Regional geography is one of the most important geographical disciplines in the modern world, as it allows a comprehensive approach to the study of various countries in their dynamics, paying due attention to a combination of factors such as economic development, geographical location and environmental conditions.
History of geography. Geography
In modern universities, geography is studied at the faculties of geography, but when looking at the historical perspective, it becomes clear that this discipline has roots much deeper than the university tradition.
The history of regional geography is the history of the knowledge of different peoples of the world around them, neighboring peoples and other cultures. Without such natural curiosity, it is impossible to imagine the development of human society. That is why any country has its own history of regional geography, with its own characteristics and tradition.
The first geographers of the ancient world, who were learning for their people about neighboring countries and tribes, were merchants. One of the most striking such figures in the ancient world was the merchant Pythaeus, who was the first of the historical characters to reach the British Isles and bypass Europe from the west. He made a rather detailed description of unprecedented lands for his time, describing the northern lights and the polar day. Later, the list of ancient country geologists was supplemented by Hipparchus, Pliny the Younger, Strabo and Ptolemy.
Regional Studies
If at the early stages of the development of science only general information about other countries was enough, then over time the discipline of geography began to be divided into different directions. Today, geography is a complex and complex discipline that includes such sections as general geography, political, military, tourism, economic and linguistic studies.
Lingvostranovedenie is focused on learning the language of a country and close acquaintance with its culture to ensure high-quality communication between different peoples. The main schools of this branch of regional studies are concentrated in philological faculties and in universities specializing in international relations.
However, geography is not only a method of study, but also an object. It is on the basis of the object that the following sections of this discipline are distinguished, which include:
- Oriental studies.
- European studies.
- American Studies.
- Latin American Studies.
Tourist regional studies
Today in the world there are more and more tourists traveling after cultural events, attending numerous festivals, the Biennale of Arts and simply seeking to see well-known sights.
Tourist geography is a relatively young area in geography, and its development is inextricably linked to an increased tourist flow. However, it performs not only commercial functions related to marketing directions, but also educational, developmental, educational and informational ones, as more and more people are interested in cultural tourism associated with visiting museums and historically important places.
Every city that is popular with travelers needs a quality guide compiled by a specialist who owns a full range of information, including historical, economic and, in some cases, political information.
However, geography is still a geographical discipline, which means it cannot do without a description of the unique natural conditions of a country. Without such data, an accurate and detailed description cannot be given to a city, region or country. Country studies collect and systematize knowledge of countries that help establish international relations.
Integrated Country Studies
The main content in a comprehensive geography is the relationship formed through the interaction of various institutions, communities and the surrounding area.
In a comprehensive geography, all the elements that make up the country's image in the international arena, as well as its internal structure, are important. Today, regional studies are paying more and more attention to sociology, economics, and demography. Geography and geography complement each other and adjust.
In the context of an ever-growing migration crisis, knowledge about migration processes and ways to integrate new residents into existing structures and communities is of great importance.
Interdisciplinarity in science
The modern world is becoming more complex every day, new connections, supranational structures and independent horizontal communities are being formed in it. In addition, the climate is changing, there are military conflicts and financial and economic crises.
Each of these factors significantly affects states and societies, as well as the domestic politics of countries. To get the most detailed and reliable information about the investigated object. For this purpose, such related disciplines as sociology, economics, demography, and more recently, the analysis of big data available on the network are used. Today, scientists have access to huge amounts of information from their workplace and may not leave the office to make up a fairly reliable image of a particular situation in a particular country.
In order to understand how international relations and the specialized division of labor are organized today, geography and country studies are taught in the 7th grade until the very end of school.