ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of the origin and evolution of the earth, its oceans and its atmosphere. It is by no means a ‘physical basis of geography’—a description of an inorganic earth on which life in general, humans, and geographers in particular can operate-for it will be shown that life itself plays a vital part in the evolution of the earth as we know it. Planet Earth is an interactive system. Neither is it a simple outline of facts, for there is great controversy about many aspects of the development of our earth, and an intelligent appreciation of the earth as it is (quite apart from speculation on what may happen to it in the foreseeable future), demands an understanding of possibilities which are not apparent at first sight.
