Question

Write short note

Branches of Geography

Answer 1

1. The two branches of Geography are Physical and Human Geography.
2. Physical Geography includes the study of landforms, drainage, relief, slope (lithosphere), composition, structure, weather and climate, winds, precipitation, climate types (atmosphere), oceans, seas, lakes, rivers (hydrosphere) and life forms including human being and macroorganism, ecosystem, food chain, ecological balance (biosphere).
3. Human Geography studies relationship between man and his environment and distribution of various attributes related to human’s social and environmental phenomena around the world.
4. Many branches of Geography have developed from mainstream disciplines. Every discipline, under natural and social science is linked with Geography.
5. Geology, Meteorology, Hydrology and Pedology are linked with the fields of Physical Geography such as Geomorphology, Climatology, Oceanography and Geography of soil, respectively. 
6. Similarly, the knowledge of Mathematics is essential for cartographic techniques. Drawing of maps and diagrams requires understanding of Mathematics. Geographers use various statistical techniques and hypotheses testing for data analysis.
7. Every social science studied separately has interface with branch of Human Geography because of their spatial attributes. Social sciences such as Sociology, Political science, Economics, History and Demography are closely linked with the branches of Human Geography like Social, Political, Economics, Population and Historical Geography, respectively. 
8. Geography has strong interface with natural as well as social sciences. At the same time, every sub-discipline in Geography has its own scope, because their subject matter varies over space and time. Geography has adopted and developed a lot from different disciplines within its own boundaries. Thus, Geography has become an integrating and interdisciplinary discipline.