AGS Archives
AGS Timeline 2001
2001
The AGS Celebrated its Sesquicentennial
150 Years of Geographical Inquiry
The AGS Awarded the Scottish Geographical Medal
The Scottish Geographical Medal was awarded to the AGS at the Annual Awards Dinner of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Barony Hall, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday October 29, 2001. The Earl of Dalkeith KBE, DL, who is President of the RSGS, presented the medal and William Doyle (AGS President) received it on behalf of the AGS. The medal was given in recognition of the "outstanding contributions of the American Geographical Society over the past 150 years."
Throughout the year, the American Geographical Society had special events planned to celebrate 150 years of geographical inquiry.
Read Dr. Jerry Dobson's article in GeoWorld magazine on the December 2000 Globe signing ceremony in New York.
The new AGS Travel Program is launched, with six new lecture tours launched in 2001 and many new itineraries planned for 2002 and 2003.
View the AGS Calendar for details of current scheduled events.
AGS COUNCILOR
DELIVERED OPENING ADDRESS AT 2001 AAG CONFERENCE John Nobel Wilford, Secretary of the AGS and Senior Science editor for the New York Times, gave the opening address at the conference of
the Association of American Geographers (AAG), on February 28, 2001, in New York City. Mr. Wilford spoke eloquently to a packed auditorium about the issue of
relevance in geographic research and encouraged academic geographers to be more proactive in bringing a geographic perspective on society's pressing issues to the general public.
"Fieldwork" issue of the Geographical Review.
Discovery and Exploration Links:
Learn more about the tunnels and qanats of Iran and Afghanistan.
A sailor on board Columbus' ship the Pinta sighted land early in the morning of October 12, 1492, and an
era of European exploration and expansion in the Western Hemisphere began.
Francis Drake arrives in Plymouth, England, on September 26, 1580, after sailing The Golden
Hind around the world in 33 months and becoming the first Briton to circumnavigate the globe.
On September 25, 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa becomes the first European
to sight the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
The volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted for the first time, destroying southern Italy’s cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum on August 24, 79 (Common Era).
Danish explorer Vitus Bering, on a mission sponsored by Russia,
discovers Alaska for the Europeans on August 20, 1741.
Independence is declared by the United Provinces of La Plata (Argentina) from
Spain, July 9, 1816.
Hubble Provides Complete View of Jupiter's Auroras.
Sweden and Prussia sign the Peace Treaty of Hamburg, May 22, 1762.
May 17, 1673: Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette set out to explore the Mississippi River.
May 8, 1541: Hernando de Soto encounters the Mississippi River, calling it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
Interactive Map Showing State-by-State Power OutLook for the Future.
May 4, 1827, John Hanning Speke, British explorer, was born.
New Zealand is formally proclaimed a British colony, May 3, 1841.
Historical Roots of the May Day Celebration.
Anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, Treaty of Paris, April 30, 1803.
Examine global dust storms through NOAA imagery.
Continued geopolitical problems between
Israel and Syria.
Debating the Language
of Globalization