By Nick Fragos
Geography is the science that constitutes a “bridge“ between natural and human environment. It is basically the description of the surface of the earth as it is today. And, why is that? Well, because Geography examines lands and environments, ecosystems and earth phenomena as well as the relationship of people with the land – how they interact and adapt to their natural surroundings.
Did you know that geography is an ancient science? The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes in the 3rd century BC was the one who came up with both the name and the terminology used up to this day. The word “geography“, ‘γεωγραφία’ is a compound from ‘gea’ (γαία=earth) and ‘grafein’ (γράφειν=to write down). So…the idea behind geography was to create a written record of what our planet looks like. Eratosthenes was a famous map maker too.
Either because geography has been around for so long and geographers had a lot of time in their hands or maybe because they’re just very clever and inquisitive- geography has come up with loads of useful (and sometimes strange…) data. For example, did you know that…
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Geomatics is the branch of geography that invented the Global Positioning System (GPS)? It is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and providing geographical information to us all.
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Eratosthenes calculated with amazing accuracy the circumference of the earth thus inferring its spherical shape. It seems though that scientists later on somehow forgot that bit of information and so, Galileo, 19 centuries after Eratosthenes, was nearly burned at the stake for reaching the… shocking(!) conclusion that the Earth is revolving in space!
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The largest waterfall in the world is 979 meters high.
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South Africa has 11 official languages spoken by 54,956,900 South Africans.
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Iceland has 200 active volcanoes within its territory.
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Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents.
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The deepest hole dug by man is 8,860 meters deep, just 4.5 cm wide and is located in Texas.
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Although Mount Everest is the highest peak on the planet, due to the earth’s bulgy shape, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the closest peak to the moon!
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The second longest place name in the world is «Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka
pikimaungahoronukupokaiwhe NUA kitanatahu» (85 letters), which is a hill in New Zealand. In Maori, this means ‘’the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known by the name of Land Eater, played his flute to his beloved»
Can students earn 25000$ from learning geography? Watch the following video to find out!
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