History of Geography

Abstract

If you take diversity of perspectives and traditions into account, writing the history of geography is less straightforward than it once seemed. Instead of writing a necessarily biased and partial history, this entry discusses the practice of writing histories of geography, taking as starting point that any history of geography is situated in space and time. We consider why situatedness matters and explore the consequences of foregrounding the geography of geography. Subsequently, we discuss the range of ways in which a history of geography can be written, from following the transmission of ideas through space-time to (nationally situated) canons and the wide variety of blends those approaches can generate. Lastly, we reconsider why histories of geographies are written and why they matter, not just as cautionary tales but as building blocks for a forward-looking engaged pluralist geographical praxis.