Charles Gritzner succinctly summed up the importance of geography with this simple question: What is where, why there, and why care? Click here to link to a fuller discussion of geography by Gritzner.
The University of London's Institute for Historical Research is a great resource for historians and those interested in history. It's Making History website "is dedicated to the history of the study and practice of history in Britain over the last hundred years and more, following the emergence of the professional discipline in the late 19th century." For those of you who are history majors, we call this historiography. Making History has a great article on Historical Geography by Mike Heffernan
Hopefully, after looking at these two brief articles, you will have a fuller understanding on the role of historical geography in the study of history.
Finally, here is a brief video I use in my freshman US history course to explain the importance of geography to history:
As you get going on your group projects, remember to keep going back to the questions of Charles Gritzner.
- What is where? is pretty obvious. Get out a map and take a good look each time you come across a place name.
- Why there? is a bit more difficult. Why did the historical action occur there, of all places? Is this location a key to the analysis or simply happenstance? How does the climate, terrain, environment, etc. influence the historical event(s)?
- Why care? is the toughest of all. This is critical thinking and the equivalent to the "Why important?" question that I always want you to answer in an essay, test question, or test ID.
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