Paper short abstract:

The representation of the Earth, the exploration of its most remote places and the idea of the environment are elements that are intertwined in the history of geographical thought and its visual mobilities. This paper reconstructs three of the most fundamental moments in its most recent development.

Paper long abstract:

Space exploration in the 20th century made it possible to collect a vast amount of visual material depicting the Earth floating in space. This new perspective is widely regarded as a key factor in raising awareness of the finiteness of the planet's resources and consequently, in setting limits to economic development in relation to environmental issues. This was only a part of a longer process in geographical thought, which began at the end of the 18th century, with the shift of the representation of the Earth as a sphere in space from the visual imagery of astronomy to geological representations: this process would later include at least two other fundamental steps. Starting from some examples taken from ongoing research, the first part of this paper sets out to show how the exploration of hot deserts, linked to colonization projects of the mid-19th century, contributed to the imagination and representation of the Earth as seen from space in Western scientific illustrations. The second part looks at the role of the exploration of cold deserts (the poles) and its representation at the beginning of the 20th century, seen as a fundamental push towards desiring to explore outer space and other planets. The last part contains a summary of the visual mobilities which have criss-crossed along the various paths taken to explore the environments of our planet, culminating in the desire to go beyond it.