The beginning of the history of geography in Lithuania is reaching as far as the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (12-18th century) and is mostly connected with one of the oldest Universities in Northern Europe - Vilnius University, established in 1579. For this reason geography as a science has deep traditions in Lithuania. One of the most influential organizations to the development of modern geography in the country is the Lithuanian Geographical Society, which was established in 1934 and, despite various turmoil, has managed to survive until today. The history of geography in Lithuania can be divided into four stages: the birth of geography science, the formation of the modern geography, geography during the Soviet occupation period and the geography after regaining the independence. Each of these stages will be further elaborated below.
The Birth of Geography Science
As a science, geography in Lithuania was developing in accordance to the general tendencies of Europe. On the other hand, it was influenced by various historic circumstances and the cultural and scientific advancement of the country (Česnulevičius, 2007).
The first known geographic works in Lithuania could be traced back to the maps drawn by Anton Wied, who was the painter at the palace of the Grand Duke of Lithuania - Žygimantas Augustas. One of his best known works – „Moscovia“, was the map of Moscow‘s Grand Duchy, which was made in Vilnius and published in Sebastians Münsters „Cosmography“ in 1544 (Vilnius University, 1994). Another, famous work during those times, was the map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian (further GDL), which in 1613 was published by W. J. Blaeu in Amsterdam (Samas, 1997). The preparation of it was led by the GDL nobleman and cartog...
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In the book “Why Geography Matters More Than Ever”, the author, Harm de Blij, discusses the importance of geography, how it can affect us in any place or any time, and why it matters. But most importantly, he succeeds to advance our perception of the world’s geography. Throughout the book de Blij highlights the many benefits of being educated about geography. He explains that it is important that we are informed about this topic so we can be more prepared for the events happening around the world. This book illustrates just how essential it is to be well-educated when it comes to geography.
The main ideas presented in “Why Geography Matters…More Than Ever!” revolve around what exactly geography is, and the implications of the subject. Geography is the study of the physical world and human actions, it also covers the affects of human actions. Geography influences a plethora of topics and geographers do research on numerous subjects. “Geographers do research on glaciations and coastlines, on desert dunes and limestone caves, on weather and climate, even on plants and animals”(7). The author stresses how underrated geography is the present times, and how the introduction of social studies have doomed the subject of geography for future generations. In a section detailing the teaching of geography
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Most often, geography and history are relatively synonymous, because several locations have a resounding places in history. The main concepts of geography such as location, place, and regions are related with the major ideas of history such as time, period, and events. The relationship between history and geography is especially close because they represent two fundamental dimensions of the same phenomenon (Guide to teaching world history 2001-2004). Similarly, by studying the geography and history of Pike’s Peak, one can learn the effect of pike’s peak over Colorado history. The influence of pikes peak in history of Colorado
Geography is the foundation of how civilizations and societies develop. Based on location, geography determines the amount of water available, temperature, available resources, and a variety of essentials. To form a civilization, the geography gives insight into whether a community can sustain, and how people need to adapt to continue growing. Ancient civilizations had to take many factors into account, and learn to adapt to the environment to become as advanced as they were. General geographical features which have an essential role in shaping societies include rivers, seas, and the flora of what the natural environment provides.
In a land of diverse and harsh physical geography and complex political geography, people have evolved into brighter, more modern people over time. The people of Europe are learning to overcome every obstacle in their path to create the greatest union in the world. The have overcome the barriers of rocky mountains and winding rivers, political tension, and so much more. Of course, there is surely more tension to come, but the Europeans will overcome that too eventually. The geography of Europe is absolutely crucial for everything important that has happened there and still lingers in society not only in Europe, but all over the world.
Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.
Numerous students who have told me that they did not spend much time learning social studies in their elementary school, so to close some of the gap, I have added a unit on basic geography skills. Once they have completed the geography unit, I begin to compare and contrast the ancient world advances in education, religion, politics, and economics with our world today. As we go through each subtopic, we discuss how those achievements have evolved over time and continue to influence our world today.
There are five themes of geography which include location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region. The country that I was given to describe the five themes is the United Kingdom also known as the UK. I have never been to this area and will use information from the internet to inform the reader about this beautiful country. Many websites were used in finding research for this paper.
We are introduced to historical work done by North America, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, France, Central Europe, and some minor reference to Poland and Russia. The three main divisions of the text are a gamut of information about the late 19th and early 20th century. It is during this time that Iggers talks about Leopold Ranke and the influence of his brilliant ideas. “It was Ranke's aim to turn history into a rigorous science practiced by professionally trained historians” (Iggers, 2005). Ranke initially introduced the ...
Greece is a country with an interesting geography that is diverse in many senses. The location of Greece itself, as well as the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere come together to form the cumulative geography of the country. These categories of geography interact with each other to form Greece as it is. The location, its longitude and latitude, effects the country’s climate, or its atmosphere. Likewise, the country’s relationship to water, the hydrosphere also effects the climate. This is just one example of how the different categories and characteristics of a place’s geography can effect it.
Many people who often study history, believe one of two things. They either believe that history repeats itself in some form or fashion, or they believe that history was an aspect of the past and therefore does not have any prominence today. Many people who also study geography do not realize the true importance of the land. Both groups easily forget that each topic of study reflects the other, therefore revealing that t history and geography do indeed coincide. Last time, we discussed the four important groups of people who helped establish North America as we know. Not only was that aspect important to both history and geography, but so is the areas that the four groups of people established within North America. These geographical areas
Ukraine is the largest nation to come from the former Soviet satellite states and like the rest of the former communist nations, has a large ethnic division between its citizens. To know why Ukraine is so divided and so passionate in regards to its political views we must look back to the basis of ethnic diversity throughout Ukraine’s history.
Since the beginning of humankind, the study of geography has captured the imagination of the people. In ancient times, geography books extolled tales of distant lands and dreamed of treasures. The ancient Greeks created the word "geography" from the roots "ge" for earth and "grapho" for "to write." These people experienced many adventures and needed a way to explain and communicate the differences between various lands. Today, researchers in the field of geography still focus on people and cultures (cultural geography), and the planet earth (physical geography).