This book brings together leading researchers of British and Irish rural history to consider the role of the land agent, or estate manager, in the modern period. Land agents were an influential and powerful cadre of men, who managed both the day-to-day running and the overall policy direction of landed estates. As such, they occupy a controversial place in academic historiography as well as popular memory in rural Britain and Ireland. Reviled in social history narratives and fictional accounts, the land agent was one of the most powerful tools in the armoury of the British and Irish landed classes and their territorial, political and social dominance. By unpacking the nature and processes of their power, The Land Agent explores who these men were and what was the wider significance of their roles, thus uncovering a neglected history of British rural society.

This book was immediately recognised on its publication in 1894 as a major work of scholarship, and reached twenty-five editions during its author's lifetime. The intention of George Adam Smith (1856 1942) was to produce a work which would 'give a vision of the land as a whole' and help the reader 'to hear through it the sound of running history'. Smith, an enthusiastic alpinist, had studied divinity in Edinburgh, and first visited Palestine in 1880, travelling around the country on foot. The book was written while Smith was teaching at Glasgow, and working on various social projects in Scotland. His detailed knowledge of the territory, together with his wide familiarity with the archaeological and historical background, gives the work authority. The book places the land in its historical context, and describes the physical geography and climate; the readability of its style is enhanced by detailed maps, some in colour."

The First World War led to a radical reshaping of Europe's political borders. Nowhere was this transformation more profound than in East Central Europe, where the collapse of imperial rule led to the emergence of a series of new states. New borders intersected centuries-old networks of commercial, cultural, and social exchange. The new states had to face the challenges posed by territorial fragmentation and at the same time establish durable state structures within an international order that viewed them as, at best, weak, and at worst, as merely provisional entities that would sooner or later be reintegrated into their larger neighbours' territory. Fragmentation in East Central Europe challenges the traditional view that the emergence of these states was the product of a radical rupture that naturally led from defunct empires to nation states. Using the example of Poland and the Baltic States, it retraces the roots of the interwar states of East Central Europe, of their policies, economic developments, and of their conflicts back to the First World War. At the same time, it shows that these states learned to harness the dynamics caused by territorial fragmentation, thus forever changing our understanding of what modern states can do.

Atlas of Empires tells the story of how and why the great empires of history came into being, operated and ultimately declined, and discusses the future of the empire in today's globalized world. Featuring 60 beautiful and detailed maps of the empires' territories at different stages of their existence and organized thematically to reflect the different driving forces behind empires throughout history (such as faith, nomadic culture, nationhood and capitalism), each section discusses the rise and fall of the empires that existed in a region: their government and society, wealth and technology, war and military force, and religious beliefs. From the earliest empires of the Sumerians and the Pharaohs to the modern empires of the USSR and the European Union, this is a story that reveals how empires are created and organized, how later empires resolve the problems of governance faced by earlier empires, and how the political and cultural legacies of ancient empires are still felt today.

How did ministers, journalists, academics, artists, and subjects in the German lands imagine war during the nineteenth century? The Napoleonic Wars had been the bloodiest in Europe's history, directly affecting millions of Germans, yet their long-term consequences on individuals and on 'politics' are still poorly understood. This study makes sense of contemporaries' memories and histories of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic campaigns within a much wider context of press reportage of wars elsewhere in Europe and overseas, debates about military service and the reform of Germany's armies, revolution and counter-revolution, and individuals' experiences of violence and death in their everyday lives. For the majority of the populations of the German states, wars during an era of conscription were not merely a matter of history and memory; rather, they concerned subjects' hopes, fears, and expectations of the future. This is the second volume of Mark Hewitson's study of the violence of war in the German lands during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It investigates the complex relationship between military conflicts and the violent acts of individual soldiers. In particular, it considers the contradictory impact of 'pacification' in civilian life and exposure to increasingly destructive technologies of killing during war-time. This contradiction reached its nineteenth-century apogee during the 'wars of unification', leaving an ambiguous imprint on post-war discussions of military conflict.

This book focuses on the spatial experiences of Indian indentured labourers in Mauritius and Fiji and reveals previously unexplored labour movements across the so-called Indentured Archipelago. It offers a historical geographical perspective of the lives of these labourers in Mauritius and Fiji, situating their experiences in the wider context of spatial mobility and subaltern agency. The concept of re-migration - labourers moving between these colonies, and beyond - is explored, and the scale of this facet of indentured life is revealed, in a way which has not been done to date. It brings to the fore a debate on subaltern agency, and role of geography in exploring the lives of these labourers both within and between colonies. The book also brings to light the numerous proposals for the use of Indian indentured labour across the globe, highlighting the centrality of Indian indenture to the post-abolition labour discourse.

