Journal of Historical Geography

‘Fantastic race across the strangest and most desolate landscape’: Embodied landscapes and automobiles in Mongolia, 1907–1930 This article explores how early twentieth-century automobile travel shaped human experiences of the Mongolian landscape, drawing on travel accounts by…

New article!

‘"Fantastic race across the strangest and most desolate landscape": Embodied landscapes and automobiles in Mongolia, 1907–1930', by Tomasz Ewertowski.

Review | The Museum of Mankind: Man and Boy in the British Museum Ethnography Department, by Ben Burt — Berghahn Books, New York (2025), 163 pages, paperback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Timothy Boon on Ben Burt's 'The Museum of Mankind: Man and Boy in the British Museum Ethnography Department'.

Historical geography at the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers, 26–29 August 2025 (University of Birmingham) Journal of Historical Geography

Conference report:

Petra Codato on historical geography at the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers, 26–29 August 2025 (University of Birmingham).

Review | On the Backs of Others: Rethinking the History of British Geographical Exploration, by Edward Armston-Sheret — Nebraska University Press, Lincoln (2024), 320 pages, hardback Journal of Historical Geography

New review:

Alison Bennett on Edward Armston-Sheret's 'On the Backs of Others: Rethinking the History of British Geographical Exploration'.

I'm really pleased to see 'Finding and leaving traces: Prehabitation and the presence of the past in the Victorian-era prison' - co-written with Dominique Moran and Jennifer Turner - is now out in @jofhistgeog.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1016/j.jh...

More than asparagus: The development of the canning industry in Brunswick, Germany The concatenation of technology, fertile hinterlands, and labor contributed to the rise and expansion of the canning industry in Germany and brought a…

New article!

'More than asparagus: The development of the canning industry in Brunswick, Germany', by Grace Abou Jaoude, Yevheniia Berchul & Vanessa Miriam Carlow.

Review | Mapping Insularity: A Visual History of Islands in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, by Kevin Rodríguez Wittmann — Brill, Leiden and Boston (2024), 124 pages, paperback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Jesús Israel Baxin Martínez on Kevin Rodríguez Wittmann's 'Mapping Insularity: A Visual History of Islands in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds'.

Review | Imperio y reputación: El viaje de los hermanos Nodal y su mundo, by David Rodríguez Couto — Marcial Pons Historia, Madrid (2024), 324 pages, paperback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Enrique García Hernán on David Rodríguez Couto's 'Imperio y reputación: El viaje de los hermanos Nodal y su mundo'.

Land reform in the home of enclosure: How to right historical land ownership and environmental injustice in England and Wales Journal of Historical Geography

New review essay!

'Land reform in the home of enclosure: How to right historical land ownership & environmental injustice in England & Wales' by Carl Griffin, covering:

● 'The Lie of the Land', by Guy Shrubsole
● 'Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You', by Nick Hayes & Jon Moses

Hometown bonds, spatial consolidation and socioeconomic transformation of Huiguan in Beijing's modernization Beijing Huiguan exemplify the profound influence of geographical relations and institutional factors on the evolution of urban spatial form in late im…

New article!

'Hometown bonds, spatial consolidation and socioeconomic transformation of Huiguan in Beijing's modernization', by Wang Changsong & Wang Yitong.

Samplers of the marine environment: Knowing the oceans with seabirds, 1958–Present This article focuses on monitoring and tracking seabirds from the mid-twentieth century to the present. It illustrates how seabirds have been reconfig…

New article!

'Samplers of the marine environment: Knowing the oceans with seabirds, 1958–Present', by Oscar Hartman Davies.

Imperial knowledge-making: Spanish and Russian modern time questionnaires as data collection tools Over the centuries, questionnaire has remained one of the most effective tools of geographical research. The spread of questionnaire research methods …

New article!

'Imperial knowledge-making: Spanish and Russian modern time questionnaires as data collection tools', by Nadezda Konyushikhina & Victoria Tkachenko.

Precarious place, powerful participation: The historicization of floods and community resilience in Pajaro, California This paper examines the historical-geographical production of flood vulnerability and political marginalization in Pajaro, an unincorporated community…

New article!

'Precarious place, powerful participation: The historicization of floods and community resilience in Pajaro, California', by Ria Mukerji.

Review: Moving Crops and the Scales of History, by Francesca Bray, Barbara Hahn, John Bosco Lourdusamy & Tiago Saraiva — Yale University Press, New Haven and London (2023), 338 pages. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Apurba Chatterjee on 'Moving Crops and the Scales of History', by Francesca Bray, Barbara Hahn, John Bosco Lourdusamy and Tiago Saraiva.

From perdition to paradise: Patagonia, Juan Fernández and the Southeastern Pacific in the British geographical imaginary, 1680–1768 As British interest in establishing an outpost in the South Pacific grew throughout the late seventeenth century, navigators and speculators alike sou…

New article!

'From perdition to paradise: Patagonia, Juan Fernández and the Southeastern Pacific in the British geographical imaginary, 1680-1768', by Elizabeth Chant & Natalia Gándara Chacana.

