Contributions of greek scholars in geography

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1. Contributions of Greek Scholars in Geography

Introduction.
Geography as a field of knowledge had its roots in Greek
learning. This is not the case surprising as in ancient times
Greek was one of the most prosperous civilizations
ranging from 500Bc - 200Bc with its base in Greece and
surrounding areas. Greek time is aptly called '' The Golden Age
'' because all Greeks offer A conceptual framework that has
guided western thinking for centuries. It was
the most developed economy in the world. Greek philosophers
of the day provided a theoretical and scholarly foundation for
philosophical thinking through models, concepts, and
paradigms that have guided Western scholars to many
hundreds of years.

Major Greek Philosophers.
In ancient Greek mythology, there are two traditions of
geography, that is, the culture of mathematics and the culture
of writing. It is a common belief that Homer is regarded as the
Father of Geography. This is because you introduced a writing
culture for his great work of ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Illiad’. He described
four winds from different directions and named it Boreas
(North), Eurus (East), Notus (South) and Zephyrus (West).
Thales was the first Greek philosopher, philosopher, and
traveler who was present is concerned with the basic concepts

2. of geometry. He proposed the following six Geometric
suggestions -
I) A circle is divided into two equal parts
ii) The angles at any end of the base of the isosceles triangle are
equal
iii) When two parallel lines are crossed next to a straight line,
the different angles are equal
iv) A circular angle is a correct angle
v) The sides of the same triangle are equal
vi) Two triangles meet when they have two sides and one angle
respectively they are equal (James and Martin, 1972)
He saw the earth as a disk floating in water. He was the first
and the first earth's tilt and shape of earth's surface; so
to establish a mathematical culture. He did not stop there and
laid the foundations of descriptive art studies can be explored
from a global perspective and steps; analysis of traditional non-
scientific meanings.


Anaximander
he is given the presentation of the Babylonian iron
known as Gnomon in the land of Greek literature. The Gnomon
pole is placed vertically above the flat surface where the
various shapes of the sun and the rest of the sky
bodies can be measured by the height and direction of the
shadow created by vertical pole. It is also called producing a
world map to measure. This map has been deleted with

3. information collected from the Sumerians who have a
photographic archive maps. Interestingly, this map contains the
earth's oceans.

Thales and Anaximander praised the establishment of a
mathematical tradition in geography. The credit for establishing
a literary tradition goes to Hecataeus. He was a Greek scholar
of the 6th century BC from Miletus (an educational institution
in those days). He was a pioneer, and he was one of the first
writers of the Greek prose. He was
The first Greek scholar to distinguish between the details of the
then known world brought it to Miletus. His work is known as
the '' Ges-periodos '' or Definition of Earth. It was the first
formal description of the known world at that time, namely
published in the late 6th century BC. Ges-periodos describes
places in near the Mediterranean Sea formerly called perplus
means coastal area. Hecataeus divided his book of "Ges-
periodos" into two parts, with 'A' referring to local details about
Europe and part B working with Libya. This book is

4. a combination of literary culture and geography and nature.
Hecataeus for the first time gave two approaches for the study
of geography:
a) Procedure for fraud or law enforcement.
b) Idiographic (descriptive) method.
Hecataeus prepared a world map but based it on the
Anaximander map; heI just changed it. Divide it into two parts
by drawing a passing line Hellespont, Caspian Sea and Caucasus
mountains. He named the northern part such as Europe and
the southern part of Libya which includes Africa and Asia.

Herodotus.
he was a prominent Greek scholar of the 5th century BC. There
is no exaggerated in the statement that Herodotus was the
father of history. Ungu given the notion that history should be
treated geographically and with all geography should be
treated historically (James and Martin, 1981). Also identified as
the father of ethnography as it provides a clear reflection of
human cultural symbols who were unknown to the Greeks. His
activities depended on his perception of time his departure. He
gave both geographical and human characteristics. Herodotus
arrived up with the idea that Egypt is a river gift where he
emphasizes that tax and the mud of the river leads to the
formation of the delta. It was his first time gave the impression
that winds were moving from the cold to the tropics. Tried to
rate the age of the earth on the basis of sedimentation rate and
is estimated to be one foot The soil was formed in 880 years.

5. Taking a total rope 158 km wide, Herodotus calculated the
earth's age to be 440 million years of age the earth is 4.6 billion
years old.

Plato and Aristotle
They made significant contributions in the field of
geography. Plato is regarded as the mastermind of diminishing
negotiations – from generally special. He is considered to be
the first scholar to accept I the idea of a spherical earth in the
center of the universe and other celestial bodies
around it in circular motion. Aristotle gave the first impression
within the theoretical framework that was in Europe at the
time. He stressed that the perception was what it was sensory
device does not provide explanations; especially science
explanations. Forms basic rules or principles for scientific
interpretation, which became a scholarly guide for centuries to
come. You agreed with him Plato that the earth is round by
standing and proceeded to seek a description of the circular
shape. He even contributed to the human branch geography in
which he puts forward the concept of diversity in surface of the
earth on the basis of latitudinal position. You have selected that
region near the Equator they were uninhabited and called
themselves the Torrid Zone. Similarly, parts of the earth that
were far from the Equator and were permanent the snow was
also uninhabited - the Frigid Zone. The people of the world live
Hot spot existing between Torrid and Frigid Areas.

6. Eratosthenes.
He regarded as the ‘Father of Geography’. He is
who coined the term Geography, which is derived from the two
words' ge 'meaning' the Earth 'and' graphy 'which means
explain'. You have been honored with a definition for
geography as a ‘‘study of the earth as a human home’’. His
highlights his world-famous contribution to his earth's orbit.
Use the Thales theorem - Where two parallel lines are present
cut diagonally in a straight line, the different angles are equal -
in time measuring the rotation of the earth (Figure 3). He also
edited the world map in relation to the appropriate distance
(Figure 4). His remarkable contribution was his
'' Geographica '' text. He also described the earth as five
climatic zones: one Torrid Location, two cool places, and two
cold places. He also measured the opposite and length. It is for
this reason that Eratosthenes is considered to be father of
Geodesy.

Hippocrates in his book On Airs, Waters, Places explained the
man-nature relationship in the context of climatic conditions

Hipparchus.
An idea has been developed to find each exact location
set the face of the earth. On the basis of Assyrian statistics, he
divided circle to be 360 degrees. He made an effort to show
three dimensions’ earth on a flat surface. Thank you for

7. creating two standards for doing so; these it is a guess of the
calculation and writing of the characters. He even showed that
these systems have their limitations as they can only represent
the hemisphere as well not the whole world. It was thus
supported and prospered by the mathematical system of
geography. Another important contribution of Hipparchus is
the establishment of Astrolabe - a metal similar to
Anaximander's Gnomon but easy to carry.The aim was to
provide an accurate estimate of ocean range in view
polestar angle. Another important Greek scholar is worth
mentioning Posidonius.

Posidonius.
He recounted the rotation of the earth and came to a much
smaller person of Eratosthenes (about 18000 miles).