Have you ever pored over a map only to look up and see that a couple hours had passed? Or lost yourself in a fascinating documentary about an ancient tribe’s struggle to cope with the encroaching modern world on some island halfway around the globe? Then perhaps geography is right up your alley.

More than just maps and country names and territories, the study of geography contains two distinct forms: Physical and Human.

Physical Geography is the science of the landscape of Earth, from its fiery origins through earthquakes and massive volcanoes to the atmosphere and weather conditions. It examines the processes that have shaped the earth throughout time into what we see it today.

Human geography studies the patterns of human interaction with the land. This diverse academic specialty concerns language, religion, medicine, cities, economics, entertainment, and much more. In human geography the demographic transition model is applied to explain the transformation of countries from their beginnings to modern civilization.