Geopolitical enclaves: Space and social-political change in Cold War Taiwan's Military Dependent Villages This essay explores the development of so-called Military Dependent Villages (MDVs, 眷村) in Taiwan from 1950 through the 1990s. MDVs were built for mar…

New article!

'Geopolitical enclaves: Space and social-political change in Cold War Taiwan's Military Dependent Villages', by @maxwoodworth.bsky.social.

Secret Maps exhibition at the British Library, London, 24 October 2025 – 18 January 2026 Journal of Historical Geography

New review article!

Philip Jagessar on the 'Secret Maps' exhibition at the British Library, London (24 October 2025 – 18 January 2026).

Spaces of memory, scales of memory: The Equal Justice Initiative's marking of lynching from Montgomery to Montevallo and beyond, 2015–2025 The existing literature on the Equal Justice Initiative's National Memorial for Peace and Justice tends to draw on site visits made to Montgomery soon…

New article!

'Spaces of memory, scales of memory: The Equal Justice Initiative's marking of lynching from Montgomery to Montevallo and beyond, 2015–2025', by Tim Cole.

Review: Rediscovering Lost Landscapes: Topographical Art in North-West Italy, 1800–1920, by Pietro Piana, Charles Watkins and Rossano Balzaretti — Boydell Press, Martlesham (2021), 324 pages, 26 colour and 91 b/w illustrations, hardback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

William Bainbridge on 'Rediscovering Lost Landscapes: Topographical Art in North-West Italy, 1800–1920', by Pietro Piana, Charles Watkins and Rossano Balzaretti.

Review: Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History, 1750–1820, by Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan — Yale University Press, New Haven and London (2025), The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History, 294 pages, hardback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Charles W.J. Withers on 'Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History, 1750–1820', by Linda Andersson Burnett and Bruce Buchan.

Review: Mapping the North: Myth, Exploration, Encounter, by Charlotta Forss — Bodleian Library Publishing, Oxford (2025), 224 pages plus c.120 colour illustrations, hardback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

@peterrmartin.bsky.social on 'Mapping the North: Myth, Exploration, Encounter', by Charlotta Forss.

Review: Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City, Timothy P. Barnard (Ed.), National University of Singapore Press, Singapore (2024), 288 pages, paperback Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Felix Mauch on 'Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City', edited by Timothy P. Barnard.

Multidisciplinary perspectives on nineteenth-century Paris Journal of Historical Geography

New review article!

'Multidisciplinary perspectives on 19th-century Paris' - Alan R.H. Baker on:

• Balzac’s Paris: The City as Human Comedy
• The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature & Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise
• Paris in Ruins: The Siege, the Commune & the Birth of Impressionism

Review: Photography, Ecology and Historical Change in the Anthropocene: Activating Archives, by Bergit Arends — Routledge: London & New York (2025), 190 pages + 8 Colour & 31 B/W Illustrations, hardback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Noel Castree on 'Photography, Ecology and Historical Change in the Anthropocene: Activating Archives', by Bergit Arends.

Review: Photo Archives and the Place of Photography, edited by Geraldine A. Johnson and Deborah Schultz — Routledge: London (2025), 227 pages, hardback. Journal of Historical Geography

New review!

Ilaria Scaglia on 'Photo Archives and the Place of Photography', edited by Geraldine A. Johnson and Deborah Schultz.

The European North of Russia as a timber colony, 1890–1930 This article proposes a novel interpretation of the European North of Russia as an arena of timber colonialism of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Un…

New article!

'The European North of Russia as a timber colony, 1890-1930', by Vasily Borovoy.

Timber colonialism in Labrador/Nitassinan: The case of the Labrador boundary This paper shows how speculative activity over the forest can be a form of timber colonialism. It focuses on the Labrador forest at the center of the …

New article!

'Timber colonialism in Labrador/Nitassinan: The case of the Labrador boundary', by Carolina Tytelman.

Mapping the Great Mongolian Road: The gaihōzu maps as records of Inner Asian trade networks The gaihōzu (外邦図), ‘maps of outer lands' produced by the Japanese Imperial Army between 1873 and 1945, represent one of the most comprehensive cartogr…

New article by Chris McCarthy, Simon Phillips, Troy Sternberg, Uyanga Torguud, Yuki Konagaya, Takahiro Ozaki, Keiji Yano, Mitsuko Watanabe, Buho Hoshino, Adiya Yadamsuren, Battogtokh Nasanbat & Erdenebuyan Enkhjargal.

A Dynamic Timber Frontier: An Archaeological Perspective on Lumbering in Algonquin Provincial Park (1836–1930) Scholars of timber colonialism debate the utility of the ‘frontier’ as an analytic for understanding the historical trajectory of the lumbering indust…

New article!

'A Dynamic Timber Frontier: An Archaeological Perspective on Lumbering in Algonquin Provincial Park (1836-1930)', by R. Alexander Hunter and Roderick MacKay.

Urban fire in an early American colonial metropolis: Manila 1901–1913 Manila burned in the past as it still burns today. When the United States occupied the city in 1898, it inherited a Spanish colonial city rooted in cl…

New article!

'Urban fire in an early American colonial metropolis: Manila 1901-1913', by Greg Bankoff.