Geography is a modern science, systematized as such from the 19th century onwards. However, it cannot be said that before that it was not practiced. The expression was created by the philosopher Erastosthenes in the III century; Ç.
Over time, this science crossed different paths and had different definitions. Currently, Geography is understood, roughly speaking, as the science that studies the geographic space, that is, that inhabited by man or that is of interest to him, both in its natural aspects and in its human aspects.
As well as all the knowledge produced in the light of science and scientific reason, geographical thought stood out for the diverse contributions of countless notable thinkers.
The first two to treat Geography as a modern science, that is, with its own object of study and the his own epistemological systematization, were Alexander Von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859). These two thinkers were succeeded by Vidal de La Blache and Friedrich Ratzel.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
From there, numerous thinkers stood out throughout geographic thinking, among them, we can highlight: Eliseé Reclus, Richard Hartshorne, Carl Sauer, Pierre Jorge, Yves Lacoste, Yi-Fu Tuan, Paul Claval and many others. Among Brazilians, the following deserve mention: Josué de Castro, Antonio Christofoletti, Milton Santos, among others.
The purpose of this section is to provide some contributions regarding the dissemination of the thoughts of the main geographers in history, highlighting their main contributions to geography and science generally. This assumption should be achieved using simple and objective language, which facilitates understanding for students of high school and elementary school, in order to make them more interested in the theoretical bases that guided their thinking. geographical.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
