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Geography (from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία geōgraphía; combining gê 'Earth' and gráphō 'write') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science. Geography has been called "a bridge between natural science and social science disciplines."

Origins of many of the concepts in geography can be traced to Greek Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who may have coined the term "geographia" (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC). The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as the title of a book by Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy (100 – 170 AD). This work created the so-called "Ptolemaic tradition" of geography, which included "Ptolemaic cartographic theory." However, the concepts of geography (such as cartography) date back to the earliest attempts to understand the world spatially, with the earliest example of an attempted world map dating to the 9th century BCE in ancient Babylon. The history of geography as a discipline spans cultures and millennia, being independently developed by multiple groups, and cross-pollinated by trade between these groups. The core concepts of geography consistent between all approaches are a focus on space, place, time, and scale.

Today, geography is an extremely broad discipline with multiple approaches and modalities. There have been multiple attempts to organize the discipline, including the four traditions of geography, and into branches. Techniques employed can generally be broken down into quantitative and qualitative approaches, with many studies taking mixed-methods approaches. Common techniques include cartography, remote sensing, interviews, and surveying. (Full article...)

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Image 1

Mauna Kea in December 2007, with its seasonal snow cap visible

Mauna Kea (/ˌmɔːnə ˈkeɪə, ˌmaʊnə -/, Hawaiian: [ˈmɐwnə ˈkɛjə]; abbreviation for Mauna a Wākea) is a dormant shield volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi. Its peak is 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft) above sea level, making it the highest point in Hawaii and the island with the second highest high point, behind New Guinea, the world's largest tropical island with multiple peaks that are higher. The peak is about 38 m (125 ft) higher than Mauna Loa, its more massive neighbor. Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height: its prominence from sea level is fifteenth in the world among mountains, at 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft); its prominence from under the ocean is 9,330 m (30,610 ft), rivaled only by Mount Everest. This dry prominence is greater than Everest's height above sea level of 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), and some authorities have labeled Mauna Kea the tallest mountain in the world, from its underwater base. Mauna Kea is ranked 8th by topographic isolation.

It is about one million years old and thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes due to construction of cinder cones, decentralization of its rift zones, glaciation on its peak, and weathering by the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now thought to be dormant. (Full article...)
Image 2

Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and thousands of smaller islands, covering 377,975 square kilometres (145,937 sq mi). Japan has a population of nearly 124 million as of 2024, and is the eleventh-most populous country. Its capital and largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 38 million inhabitants as of 2016. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of the country's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making its islands prone to destructive earthquakes and tsunamis.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara, and later Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by warrior nobility (samurai). After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan pursued rapid industrialization and modernization, as well as militarism and overseas colonization. In 1937, Japan invaded China, and in 1941 attacked the United States and European colonial powers, entering World War II as an Axis power. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. After the war, the country underwent rapid economic growth, although its economy has stagnated since 1990. (Full article...)
Image 3

Main façade (north elevation) from U.S. Route 50, July 2016

The Sloan–Parker House, also known as the Stone House, Parker Family Residence, or Richard Sloan House, is a late-18th-century stone residence near Junction, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It was built on land vacated by the Shawnee after the Native American nation had been violently forced to move west to Kansas following their defeat at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1975, becoming Hampshire County's first property to be listed on the register. The Sloan–Parker House has been in the Parker family since 1854. The house and its adjacent farm are located along the Northwestern Turnpike (US 50/WV 28) in the rural Mill Creek valley.

The original fieldstone section of the house was erected in about 1790 for Richard Sloan and his wife Charlotte Van Horn Sloan. Originally from Ireland, Sloan arrived in the United States after the American Revolutionary War and became an indentured servant of David Van Horn. Sloan eloped with Van Horn's daughter Charlotte and they settled in the Mill Creek valley, where they built the original stone portion of the house. The Sloans had ten children, including John and Thomas Sloan, who each (later) represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates. Richard Sloan and his family operated a successful weaving business from the stone house and their Sloan counterpanes (woven coverlets with block designs) became well known in the South Branch Valley region. (Full article...)
Image 4

Aeneas Lionel Acton Mackintosh (1 July 1879 – 8 May 1916) was a British Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer who commanded the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917. The Ross Sea party's mission was to support Shackleton's proposed transcontinental march by laying supply depots along the latter stages of the march's intended route. In the face of persistent setbacks and practical difficulties, Mackintosh's party fulfilled its task, although he and two others died in the course of their duties. Mackintosh's first Antarctic experience was as second officer on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition, 1907–1909. Shortly after his arrival in the Antarctic, a shipboard accident destroyed his right eye, and he was sent back to New Zealand. He returned in 1909 to participate in the later stages of the expedition; his will and determination in adversity impressed Shackleton, and led to his Ross Sea party appointment in 1914.

