Introduction

Geography straddles the main divide within academic life, with the humanities and social sciences on the one side and the natural and life sciences on the other. The discipline's roots lie in both traditions, but as it evolved into a fully-fledged research discipline in the second half of the twentieth century, so a split became increasingly apparent between physical geography and human geography. This book explores the history of British geography, focusing on the long period before its formal institution as an academic discipline within the country's universities as well as the process of institutionalisation. It discusses various themes, including the environment and place; space, maps and mapping; geography as 'useful knowledge'; and physical geography.