You see, the thing is, we live on this Earth, which is a planet among many others as part of the Solar System. And for some reason, life seems to be present only here.
And on this Earth, we live in some country. Most probably the one we were born in. And even in the country, we live in some state, some administrative division, or more naturally in some city or town, or a village.
People go out of their home in travel, and thus they get to see other places, i.e., other villages, towns, cities, countries. They get to see the mountains, the sea, and various natural wonders as well. However, there would still be a considerable number of people who mostly stay around the place they were born in, and do not travel much.
And another important thing to notice, is that at present we are here and we roam around all these places. But a hundred years ago, we were not here, and some other people roamed around these places, and now those people are not here.
So, the places kind of remain constant. People come and go. Some places retain their form even for thousands of years. How many generations of people must have been to this same place. And another important point, is that the number of places is not infinite. It’s finite. There are only 200 or so countries. And that is when we include a lot of tiny ones.
And if we take cities, which in my opinion are the best form of division to study places, rather than, you know, an administrative division. Because other artificial divisions change very often. But a city remains a city for centuries or more.
So, if we take a city, and we first study its location, like the river on which it lives, and major roads that connect it to other cities, and then we look at the history of that city in totality, and also the famous people that have lived in this city or were born or raised here, and also how the festivities go on in this city, then we can form a decently accurate opinion about this city.
We should also study and remember at least a basic map of the city. This way, it’s almost as good as we lived in that city. Of course, actual living would offer much more complex and raw experience, but then surely you can’t live in all of the cities of the world. So, this mechanism remains our best friend, and I think it can be decently good.
There was a philosopher who never travelled out of his town his whole life, but could talk about cities as if he had lived there for years. Haha.
So, Why Geography?
Well, because it is limited. There are only so many cities, and so many peoples.
And what we get out of this study, is tremendous knowledge, which if we tried getting by first hand experience alone, it would take many lifetimes.
And most fundamentally, this study of places and people is essential to get a grasp on history and current geopolitics.
And also, isn’t diversity a thing to cherish? Studying places and people who have been living there and their ways of life, is a joy in itself.