The first study of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman canals and waterways, this book is based on new evidence surrounding the nature of water transport in the period. England is naturally well-endowed with a network of navigable rivers, especially the easterly systems draining into the Thames, Wash and Humber. The central middle ages saw innovative and extensive development of this network, including the digging of canals bypassing difficult stretches of rivers, or linking rivers to important production centres. The eleventh and twelfth centuries seem to have been the high point for this dynamic approach to water-transport: after 1200, the improvement of roads and bridges increasingly diverted resources away from the canals, many of which stagnated with the reassertion of natural drainage patterns.
The new perspective presented in this study has an important bearing on the economy, landscape, settlement patterns and inter-regional contacts of medieval England. Essays from economic historians, geographers, geomorphologists, archaeologists, and place-name scholars unearth this neglected but important aspect of medieval engineering and economic growth.

Christy Constantakopoulou examines the history of the Aegean islands and changing concepts of insularity, with particular emphasis on the fifth century BC. Islands are a prominent feature of the Aegean landscape, and this inevitably created a variety of different (and sometimes contradictory) perceptions of insularity in classical Greek thought. Geographic analysis of insularity emphasizes the interplay between island isolation and island interaction, but the predominance of islands in the Aegean sea made island isolation almost impossible. Rather, island connectivity was an important feature of the history of the Aegean and was expressed on many levels. Constantakopoulou investigates island interaction in two prominent areas, religion and imperial politics, examining both the religious networks located on islands in the ancient Greek world and the impact of imperial politics on the Aegean islands during the fifth century.

Scotland is viewed from the context of the relationship between geographical knowledge and national identity in this study. The author explores new perspectives on Empire, national characteristics and local geographies of science, and advances a previously unexplored area of geographical inquiry--the historical geography of geographical knowledge. The book offers a broad-ranging approach to the subject, and will be of interest to students as well as imperial historians.

This innovative work in comparative urban history explores why outstanding achievements in material and intellectual culture in early modern Europe tended to cluster in certain maritime cities. Patrick O'Brien, his coeditors and eighteen distinguished historians from Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain, and North America, have collaborated to compare economic, architectural, artistic, publishing and scientific achievements in three European cities during their golden ages: Antwerp (c. 1492-1585), Amsterdam (c. 1585-1659) and London (c. 1660-1730). This study offers fascinating insights to scholars and students of economic, social and cultural history.

This book offers the first survey of relations between town and country across Europe between the Black Death and the Enlightenment. Thirteen specially commissioned chapters give comprehensive coverage, from Spain to Sweden, and from the Polish Commonwealth to the Netherlands and Italy. Each chapter analyzes its country in the light of recent debates on state formation, urbanization, protoindustrialization, and the regional character of premodern economic growth. The Introduction discusses the historiographical and theoretical framework for systematic comparison, emphasizing how alternative political configurations could set countries on different paths to growth.

The threat of unstoppable plagues, such as AIDS and Ebola, is always with us. In Europe, the most devastating plagues were those from the Black Death pandemic in the 1300s to the Great Plague of London in 1665. For the past 100 years it has been accepted that Yersinia pestis, the infective agent of bubonic plague, was responsible for these epidemics. This book combines modern concepts of epidemiology and molecular biology with computer-modeling. Applying these concepts to the analysis of historical epidemics, the authors show that they were not, in fact, outbreaks of bubonic plague. Biology of Plagues offers a completely new interdisciplinary interpretation of the plagues of Europe, and establishes them within a geographical, historical, and demographic framework. This fascinating detective work will be of interest to readers in the social and biological sciences, and lessons learned will underline the implications of historical plagues for modern-day epidemiology.

The third volume in the Cambridge Urban History examines the process of urbanization and suburbanization in Britain from the early Victorian period to the twentieth century. Twenty-eight leading scholars provide a coherent, systematic, historical investigation of the rise of cities and towns in England, Scotland and Wales, examining their economic, demographic, social, political, cultural and physical development. The contributors discuss pollution and disease, social conflict, the relationships between towns and the surrounding countryside, leisure and consumption, local civic institutions and identities, and municipal and state responsibilities.

This volume examines the growth and development of English towns in the critical period between 1650 and 1850. Christopher Chalklin surveys market and county towns, port and manufacturing centers, new dockyard towns, spas and seaside resorts. He discusses house and public building, education, work and leisure activities, public duties and politics, and contrasts the emerging middle classes with the artisan and laboring masses. This concise study draws especially on recent publications incorporating new knowledge and interpretations. It will be a valuable resource for students of economic, social and urban history.