Having brought his party to the Antarctic, Mackintosh was faced with numerous difficulties. Confused and vague orders meant he was uncertain of the timing of Shackleton's proposed march. His problems were compounded when the party's ship, SY Aurora, was swept from its winter moorings during a gale and was unable to return, causing the loss of vital equipment and supplies. In carrying out the party's depot-laying task, one man died; Mackintosh barely survived, owing his life to the actions of his comrades who brought him to safety. Restored to health, he and a companion disappeared while attempting to return to the expedition's base camp by crossing the unstable sea ice. Mackintosh's competence and leadership skills have been questioned by polar historians. Shackleton commended the work of the party, and equated the sacrifice of their lives to those given in the trenches of the First World War, but was critical of Mackintosh's organising skills. Years later, Shackleton's son, Lord Shackleton, identified Mackintosh as one of the expedition's heroes, alongside Ernest Joyce and Dick Richards. (Full article...)
Image 5
Image map of Kitchen Creek and its waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park, as well as other prominent features. Each label is linked to an article or image. Click here for larger map.

There are 24 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania along Kitchen Creek as it flows in three steep, narrow valleys, or glens. They range in height from 9 feet (2.7 m) to the 94-foot (29 m) Ganoga Falls. Ricketts Glen State Park is named for R. Bruce Ricketts, a colonel in the American Civil War who owned over 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but spared the old-growth forests in the glens from clearcutting. The park, which opened in 1944, is administered by the Bureau of State Parks of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Nearly all of the waterfalls are visible from the Falls Trail, which Ricketts had built from 1889 to 1893 and which the state park rebuilt in the 1940s and late 1990s. The Falls Trail has been called "the most magnificent hike in the state" and one of "the top hikes in the East". (Full article...)
Image 6

Sunset over the Everglades river of grass, January 2013

Everglades National Park is a national park of the United States that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. An average of one million people visit the park each year. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. UNESCO declared the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1979, and the Ramsar Convention included the park on its list of Wetlands of International Importance in 1987. Everglades is one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists.

Most national parks preserve unique geographic features; Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing 0.25 miles (0.40 km) per day out of Lake Okeechobee, southwest into Florida Bay. The park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Thirty-six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles. The majority of South Florida's fresh water, which is stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park. (Full article...)
Image 7

Truman near his lodge in 1980, a few months before his death

Harry R. Truman (October 1896 – May 18, 1980) was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He
lived near Mount St. Helens, an active volcano in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. Truman came to fame as a folk hero in the weeks leading up to the volcano's 1980 eruption after refusing to leave his home despite evacuation orders. He was killed by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 150 ft (46 m) of volcanic debris.

After Truman's death, his family and friends reflected on his love for the mountain. In 1981, Art Carney portrayed Truman in the docudrama film St. Helens. He was commemorated in a book by his niece, and also in various pieces of music, including songs by Headgear, Billy Jonas, and Shawn Wright and the Brothers Band. (Full article...)
Image 8

Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 1864 – 21 April 1934) was a Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and others associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Borchgrevink was born and raised in Christiania (now Oslo) as the son of a Norwegian lawyer and an English-born immigrant mother. He began his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, during which he became one of the first people to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. This achievement helped him to obtain backing for his Southern Cross expedition, which became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland, and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since the expedition of Sir James Clark Ross nearly sixty years earlier. (Full article...)
Image 9

Tiruchirappalli (Tamil pronunciation: [ˈt̪iɾɯtːʃiɾaːpːaɭːi] , formerly called Trichinopoly in English, also known as Tiruchi or Trichy), is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable city, the cleanest city of Tamil Nadu, as well as the fifth safest city for women in India. It is the fourth largest city as well as the fourth largest urban agglomeration in the state. Located 322 kilometres (200 mi) south of Chennai and 374 kilometres (232 mi) north of Kanyakumari, Tiruchirappalli sits almost at the geographic centre of Tamil Nadu state. The Cauvery Delta begins 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of the city where the Kaveri river splits into two, forming the island of Srirangam which is now incorporated into the Tiruchirappalli City Municipal Corporation. The city occupies an area of 167.23 square kilometres (64.57 sq mi) and had a population of 916,857 in 2011.

