Enlightenment Geography: The Political Languages of British Geography, 1650-1850

This book is the first detailed study of the politics of British geography books and of related forms of geographical knowledge in the period from 1650 to 1850. It is a contribution to the intellectual history of geographical knowledge in particular and of Britain more generally. The definition and role of geography in a humanist structure of knowledge are examined, as are the audience for and print culture of geography before its formalization as a discipline in the late 19th century. In all these respects, geography is shown to have been tied to political discourse.