This volume examines the growth and development of English towns in the critical period between 1650 and 1850. Christopher Chalklin surveys market and county towns, port and manufacturing centers, new dockyard towns, spas and seaside resorts. He discusses house and public building, education, work and leisure activities, public duties and politics, and contrasts the emerging middle classes with the artisan and laboring masses. This concise study draws especially on recent publications incorporating new knowledge and interpretations. It will be a valuable resource for students of economic, social and urban history.

Bruce Campbell's book, first published in 2000, was the first single-authored treatment of medieval English agriculture at a national scale. It deals comprehensively with the cultivation carried out by or for lords on their demesne farms, for which the documentation is more detailed and abundant than for any other agricultural group either during the medieval period or later. A context is thereby assured for all future work on the medieval and early modern agrarian economies. The book also makes a substantive contribution to ongoing historical debates about the dimensions, chronology and causes of the medieval cycle of expansion, crisis and contraction. Topics dealt with include the scale and composition of seigniorial estates, the geography of land-use, pastoral husbandry, arable husbandry, land productivity, levels of commercialization and the size of the population in relation to the consumption of food at any given time.

These three volumes present an original exploration of all aspects of water--social, cultural, political, religious, historical, economic and technological--from ancient times until the present day. Among the varied themes, the contributors examine the changing histories of water as a private or common good, the politics of water at local, urban, national and international level, water in cities, great river plans, dams, river biographies, and cultural constructions of water--images of water in religion, myth, literature and art. With empirical and ethnographic case studies from around the world the three volumes together represent one of the most complete and up to date accounts of the central role of water in the history and development of humanity.

These three volumes present an original exploration of all aspects of water--social, cultural, political, religious, historical, economic and technological--from ancient times until the present day. Among the varied themes, the contributors examine the changing histories of water as a private or common good, the politics of water at local, urban, national and international level, water in cities, great river plans, dams, river biographies, and cultural constructions of water--images of water in religion, myth, literature and art. With empirical and ethnographic case studies from around the world the three volumes together represent one of the most complete and up to date accounts of the central role of water in the history and development of humanity.

David Meyer traces Hong Kong's vibrant history from the arrival of the foreign trading firms in the 1840s to its celebrated handover to China in 1997. Throughout this period, Hong Kong has been a pivotal meeting place of the Chinese and foreign social networks of capital. The author offers an optimistic view of Hong Kong in the twenty-first century, challenging those who predict its decline under Chinese rule. The story of Hong Kong's success will interest anyone concerned with its past, present and future.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Amur region had been a virtual terra incognita for the Russian public. However, the region's annexation succeeded in stirring the dreams of the country's most outstanding social and political visionaries, who declared it "civilization's most important step forward." A decade later, this enthrallment and optimism had evaporated. Mark Bassin examines Russia's perceptions of the new territories, placing the Amur enigma in the context of Russian Zeitgeist mid-century, and offers a new perspective on the relationship among Russian nationalism, geographical identity and imperial expansion.

The individualism of the French peasantry during the nineteenth century has frequently been asserted as one of its most striking characteristics. In this 1999 book, Alan Baker challenges this orthodox view and demonstrates the extent to which peasants continued with traditional, and developed new, forms of collective action. He examines representations of the peasantry and discusses the discourse of fraternity in nineteenth-century France in general before considering specifically the historical development, geographical diffusion and changing functions of fraternal voluntary associations in Loir-et-Cher between 1815 and 1914. Alan Baker focuses principally upon associations aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty and upon associations intended to provide agricultural protection. A wide range of new voluntary associations were established in Loir-et-Cher - and indeed throughout rural France - during the nineteenth century. Their historical geography throws new light upon the sociability, upon the changing mentalites, of French peasants, and upon the role of fraternal associations in their struggle for survival.

The Shackleton of his day, Leopold McClintock (1819-1907) from County Louth was the leading Arctic explorer of the Victorian era. He undertook four major voyages, epic sledge journeys, and was the first to bring definite information on the lost Franklin party. He then rose to admiral and advised Robert Falcon Scott before the Discovery expedition in 1901. After his death a memorial plaque was unveiled at Westminister Abbey, portraits were hung in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the McClintock Channel in the Arctic was named after him.

"[A] vivid travelogue." New Statesman "Has much to offer." The Spectator "Sparks the imagination." BBC History Magazine "A fascinating study." BBC History Revealed Magazine "Essential reading." All About History "Valiant, valuable and entertaining." Times Literary Supplement The greatest river in the world has a long and fascinating history. Professor Terje Tvedt, one of the world's leading experts on the history of waterways, travels upstream along the river's mouth to its sources. The result is a travelogue through 5000 years and 11 countries, from the Mediterranean to Central Africa. This is the fascinating story of the immense economic, political and mythical significance of the river. Brimming with accounts of central characters in the struggle for the Nile - from Caesar and Cleopatra, to Churchill and Mussolini, and on to the political leaders of today, The Nile is also the story of water as it nourished a civilization.