Tiruchirappalli's recorded history begins in the 3rd century BC, when it was under the rule of the Cholas. The city has also been ruled by the Mutharaiyars, Pallavas, Pandyas, Vijayanagar Empire, Nayak Dynasty, the Carnatic state and the British. The most prominent historical monuments in Tiruchirappalli include the Rockfort at Teppakulam, the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam dedicated to the reclining form of Hindu God Vishnu, and is also the largest functioning temple in the world, and the Jambukeswarar temple at Thiruvanaikaval, which is also the largest temple for the Hindu God Shiva in the world. The archaeologically important town of Uraiyur, capital of the Early Cholas, is now a neighbourhood in Tiruchirappalli. The city played a critical role in the Carnatic Wars (1746–1763) between the British and the French East India companies. (Full article...)
Image 10

Maritana Avenue, one of only two paved roads in Elcor, looking south toward Manilla Street, 1980

Elcor is a ghost town, or more properly, an extinct town, in the U.S. state of Minnesota that was inhabited between 1897 and 1956. It was built on the Mesabi Iron Range near the city of Gilbert in St. Louis County. Elcor was its own unincorporated community before it was abandoned and was never a neighborhood proper of the city of Gilbert. Not rating a figure in the national census, the people of Elcor were only generally considered to be citizens of Gilbert. The area where Elcor was located was annexed by Gilbert when its existing city boundaries were expanded after 1969.

In November 1890, the seven Merritt brothers discovered ore near Mountain Iron, triggering an unparalleled iron rush to the Mesabi Range. The Elba mine was opened in 1897, and the town was platted under the direction of Don H. Bacon, president of the Minnesota Iron Company. A second nearby mine, the Corsica, was opened in 1901. The community was first called "Elba" after the name of the first underground mine (the name "Elcor" was formed later by combining the first syllables of each mine's name). The Elba and Corsica mines were both leased by Pickands Mather and Company after the formation of the United States Steel Corporation. An influx of people of many ethnicities and many nations followed, and Elcor became a microcosm of U.S. immigration, mirroring the cultural assimilation of the time. At its peak around 1920, Elcor had two churches, a post office, a general store, a primary school, a railroad station, and its own law enforcement, and housed a population of nearly 1,000. (Full article...)
Image 11

Tutupaca viewed from a southern direction.

Tutupaca is a volcano in the region of Tacna in Peru. It is part of the Peruvian segment of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of several volcanic belts in the Andes. Tutupaca consists of three overlapping volcanoes formed by lava flows and lava domes made out of andesite and dacite, which grew on top of older volcanic rocks. The highest of these is usually reported to be 5,815 metres (19,078 ft) tall and was glaciated in the past.

Several volcanoes in Peru have been active in recent times, including Tutupaca. Their volcanism is caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate. One of these volcanoes collapsed in historical time, probably in 1802, generating a large debris avalanche with a volume likely exceeding 0.6–0.8 cubic kilometres (0.14–0.19 cu mi) and a pyroclastic flow. The associated eruption was among the largest in Peru for which there are historical records. The volcano became active about 700,000 years ago, and activity continued into the Holocene, but whether there were historical eruptions was initially unclear; some eruptions were instead attributed to the less eroded Yucamane volcano. The Peruvian government plans to monitor the volcano for future activity. Tutupaca features geothermal manifestations with fumaroles and hot springs. (Full article...)
Image 12

Along Astley Road

Chat Moss is a large area of peat bog that makes up part of the City of Salford, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. It also makes up part of Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside and Warrington in Cheshire. North of the Manchester Ship Canal and River Mersey, 5 miles (8 km) to the west of Manchester, it occupies an area of about 10.6 square miles (27.5 km²).

As it might be recognised today, Chat Moss is thought to be about 7,000 years old, but peat development seems to have begun there with the ending of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. The depth of peat ranges from 24 to 30 feet (7 to 9 m). A great deal of reclamation work has been carried out, particularly during the 19th century, but a large-scale network of drainage channels is still required to keep the land from reverting to bog. In 1958 workers extracting peat discovered the severed head of what is believed to be a Romano-British Celt, possibly a sacrificial victim, in the eastern part of the bog near Worsley. (Full article...)
Image 13

Photo of McNish cropped from the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition crew photo.

