GEOGRAPHY. The science which treats of the earth as a habitable world, compre hending a description of the whole glebe, to ether with an account of all its parts, limits, inhabitants, etc. Geography is either gene ral or particular. General geography com prehends the knowledge of the earth in general, and the affections common to the whole globe, as its figure, magnitude motions, circles, winds, tides, meteor; divisions into land and water, etc. Particular geography has respect to par ticular countries, showing their boundaries, figure, climate, seasons, inhabitants, arts, cus toms, language, history, dm. When it respects regions, districts, or parts of countries, it is called choregraphy, and when particular cities, town; or villages, &c. it is called topography. Particular geography is also distinguished into ancient geography, when it treats of the coun tries and places existing among the ancients ; modern geography, when it treats of modern places ; the geography of the middle ages, which treats of places that flourished in the middle ages ; and lastly, sacred geography, which treats of places mentioned in the Bible The earth, considered as a planet, is sup posed to be marked by circles corresponding to those which the sun apparently describes in the heavens, as the horizon, which divides the sphere into two parts or hemispheres, the one upper and visible, the other lower and invisi ble ; the equator, which is equidistant from lath the poles, and divides the globe into northern and southern hemispheres ; the azi muth, or vertical circles, which intersect each uther at the zenith and nadir ; the meridian, which crosses the equator at right angles, and from which the distance of places east and 1 west is reckoned ; the parallels of latitude, small circles supposed to be parallel to the equator, -which show the latitude of places, or their distance north and south from the equa tor ; the arctic and antarctic circles, two circles at the distance of twenty-three degrees and a half from the north and south poles ; the two tropics, namely, the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn, the first north and the second south, twenty-three degrees and a half distant from the equator ; to these might be added the hour circles, or the twenty-four cir cles passing through the equator, and corres ponding to the twenty-four hours of the day. From the diversity in the length of the days and nights, geographers divide the globe into certain districts, called climates, measured either by hours or half hours ; and from the effects of light and heat upon the earth in dif ferent parts, it is distinguished into five zones, namely, one torrid or burning zone, between the tropics ; two temperate, between the polar circles and the tropics ; two frigid or frozen zones, between the polar circles and the poles. The inhabitants of the earth, as to their relative situation in regard to each other, are distin guished into the antipodes, who live directly opposite to each other ; the antoeci, who live under the same meridian, but opposite parallels of latitude; the perioeci, who live under the same parallels of latitude but opposite meri dians.
The earth is naturally divided into land and water, and, according to some computations, about three fourths of it is occupied by water, and the remaining fourth by land. The land
is distinguished into continents, or large par. lions not separated by any sea, as the four great continents, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, which are the four quarters of the world ; islands, smaller portions, entirely sur rounded by water, as Great Britain, Ireland, ; peninsulas, or tracts of land almost sur rounded by water, as the Mores, in Greece ; isthmuses, or necks of land joining two conti nents, as the isthmus of Suez, joining Africa to Asia ; promontories, or capes, high portions of land stretching out into the sea, as the Cape of Good Hope ; mountains, or elevations of the earth's surface, such as the Alps and Pyre nees in Europe, the Caucasus and Mountains in Asia, and the Andes in America. The water is distinguished into oceans, which are vast collections which separate the conti nents from each other, as the Pacific and At lantic Oceans ; seas, or smaller collections of water, as the Indian Sea, Black Sea, &c. ; gulfs, parts of any sea surrounded nearly with land, as the Gulf of Venice; if they have a Wik entrance they are bay9, as the Bay of Biscay ; straits, narrow passages joining two seas, as the Strait of Gibraltar; lakes, large collections entirely surrounded by land, as the Lake of Geneva ; rivers, streams of water which have their source in some spring, and empty themselves into seine other fitter or piece of water. The principal rivers, as to their magnitudes, are the Amazon, Senegal, Nile, St. Lawrence, La Plata, Mississippi, Volga, Oronooko, Ganges, Euphrates, Danube, Don, Indus, Dnieper, and Dwina, but if esti mated according to the length of course which they run, their order will be rather different, but the Amazon is the largest in every respect. The is politically divided into coun tries, which, according to their government, are distinguished into empires, if they are of great extent, as the Russian and Austrian em pires; or kingdoms, as the kingdoms of Great Britain, France, Spain, ac.; or states, as the states of Holland and America ; or republics, as the republics of Venice, Genoa, &c. Under this head geography treats of the subdivisions of each country into provinces, cities, towns, &c. ; also, of the number of inhabitants, the nature and produce of the soil, the animals pe culiar to each place, the state of the arts, manu factures, commerce, &c. which constitute the, wealth of each country, and is comprehended under the name of statistics. To all this may be added an account of curiosities, natural and artificial, as volcanoes, caverns, canals, springs, fountains, and the like. Besides, geography treats not only of the earth's surface, but also of the affections which it is exposed to from the waters of the ocean which produce the flux and reflux of the tide, middle currents belong ing to particular seas, as in the Mediterranean and Euxine seas ; likewise, of the winds which blow in particular manners and di rections, such as the monsoons, or trade winds, which blow for some months in the year one way, and the rest another ; and, lastly, the meteorological peculiarities of each country, such as regards the degree of heat and cold, the quantity of rain which falls in particular places, or within a given period, the duration of frosts, and other particulars respecting the climate, and its effects upon the surrounding objects.