Geography(from the Greek "earth description", geo - Earth, grapho - I write) is a complex of sciences that study the surface of the Earth with its natural conditions, the distribution of the population on it, economic resources and material production. Geography is one of ancient sciences, the initial attempts at a natural-scientific explanation of geographical phenomena belong to the ancient Greek philosophers of the Milesian school of the 6th century. BC e. (Thales, Anaximander).

Science is thought, and the history of science is the movement of thought. Any science as a form of social consciousness goes through a complex path of development from the descriptive stage (collection, accumulation and classification of data on the objects of research) to the stage of theoretical and methodological understanding. The development of science is also closely connected with the demands of human practical activity, which do not remain constant in different eras. Required attributes any science must have an object and subject of research, as well as methodology and theory, fundamental categories and concepts, principles and schemes of explanation. Traditionally, geography was considered a science that studies the surface of our planet. The discovery and study of this surface began at the earliest stage of civilization and is being completed in our time. main goal geographical research has always been the study geographical reality and geographical picture of the world, with which the life of man and society is connected. Hence the term geography itself was born as "description of the earth". However, according to W. Bunge, the history of the development of geography, its "ideology" is complex and not very cloudless. It has few "guiding ideas and a lot of facts."
Other sciences accumulated data and on their basis created the theory of science, and then the “new” science (for example, new physics) absorbed the older one, but did not reject it. In geography, the direction-wave nature of development prevailed with frequent changes in directions, goals, methodological and theoretical tasks. The protracted descriptive stage of accumulation of facts and data, the complexity of the object and subject of study, the influence of political and socio-cultural factors of society did not contribute to the formation of an invariant of geography as a science, the formation of its theory and methodology. In addition, the formation of geography as a science was associated with the difficulty of reconciling interests between the synthesis of accumulated data and the pursuit of latest facts, which increased the differentiation of scientific areas and complicated the system geographical sciences, acquiring the image of the "Tower of Babel". The desire of the leaders of geography to unite the search for truth, affirming the prestige of geography in scientific society, and the desire to be useful to society.
Difficulties in the formation of geography as a science, according to V.S. Preobrazhensky, were associated:
- with the changing status of geography, its transformation from school and university geography into science ( late XIX c.), and then in the 30-60s of the XX century. into the mass sphere of professional activity;
- with the constant expansion of the boundaries of the object and the boundaries of the subject of research;
- with the complication of research methods (travels, expeditions, hospitals, remote sensing, ships of science and sledge-tractor trains) and methodological re-equipment in the field of empirical generalizations (cartographic, mathematical-statistical, cartographic-mathematical modeling based on a computer, computer systems and networks);
- with a change in the information functions of geography: cartographic ® regional descriptions and multi-volume works ® national and world geographical atlases ® functionally-oriented maps ® electronic data banks ® geographic information systems.
That is why the terms "modern" and "new" geography, "crisis" and "revolution" are often used in geography. If the former fix only some changes in the theory and the structure of conceptual models, then the latter indicate a decisive revision of established theories, visions of the subject or methods of studying it.
Our predecessors and contemporaries repeatedly tried to identify the most common features of the development of geography from ancient times (Eratosthenes and Strabo) to the present day (A.A. Grigoriev, A.G. Isachenko, I.M. Zabelin, Yu.G. Saushkin, K. Gregory, N.K. Mukitanov, V.S. Preobrazhensky, V.P. Maksakovskii, etc.). A.A. Grigoriev analyzes the development of physical and geographical ideas in Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A.G. Isachenko publishes the monograph "The History of the Development of Geographical Ideas". An interesting work by Yu.G. Saushkin, as well as "Geography and Geographers" by K. Gregory. The result of the 20th century is summed up by the monograph by V.S. Preobrazhensky, T.D. Alexandrova and L.V. Maksimova "Geography in a Changing World". The Historical Geography of the World is published by V.P. Maksakovskiy. The first textbook on the "History of Geography" is offered by M.M. Golubchik, E.V. Evdokimov and G.N. Maksimov.