Henry McNish (11 September 1874 – 24 September 1930), often referred to as Harry McNish or by the nickname Chippy, was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. He was responsible for much of the work that ensured the crew's survival after their ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. He modified the small boat, James Caird, that allowed Shackleton and five men (including McNish) to make a voyage of hundreds of miles to fetch help for the rest of the crew.

After the expedition he returned to work in the Merchant Navy and eventually emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked on the docks in Wellington until poor health forced his retirement. He died destitute in the Ohiro Benevolent Home in Wellington. (Full article...)
Image 14

View of Mount Berlin from the surrounding ice sheet

Mount Berlin is a glacier-covered volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the Amundsen Sea. It is a roughly 20-kilometre-wide (12 mi) mountain with parasitic vents that consists of two coalesced volcanoes: Berlin proper with the 2-kilometre-wide (1.2 mi) Berlin Crater and Merrem Peak with a 2.5-by-1-kilometre-wide (1.55 mi × 0.62 mi) crater, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) away from Berlin. The summit of the volcano is 3,478 metres (11,411 ft) above sea level. It has a volume of 200 cubic kilometres (48 cu mi) and rises from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is part of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province. Trachyte is the dominant volcanic rock and occurs in the form of lava flows and pyroclastic rocks.

The volcano began erupting during the Pliocene and was active into the late Pleistocene and the Holocene. Several tephra layers encountered in ice cores all over Antarctica – but in particular at Mount Moulton – have been linked to Mount Berlin, which is the most important source of such tephras in the region. The tephra layers were formed by explosive eruptions that generated high eruption columns. Presently, fumarolic activity occurs at Mount Berlin and forms ice towers from freezing steam. (Full article...)
Image 15

Downtown Lethbridge on 4th Avenue South

Lethbridge (/ˈlɛθbrɪdʒ/ LETH-brij) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to the city's warm summers, mild winters, and windy climate. Lethbridge lies approximately 215 km (134 mi) southeast of Calgary on the Oldman River.

Lethbridge is the commercial, educational, financial, industrial and transportation centre of southern Alberta. The city's economy developed from drift mining for coal in the late 19th century and agriculture in the early 20th century. Half of the workforce is employed in the health, education, retail and hospitality sectors, and the top five employers are government-based. The University of Lethbridge, the only university in Alberta south of Calgary, is located here, as well as two colleges. Cultural venues in the city include performing art theatres, galleries, museums, gardens, and sports centres. (Full article...)

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Vital articles to understand Geography.

South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern subregion of the Americas. (Full article...)

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Image 1
Peirce quincuncial projection
Map: Strebe, using Geocart
The Peirce quincuncial projection is a conformal map projection developed by Charles Sanders Peirce in 1879, while he was working at the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. In the normal aspect Peirce's projection presents the Northern Hemisphere in a square; the Southern Hemisphere is split into four 90°–45°–45° triangles surrounding it so that the whole map forms a larger square.
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Image 2
Mercator projection
Map: Strebe, using Geocart
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. Because it represents paths of constant course as straight lines, it long served as the standard map projection for nautical purposes. However, it distorts the size of objects as the latitude increases: thus areas in the mid-latitudes appear significantly larger than their actual size relative to those the equator, and those near the poles are even more exaggerated. Most modern atlases no longer use the Mercator projection for world maps or for areas distant from the equator, preferring other cylindrical projections, or forms of equal-area projection.
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Image 3
Catalan Atlas
Map credit: Abraham Cresques
The Catalan Atlas is a medieval map in the Catalan language, created in 1375. Described as "the zenith of medieval map-work", it is the earliest known chart to use a compass rose. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Abraham Cresques, a Jewish book illuminator described by a contemporary as a master of mappae mundi. It has been in the royal library of France (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France) since the time of King Charles V. The atlas originally consisted of six vellum leaves, each about 64.5 by 50 cm (25.4 by 19.7 in), folded vertically and painted in various colours including gold and silver. This picture is a montage of eight pages (four leaves) of the atlas, depicting Europe, northern Africa and Asia.
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Image 4
Compass rose
Illustration credit: Joaquim Alves Gaspar, after Jorge de Aguiar
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose or rose of the winds, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional magnetic compass. Today, a form of compass rose is found on, or featured in, almost all navigation systems, including nautical charts, non-directional beacons, VHF omnidirectional range systems, GPS, and similar equipment.

