geomorphology. Alternatively, the term
‘Geography’ itself also refers to nature and physical attributes of a location. Both geography as a feature and study field has
taken human to various stages, and it remains a significant component to human’s progress up to nowadays.

It is important to investigate where Geography has taken human to in history, especially during the prehistoric period when
geography was the most significant factor that drove human through progress. Geography itself to some extent shaped human
physiology in the first place, with the first humans in the East African rift valley evolving behaviourally to suit the geographical
situation of fluctuating water availability in the region, hence laying basis for their descendants to be adaptable to different biomes
and stimulants. Human by nature is migratory, but they were not able to leave Africa, where they evolved from Australopithecus
genus 150,000 years ago into the physical form close to nowadays humans, until approximately 80,000 years afterwards. There
were various geographical factors which enabled human to spread across Eurasia in the subsequent millennia, which in
combination with human’s adaptability had enabled the species to thrive, such as in the case of geographical terrain resulting
from glacial age cycle that enabled later Homo Sapiens migrants to cross from Eurasian to North American landmass and the
Java and Sumatra archipelagos of Indonesia solely by foot, following consequent decrease in sea level. The work of geography
here allowed humans to settle and adapt to suit different ecological setting and hence developed unique community like that of
seafaring villages in the Indonesian archipelago by 45,000 years ago. Additionally, human biological evolution in this period was
the result of geographical change after intercontinental migration, as sea level rose again and humans in different landmasses
were physically isolated, thus leading to speciation and separate evolution, creating new species like the dwarfed Homo
Floresiensis in food-scarce island of Flores.

Map depicting the migration paths of humans overall to different continents

(‘Sapiens’ A Brief History of Humankind’, Page 16 Map I)

Not only did geography optimise the migration and provide opportunities for prehistoric human to uniquely progress in new
environments, it also caved early human civilisation after the agricultural revolution. Varying geography in Asia, with cultivation-
friendly climate in the southern-half and more hostile landscape of steppes up north, initiated the ideal locations for civilisation
in the areas of agricultural surplus such as Mesopotamia and Indus Valley by 3,000 BCE. Meanwhile human settlements in the
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north remained nomadic with reliance on livestock. An example of this was within area of modern-day China and Mongolia, with
civilisation stimulated by fertile lands in Yangtze Valley, while on the contrary population up north in Mongol steppe region were
barbaric nomads. This aspect of geography led to different paths of human development, which consequently resulted in separate
evolution of politics and culture, leading to chains of events that compose human history.

It is also worth observing how the study of geography overtime after civilisation takes human to participating more in defining
its own history. Geography played a role in the determining ideal locations for emerging cities, which became more reliant upon
exploitations of resources and trade overtime, hence they formed around fertile, accessible and material-abundant regions, as
evident from historically important world cities situating around estuary or coastal areas, such as London and Singapore, or
around relatively flat plains that capacitate agriculture, such as Tokyo. However, ever since the cognitive revolution 70,000 years
ago, geography had become something that did not only control or limit human achievement, but also something that is studied
by human to be overcome and deployed for gains. With the developed linguistic ability and invention of writing, humans were
able to transfer information to one another, hence geographical knowledge too is preserved through generations. This develops
following explorations, linking closely to cartography which has been a prominent practice since the classical Greek era. Various
expeditions contributed to human’s accumulating geographical database, such as that of James Cook in late-1700s across the
world, or the expeditions during 19th century at dusk of westward expansion like Lewis & Clark Expedition during 1804-1806
which supported policy-making process of US government with the obtained information about physical geography of the northern
terrain of USA.

Map created by Herodotus of the regions surrounding the Mediterranean in 5th Century BCE

In observance of where geography has taken and is taking human in the modern era, various scientific innovations and
technological development, which especially after the Industrial Revolution have progressively bolstered human development at
global scale, originated from geographical researches. Modern technology which deals with natural hazards such as earthquake
could not have come into existence without past geomorphological observations that formed theories to describe Earth’s physical
process. Theories such as that of Alfred Wegener about past Supercontinent and continental drift have led to series of geological
discoveries about tectonic activities, following studies of ocean floor bathymetry which identified sea trenches and ridges in mid-
1900s, hence drafting up the Plate Tectonic theory. This enables scientists to locate earthquake-prone regions by plate margins,
such as areas around constructive plate boundaries of mid-Atlantic Ridge like Iceland, hence encouraging Iceland to raise
awareness and even opportunely provide 90% of household heating using hot water from cracks in the crust resulting from
earthquakes. Identification of earthquake-prone locations allows land use planning for future urban development to take into
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account proximity to seismic areas, hence emerging cities opt to develop in relatively safe locations from earthquake.
Nevertheless, prediction system for earthquakes has yet to progress to create more refined procedure to deal with such hazard;
although short-term warnings like Shake Alert can be issued in developed nations like USA, it only warns seconds prior to the
hazard, i.e. more advanced prediction system is needed. Limitations include the great variability of earthquake, which can be in
form of indescribable phenomenon such as liquefaction or slow-motion earthquakes that scientists have yet to further investigate,
or the scientific observation that earthquakes do not repeat in cycles or in fixed location pattern. Even then, geographical study
of earthquake throughout the 20th century has enabled introduction of more efficient safety measures like protection strategies,
such as ground shock absorber or reinforcing building foundation and wall using materials like steel and concrete. Developed
nations tend to be more capable in tackling earthquakes, as evident in the cartograms below that deaths tend to be higher in
lower-income countries like DR Congo and Pakistan, in spite of having relatively less occurrences of disastrous earthquakes.
Although geological knowledge is still insufficient, further study of geography can potentially lead scientists to gain enough
insights of tectonic activities to be able to accurately predict earthquakes in the future, as forecast of earthquake magnitude is
now to certain extent possible from ongoing research, hence surely additional progress can be made. The same can also be the
case for other hazards and geographical barriers, which human over time develop their knowledge to slowly gain enough control
to ensure their own security. Therefore, the study of geography has taken human to live at greater degree of safety than ever
before in history, and it can take human to progressing even further, if geographical study in collaboration with other subject
fields continue to progress.

Left cartogram depicting disastrous earthquakes from 2001-2017 on Afro-Eurasia landmass

Right cartogram depicting number of deaths resulting from earthquakes from 2001-17 on Afro-Eurasia Landmass
(‘Geographical’ Vol-91, Page 21-24)

In conclusion, geography continues to play a great role to provide both opportunities and obstacles to human, and there is
a possibility that ongoing study of geography can take human to the stage where humanity and nature; the physical world can
co-exist without one component excessively domineering the other, i.e. human facing tremendous impacts from natural disasters
and unable to progress due to geographical barriers, or human overly exploiting nature for resources. In the world of such
equilibrium, human would be able to mitigate from danger caused by inevitable natural occurrences and have control over their
own destiny, while regarding the concept of sustainability and not act in the way that would cause nature to decline to the point
that it cannot support the very existence of human, and the study of geography is one of the ways for human and nature to be
taken eventually to such state of balance.
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Bibliography:
- Yuval Noah Harari, 2014, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
- Royal Geographical Society, June 2019, Geographical Vol. 91 Issue 06
- Royal Geographical Society, July 2019, Geographical Vol. 91 Issue 07
- National Geographic Partners & Society, August 2019, National Geographic Special Issue
- Oxford University Press, May 2016, GCSE Geography AQA Student Book
- https://www.britannica.com/science/geography/The-emergence-of-geography-exploration-and-mapping
- https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/what-is-geography/
- https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/geography
- https://www.geographyrealm.com/what-are-the-branches-of-geography/
- https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/browse/stats.php