- spatial tradition
- area-studies tradition
- man-land tradition
- earth-studies tradition
1. Spatial Tradition: a locational tradition—spatial unifying theme, similar patterns between physical & human geography.
Intellectual legacy: Claudius Ptolemy (A.D. 100?-170?), Greek
- wrote 8-volume Geographia in the second century A.D. containing numerous maps
- considered the "father of geometry"
Modern geographer: Alfred Wegener; climatologist
- Studied spatial arrangement of landmasses, used geographical and geological evidence
- Continental drift—landmasses were once part of supercontinent (plate tectonics)
Immanuel Kant:
- Need disciplines focused not only on particular phenomena (such as economics and sociology) but also on the perspectives of time (history) and space (geography).
2. Area Studies Tradition: an area-analysis tradition‐regional geography.
Intellectual legacy: Strabo (63? B.C.-A.D. 24?), Roman
- investigator, who wrote a report called Geography, a massive production for the Roman government
- report described the known world according to location and place, their character, and their differentiation.
Modern geographer: Carl Sauer (1889-1975), American
- The work of human geography is to discern the relationships among social and physical phenomena
- Everything in the landscape is interrelated.
3. Man-Land Tradition: a culture-environment tradition - relationships between human societies and natural environments
Intellectual legacy: Hippocrates; (5th century BC), Greek- physician
- wrote that places affect the health and character of man.
Modern geographer(s): Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859); German
- Move beyond describing earth's surface to explaining why certain phenomena are present or absent.
- Origin of "where" and "why" approach
- Environmental determinism – how the physical environment causes social development
4. Earth Studies Tradition: an earth-science tradition—physical (natural) geography
Intellectual legacy: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.); Greek
- philosopher who looked at natural processes
- Earth is spherical, matter falls together toward a common center
Modern geographer: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); German
- philosopher who wrote about space and time, cause and effect as essential to human understanding
- all knowledge can be classified logically or physically
- Descriptions according to time compromise history, descriptions according to place compromise geography
- History studies phenomena that follow one another chronologically, whereas geography studies phenomena that are located beside one another