GENERAL OVERVIEW / INTRODUCTION
This course focuses on;
 What is on the Earth
 What is around the earth
 What is under the ground
 How did it form, its origin, its composition, it’s size and shape etc
The course emerges from one of the definitions of geography viz Geography as the descriptive
science dealing with the surface of the earth, its divisions into continents and countries, climates,
plants, animals, natural resources, inhabitants and other divisions.
The physical features especially the surface features of the region, area or place
The course focuses one of the major subdivisions of geography namely Physical geography. The
other 2 subdivisions are Environmental geography and Human geography.
Physical geography:
Physical geography examines the nature and characteristics of physical elements, processes
involved in their development, their distribution over the earth and their basic components. Its
branches includes disciplines such as geomorphology, climatology, soils geography, biogeography
and other branches. Meteorology is the study of climate and atmosphere.
Physical geography includes the study of land forms, meteorology, climatology, geomorphology.
Environmental geography is concerned with environmental issues.
This deals with environmental issues arising out of human impact on the environment and
environment on humans. It involves linking and understanding of human and physical phenomena
in the environment and the consequences of their interactions.
Human geography which includes disciplines such as cultural geography, transport geography,
economic geography, political geog etc
It deals with human activities and their impact. It is concerned with subjects such as population
density, cultural patterns (the way of behavior of the people), cities and urbanization and transport
networks. Demography is the study of human populations and how they change. Demographics
are the characteristic of human populations for the purpose of study e.g. age , race or gender .
Culture: This rule of social life is pattern of culture. It is that ideal which is presented as an
example to the people. These people are expected to behave according to cultural patterns. A
culture develops patterns of behavior in all social situations)
SCOPE OF GEOGRAPHY AS A DISCIPLINE
Geography is the way of looking at the earth as a human habitat. As a field of inquiry, its concerns
center upon the physical –biotic system of the earth or the earth as the human habitat.
The question is: How and why man has distributed himself over the earth and what changes
he has brought out on the physical earth?
Geography is therefore more than a simple inventory of characteristic of places but more
importantly it has to do with understanding the processes underlying the spatial associations of
phenomena.
Although the content of the total scope of geography is diverse and complex and calls for various
methods of study. There are some overriding guidelines, for instance, the recognition that
phenomena are not heaped together without order. They exist in associations that are subject to
study and comprehension.
Secondly, geographers recognizes that man is capable of a marked degree of dominance
ecologically. Man is capable of bringing about many changes in the physical – biotic system
through his activities such as clearing vegetation, planting crops(agriculture), mining etc.
Thirdly, the regional concept often serves to bring into focus the aerial dimensions of the topic
under examination. Through the many years of evolution of the discipline of geography,
geographers have developed a considerable back ground of spatial knowledge.
Geography currently has many branches but can be divided into 3 broad areas namely, physical
geography, environmental and human geography, these three broad areas can also be subdivided
further into many subdivisions.
Geographic research today seeks solutions to specific problems for instance we seek to answer
questions such as where are the features of interest located, why are they there, is there order etc.
Considerable attention is also being devoted to developing the theoretical frame work of the
discipline as well as techniques of quantification. The practicing geographer therefore must be a
keen observer and an able interviewer, he/she must be able to identify and evaluate the parts of
man – earth system, to recognize relationships, to classify for recording and apply appropriate
graphic tools such as maps, the map projection, photographs, images, compass, the globe, graphs
etc. For some problems in geography however, information can be got from the work of other
specialties such as planners, demographers, social scientists, ecologists etc. The present day
geographer is expected to be competent in the interpretation and use of information from many
different sources. Geographers have often been accused of being ‘jacks of all trades and masters
of none’. That accusation, however is not justified because geographers core interest is spatial
relationships. They answer questions such as what, where, how etc. concerning phenomena on the
earth’s surface.
THE EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE
THE PHYSICAL EARTH
The earth is the third planet from the sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system. It is the
largest of the terrestrial planets of the inner solar system, bigger than Mercury, Venus and Mars.
Only the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are bigger. The sun is the centre of the
solar system. Orbiting around the sun are nine planets which do not generate energy.
Although Pluto was officially relegated to a dwarf planet in 2006 by all the international
astronomical union, debate about its status is on going.
Of all the planets, it is only earth that is known to support life. As far as human knowledge goes,
the earth is the most suitable planet for life and living.
ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
1. The big Bang theory
This is the most accepted theory by the scientific community and asserts that the universe
originated in a very dense and hot state and has constantly expanded until now. It was also
believed that the universe will become less dense until temperatures will decrease to almost
absolute zero.
It will slow down from expanding and then will start to collapse forming another explosion
called the big crunch
2. The Inflation theory
This was developed in 1981 by Allan Guth an American theoretical cosmologist.
(Cosmology is a branch of astronomy involving the origin and evolution of the universe).
It asserts that in the first few moments after the big bang, the fundamental forces were
joined, then these forces started to separate. With this separation enormous amounts of
energy was generated.
3. Stationary theory
This was developed by Edward Milne in 1935 who proposed and named this (idea) thesis
“Cosmological beginning”. According to this theory, the universe does not have a
beginning or an end. In 1948, some astronomers added new concepts to this beginning and
changed the name to “perfect Cosmological beginning”
4. Oscillating theory ( or cyclic model )
This was developed by Paul Steinhardt an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist,
and the theory says that our universe would be the last one of the many that originated in
the past after successive explosions (Big Bang) and contractions (Big Crunch). To the
advocators, the formation of the Universe is a never ending cycle known as Oscillating
universe.
Most physicists maintain that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. The widely accepted
theory for its origin and evolution is the big bang theory which states that the universe
began as an incredible hot, dense point roughly 13.7 billion years ago or approximately 14
billion years ago.
THE BIRTH AND ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
The universe is thought to have had a dynamic beginning that culminated into formation
of the earth. From 12 billion years ago – 7 billion years ago galaxies, stars, and planets of
the universe were formed, destroyed and reformed. A number of steps led into the birth of
the earth. It has been proposed that 7 billion years ago, a red giant in the vicinity of the
universe exploded and around 4.6 billion years ago the remnant of the explosions formed
the solar system.
After the collapse of the red giant, a rotating dense cloud known as nebula remained. It
cooled, condensed and contracted – rotating faster, its materials separated from the cloud
and condensed later to form planets. This resulted into the nine planets of our solar system
grouped as: Terrestrial planets, Jovian (non-terrestrial planets) and Pluto.
Terrestrial planets
These are the closest to the sun which is also known as an average star. They are “earth
like”. They are rocky with metallic centres and are made of heavier materials that stayed
around the sun. They include; Mercury, Venus, earth, Mars.
Jovian (Non –Terrestrial Planets)
These are farther from the sun. They are similar to Jupiter. They are “Jupiter –like” because
they are gigantic and composed of mostly liquids and gases. They were formed by lighter
materials that were boiled away from areas nearest to the sun. They are also referred to as
gas giants. They are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Pluto
This is at the outer limit of the solar system. It has neither the characteristics of terrestrial
nor non-terrestrial planets.
The current estimate is that the earth is 4.6 billion years old though it is believed to have no
beginning and end therefore ageless. Some scholars have attempted to fuse the biblical account
with the scientific theories. According to some biblical scholars, Bishop Usher (1664) puts its age
at 5668 million years and concluded that the earth was formed on 26th October 4002 BC based on
a literal translation of the Bible.
Reading Assignment : Draw a diagram illustrating the solar system .