rudiments geographical knowledge appeared among primitive people, whose very existence depended on the ability to navigate in space and find natural shelters, water sources, places for hunting, stones for tools, etc. Primitive man was distinguished by keen observation and even the ability to make drawings of the area on skins, birch bark, wood - the prototypes of geographical maps. The primitive map as a way of transmitting geographic information appeared, apparently, long before the emergence of writing. Already in the earliest stages of its economic activity primitive man entered complex interactions with the natural environment. Archaeological research in last years showed that already at the end of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), man destroyed the bulk of large mammals within temperate zone northern hemisphere, thereby causing a kind of “first ecological crisis” in the history of our planet, and was forced to move from gathering and hunting to agriculture.
The first written documents were left to us by the agricultural peoples of the Ancient East: Egypt, Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), Northern India and China (IV-II millennium BC). These peoples had the beginnings of scientific knowledge in the field of mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics, which were then used to solve problems of a geographical nature. So, in Egypt, in the era of the Old Kingdom (until 2500 BC), land surveying was carried out, land Registry(mainly to determine the amount of taxes). In order to determine the timing of various agricultural work, regular astronomical observations began to be carried out. The Egyptians quite accurately determined the length of the year and introduced solar calendar. The ancient Egyptians and Babylonians knew sundial. Egyptian and Babylonian priests, as well as Chinese astronomers, established patterns of repetition solar eclipses and learned to predict them. From Mesopotamia, the ecliptic is divided into 12 signs of the zodiac, the year - into 12 months, the day - into 24 hours, the circle - into 360 degrees; the concept of “lunar week” was also introduced there. Modern numerical numbering originates from India.
The ideas of the peoples of the Ancient East about nature, although they were based on real practical experience, theoretically retained a mythological character. Back in the III millennium BC. The Sumerians created myths about the creation of the world, the flood and paradise, which turned out to be extremely tenacious and were reflected in many religions. Astronomical observations at that time did not lead to correct views on the structure of the universe. But faith in direct influence heavenly bodies on the fate of people led to the emergence of astrology (it was especially popular in Babylonia).
The idea of ​​the earth was based on direct perception the surrounding world. Thus, the ancient Egyptians saw the Earth as a flat, elongated rectangle surrounded on all sides by mountains. According to Babylonian myth, the god Marduk created the Earth among the initially continuous ocean. In a similar, though more poetic form, the origin of the Earth is depicted in the sacred books of the Indian Brahmins - “Vedas”: the Earth arose from water and is like a blooming lotus flower, one of the petals of which forms India.
Among geographical ideas ancient world inherited by modern geography, the views of scientists of antiquity are of particular importance. Ancient (Greco-Roman) geography reached its peak in ancient Greece and Rome in the period from the 12th century to the 12th century. BC. to 146 AD
In ancient Greece around 500 BC. The idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth was first expressed (Parmenides). Aristotle (4th century BC) gave the first reliable evidence in favor of this idea: the round shape of the earth's shadow at lunar eclipses and a change in the appearance of the starry sky when moving from north to south. Around 165 BC Greek scientist Crates from Malla made the first model of the globe - a globe. Aristarchus of Samos (III century BC) for the first time approximately determined the distance from the Earth to the Sun. He was the first to teach that the Earth moves around the Sun and around its axis (the heliocentric model of the cosmos).
The idea of ​​geographic (climatic) zoning, based directly on the idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth, also originates in ancient geography (Eudoxus of Knida, 400-347 BC). Posidonius (on the border of the II-I centuries BC) identified 9 geographical zones (we currently distinguish 13 zones).
The idea of ​​changes in the earth's surface also belongs to the oldest achievements of ancient thought (Heraclitus, 530-470 BC), and meanwhile the struggle for it ended only after two and a half millennia, in early XIX in. AD
In ancient Greece, the main directions of geographical science were born. Already by the VI century. BC. the needs of navigation and trade (the Greeks founded at that time a number of colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas) necessitated descriptions of land and sea ​​shores. At the turn of the VI century. BC. Hecataeus from Miletus compiled a description of the Oikoumene - all the countries known at that time to the ancient Greeks. “Earth description” of Hecateus became the beginning of the country-study direction in geography. In the era of "classical Greece" the most prominent representative of regional studies was the historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (485-423 BC). His regional studies were closely connected with history and had a reference and descriptive character. Herodotus traveled through Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, Asia Minor, west coast the Black Sea; gave a description of cities and countries in the work "History in nine books". Such travels did not lead to the discovery of new lands, but contributed to the accumulation of more complete and reliable facts and the development of a descriptive and regional direction in science.
The science of classical Greece found its culmination in the writings of Aristotle of Stagira (384-322 BC), who founded in 335 BC. philosophical school - Lyceum - in Athens. Almost everything that was known about geographical phenomena by that time was summarized in Aristotle's Meteorological. This work represents the beginnings of general geography, which were singled out by Aristotle from undivided geographical science.
The era of Hellenism (330-146 BC) includes the emergence of a new geographical direction, which later received the name mathematical geography. One of the first representatives of this direction was Eratosthenes from Cyrene (276-194 BC). For the first time, he quite accurately determined the dimensions of the circumference of the globe by measuring the arc of the meridian (the measurement error was no more than 10%). Eratosthenes owns a great work, which he called "Geographical notes", for the first time using the term "geography". The book gives a description of the Oikumene, and also discusses the issues of mathematical and physical geography (general geography). Thus, Eratosthenes united all three areas under the single name "geography", and he is considered the true "father" of geographical science.
The results of ancient geography were summed up already in the era of the Roman Empire by two outstanding Greek scientists - Strabo (c. 64 BC) and Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD). The works of these scientists reflect two different views on the content, tasks and significance of geography. Strabo represented the geography direction. He limited the tasks of geography only to the description of the Oikumene, leaving the elucidation of the figure of the Earth and its measurement to mathematicians, and the explanation of the causes of the phenomena observed on Earth to philosophers. His famous "Geography" (in 17 books) is a descriptive essay, a valuable source on history and physical geography ancient world which has come down to us in full. K.Ptolemy was the last and most prominent representative of ancient mathematical geography. He saw the main task of geography in the creation of maps. Ptolemy's "Guide to Geography" is a list of several thousand points with their latitude and longitude, which is preceded by a presentation of methods for constructing cartographic projections. Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD the most perfect map of the ancient world was compiled, which was repeatedly published in the Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages (V-XV centuries) in Europe are characterized by a general decline in the development of science. feudal seclusion and religious outlook Middle Ages did not contribute to the development of interest in the study of nature. The teachings of ancient scientists were eradicated christian church as "pagan". However, the spatial geographical outlook of Europeans in the Middle Ages began to expand rapidly, which led to significant territorial discoveries in different parts of the globe.
Normans (“ northern people”), first they sailed from Southern Scandinavia to the Baltic and Black Seas (“the path from the Varangians to the Greeks”), then to the Mediterranean Sea. Around 867, they colonized Iceland, in 982, led by Leif Erikson, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, they opened the east coast of North America, penetrating south to 45-40 ° N. latitude.
Arabs, moving to the west, in 711 penetrated The Iberian Peninsula, in the south - to the Indian Ocean, up to Madagascar (IX century), in the east - to China, from the south they went around Asia.
Only with middle of the XIII in. the spatial horizons of Europeans began to noticeably expand (the journey of Plano Carpini, Guillaume Rubruk, Marco Polo and others).
Marco Polo (1254-1324), Italian merchant and traveler. In 1271-1295. traveled through Central Asia to China, where he lived for about 17 years. Being in the service of the Mongol Khan, he visited different parts of China and the regions bordering it. The first of the Europeans described China, the countries of Western and Central Asia in the "Book of Marco Polo". It is characteristic that contemporaries treated its content with distrust, only in the second half of the 14th and 15th centuries. they began to appreciate it, and up to the 16th century. it served as one of the main sources for compiling the map of Asia.
The journey of the Russian merchant Athanasius Nikitin should also be attributed to a series of such trips. In 1466, with trading purposes, he set off from Tver along the Volga to Derbent, crossed the Caspian and reached India through Persia. On the way back, three years later, he returned through Persia and the Black Sea. The notes made by Afanasy Nikitin during the trip are known as "Journey Beyond the Three Seas". They contain information about the population, economy, religion, customs and nature of India.

