Introduction to Geography: People, Places, and Environment, Global Edition

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 1-29206-126-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-29206-126-9

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Geography - Review and Discussion Questions - Page 75: 2

Answer

Alexandria, a prominent city in Egypt was home to one of the most important repositories of information and knowledge since the historic times - The Library of Alexandria and had held books and tomes which described the description of the Earth in abundant detail. Eratosthenes, the famous Greek Scholar was of the belief that the world was circular shaped and had created calculations of the circumference of the Earth in accurate detail and had drawn a multiple number of maps, describing the geographical features of our precious blue marble. The rise of the Roman Civilization from the dust of Ancient Greece, brought in new opportunities for mapping the cultural, economic and the political whole of the new Empire, resulting in a number of books and treatises published by several scholars in the then era. Amongst the many prominent scholars was Ptolemy known in the then days as the author of 'Geography'. In the years of decline following the decline and falls of the civilizations which made up Western Europe, majority of the available knowledge of geography was lost. However, copies of the information and knowledge created before the decline found its ways towards the East, with the Arabic scholars who preserved this information, describing the physical, political, cultural and economic landscape of the countries they had visited and traded with, mentioning detailed information about the natural resources and trips to the then exotic lands of the Orient - India, China and so on undertaken by them, increasing significantly the available knowledge of the then Geopolitical realities of the world. The 'Approaches' towards Geography - Special Geography (Currently known as Regional Geography) and General Geography currently titled as Topical or Systematic Geography, which are in the vogue today, saw their seeds being laid during the Middle Ages thanks to the efforts of prominent scholars such as Bernhard Varen, whose book is one of the few books that was relevant for a very long time. Mr. Varen's book was edited by Sir Issac Newton and is one of the books still being studied in prominent universities, such as the Harward University in the world today.

Work Step by Step

Alexandria, a prominent city in Egypt was home to one of the most important repositories of information and knowledge since the historic times - The Library of Alexandria and had held books and tomes which described the description of the Earth in abundant detail. Eratosthenes, the famous Greek Scholar was of the belief that the world was circular shaped and had created calculations of the circumference of the Earth in accurate detail and had drawn a multiple number of maps, describing the geographical features of our precious blue marble. The rise of the Roman Civilization from the dust of Ancient Greece, brought in new opportunities for mapping the cultural, economic and the political whole of the new Empire, resulting in a number of books and treatises published by several scholars in the then era. Amongst the many prominent scholars was Ptolemy known in the then days as the author of 'Geography'. In the years of decline following the decline and falls of the civilizations which made up Western Europe, majority of the available knowledge of geography was lost. However, copies of the information and knowledge created before the decline found its ways towards the East, with the Arabic scholars who preserved this information, describing the physical, political, cultural and economic landscape of the countries they had visited and traded with, mentioning detailed information about the natural resources and trips to the then exotic lands of the Orient - India, China and so on undertaken by them, increasing significantly the available knowledge of the then Geopolitical realities of the world. The 'Approaches' towards Geography - Special Geography (Currently known as Regional Geography) and General Geography currently titled as Topical or Systematic Geography, which are in the vogue today, saw their seeds being laid during the Middle Ages thanks to the efforts of prominent scholars such as Bernhard Varen, whose book is one of the few books that was relevant for a very long time. Mr. Varen's book was edited by Sir Issac Newton and is one of the books still being studied in prominent universities, such as the Harvard University in the world today.
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