COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF STRABO AND ERATOSTHENES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY.

AGBEBAKU, HENRY USIOBAIFO

This paper examines the comparative contributions of Strabo and Eratosthenes to the development of geography. Geographic thought during the ancient world varied from the act of map making, nature of places, origin and conception of the earth, methods of measurement, conception and description of the known world, through methods of construction of roads and pyramids. Strabo was an explorer and used his experience from travels to describe the varied places of the world and how people lived and were governed. Strabo was the first to introduce the concept of classification and regionalization in geography. He was the first to describe the weather patterns and the theory of profoundness of the earth. Strabo was criticized for being a descriptive geographer but remains the first scholar to be named as a professor of Geography. Eratosthenes on the other hand, was a scientist, discoverer, explorer and observer of geographic phenomena, he made great measurements, calculation and discoveries of places, objects, events and phenomena of the earth’s resources. Eratosthenes was the first to measure and calculate the radius and circumference of the earth, he was the first to calculate the tilt of the earth, the size and shape; and distance of the earth to the sun. Most of his observations and measurements of heavenly patterns and objects were absolutely accurate and of high esteemed, these findings and discoveries serves as focal and reference points for geographic thought during the ancient time and a base for modern geography. Eratosthenes was criticized of as a jack of all specialties’, having vast knowledge in diverse field of disciplines. The study utilized the methods of pure content analysis and review of literature. Findings revealed that there is need to assess the geography of ancient time for presence understanding and to make future projection and also to examine the contributions of and relevance of Strabo and Eratosthenes to the development of geography.

Key words: Comparative analysis, Contributions, Eratosthenes, Geography and Strabo.