Brief description
The period from c. 1500 to c. 1900 delimits a coherent era in the history of geographical thought, spanning the voyages of Columbus and Da Gama to the formation of the modern university discipline of geography in the later nineteenth century. From Columbus's 'discovery' of the Americas to Livingstone's travels in Africa, there was an ambition to gain ever more detailed information about the surface of the globe. There was also a widespread demand for books which would summarise this information for an audience whose aims were [political, imperial and commercial. The period also saw seminal texts published which helped to forge modern geography, such as Montesquieu's Spirit of the laws, a key theorization of the relationship between society and Darwin's Origin of Species. This course provides a critical overview of the development of geography over four centuries, coupled to a series of detailed analyses of key texts in the history of geographical thought. It also introduces students to historiographical questions about the role of the history of geography in geography's nature in the present day. Areas covered:

• The history of geography books and geography
• The history of Exploration and Discovery
• Key Texts in the History of Geographical Thought
• Questions about how and why we construct histories of geography.