Steven ShifflettGEOG 109MarcusJune 30, 2019Human Geography is the study of all human based phenomena and activities guided through observation. More than ever, integrative scientists are essential components for understanding the world and everything that is in it. Human geography is an important topic that many people should be informed about, because if you are not then you would be very unaware of the things that are going on in this world. Another reason it is good to learn about human geography is because of the constant change in the world nowadays; you have to be up to date on everything.
Geography is a fascinating subject. It reveals all the wonderful changes and activities that have been going on in the world since the beginning of time. By reading geography we learn not only about our own country but also about countries beyond the seas. We also learn about the mountains, oceans, islands, lakes, volcanoes, the winds and a number of other interesting things about the world and the universe.
Among the important things that we learn in Geography are the infinite varieties of creatures, plants, birds and land features that exist in the world. We know that there are millions of creatures, small and large, of various kinds in all parts of the earth. We also know that many of the early creatures have now become extinct, while many of them have changed from their original forms. Reading about all these is indeed very interesting. We also learn about the various types of plants and birds that exist throughout the world. The plants and birds in the cold lands are not the same as those in warmer lands. In the same way, the landforms in the cold regions are different from those in other regions. In the equatorial regions, for example, plant and animal life is very nice, while in the poles the land is covered with snow, and animal and plant life is less abundant. In equatorial regions abundant rain has produced large rivers and lakes, while in areas where little rain falls there are large deserts without many rivers and lakes. As the climate and vegetation of one place are not the same as those of another, the habits and activities of the people of different regions are also different. Even their religious convictions and languages are different from those of other parts of the world. Therefore, Geography is a very important subject, and because of its width and variety it is one of the most interesting subjects to read.Now, a very important aspect in geography are the five themes; these themes are in reference to maps, locations, characteristics and environmental impacts of places. The five themes of geography are: location; absolute points on a map or grid or relative to where something may be, place; the physical and/or human characteristics of a locations, human/environment Interactions; how humans have impacted the landscape or environment, relationship between places and their movement, how humans interact on the earth (how they communicate over distance (short or long)) and lastly, regions; a unit of space that has commonalities defined by physical, human and environmental geography. The explorers of the new world may have not known what the five themes of geography were but they quickly learned. Of the five themes the ones that they all took advantage of was the physical location and place as they learned to navigate the world through new technology and strategy.John Smith learned to move his people to places with safer water during the summer months as the indigenous people would and bring them back afterward. Human interactions with the environment in the early settlements were somewhat disastrous as the settlers believed that the climates of Europe would parlay to the new world. This was most evidenced in the Jamestown settlement. Many settlers, unaware of the unhealthy James River water during summer months, became ill and/or died as a result of disease normally connected with drinking from a polluted water source. The settlers believed in settled farming, basically clearing the land and farming (planting crops and raising animals). Along with the water problem of the James land, this had a profound impact on the land they inhabited, some good and some bad. Animals such as the horse, sheep, cattle and pigs, to name a few, were introduced to the new world which impacted the environment. Most were grazing animals, meaning that they would feed on the plant life (mostly grasses and weeds). These animals would clear lands forcing herders to move to more fertile ground constantly. The good of this was that the animals would accidentally introduce new plant life.In conclusion, geography is extremely relevant and important to our culture and society. Without geographers much like John Smith, we would not have as much access as we do to easily locatable places and studies on the impacts of animals, crops, and their environment. Geography gives us the opportunity to study the details of our world and surroundings in depth which, in turn; gives us a better understanding of where we came from and how we got here.