Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
future of Antarctica as an international reserve, the rise of China
as an economic power, the spread of terrorism from the Middle
East, or the confl icting forces of centralization and devolution
within the European Union. All the characteristics of geography
are necessary to understand the complexities of regional
problems.
Historical geography
Essentially, historical geography is the geography of the
past. As a fi eld of integrated geography, the key geographical
concepts of space, place, and environment are considered
in the context of past times. This often involves analysing a
particular place or region at some time or period in the past
(a 'time slice'). A classic example of this is the painstaking
research on the Domesday Book carried out by H. C. Darby
based in the Department of Geography at Cambridge University.
The Domesday topic contains a mine of information on the
geography of England in
AD
1086, shortly after the Norman
conquest. From this source, Darby quantifi ed and mapped the
human population, the area and uses of woodlands, the numbers
of farm animals, and regional variations in the economy, including
incomes.
A second approach involves using evidence from the past to help
understand the present-day world, including the recognition of
those phenomena of the present landscape ('relicts') that have
been inherited from the past. Examples of such relicts in the
present landscape include 'U'-shaped valleys inherited from
glacial times; transport routes that follow the course of Roman
roads (such as the Fosse Way from Exeter to Lincoln); the
Norfolk Broads, once thought to have been natural lakes but
now known to have originated through peat-cutting in the 13th
and 14th centuries; and the many features of urban and
industrial areas that form the modern heritage of the Industrial
Revolution.