The revival of geography begins in the 15th century, when Italian humanists began to translate the works of ancient geographers. Feudal relations replaced by more progressive - capitalist. AT Western Europe this change occurred earlier, in Russia - later. The change reflected an increase in production that required new sources of raw materials and markets. They presented new conditions for science, contributed to the general rise of the intellectual life of human society. Geography also acquired new features. Travel enriched science with facts. Generalizations followed. Such a sequence, although not marked absolutely, is characteristic of both Western European and Russian science.
The era of great discoveries of Western navigators. At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, outstanding geographical events took place in three decades: the voyages of the Genoese Christopher Columbus to the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, to the mouth of the Orinoco River and on the coast Central America(1492-1504); Portuguese Vasco da Gama around South Africa to Hindustan - the city of Callicut (1497-1498), F. Magellan and his companions (Juan Sebastian Elcano, Antonio Pigafetta, etc.) around South America in the Pacific Ocean and around South Africa (1519-1521) - the first circumnavigation of the world.
The three main search routes - Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan - ultimately had one goal: to reach by sea the richest space in the world - South Asia with India and Indonesia and other regions of this vast space. Three different paths: straight west, around South America, and around southern tip Africa - navigators bypassed the state of the Ottoman Turks, which blocked the Europeans overland routes to South Asia. Characteristically, the variants of these world paths circumnavigations subsequently used by Russian navigators many times.
The era of great Russian discoveries. Rise of the Russians geographical discoveries falls on the XVI-XVII centuries. However, the Russians collected geographic information themselves and through their western neighbors much earlier. Geographic data (since 852) contains the first Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years" by Nestor. Russian city-states, developing, were looking for new natural springs wealth and markets for goods. In particular, Novgorod grew rich. In the XII century. Novgorodians reached the White Sea. Sailing began to the west to Scandinavia, to the north - to Grumant (Svalbard) and especially to the northeast - to Taz, where the Russians founded the trading city of Mangazeya (1601-1652). Somewhat earlier, movement began to the east by land, through Siberia (Ermak, 1581-1584).
The rapid movement into the depths of Siberia and the Pacific Ocean is a heroic feat of Russian explorers. It took them a little more than half a century to cross the space from the Ob to the Bering Strait. In 1632, the Yakut prison was founded. In 1639 Ivan Moskvitin reaches Pacific Ocean near Okhotsk. Vasily Poyarkov in 1643-1646 passed from Lena to Yana and Indigirka, the first of the Russian Cossack explorers sailed along the Amur Estuary and the Sakhalin Bay of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1647-48. Erofey Khabarov passes the Amur to the Sungari. And finally, in 1648, Semyon Dezhne encircles from the sea Chukotka Peninsula, opens the cape that now bears his name, and proves that Asia is separated from North America by a strait.
Gradually, the elements of generalization acquire great importance in Russian geography. In 1675, a Russian ambassador, an educated Greek Spafarius (1675-1678), was sent to China with the instruction to “depict all the lands, cities and the path to the drawing”. Drawings, i.e. maps were documents of national importance in Russia.

Russian early cartography is known for the following four of its works.
1. Large drawing Russian state. Compiled in one copy in 1552. The sources for it were “scribe books”. The Great Drawing did not reach us, although it was renewed in 1627. The geographer of the time of Peter the Great V.N. wrote about its reality. Tatishchev.
2. Book big drawing- text to the drawing. One of late lists books published by N. Novikov in 1773
3. The drawing of the Siberian land was drawn up in 1667. A copy has come down to us. The drawing accompanies the "Manuscript against the drawing".
4. The drawing book of Siberia was compiled in 1701 by order of Peter I in Tobolsk S.U. Remizov with sons. This is the first Russian geographical atlas of 23 maps with drawings of individual regions and settlements.
Thus, in Russia, too, the method of generalizations became cartographic first of all.
In the first half of the XVIII century. extensive geographical descriptions, but with increasing importance of geographical generalizations. It is enough to list the main geographical events in order to understand the role of this period in the development of Russian geography. First, an extensive long-term study of the Russian coast Arctic Ocean detachments of the Great northern expedition 1733-1743 and the expeditions of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov, who during the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions opened a sea route from Kamchatka to North America (1741) and described part of the northwestern coast of this continent and some of the Aleutian Islands. Secondly, in 1724 was established Russian Academy Sciences with the Geographical Department in its composition (since 1739). This institution was headed by the successors of the affairs of Peter I, the first Russian geographers V.N. Tatishchev (1686-1750) and M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765). They became the organizers of detailed geographical studies of the territory of Russia and themselves made a significant contribution to the development of theoretical geography, brought up a galaxy of remarkable geographers-researchers. In 1742 M.V. Lomonosov wrote the first domestic work with a theoretical geographical content - "On the layers of the earth." In 1755, two Russian classic regional studies monographs were published: “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” by S.P. Krashennikov and “Orenburg topography” by P.I. Rychkov. The Lomonosov period began in Russian geography - a time of reflection and generalizations.
The heyday of geographical science continues for more than two and a half centuries, from the beginning of the 18th century (in Western Europe - a little earlier) to the present. The rise of scientific geography is especially noticeable starting from the verge of the 18th-19th centuries - the time of the greatest successes of the capitalist system of production, marked by the industrial revolution in Europe and the Great French bourgeois revolution. The development of geography in Russia in the 18th century was initially influenced by the ideas of Western European scientists, for example, B. Vareniya. But they were so strongly and critically revised, so many new things were introduced into science by Russian scientists (I.I. Kirillov, V.N. Tatishchev, M.V. Lomonosov), that the Russian geographical school of that time has a new, original character. And this was primarily due to practical tasks.
The first department of geography in Russia was opened at Moscow University in 1884, first at the Faculty of History and Philology; D.N. was invited to manage it. Anuchin. In 1887, he achieved the transfer of this department - geography, anthropology and ethnography - to the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, where he began his work in training young geographers, who then grew into major scientists with world names.
The versatility of the scientific interests of D.N. Anuchina was exceptional: Physiography, anthropology, ethnography, archeology, history and methodology of science, hydrology (including limnology), cartography, geomorphology, regional studies. But this versatility was not a random collection of current interests, jumping from one subject of study to another. They, like many prominent scientists, theoretically constituted, as we now say, a “single bloc”.
D.N. Anuchin believed that geography should study the nature of the earth's surface. He divided geography into geography and regional studies. Geography studies the complex of physical and geographical components of the entire surface of the Earth, and country studies, although a wider complex that includes a person (“Without a person, geography will be incomplete,” D.N. Anuchin wrote in 1912), but within individual regions ( "countries"). Since the nature of the earth's surface is formed in the process of its historical development, historical method necessary in geographical research. And of course, geographical research is not important in itself, but is necessary for practice.

What do we know about the Ancient World? I understand that the philosophers of that time cognized the world, themselves, believing that a person is a particle of the cosmos. But after all, already at that time the area, the nature in which people lived, was studied. That is, geography already then took root in human life. Now I will tell you about it. :)

What is the Ancient World

There is such a period in human history (between the Middle Ages and prehistoric times), which was formed on European territory, called "Ancient World". For other territories, the end of this time period could vary:

• for America, the end was at the time of the beginning of the colonization of Europe;
• for India - at the time of the birth of an empire called Chola;
• China marks the end of the Qin Empire.

The beginning of this ancient historical period refers to the date of the very first Olympics in the world, and the end is about 476 (when Rome fell).

Ancient World and Science

Before reaching the concept of geography at that time, it is worth paying attention to the people who were then engaged in science. They started human development. One of the main representatives of that time is Pythagoras. He founded a school where science, philosophy, religion and politics united. For the most part, all scientists of antiquity were philosophers at the same time: Plato, his teacher - Socrates, Euclid, Aristotle and others. But, nevertheless, what directions did they study in geography?

The main currents in the development of geography in antiquity

"Everything starts small" - the same applies to geography. AT ancient times people learned how to make the first cards. It was at that time that the year was divided into the usual 12 months. Astronomers have even been able to learn how to predict upcoming solar eclipses. In ancient Greece, a model of our Earth (globe) was first made. The first ideas about climatic zones appeared there. Scientists, of course, were engaged in such a direction as regional studies already in the sixth - fifth century BC.

Mankind began to master geographical knowledge with ancient times, obviously even before the emergence of the slave system, since without them it is impossible to conduct even the most primitive economy.

At the same time, although geographical representations were not the same among different tribes and peoples, one can still see some important common features in them. Tribes and peoples of ancient times in the center of the world thought of their place of dwelling, their country (more precisely, the place of dwelling). Their specific geographical knowledge was territorially limited. Knowing quite well the territory of their settlement and the conditions in which the struggle for existence took place, primitive peoples knew very little about the areas located beyond these limits.

Observations on nature primitive peoples were reduced to the establishment of individual facts, without revealing the general character of the localities. Therefore, in our modern understanding, they are not very geographical. The processes occurring in nature were perceived as the actions of gods and demons. At the same time, even before the emergence of slavery, ancient people already had a stock of knowledge about stones, plants, animals, winds, sea currents, etc. Needs economic life, trade between individual tribes, conquest and collection of tribute - all this, like many other things, led to the need to accumulate specific knowledge of a geographical nature.

It is known that even wandering hunters drew rough, but fairly accurate maps. The ancient Vikings and Polynesians knew how to draw up maps and make distant voyages, guided by the stars, who studied sea currents, trade winds and coastlines well. Maps drawn on the skin, common among the Indians of Labrador, coastal maps of the Eskimos, etc. are known. Thus, geography, like any other science, arose as a result of practical needs, and arose from particulars.

Studying the history of geography, one cannot pass by the period of its development within ancient society, since already at that time the principles that formed the basis of modern geography were put forward.

A noticeable leap in the development of geography took place in the slave-owning era because it was precisely under the slave-owning system that a sharp demarcation took place between the physical and mental labor, there was a professional and clearly defined territorial division of labor.