As a young man, French naturalist Henri Mouhot (1826-61) taught languages in Russia and travelled widely in Europe with his brother Charles, sketching people and landscapes, and taking photographs. The brothers both married descendants of the explorer Mungo Park (whose journals are also reissued). Not long afterwards, possibly inspired by Bowring's 1857 book on Siam (also reissued), Henri decided to explore South-East Asia. He travelled independently for three years in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, where he eventually died of a fever. This engaging two-volume account of his experiences was compiled by his brother from his papers, and published in 1864 with many illustrations based on Mouhot's sketches. Volume 1 focuses mainly on Thailand and Cambodia, where Mouhot met several kings, travelled by elephant through difficult terrain, and visited the ruins of Ayuthia and Angkor. Mouhot's enthusiasm for the region's wildlife, landscapes and people rarely wavers, despite the challenging conditions.

Discover the most impactful and incredible episodes from human history, from the prehistoric era to the early twenty-first century, through fifty of the most surprising and often less well-known places in the world. From the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where remains of some of our earliest tool-using ancestors were found, to the CERN laboratory, where revolutionary technologies such as the World Wide Web were developed, each entry shows its influence on not just politics, but on the economy, culture, religion and society, as well as their links to great historical figures such as Alexander the Great, Buddha and Nelson Mandela. The size of the places ranges from small geographical features like a cave in Saudi Arabia where Islam began, to larger areas or regions, like Hollywood. Many entries are cities, such Jerusalem, Amritsar, and Rome, some others are buildings, like Anne Frank's House in the Netherlands or the Confucius Temple in China, and there are even some that are rooms, such as the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles Palace. No place is too big or too small to be included, as long as it has had a significant impact on history.

This 1889 book describes an unusual overland journey from Beijing to Calais, undertaken in 1887 by Harry de Windt (1856-1933), an explorer and travel writer, who later went from Paris to New York, also (mostly) by land. From a military family, he was the brother-in-law and aide-de-camp of Charles Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, but his official duties left him with plenty of time for eye-catching journeys like this one. His only guidebook was John Bell's 1763 account of travelling from St Petersburg to Beijing across Siberia, but with advice on the route from a Russian embassy official, de Windt set out from Gravesend with a companion to sail to China and commence the land journey back. Filled with anecdotes and observations (occasionally tinged with condescension), the book is an entertaining account not only of the journey but of the lands, people and customs that de Windt encountered.

Originally published in 1921, as part of a series of geographical studies of Ireland, this book examines the geographical, botanical, geological, zoological, architectural, administrative and historical points of interest found in Ireland, including Ulster. The text is illustrated with many reproductions of pertinent historic artefacts and paintings, as well as photographs of local vegetation, animal life and landscapes. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Ireland and the history of geography education.

Originally published in 1922, this book presents an account regarding the geographical characteristics of Europe, excluding the British Isles. Illustrative figures are incorporated, along with questions and exercises. This text will be of value to anyone with an interest in the teaching of geography and the history of education.

Take three things: the home, nature, and the feminine ideal-a notional and perfected femininity. Constitute them as inexorably and universally connected. Enrol them in diverse strategies and tactics that create varied anatomo-politics of the body and biopolitics of the population. Enlist those three things as the "handmaidens" of the government of individuals and groups, places and spaces, and comings and goings. Focus some effort on the periodical press, and on producing and disseminating narratives, discourses, and practices that relate specifically to health and well-being. Deploy those texts and shape those contexts in ways that affect flesh and bone, psychology and social conduct, and the spatial organization and relational dynamics of dwellings and streets, settlements and regions, and states and empires. Stretch these activities over the Anglophone world-from the epicentres of the United Kingdom and the United States to Australia or Canada, New Zealand or India-and extend their reach over the whole of the long nineteenth century. Such are the subjects of this work, in which Elaine Stratford draws from governmentality, the geohumanities, and geocriticism to converse with an extensive archive that profoundly shaped our engagements with home, nature, and the feminine ideal, deeply influenced our collective capacity to flourish, and powerfully constituted diverse geographies of the interior and of empire that still affect us.

The surgeon William Ainsworth (1807-96) acted as the geologist of the 1835 Euphrates Expedition, his account of which is also reissued in this series. Great interest was aroused by the scientific and archaeological findings of that journey, and a further expedition was funded, ostensibly to make contact with the Nestorian Christians of the region, but covertly to make further mineralogical investigations. Ainsworth was the leader of the expedition, and his two-volume account was published in 1842. Starting from Istanbul in 1839, Ainsworth took a route through Asia Minor, northern Syria, Kurdistan, Persia and Armenia, returning to Istanbul in 1840. The expedition was regarded as unsuccessful, as Ainsworth had massively overspent the budget originally allotted by the sponsors, and his secret activities were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, but the work remains a vivid account of the area. Volume 2 describes the journey through Armenia, and the return via Trebizond.

As a young man, French naturalist Henri Mouhot (1826-61) taught languages in Russia and travelled widely in Europe with his brother Charles, sketching people and landscapes, and taking photographs. The brothers both married descendants of the explorer Mungo Park (whose journals are also reissued). Not long afterwards, possibly inspired by Bowring's 1857 book on Siam (also reissued), Henri decided to explore South-East Asia. This vivid account of his experiences conveys his enthusiasm for untamed nature. It was compiled by Charles from Mouhout's papers, and published in two volumes in 1864 with many illustrations based on his sketches. Volume 2 focuses on Cambodia and Mouhot's journey through a particularly remote area of Laos. After travelling by elephant through inhospitable tropical forests, Mouhot fell ill and died. His companions arranged for the return of his notes and collections to Europe. The book ends with selected letters, translations of Chinese fables, and a Cambodian vocabulary.