Society in Time and Space is an important book which offers a geographical perspective on societal change, and sets out to show how understanding the geography of such change enables us to appreciate better the basic processes involved. Robert Dodgshon argues that, as a first step, we need to clarify the circumstances under which society becomes inertial and finds change difficult. Using a range of historical and contemporary examples, he shows that society's use of space is a powerful source of this inertia. Different sources of geographical inertia are explored, including society's symbolization and organizational structuring of space, together with its capitalization of landscape. Building on this mapping of inertia, Professor Dodgshon shows how society has long steered radical change around such spaces. Society in Time and Space will be of interest not only to geographers but also to historians and social theorists.

Society in Time and Space is an important book which offers a geographical perspective on societal change, and sets out to show how understanding the geography of such change enables us to appreciate better the basic processes involved. Robert Dodgshon argues that, as a first step, we need to clarify the circumstances under which society becomes inertial and finds change difficult. Using a range of historical and contemporary examples, he shows that society's use of space is a powerful source of this inertia. Different sources of geographical inertia are explored, including society's symbolization and organizational structuring of space, together with its capitalization of landscape. Building on this mapping of inertia, Professor Dodgshon shows how society has long steered radical change around such spaces. Society in Time and Space will be of interest not only to geographers but also to historians and social theorists.

Sir Edmund Hillary described Douglas Mawson's epic and punishing journey across 600 miles of unknown Antarctic wasteland as 'the greatest story of lone survival in polar exploration'.This Accursed Land tells that story; how Mawson declined to join Captain Robert Scott's ill-fated British expedition and instead lead a three-man husky team to explore the far eastern coastline of the Antarctic continent. But the loss of one member and most of the supplies soon turned the hazardous trek into a nightmare. Mawson was trapped 320 miles from base with barely nine days' food and nothing for the dogs. Eating poisoned meat, watching his body fall apart, crawling over chasms and crevices of deadly ice, his ultimate and lone struggle for survival, starving, poisoned, exhausted and indescribably cold, is an unforgettable story of human endurance. Grippingly told by Lennard Bickel, this is the most extraordinary journey from the brutal golden age of Antarctic exploration. Perfect for fans of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air or Michael Palin's Erebus.

The French historian Marc Bloch has often been praised for his interdisciplinary approach. This book demonstrates the importance of both Vidalian geography and Durkheimian sociology for Bloch and the significant, but often overlooked, differences between his approach and theirs. In contrast to much other work on Bloch, Professor Friedman highlights the intellectual and institutional contexts of Bloch's works, arguing that only by a careful examination of the debates in which he was involved can one begin to come to terms with the nature of his contribution.

England has been continuously mapped from Medieval times to the present; politically, administratively and functionally as well as creatively and imaginatively. Maps have helped to define ideas of what England is and could be. They have developed and maintained its identity amongst other nations and explored its essential character and limits. The maps included show a country at times confident but also unsure of itself. Often drawn for purely practical purposes they frequently and unconsciously reveal the true state of the nation, and the hopes and fears of its inhabitants. England has been the crucible for many of the most significant developments in cartography and Mapping England tells the story of how its position in the world has evolved and, in so doing, entails new ways of seeing and expressing such findings in graphic form.

The tithe surveys of mid-nineteenth-century England and Wales marked a new departure in government-sponsored, cadastral surveying of the nation's land. The 11,800 large-scale, detailed maps which they comprise are recognised as one of the most important sets of manuscript historical sources used by historical geographers and economic, social and local historians as well as lawyers representing clients in property and rights of way disputes and county and local planning offices. Despite this much acknowledged value, historians are not well served with indexes, descriptive catalogues or indications of tithe map coverage. A first object of this book is to provide a standard work of reference which will be an essential research tool for users of tithe maps. The database has also been analysed to reveal the general cartographic characteristics of this internationally important government survey.

Great Britain and Ireland enjoy a rich cartographic heritage, yet historians have not made full use of early maps in their writings and research. This is partly due to a lack of information about exactly which maps are available. With the publication of this volume from the Royal Historical Society, we now have a comprehensive guide to the early maps of Great Britain. The book is divided into two parts: part one describes the history and purpose of maps in a series of short essays on the early mapping of the British Isles; part two comprises a guide to the collections, national and regional. Now available from Cambridge University Press, this volume provides an essential reference tool for anyone requiring to access maps of the British Isles dating back to the medieval period and beyond.