In the most ancient slave states one can see a significant development of geography. In Egypt, for example, maps were used at least 1300 BC. The ancient inhabitants of slave-owning Mexico were also able to draw maps long before the appearance of the first Europeans on the American continent. In ancient China, geography, along with history, can be called one of the earliest branches of knowledge. It developed there due to practical needs, primarily related to the development of irrigation. ancient agriculture in the valleys of some Chinese rivers, where later formed feudal states, would be impossible if the population of these valleys did not possess some amount of geographical knowledge. Finally, what is especially important for us in this work to note is that in the slave era, the first cosmogonic teachings arose, although they developed in the system of natural philosophical ideas, but nevertheless contained the germs of geographical science as a special field of human knowledge. From this time begins the theoretical understanding of geographical phenomena.

In a number of countries of the slave-owning world (in Egypt, Babylon, India, China, etc.), attempts are increasingly being made to scientifically understand the surrounding human society peace. Attempts are being made to create scientific ideas about the Earth and its surface, and many philosophers proceeded from hypotheses about the existence of a material fundamental principle, although they are understood very naively (if these hypotheses are treated from the point of view of modern science).

The first theoretical ideas of a geographical nature developed within the cosmogonic, often fundamentally materialistic, hypotheses contained in the teachings of the philosophers of the slave-owning society. The struggle between materialism and idealism, which began from the most ancient times, was reflected in the state of knowledge about the Earth, in the state of geographical representations.

THE OLDEST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

Parameter name	Meaning
Article subject:	THE OLDEST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
Rubric (thematic category)	Geography

1 Geographic representations primitive peoples.

2 The development of geographical ideas and ideas in the countries of the Ancient East (IV-I millennium BC).

3 Geographic representations of the Minoans and Phoenicians.

Geographic representations of primitive peoples. Geography arose in ancient times in connection with the vital needs of people - with hunting, gathering, beekeeping, cattle breeding and agriculture. For housekeeping - even a primitive one - it was extremely important to have a sufficiently deep knowledge local conditions- the image of wild animals and edible plants, the course of fish in rivers and lakes, seasonality and productivity of pastures, soil fertility. Geography began with the knowledge of the surrounding world and terrain features by ancient people. Wherein surrounding a person the world has always been incomparably larger than itself (110).

The first elementary geographical representations appeared together with labor, ᴛ.ᴇ. at the most initial stage of human development (126,279). Among the first and most important issues, which the primitive man asked himself, there were also those that related to the properties of the surrounding nature. ʼʼLike many other animals, primitive man singled out certain areas of the earth's surface as the territory necessary for his life. And like many other animals, he was constantly tormented by a vague presentiment that, in some other places, the grass must be even greenerʼʼ (110, p. 15).

The nature of the geographical representations of the era of the primitive communal system can only be judged indirectly, since there are no written monuments for this era. Indirect judgments are based mainly on the study of the culture of backward tribes and nationalities, which, right up to the collision with Europeans, remained at the stage of the primitive communal system. Huge contribution to the study of culture primitive people made N. Miklukho-Maclay (1846-1888 gᴦ.), L. Levy-Bruhl (1857-1939 gᴦ.), D. Cook (1728-1779 gᴦ.) and M.Mid (81,211,212,263,301,420,433).

It is known that primitive man drew his knowledge of nature from his direct experience of a limited area of ​​habitat. At the same time, according to scientists, this knowledge was remarkable for its amazing thoroughness. European travelers were amazed by the ability of ʼʼsavagesʼʼ of all continents to carefully observe and feel nature subtly (211,212). The range of actual knowledge of primitive man has always been determined by the nature of his production activity and the immediate natural environment (126.279).

For example, in the language of the Eskimos of North America, whose life is closely connected with the sea, there are up to 20 different words denoting different types and states of ice. The agricultural tribes have the richest terminology related to various agricultural crops, the phases of their development, and so on. Hunters and gatherers are especially familiar with wild plants and animals. From high developed observation closely related skills are excellent orientation in space. However, for some African peoples, color perception is limited to red and blue, their language has only two words for these opposite parts of the visible light spectrum. As a result, they do not perceive such intermediate colors as orange, yellow or green (110, p.19).

Many ancient peoples empirically approached the development of complex geographical concepts, reminiscent of modern scientific ideas about landscapes and tracts, which is reflected in their language, in local geographical names (126.322).

It is known from psychology that, perceiving surrounding objects, a person separates them in space and only then establishes spatial connections and relationships between them (110,126,366,408,423). From this follows a special way of conveying these relations - a geographical map.

Map in its elementary form, ᴛ.ᴇ. cartographic drawing, appears in primitive man long before the invention of writing. True, not a single cartographic image of those times has come down to us. At the same time, some petrographs may contain elements of a topographic pattern. More A. Humboldt (1769-1859) saw in the petroglyphs of South America the beginnings geographical map. If so, the beginning of cartography goes back to the Late Paleolithic. Paleolithic - ϶ᴛᴏ the ancient Stone Age (the first period of the Stone Age), the time of the existence of a person who used primitive stone, wooden and bone tools, was engaged in hunting and gathering. The Paleolithic lasted from the appearance of man (over 2 million years ago) until about the 10th millennium BC. Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, the map as a method of fixing data chronologically precedes the written description of geographical reality.

The oldest surviving map was made in Sumer (Mesopotamia) about 2500 BC It is a drawing of a small area of ​​the area, made on a clay tablet (110,126,279).

