Geography as an integrating discipline; branches

Geography as an integrating discipline. Geography is a discipline of synthesis: it attempts spatial synthesis, while history attempts temporal synthesis. Its approach is holistic: the world is a system of interdependencies, a 'global village'. It draws its data from all the natural and social sciences (geology, pedology, oceanography, botany, zoology, meteorology; economics, history, sociology, political science, anthropology) and integrates them through space.

• Geography shapes history: large countries can trade space for time in war; oceans protected the countries of the 'new world'; the Himalayas sheltered India but their passes let migrants and invaders in from Central Asia; the coast brought contact with East and Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa; navigation let European powers colonise Asia and Africa.
• History shapes geography: landforms, climate, vegetation, economies and cultures change over time.
• Space and time can be converted: a place 1,500 km away can be described as about two hours by plane or seventeen by a fast train. So time is the fourth dimension of geography (besides length, breadth and height).

Two approaches:

• Systematic (general) approach, introduced by Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859): a phenomenon is studied world-wide, then types or spatial patterns are identified (for example, natural vegetation, then equatorial rain forests, coniferous forests, monsoon forests).
• Regional approach, developed by Karl Ritter (1779-1859), Humboldt's contemporary: the world is divided into regions (natural, political or designated), and all phenomena in a region are studied together, seeking unity in diversity.
• Geography has a dualism: physical geography came first, and human geography grew because people are part of nature and shape it.

Branches (systematic approach):

• Physical geography: geomorphology (landforms and their evolution), climatology (atmosphere, weather, climate types), hydrology (water: oceans, lakes, rivers) and soil geography (soil formation, types, fertility, use).
• Human geography: social/cultural, population and settlement, economic, historical and political geography (boundaries, neighbouring units, delimitation of constituencies, elections).
• Biogeography, linking the two: plant geography, zoo geography, ecology and environmental geography.

Branches (regional approach): regional or area studies (macro, meso, micro), regional planning (rural and urban), regional development and regional analysis.

Common to all: philosophy (geographical thought, human ecology) and methods and techniques: cartography and computer cartography, statistical techniques, field surveys, and geo-informatics (remote sensing, GIS, GPS).

Example (new): a study of how rainfall varies across the whole world, sorting places into very wet, wet and dry types, is systematic; a study of everything about the Thar desert (its soils, climate, villages, livestock and roads) is regional.