What Elements of the Arts and Sciences can be Involved in Geography?

Some of the most beautiful paintings that have been painted are those which are displaying the outside world. Painters, such as Cézanne and Van Gough have taken huge inspiration from what they see around them to create many exquisite compositions. This same idea could also be likened to all literature which, to any extent, describes the landscape where the novel or poem features.

The first form of Geography was Cartography (deriving from Greek chartis = map and graphein = write). The fundamental problems of traditional cartography were that they needed to convert something that was 3D (reality) onto a 2D piece of paper. Also a concern is to work out how best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design. Geradus Mercator was a Flemish cartographer who first presented the idea of an atlas, as we know it today. However, at this time, people were very materialistic and lavishly decorated (works of art) maps were popular to show their wealth. As this atlas was not well decorated, sales were considerably less than expected. But after his death, his atlas was re-designed and sales were boosted.

Maths plays a part in Geography as it is the basis of all information gathering. Whether this is in the case of working out the average number of plants per square metre, or how many litres of water flows through a damn per year. Also, maths is the key to the prediction and prevention of natural disasters. For instance, the measurement of seismic activity is based on a formula to work out whether it is likely for an earthquake to take place.

Valleys and waterfalls are so impressive to look at but you would not usually think about how many hundreds of years that particular feature would have taken to form. Seeing as history loosely is the study of the past, there is this obvious connection to geography. Also, geography is important to the success or failure of a battle. The site of the battle is as important as the number of soldiers fighting in it. The Black Prince for instance was well known for picking advantageous battle, which helped give him the reputation of being a great war leader.

The most obvious connection to Geography is of course Science. Science interprets why things happen the way they do. The two topics cross over greatly, whether that is on the water cycle, or why it rains where it does and where plants will not grow.

This essay highlights just how diverse the subject of Geography really is. It is amazing when you think about it that a subject which is not considered a core subject, could be so far reaching and play such a huge part into how we live our day to day lives.