An introductory geography Author:James Douglas Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTORY GEOGKAPHY. Geography in its simplest form treats of the shape, size, and divisions of the earth. The earth is round like a ball or orange. ... more »The most convincing proof that the earth is round, is the fact that voyagers are constantly sailing round it. By setting out in a western direction, and steering always in the same course, ships arrive in due time exactly at the point whence they started. A voyage round the earth can now be made in a few months. A line drawn round the widest part of the earth measures nearly twenty-five thousand miles. The measure round the widest part of the earth is called its circumference, A line drawn through the centre of the earth measures nearly eight thousand miles. The measure through the centre of the earth is .called its diameter. Thus in speaking of the size of the earth, we say its circumference is nearly 25,000 miles, and its diameter nearly 8,000 miles. Ilmstration.—The extent of the earth's circumference is such that a railway train, moving incessantly night and day, at 30 miles an hour, would take nearly 35 days to go round it DIVISIONS OF THE EARTH. The divisions of the earth are of two kinds— Natural and Artificial. The Natural divisions of the earth aie those formed by the operations of nature. The Artificial divisions of the earth are those which have been brought about by man. Examples.—Islands, Lakes, Seas, Mountains, etc., belong to the natural divisions. Kingdoms, Empires, Republics etc., belong to the artificial divisions. The branch of geography which treats of the natural divisions of the earth is called Physical Geography. Physical Geography also describes the climate, soil, animals, vegetation, and mineral products of the earth. The branch of geography which treats...« less