This picture is an illustration of a compass rose, copied from a 1492 portolan chart by Portuguese navigator and cartographer Jorge de Aguiar, now in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
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Image 5
Craig retroazimuthal projection
Map: Strebe, using Geocart
The Craig retroazimuthal is a modified cylindrical map projection created by James Ireland Craig in 1909. It preserves the direction from any place to one other, predetermined place while avoiding some of the distortion of the Hammer retroazimuthal projection. This projection is sometimes known as the Mecca projection because Craig, who had worked in Egypt as a cartographer, created it to help Muslims find the qibla.
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Image 6
Hammer retroazimuthal projection
Map: Strebe, using Geocart
The Hammer retroazimuthal projection is a modified azimuthal proposed by Ernst Hermann Heinrich Hammer in 1910. As a retroazimuthal projection, azimuths (directions) are correct from any point to the designated center point. In whole-world presentation, the back and front hemispheres overlap, making the projection a surjective function. Here, the frontside and backside hemispheres, both with a 15° graticule and center point of 45°N, 90°W, are presented side-by-side.
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Image 7
Yukon Delta
Photograph credit: European Space Agency / Sentinel-2
The Yukon Delta is a river delta formed by the Yukon River as it drains into the Bering Sea. It is part of the larger Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, which includes the delta of the Kuskokwim River. The Yukon River rises in British Columbia, Canada, and flows through Yukon before entering the U.S. state of Alaska. This August 2017 satellite image of the Yukon Delta shows how the river branches into numerous distributary channels that meander through the low-lying terrain on their way to the sea. The sandy colour of these channels and the coastal water is indicative of the marine sediment the river carries to the sea at this time of year.
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Image 8
Topographic map of Florida
Map: Eric Gaba
A map showing the geography of Florida, a state in the United States. Situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida, Florida has an extensive coastline. Its highest point, Britton Hill, is the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Florida is home to over 19 million people, living in 410 municipalities.
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Image 9
Mount Everest
Photo credit: Luca Galuzzi
The north face of Mount Everest, as seen from Tibet. Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level, which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time.
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Image 10
Australia
Photo: MODIS (NASA)
The geography of Australia, the world's smallest continent, encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions. By surface area, it is the sixth-largest country in the world, but as can be seen in this composite satellite image, much of the interior is arid desert. The vast majority of the human population is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts, and it is the fiftieth most populous nation.
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Image 11
Dymaxion map
Image: Chris Rywalt
An animation showing the unfolding of a Dymaxion map, a projection of a world map onto the surface of a polyhedron (in this case, an icosahedron) and then flattened to form a two-dimensional map which retains most of the relative proportional integrity of the globe map. This type of map was invented by Buckminster Fuller and is one of several of his inventions to use the name Dymaxion.
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Image 12
Sinusoidal projection
Map: Strebe, using Geocart
The sinusoidal projection is a pseudocylindrical equal-area map projection. Used as early as the 16th century, this projection shows distances accurately along the central meridian and the equator; areas furthest from these lines are the most distorted.
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Image 13
Island of California
Map: Johannes Vingboons; Restoration: Lise Broer
A c. 1650 map showing the Island of California, a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by a strait now known instead as the Gulf of California. The belief persisted until the expeditions of Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774–76.
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Image 14
Geography of Africa
Photo: NASA
A composite satellite image of the geography of Africa, the Earth's second-largest continent, and its adjacent islands. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa, although geographically it belongs in Asia. Africa can be divided into a number of geographic zones: The Atlas Mountains in the north, the Sahara, the coastal plains, and the inner plateaus.
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Image 15
Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio
Map: Diego Gutiérrez and Hieronymus Cock
Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio is an ornate geographical map of the Americas made in 1562 by Spanish cartographer Diego Gutiérrez and Flemish artist Hieronymus Cock. The map encompasses the eastern coast of North America, the whole of Central and South America, and parts of the western coasts of Europe and Africa. This is the earliest scale wall map of the New World and the first to use the name "California". Two extant copies are known.
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Featured biography

Featured biography articles in geography

Markham in 1905

Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS FRSGS (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for a further 12 years. In the latter capacity he was mainly responsible for organising the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1904, and for launching the polar career of Robert Falcon Scott.

Markham began his career as a Royal Navy cadet and midshipman, during which time he went to the Arctic with HMS Assistance in one of the many searches for Franklin's lost expedition. Later, Markham served as a geographer to the India Office, and was responsible for the collection of cinchona plants from their native Peruvian forests, and their transplantation in India. By this means, the Indian government acquired a home source from which quinine could be extracted. Markham also served as geographer to Sir Robert Napier's Abyssinian expeditionary force, and was present in 1868, at the fall of Magdala. (Full article...)

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