Elements of geographical knowledge occupied the first place in total amount ideas of primitive man about the world. However, at this first stage of development Homo sapiens human thinking has specific character.
Hosted on ref.rf
ancient man was able to give his own names (names) to each local object, but his language lacked words denoting general concepts, such as ʼʼʼʼʼ, ʼʼmountaʼʼ, ʼʼplantʼʼ, ʼʼanimalʼʼ, etc.
Hosted on ref.rf
Acute powers of observation and a relatively extensive knowledge of individual concrete facts were combined with his underdevelopment. abstract thinking (110,126).

2 Development of geographical ideas and ideas in the countries of the Ancient East (IV-I millennium BC) The first large slave-owning states appeared in the 4th millennium BC. among the agricultural peoples Egypt͵ Mesopotamia, Northern India and China. The settled agricultural economy gave more possibilities for the use of slave labor and the development of metallurgy than cattle breeding. The formation of developed slave states in these countries was facilitated by their favorable geographical conditions: position along large rivers - sources of irrigation and waterways (ʼʼ river civilizations ʼʼ, I.I. Mechnikov (1845-1916)), relatively reliable natural boundaries - mountains, deserts, etc. These states arose independently of each other. Only with time did the mutual influence of their cultures to some extent begin to manifest itself quite clearly.

The most ancient peoples of the East left us the first written documents. Curiously, the earliest extant literary works were devoted to the description of travel. Tales and fairy tales about travels to distant countries are one of the oldest genres of world literature.

The theme of travel completely prevails in the most ancient epic. For example, in the ancient Sumerian epic poem about Gilgamesh (IV millennium BC) tells about the wanderings of a hero who got through the deserts and mountains to the ocean and crossed over it (26,61,110,126).

Sources of this kind (fairy tales, songs, epic, etc.), along with archaeological data, allow us to make an assumption about the spatial and geographical horizons of the peoples of the Ancient East and their ideas about the Earth.

ancient egyptians , for example, already in the III millennium BC. conducted a brisk trade with Syria, Ethiopia, the countries of the basin mediterranean sea. Perhaps they also had trade relations with distant India.

Outlook of peoples Mesopotamia in the III-II millennia BC. spread in the north to Armenia and Transcaucasia, and in the south - to modern Oman (85,110,126).

Spatial outlook ancient chinese up to the second half of the second century. BC. limited mainly to the eastern part of present-day China. The ancient Chinese received reliable information about the countries of Central and Central Asia only after traveling Zhang Qian (138-126 gᴦ. BC). This journey marked the beginning of China's trade relations with the countries of Central Asia, and through them with the Eastern Mediterranean, where the ʼʼGreat Silk Roadʼʼ was laid a little later, which lasted until 23 ᴦ. BC. In Ancient China received much attention geographical research, incl. looking for a way to Europe. Chinese travelers did no less, ʼʼdiscoveringʼʼ Europe, than Europeans, paving the way to ʼʼ Far Eastʼʼ. But the Chinese body of knowledge remained aloof from the stream of Western thought (110,126,158,279).

The emergence of the rudiments of scientific knowledge in the field of mathematics, astronomy and mechanics belongs to the slave-owning era. In Egypt during the era ancient kingdom (about the 2nd millennium BC), land surveying was carried out, a land cadastre was created (mainly to determine the amount of taxes). Similar works fought in Mesopotamia. The Egyptians quite accurately determined the length of the year and introduced into everyday use solar calendar . The ancient Egyptians and Babylonians knew sundial. Egyptian and Babylonian priests, as well as Chinese astronomers, established regularities in the repetition of eclipses and learned how to predict them (126).

ʼʼEgypt is the cradle of scienceʼʼ. Egypt is called the cradle of science, because here in ancient times arose methods of observation, measurement and scientific generalization. Egyptian priests had strong practical knowledge in mathematics (algebra), astronomy and geometry, necessary for the management of society. Οʜᴎ improved ways of measuring land holdings and determining the boundaries of fields that are constantly destroyed during floods on the Nile. Οʜᴎ learned to determine the line of the local meridian (north-south direction) in order to accurately orient the erected monuments and public buildings. Οʜᴎ also invented writing and found a way to obtain papyrus - material for writing - from a plant that grew abundantly in the swampy Nile Delta (110).

Mesopotamia. The peoples of Mesopotamia also contributed to the accumulation of geographical knowledge. The very first mathematicians in the world, who lived in the state of the Sumerians, owned all the basic rules of algebra already 3,000 years ago, although the algebraic symbols that we use now were not known until the 16th century. But even without them, the Sumerians understood and used many algebraic relationships. Οʜᴎ could also be extracted Square root from any number.

From Mesopotamia, the ecliptic is divided into 12 signs of the zodiac, the year into 12 months, the day into 24 hours, and the circle into 360 degrees. This country has adopted lunar week .

In the early slave states ancient East primitive maps were also created that served as the most different purposes. One of the oldest maps dates back to about 2500 ᴦ. BC. It is a very schematic representation on a clay tablet of the northern part of Mesopotamia with the Euphrates River and two mountain ranges. A later Babylonian map (circa 5th century BC) depicts the entire Earth as a disk surrounded by an ocean centered on Babylon (85,110,112,215).

It was in the countries of the ancient East that first ideas about divine providence . According to religious beliefs ancient Sumerians, the world is ruled by gods, similar to people, but endowed, unlike them, with superhuman abilities and immortality. Each of the gods obeyed certain forces and phenomena of the world of nature surrounding man - the flow of rivers, sea tides, wind currents, the productivity of fields, the abundance of game. The gods competed with each other, and their attitude towards people was distinguished by despotism, and often vindictiveness.

In ancient cultures around the world, many natural phenomena were explained by referring to the existence of a single deity, whose actions were always beyond the control. This deity needed to be more often pleased with sacrifices in order to be more favorable to human beings.

