A Level Geography

What is Geography? “So many of the world's current issues – at a global scale and locally - boil down to geography, and need the geographers of the future to help us understand them. Global warming as it affects countries and regions, food and energy security, the degradation of land and soils from overuse and misuse, the spread of disease, the causes and consequences of migration, and the impacts of economic change on places and communities.” Michael Palin (Former RGS-IBG President) Geography is the study of Earth’s landscapes, peoples, places and environments. It is, quite simply, about the world in which we live.

Geography is unique in bridging the social sciences (human geography) with the natural sciences (physical geography). Human geography concerns the understanding of the dynamics of cultures, societies and economies, and physical geography concerns the understanding of the dynamics of physical landscapes and the environment. Geography puts this understanding of social and physical processes within the context of places and regions - recognising the great differences in cultures, political systems, economies, landscapes and environments across the world, and the links between them.

Understanding the causes of differences and inequalities between places and social groups underlies many of the newer developments in human geography. Geography is, in the broadest sense, an education for life and for living. Learning through geography – whether through formal learning or