Geography Unbound: French Geographic Science from Cassini to HumboldtAt the end of the eighteenth century, French geographers faced a crisis. Though they had previously been ranked among the most highly regarded scientists in Europe, they suddenly found themselves directionless and disrespected because they were unable to adapt their descriptive focus easily to the new emphasis on theory and explanation sweeping through other disciplines. Anne Godlewska examines this crisis, the often conservative reactions of geographers to it, and the work of researchers at the margins of the field who helped chart its future course. She tells her story partly through the lives and careers of individuals, from the deposed cabinet geographer Cassini IV to Volney, von Humboldt, and Letronne (innovators in human, physical, and historical geography), and partly through the institutions with which they were associated such as the Encyclopédie and the Jesuit and military colleges. Geography Unbound presents an insightful portrait of a crucial period in the development of modern geography, whose unstable disciplinary status is still very much an issue today. |
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Geography Unbound: French Geographic Science from Cassini to Humboldt Anne Godlewska Limited preview - 1999 |
Geography Unbound: French Geographic Science from Cassini to Humboldt Anne Marie Claire Godlewska No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
Academy Alexander von Humboldt analysis ancient approach astronomer atlas Balbi Barbié du Bocage Bonacker Bory de Saint-Vincent Buache Bulletin career Carte cartographic Chabrol de Volvic Charles Athanase Walckenaer conception Conrad Malte-Brun contemporaries Cosmos critical d'Anville Dainville Delisle Dépôt described Description de l'Égypte discursive formation discussion early nineteenth century earth École normale Egypt eighteenth century Encyclopédie expedition exploration Férussac field France François French genre Géographie 1969 géographie universelle 1810 géographique geography's graphic Greek guerre historique human important Imprimerie ingénieurs-géographes innovative intellectual interest Jacques-Dominique Cassini l'histoire language Letronne Letronne's Malte-Brun mathematical measurement Mémoire Mentelle military geographers modern Napoleonic Napoléonville natural history observation Paris perhaps period phenomena physical geography physique plants political Portugal Précis questions realm Recherches Robert de Vaugondy role scholars scientific sense social Société de géographie society sought statistics Strabo structure Tableau textual theory topographic tradition understanding universal geographies Volney Volney's Walckenaer writings
Popular passages
Page 410 - Etude historique, faisant suite aux recherches pour servir à l'histoire de l'Egypte pendant la domination des Grecs et des Romains.
Page 400 - Atlas / historique et chronologique / des littératures / anciennes et modernes, / des sciences et des beaux-arts, /d'après la méthode et sur le plan de l'atlas de A.
Page 410 - Observations critiques et archéologiques sur l'objet des représentations zodiacales qui nous restent de l'antiquité, à l'occasion d'un zodiaque égyptien peint dans une caisse de momie qui porte une inscription grecque du temps de Trajan . . . Paris: Auguste Boulland.
Page 429 - Dissertation sur les divers espèces des Instruments de Musique que l'on remarque parmi les sculptures qui décorent les antiques monumens de l'Egypte, et sur les noms que leur donnèrent en leur langue propre les premiers peuples de ce pays. Description de l'Egypte, tome vi. pp. 413-460. Mémoire sur la Musique de l'antique Egypte. Ibid., tome vin. pp. 211-255. Description historique, technique et littéraire des Instruments de Musique des Orientaux.
References to this book
A Companion to Cultural Geography James Duncan,Nuala C. Johnson,Richard H. Schein No preview available - 2004 |