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edit   The Geography Portal Historical geography Geography is the science that studies the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes (276–194 BC). Four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis of the natural and the human phenomena (geography as the study of distribution), the area studies (places and regions), the study of the human-land relationship, and research in the Earth sciences. Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that foremost seeks to understand the Earth and all of its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. Geography has been called "the world discipline" and "the bridge between the human and the physical science". Geography is divided into two main branches: human geography and physical geography. More about geography… edit   Featured article The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Oceania region of the southern hemisphere, consisting of the world's smallest continent, the island of Tasmania, and over eight thousand smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Australia has been inhabited for about 50,000 years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Eastern Australia was claimed by the British in 1770, and officially settled as a British penal colony in 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, six largely self-governing Crown colonies were established within Australia over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has had a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and a Commonwealth realm. Australia has a population of about 20 million, concentrated mainly in the coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. A highly developed country and one of the wealthiest, Australia is the world's 12th-largest economy and has the world's fifth-highest per capita income. edit   In this month 1 January 2006 – University of Oklahoma College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences started, when it and the College of Earth and Energy were spun off of the old College of Geosciences 12 January 2001 – National Geographic Channel launched in the United States 25 January 1983 – Creation of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (pictured) in Mexico 27 January 1888 – Formation of the National Geographic Society More anniversaries... edit   Did you know... ...that the stock for the captive breeding program of the Galapagos Land Iguana descended from iguanas which William Randolph Hearst translocated from Baltra Island to North Seymour Island in the 1930s? ...that the single known specimen of Houston's Whitebeam grows on a cliff in North Somerset and cannot be accessed without ropes? ...that at Bougon, a prehistoric burial mound in France, archeologists found the skull of a man who had undergone three trepanations during his lifetime? edit   Things you can do Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : See Requested articles/Social sciences/Geography, cities, regions and named places and Missing articles about Locations Assess : Tag related article talk pages with {{WikiProject Geography}}. To help assess the quality and importance of geography articles, please see: Unassessed geography articles and Unknown-importance geography articles. Cleanup : See Geography articles needing attention Geography Geographic information system Geography of China Geostatistics History of geography Holarctic Kriging Philosophy of geography Urbanism Valley Copyedit : Geographical feature Glossary of geography terms List of world map changes Regions of North America (See Regions of Africa) Regions of Oceania Regions of South America Demographics of Asia (See Demographics of Africa) Demographics of Oceania Cycle of erosion Outer Continental Shelf Tied island Deletion sorting : Listed at Geographic related deletion discussions Expand : TOP PRIORITY: expand articles in Outline of geography and Outlines of regions (one for each country and region) - these are general reference companions to the main articles on each country. Are your favorite countries covered yet? The lists completed enough to be transferred to article space can be found at Portal:Contents/Geography and places. Index of geography articles (replace redirect with an article index, see Index of psychology articles as an example) List of geographers Visual geography Geographical coordinates : See Articles missing geocoordinate data by country Infobox : See Geography articles needing infoboxes Map : See Wikipedia requested maps Notability : See Geography articles with topics of unclear notability Photo : See Wikipedia requested photographs of places Stubs : See Geography stubs edit   Featured biography Pierre Rossier was a pioneering Swiss photographer whose albumen photographs, which include stereographs and cartes-de-visite, comprise portraits, cityscapes and landscapes. He was commissioned by the London firm of Negretti and Zambra to travel to Asia and document the progress of the Anglo-French troops in the Second Opium War and, although he failed to join that military expedition, he remained in Asia for several years, producing the first commercial photographs of China, the Philippines, Japan and Siam (now Thailand). He was the first professional photographer in Japan, where he trained Ueno Hikoma, Maeda Genzō, Horie Kuwajirō, as well as lesser known members of the first generation of Japanese photographers. One of his works became the earliest known hand-coloured Japanese photograph. In Siam, Rossier took ethnographic portraits for French zoologist Marie Firmin Bocourt, who was on a scientific expedition. In Switzerland he established photographic studios in Fribourg and Einsiedeln, and he also produced images elsewhere in the country. Rossier is an important figure in the early history of photography not only because of his own images, but also because of the critical impact of his teaching in the early days of Japanese photography. edit   Categories ▼ Geography ► Branches of geography ► Geography by place ► Geography awards and competitions ► Geography conferences ► Geography education ► Environmental studies ► Exploration ► Geocodes ► Geographers ► Geographical zones ► Geopolitical corridors ► History of geography ► Land systems ► Landscape ► Geography-related lists ► Lists of countries by geography ► Navigation ► Geography organizations ► Places ► Surveying ► Geographical technology ► Geography terminology ► Works about geography ► Geographic images ► Geography stubs edit   WikiProjects Parent project WikiProject Geography Descendant projects Caves Cities Countries Country subdivisions Demographics Deserts Former countries Geographical coordinates Glaciers Islands Lakes Maps Mountains Protected areas Rivers Subdivisions of former countries Tropical cyclones Urban studies and planning Volcanoes Waterfalls Related projects WikiProject Globalization What are WikiProjects? edit   Featured picture The Blue Mountains in Australia borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the state capital. Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin. Consisting mainly of a sandstone plateau, the area is dissected by gorges up to 760 metres (2,490 ft) deep. edit   Selected quote edit   Articles Antarctica Afro-Eurasia Americas Australia Africa Eurasia North America Oceania Europe Asia South America Supercontinents: Gondwana • Laurasia • Pangaea • Rodinia edit   Subportals Africa Antarctica Arctic Asia Caribbean Europe European Union Latin America Mediterranean Middle East North America Oceania edit   Related portals Atlas Atmosphere Atmospheric sciences Disasters Earth sciences Earthquakes Energy Environment Global warming Islands Mountains Physics Political science Science Seamounts Sociology Sustainable development Tropical cyclones Volcanoes Water Weather edit   Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:

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