The ideas of the ancient peoples about nature, although they were based on real practical experience, retained their mythological character.
Hosted on ref.rf
So, back in the III millennium BC. the ancient Sumerians created creation myths , about the flood and paradise, which turned out to be very tenacious and were reflected in the main book of all Christians - the ʼʼBibleʼʼ.

Belief in the direct influence of the luminaries on the fate of people led to the emergence astrology . This ʼʼscienceʼʼ was especially popular in Babylon. The ideas about the Earth among all ancient peoples were based on the direct perception of the surrounding world.

Observations over the foreseeable horizon led to the view of the Earth as a fixed, flat disk located in the center of the world. In a similar, though more poetic form, the origin of the Earth is depicted in the sacred book of the Brahmins - ʼʼVedahʼʼ: ʼʼEarth arose from water and is like a blooming lotus flower, one of the petals of which forms Indiaʼʼ (126).

3 Geographic representations of the Minoans and Phoenicians. Among the most developed peoples of the III-II millennium BC. belonged to the Minoans and Phoenicians. By the II millennium BC. intermediary trade between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean was in the hands of Minoans who founded a powerful maritime power on the island of Crete. There is evidence that the trade links of the Minoans stretched from the British Isles to canary islands, Senegal and India. At the same time, from the middle of the II millennium BC. Dominance on the sea routes of the Mediterranean Sea passes to the Phoenicians.

Phoenicians, whose homeland was located on the territory of modern Lebanon, were among the first navigators and discoverers of new lands. In their voyages, they penetrated far beyond known lands. At the same time, being engaged only in trade, they reported almost nothing about the countries and peoples they visited.

In one of the mountain valleys of modern Beirut in those distant times, an ore body was discovered in which copper and tin were successfully combined. The Phoenicians developed it, made bronze and traded it. In general, in the ore deposits of the Mediterranean basin, with an abundance of copper, tin was clearly lacking. For this reason, the Phoenicians made regular sea voyages to the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Great Britain, where they mined tin. Οʜᴎ also traded in cedar wood, which grew abundantly in the mountain forests of Lebanon. One of the oldest written documents, compiled in 3000 BC, is an inventory of cedar logs loaded in the Phoenician port of Byblos on forty ships that were supposed to deliver this cargo to Egypt.

The Phoenicians founded many trading ports along the entire Mediterranean coast, incl. and Carthage . They also own the creation of the first phonetic alphabet. It consisted entirely of consonants, like the modern Semitic alphabet. Somewhat later, the Greeks supplemented this alphabet with short vowels. The Phoenician language formed the basis absolute majority all known European alphabets today. In the VI century. BC. Phoenicia was conquered by the Persians, and in 322 ᴦ. BC. conquered Alexander the Great . In 146 BC. Carthage was destroyed (11,110,126).

THEME 3

THE OLDEST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "ANCIENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY" 2017, 2018.

The first stage is from ancient times to the middle of the 17th century.

This stage is characterized by the initial accumulation of geographical knowledge. AT in general terms(at an accessible level) at this stage, almost the entire surface of the Earth was studied, i.e., by the end of the stage, mankind had formed a global geographical outlook, many important ideas and ideas for geography were born, inherited and developed by other generations of scientists.

Geographical representations arose in ancient times in connection with the practical activities of people - hunting, fishing, nomadic cattle breeding, primitive agriculture. The range of actual (existential) knowledge was determined by the nature of human activity and the immediate natural environment. The ability to navigate in space is closely related to observation. Observation and good knowledge individual facts combined with the underdevelopment of thinking. Hence the inability to explain many natural processes and phenomena (droughts, earthquakes, floods, etc.), the birth and death of a person, which found expression in animism(the idea of ​​spirits and soul) and magic (witchcraft, sorcery, sorcery). The primitive man's idea of ​​the origin of things was inevitably fantastic and passed down orally from generation to generation. It took the form of myths, i.e. folk tales about the gods and legendary heroes about the origin of the world.

Already in ancient times, the sphericity of the Earth was recognized (Parmenides, VI - V centuries BC, Aristotle, IV century BC, Eratosthenes, 111-11 centuries BC). On this basis, the concept geographic zoning(Eudoxus, IV century BC, Posidonius, centuries BC, Strabo, I century BC, etc.). Philosophical thought approached the idea of ​​changes in the earth's surface (Heraclitus, VI - V centuries BC). originated general geography and geographic regional studies, cartography and hydrology.

Among the most important philosophical and geographical achievements of the era of ancient culture are:

The formation of a spatial (geospatial) approach that played big role(in the methodology of geography) at all other stages of the formation of geographical sciences. Its methodological essence, of course, taking into account the temporal characteristics of different eras, has been preserved and has come down to our days.

The formation of natural philosophy based on the holistic thinking of that time, which combined many aspects of history, mathematics, natural science, ethnography and other areas. Geographic Ideas were formed in the unity of these views and did not constitute an independent direction. “I believe,” Strabo wrote, “that the science of geography, which I have now decided to deal with, just like any other science, is included in the scope of philosophy.”

In geography, a descriptive and country-specific direction is being formed, which contributed to the accumulation of geographical facts about various regions (spaces) of the Oikoumene and the formation unified (descriptive) geography (chorography). The first country-specific descriptions were peripluses(description of the coast), periegesis(descriptions of sushi) and periods(detours of the earth). Generalizations of such works were made by Hecataeus, Strabo, Ptolemy and others. It was a country-specific direction of geography closely related to history. J. O. Thompson called it general geography.

