Historical Geography in Britain, 1920-1980: Continuity and Change

Abstract

Early use of the term 'historical geography'; the impact of the 'new geography' of the 1920s and 1930s; pattern versus process; the exploration of sources, 1940-60; unforeseen contributions; the quantitative revolution; the variety of ideologies; the future. I am not sure when the term 'historical geography' was first used. One early example comes from 1846 when it appeared in the title of Karl von Spruner's pioneer historical atlas.' In this context it implied concern with changes in political boundaries and with the varying extent of states and provinces; and this usage has continued among some people up to the present day. But before the end of the century the term was also used to indicate concern with the influence of geography upon history. In 1894 appeared what may possibly be the most remarkable book ever to include the term in its title--George Adam Smith's The historical geography of the Holy Land: it has run into twenty-five editions, with a reprint as recently as 1973.2 Other notions also found shelter under the umbrella of the term, but the two main ideas current by the early decades of this century were changing frontiers and geographical influences. This was the kind of historical geography I encountered when I went up to Cambridge in 1925 to read geography. I attended the classes of Mr B. L. Manning who had become a lecturer in Geography in 1921. That he was a young historian was nothing unusual. Geographers like P. M. Roxby, J. N. L. Baker and W. G. East started with degrees in history. Manning's heart, however, was in ecclesiastical history, and he resigned his post in 1930 to become a lecturer in the History Faculty. In the meantime, his lectures to us were of the kind that has been called 'an historian's historical geography'.3 We began with Ancient Greece, then went on to the Roman Empire and so to the Byzantine Empire. We continued with the territorial evolution of France, with feudal Germany, with the rise of Prussia, with the many states of Italy before 1870, with Spain and Portugal, and with the development of Muscovy into Russia. We then embarked upon the expansion of Europe overseas. Our reading at this time included E. A. Freeman's The historical geography of Europe (then in its third edition) which dealt with changing political boundaries. I recall hours spent in disentangling the various connotations of the name Burgundy-the kingdoms, the duchies, the county, the imperial Kreis or 'circle' of later times; little wonder that Freeman wrote: 'no name in geography has so often shifted its place and meaning'. An essential part of our equipment was an historical atlas, and so I acquired W. R. Shepherd's Historical atlas (also in its third edition). One book that made a great impact on us was Lucien Febvre's A geographical introduction to history which appeared in English in 1925.4 Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. N.S. 8: 421-28 (1983) Printed in Great Britain This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Wed, 31 Aug 2016 04:40:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms