In this paper, we discuss the context for the development of geography from the seventeenth century when it became liberated from its function in the service of the different Christian faiths; we discuss the importance of the division of the Protestant confession into the Lutheran and the Reformed one for the process of secularization and for the establishment of geography as a modern science. We analyse the fundamental contribution by the Lutheran Bernhard Varen whose volume General Geography constitutes the paradigm for this new science. At that time, Geography was considered to be a branch of mathematics, and this book offers us insights into both, mathematical notations and mathematical procedures. We analyse, in particular, the use of the decimal number notation for nonintegral numbers and also some applications of trigonometry, comparing the original edition with the major re-editions of this seminal work.
History; Mathematical education; Mathematical notations; Geography; Modern science
