For a long time, geometry (meaning earth measurement) was linked to physical space, such as forms, content and the spatial relations of specific objects.  Ancient civilizations in Egypt, Sumer, and Babylonia studied geometry to meet the practical needs of surveying, engineering, and agriculture.

Later, humans recognized certain principles, and developed a collection of general geometrical laws or rules, such as the fact that the circumference and diameter of circles are always in the same ratio.  It is believed that this facet of "scientific geometry" began in Egypt, about 5,000 years ago, where rulers measured fields in order to evaluate property taxes.  Although Egyptians and other ancient cultures initiated the development of geometry as a science, many of the methods used to calculate areas and volumes were approximations.

Geometry continued to be studied through an empirical perspective until the Greeks were introduced to geometry (about 600 B.C.) and refined it into demonstrative analysis.  This is a pivotal point in the history of mathematics because it increased the quantity of geometry and changed the very nature of the subject.

Author: Henry Sheen

References:
Eves, Howard.  An Introduction to the History of Mathematics. (Sixth edition)  Published by Saunders College (1990), a division of HBJ College Publishers.  Fort Worth, TX. (Pgs. 574, 575).

Dieodonne, Jean Alexandre.  History of Geometry: An Outline of the History and Development of Geometry.  Monterey: Wadsworth Advanced Books, 1985.