Geography, Science and National Identity
Scotland since 1520

Using Scotland as an exemplar, the author explores the relationship between geographical knowledge and national identity.

Charles W. J. Withers (Author)

9780521642026, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 October 2001

332 pages, 4 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.66 kg

' … an absorbing excursion into intellectual and social history.' Landscape History

Charles Withers' book brings together work on the history of geography and the history of science with extensive archival analysis to explore how geographical knowledge has been used to shape an understanding of the nation. Using Scotland as an exemplar, the author places geographical knowledge in its wider intellectual context to afford insights into perspectives of empire, national identity and the geographies of science. In so doing, he advances a new area of geographical enquiry, the historical geography of geographical knowledge, and demonstrates how and why different forms of geographical knowledge have been used in the past to constitute national identity, and where those forms were constructed and received. The book will make an important contribution to the study of nationhood and empire and will therefore interest historians, as well as students of historical geography and historians of science. It is theoretically engaging, empirically rich and beautifully illustrated.

1. Introduction: geography, science and historical geographies of knowledge
2. Geography, identity and the making of the nation, 1520–1682
3. Geography, credibility and national knowledge, 1682–1707
4. Geography, enlightenment and the public sphere, 1707–c.1830
5. National identity, geographical knowledge and civic enterprise, c.1830–84
6. Geography and national identity in an age of High Empire, 1884–1930
7. Conclusion: a historical geography of geographical knowledge
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Nationalism [JPFN], Historical geography [HBTP], British & Irish history [HBJD1]