During Charles Darwin's 1831-6 voyage on the Beagle, his on-board library included 'Cook's voyages' (the edition is not specified). This illustrated 1821 edition, in seven volumes, is representative of the versions available in the early nineteenth century. Volumes 1 and 2 cover the first Pacific voyage of James Cook (1728-79), the object of which was to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti. The text replicates the version published in 1773 by John Hawkesworth (1715-73) as part of a collection of 'Voyages ... in the Southern Hemisphere', which interwove Cook's account with botanical and ethnographical notes by the ship's naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). The journals were only published separately much later: Cook's in 1893 (ed. Wharton) and Banks' in 1896 (ed. Hooker); both are also available. Volume 1 narrates the voyage to Tahiti, the observations there, and the explorers' first impressions of New Zealand.

During Charles Darwin's 1831-6 voyage on the Beagle, his on-board library included 'Cook's voyages' (the edition is not specified). This illustrated 1821 edition, in seven volumes, is representative of the versions available in the early nineteenth century. Volumes 3 and 4 cover Cook's second voyage (1772-5), a key objective of which was to look for a continent in the Southern Ocean. The explorers sailed to 71 degrees south, within the Antarctic Circle, encountering stormy weather and icebergs, albatrosses and storm petrels. On this voyage, the ship's naturalists were Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg (1754-94), who is credited here as co-author. Volume 3 contains accounts of the Antarctic in December 1772 and December 1773, Tasmania (by Captain Furneaux, whose ship had become separated from the Resolution for several weeks), and the inhabitants of Tahiti, Easter Island with its giant statues, Tonga, and New Zealand.

During Charles Darwin's 1831-6 voyage on the Beagle, his on-board library included 'Cook's voyages' (the edition is not specified). This illustrated 1821 edition, in seven volumes, is representative of the versions available in the early nineteenth century. Volumes 3 and 4 cover Cook's second voyage (1772-5), a key objective of which was to look for a continent in the Southern Ocean. The explorers sailed to 71 degrees South, within the Antarctic Circle, encountering stormy weather and icebergs, albatrosses and storm petrels. On this voyage, the ship's naturalists were Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg (1754-94), who is credited here as co-author. Volume 4 describes the flora, fauna and people of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, the uninhabited Norfolk Island, and the voyage home via Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego. The appendix contains a vocabulary of the Tahitian language as spoken in the Society Islands.

During Charles Darwin's 1831-6 voyage on the Beagle, his on-board library included 'Cook's voyages' (the edition is not specified). This illustrated 1821 edition, in seven volumes, is representative of the versions available in the early nineteenth century. Volumes 5-7 cover the third Pacific voyage of James Cook (1728-79), which began in July 1776 and ended in his death in Hawaii. Its objective was to search for the Pacific end of the North-West Passage. Volume 6 contains Cook's journal of the voyage from July 1777 to January 1779. From Tahiti, he sailed via Hawaii to Nootka Sound, and reached the Bering Strait in June 1778. The expedition then explored the Aleutian Islands and the Alaskan coast, reaching 70 degrees north, but by late August fog and snow meant the mission had to be abandoned for that year. The ships sailed south to Kamchatka and then back to Hawaii.

During Charles Darwin's 1831-6 voyage on the Beagle, his on-board library included 'Cook's voyages' (the edition is not specified). This illustrated 1821 edition, in seven volumes, is representative of the versions available in the early nineteenth century. Volumes 1 and 2 cover the first Pacific voyage of James Cook (1728-79), the object of which was to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti. The text replicates the version published in 1773 by John Hawkesworth (1715-73) as part of a collection of 'Voyages ... in the Southern Hemisphere', which interwove Cook's account with botanical and ethnographical notes by the ship's naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). The journals were only published separately much later: Cook's in 1893 (ed. Wharton) and Banks' in 1896 (ed. Hooker); both are also available. Volume 2 focuses on New Zealand, Australia, and the explorers' return via Indonesia.

The surgeon William Ainsworth (1807-96) acted as the geologist of the 1835 Euphrates Expedition, his account of which is also reissued in this series. Great interest was aroused by the scientific and archaeological findings of that journey, and a further expedition was funded, ostensibly to make contact with the Nestorian Christians of the region, but covertly to make further mineralogical investigations. Ainsworth was the leader of the expedition, and his two-volume account was published in 1842. Starting from Istanbul in 1839, Ainsworth took a route through Asia Minor, northern Syria, Kurdistan, Persia and Armenia, returning to Istanbul in 1840. The expedition was regarded as unsuccessful, as Ainsworth had massively overspent on the budget originally allotted by the sponsors, and his secret activities were discovered by the Ottoman authorities, but the work remains a vivid account of the area. Volume 1 covers events up to the battle of Nezib in 1839.