Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar, is widely credited as the first person to use the term 'geography.' He lived in the 3rd century BCE and made significant contributions to the field by calculating the circumference of the Earth and creating early maps. While Eratosthenes coined the term, many ancient civilizations, including the Babylonians and Egyptians, had already been practicing elements of geography through map-making and surveying for centuries. His work laid the foundation for the formal study of geography.