Cosmography

Well into the seventeenth century, geographical writing was profoundly influenced by Greek and Latin classical writers, and a number of classical Greek words were used to define aspects of the subject. Thus “geography” combines geo (the earth) with graphos (“drawing” and, by extension, “description”). “Cosmography” involved the description of the universe ( cosmos ) and included what later developed as biology, cartography, geography, geophysics, and also anthropology. Chorography ( choros = place) described places in general and larger areas, whereas “topography” was concerned with primarily the physical features of particular places at a smaller scale. Words ending in ‐logy incorporate the Greek word logos , which signifies a rational principle or structure. ( Logos is the “Word” which was “from the beginning” in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel.) So logos implies explanation rather than the description implied by graphos . “Chorology” suggests some explanation about places, just as “chronology” deals with time and how historical events can be seen as logical outcomes of a course of previous events. In analyses of the history of geography these concepts have been used and misused, often to underpin a preferred contemporary paradigm for the discipline.

Epistemology · Extension (predicate logic) · Geography · Historical geography · Human geography · Language geography · Logos Bible Software · Subject (documents) · Computer Science · Historical Geography and Cartography · History · Philosophy

• The Nature of Geography

  Richard Hartshorne•Annals of the Association of…•1939

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