"Geography is the study of Earth as the home of people."

Yi-Fu Tuan, 1991

Geography is the study of humans and the world around them.  Geographers try to explain how and why places around the world are similar or different.  For example, one part of the Earth might be flat, while another might be mountainous.  Geography looks at the different environments in which people live.  Geography also looks at the ways in which environments have influenced the development of people and of their lands.  Geography helps us to study the effects humans have on the environment.

Geographers use many different methods and skills to study the environment.  For example, photographs, maps and line drawings are all used by geographers to find out about different landscapes and places.  As geographers, we must learn how to identify direction, how to measure distance,how to use scale and how to identify and describe the landscape.