There is a birth of a natural-science or general geography direction (Aristotle's line), associated with an attempt to explain the described natural phenomena. Here we can see the basics of theoretical understanding through the system conceptual apparatus: about the figure and spheres of the Earth, thermal zones, the ratio of land and sea, climate and climatic zones, the geocentric model of the cosmos, geography, chorography, etc. These ideas were formed not only in the works of Aristotle, but also in the works of Thales, Eudoxus, Heraclitus, Funidides, and others.

A mathematical and geographical direction appears, which laid the foundations for mathematical geography, geodesy and cartography. The works of Eudoxus, Anaximander, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy introduce such concepts as topography, latitude and longitude, cartographic projection, meridian length, etc.

Ecological motifs in geography are traced, connected with thoughts about the natural determination (conditionality) of human existence (Democritus), the role of climate in people's lives, the formation of their character, traditions and customs (Hecataeus, Hippocrates). These thoughts apparently influenced C. Montexieu when he formulated the concepts of geographical determinism.

In the early Middle Ages, the collapse of the Roman Empire weakened Europe's overland trade links with the East. Low shipbuilding technologies, religious isolation of countries, superstitions and myths prevented long-distance travel. Overland journeys were mainly made by pilgrims or missionaries to "sacred places". Educational process began with Latin patristics, that is, the totality of theological and philosophical doctrines of Christian thinkers (fathers of the church). In the history of geography, it was a time of preservation of elements of ancient knowledge against the general background of their decline and the first attempts by Christian authors to interpret geographical information from biblical positions. An example would be the works of Kozma Indikoplov written in the 6th century. This was reflected in the early medieval "wheel maps", which was associated with the flat shape of our planet. Jerusalem, the location of the "Holy Sepulcher", was recognized as their center, the axis of the universe.

In the Middle Ages, there is an expansion of spatial horizons in the North of Europe and North Atlantic(voyages of Irish sailors and Scandinavian Vikings) and the acquaintance of Europeans with Arabic-speaking science. It was the time of scholasticism (religious philosophy with the premises of rationalism), the time of empirical research and the accumulation of new actual material about the nature and population of Oikumene, the beginning of its systematization and the identification of some cause-and-effect relationships in the works of Ibn Batuta, Ibn Sina and others. Arabic the works of Greek, Roman and other thinkers were translated. From India, they learned the decimal system of counting, from the Chinese - the compass, improved the system of irrigated agriculture, built new canals, and produced silk. The geography of the Arabs was primarily the science of the paths connecting separate territories and about the territories themselves. However, Arabic geography theoretical positions did not advance further than the ancient geographers. Her merit lies in expanding the spatial outlook (trade was the engine) and in preserving the ideas of antiquity for posterity. The maps of Arab geographers until the 15th century remained without a degree grid.

This time ends with the formation of early humanism, which became the apogee medieval geography with its idea of ​​a single ecumene in the world and the threshold of the VGO, which radically changed the medieval paradigm. This was preceded by a number of circumstances related to book printing and the publication of regional descriptions of the countries of the East rich in gold, precious stones and spices. Reliable cartographic material is also appearing, which ensures the predictability of travel. Venice becomes the center of geographical thought, which, according to K. Ritter, has become "the highest school of geographical and historical sciences." Numerous manuscripts of ancient, Persian and Arabic authors were collected in the city's libraries. Compiled collections of travel and locations. The first appear educational establishments called voluntary "academies".

VGO pushed the boundaries of the geographical world. It was an extraordinarily difficult process of knowing the world in the space of the Earth, which required great personal heroism and energy, which was not known by any science except geography. The era of the VGO, according to F. Engels, was the era of titans in terms of the power of thought, passion and character, in versatility and scholarship. The emerging capitalism required reliable data on land and sea routes, on the natural conditions of known and newly discovered territories. In European countries, the process of accumulating knowledge about the geographical space began, replacing the iconographic ideas about the world. AT modern world the most significant are "horizontal", desacralized relationship between cultures and countries.

The main achievements of geography in the Middle Ages can be called:

Development of cartography, formation modern map world, a publishing house of maps, which became possible due to the spread of printing and engraving on copper. In the 16th century, Antwerp became the center of cartography with its famous Flemish school, famous for the names of A. Ortelius and G. Mercator. The first left a memory of himself by publishing a collection of maps called "Teatrum", which included 70 titles. The second developed mathematical foundations cartography. M. Beheim made the first globe that has come down to us. Unfortunately, most of the maps were published as an appendix to Ptolemy's Geography, which created a lot of controversy.

Coverage in the literature of geographical discoveries. Letters and diaries of H. Columbus, A. Vespucci, Pygaffet and others were published. Pedro Martir compiled the first chronicle of the history of discoveries. Later literature voyages and travels is published in multi-volume collected works. In 1507, the Lorraine geographer M. Woldseemüller, impressed by the letters of A. Vespucci, proposed calling the New World America.

The appearance of the first regional-statistical descriptions. For example, the books of the Florentine merchant L. Gricciardini "Description of the Netherlands", which describes nature, population, economy and cities.

The development of the ideas of mathematical geography. The most famous are the works of M. Waldseemüller "Introduction to Cosmography" and P. Apian "Cosmography", which focused on navigation rather than geography. They continued the traditions of the geography direction of ancient authors about the place of the Earth in the Universe and the features of its structure, and also summarized knowledge in astronomy, physics and geography.

There are ideas about the occurrence of layers earth's crust(Leonardo da Vinci), about the general structure of the Earth (R. Descartes, Mr. Leibniz), mountain building processes (N. Stenon). At the end of the stage, the first works appear, summarizing the accumulated geographical knowledge, which have to some extent theoretical character (the work of B. Varenius and others).