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History of Geographical Writings
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How
geography has developed is an interesting study. Early geographers,
such as the Chinese, Egyptians, and Phoenicians undertook long
journeys and voyages wrote about the observable features of
different places.
The earliest known map was said to have been made on a clay
tablet in Babylonia, around the year 2300
BC. In due course,
explorers had visited the Mediterranean coast, Great Britain and
the African coast. The credit for giving the modern world fine
geographical details goes to the ancient Greeks.
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For instance, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and scientist was
the first person to demonstrate that the earth was round, basing
his theory on these arguments – that all matter tends to fall
together toward a common centre; the shadow of the earth that
falls on the moon during an eclipse is circular; and, when
traveling from north to south, new constellations appear, while
familiar ones disappear. Again, the first person to accurately
calculate the circumference of the earth was the Greek
geographer Eratosthenes.
Many
of the geographic writings have been the result of Greek travels and
colonizing activities in the Mediterranean region. One such was an
encyclopedia, of seventeen volumes, titled Geography.
Written by the Greek geographer and historian Strabo, it was truly
an encyclopedia that helped many a public administrator and
military commander of the Roman Empire.
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Aristotle |
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During the second century, the Alexandrian astronomer, Ptolemy wrote
exhaustively. He penned the famous Geographike syntaxis. Most
of the Greek and Roman geographical records of his time have been
attributed to him. He also devised new methods for creating maps.
The atlases that we cannot do without today were advocated by him.
If
the word earth brings to mind a circular figure divided into three
hundred and sixty degrees, with an imaginary north-south and
east-west network, we have to thank Ptolemy for it. It was he who
divided the equatorial circle into 360 degrees. He constructed the
imaginary network over the surface of the earth as a reference grid.
These reference points were used to pinpoint the locations of
various land and water bodies. The latitudes and longitudes that we
use today are precise and accurate versions of these reference
points.
After the Greeks, it was the Vikings of Scandinavians who took over
exploring and voyaging through the seas. Further south, the Arabs of
the Middle East began checking the words of Greek geographers. They
extensively explored parts of Asia and Africa. Soon Arab scholars
began translating the works in their language. Ironically, these
Arabic texts were later translated into Latin before the works of
the Greeks spread in Europe. A well-known cartographer from Middle
East was al-Idrisi. Other well-known writers on the subject included
Ibn Batuta and Ibn Khaldun.
Geographic writing expanded in horizon with the adventures of Marco
Polo in the thirteenth century, and the voyages of Portuguese and
Spanish explorers during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In
the fifteenth century, Henry the Navigator of Portugal emerged as a
leader in the promotion of geographic studies. Some of the notable
accounts of voyages, during the sixteenth century were those
published by Giambattista Ramusio, Richard Hakluyt and Theodore de
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