thumb|right|250px|A 1740 map of [[Paris.]]
thumb|Ortelius World Map, 1570
Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. In its modern form, it is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with history, anthropology, ecology, geology, environmental studies, literary studies, and other fields. Although the majority of work in historical geography is considered human geography, the field also encompasses studies of geographic change which are not primarily anthropogenic. Historical geography is often a major component of school and university curricula in geography and social studies. Current research in historical geography is being performed by scholars in more than forty countries.
Themes
This sub-branch of human geography is closely related to history, environmental history, and historical ecology.
Historical geography seeks to determine how cultural features of various societies across the planet emerged and evolved by understanding their interaction with their local environment and surroundings.
More recent studies make use of non-traditional methods, such as botany and archeology. Its author, J. B. Mitchell, came down firmly on the side of geography: 'the historical geographer is a geographer first last and all the time'. By 1975 the first number of the Journal of Historical Geography had widened the discipline to a broader audience: 'the writings of scholars of any disciplinary provenance who have something to say about matters of geographical interest relating to past time'.
List of historical geographers
Major institutions
- The Historical Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers
- The Historical Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society
Major journals
- Journal of Historical Geography
- Historical Geography
See also
- Historical atlas