Definition of Historical Geography

It arises from a need in the geographical task; the researcher must not only know the location of his object of study, he has to ask himself its origins, that is, how is it that human settlements and their activities have configured the territory that is observing. In the words of one of the most outstanding cultural geographers of the 20th century, Carl Sauer, he refers to the geography historical as the ability to see the land from the point of view of its occupants and how they configured the territory.

Conceptual principles and assessments

Other authors define it as that discipline that attempts to account for spatial changes. Some point out that they seek to systematize spatial forms and distribution patterns, where the study variables are seen evolutionarily and chronologically. Actually, this has been the subject of debate between physical geography (and sciences such as climatology, hydrology, geomorphology) and

human geography (economic, cultural, politics). However, there is point of interest, space and time. Historical periodization and geographical regionalization are necessary, therefore, this relationship explains society and its historical connections, and it is where historical geography participates.

Therefore, this science seeks to understand the context, ideology, society, culture and space that reveals the past landscape or territory. This allows it to explain broader processes that have occurred in a territory; establishes causal relationships and interprets events without disassociating space. In addition, it has an interdisciplinary nature that has allowed it to converge methodologically with other sciences, for example, the landscape, when studying the desiccation of swamps, changes in land use, agrarian systems and practices cultural.

The interpretation of the past requires hard detective work, investigating historical archives, organizing the collected material and, above all, joining links to formulate theories. However, not everything is desk work, field work —as a good geographic exercise— is useful for studying and observing space in order to understand what ancient documents say. Under this premise, the study on-site It is conducive to evaluating the relationship of the territory with the previous pattern found in the documentary record. Therefore, it contributes to a observation not only geohistorical, but cultural, anthropological, landscape or environmental, as the case may be.

Evidence: Historical Maps and Historical Cartography

A good part of the geographers explain that territorial past through maps, let us think that we want to study a region in the 17th century; an image of that past —almost the only one— can be found on the maps. A science that has a theoretical foundation in historical geography is mapping historical. The latter is defined as the discipline that studies human events through representation in understandable schemes such as maps, literary portraits, painting or schemes. We will focus on how he interprets history through the historical events captured on the maps. This discipline perceives the map as a graphic and social object, which serves as material support for a set of knowledge. It has an ideological and political context, which serves to exercise communication.

The research in historical geography through maps has allowed him to formulate questions to find historical, social and cultural features that we mentioned in the previous section. Knowing the nature, social context, technique and ideology in cartographic production gives us the guideline to create a geography of our study area.

By itself, the map is a document that represents reality, and that has an important accumulation of data. However, finding the data and understanding its meaning requires questions and a concrete problem, which may be based on historical geography. We can find a beautiful map novohispanic of the seventeenth century and even think, —how am I going to understand him? —; geohistorical reflection represents an opportunity to find spatial entities.

The interesting thing is that the maps, being part of the geographic discourse, we must have an adequate historical interpretation, relate events, categories, and systems that account for their production and use. As Mendoza (2013) points out, maps open paths for us to ask ourselves, what do we know about the past? How do we find out about the past? When one enters this space, we can ask ourselves, what happened here? Why is there a 16th century church where I live? Why is it a city and not a town where I live? The people he was dedicated to?