Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: “A Missionary looking over the edge of the world at the point where Heaven and Earth meet.” (_From an old print._)] HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY BY J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, AND O. J. R. HOWARTH, M.A., ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE [ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED] LONDON: WATTS & CO., 17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1913 PREFACE This is not a history of geographical exploration, though the leading episodes in the advance of our knowledge of the face of the Earth are necessarily referred to in tracing the evolution of geography as a department of science. That is the object of this volume as one of a series dealing succinctly with the history of the various sciences. We are not concerned to discuss whether Geography is entitled to be considered as a science or not. It is hoped that in the attempt to tell the story of its evolution up to the present day it will be evident that it is as amenable to scientific methods as any other department of human knowledge, and that it performs important functions which are untouched by any other lines of research. I use the first person plural because I am greatly indebted to Mr. O. J. R. Howarth in coming to my help after I had accumulated much of the material, but was seriously delayed owing to a great increase in my official duties. The greater share of whatever merits the book may possess ought to be awarded to Mr. Howarth. I am indebted to Mr. E. A. Reeves’s interesting little book on _Maps and Map-making_ for many of the illustrations. J. SCOTT KELTIE. _July 2, 1913._ CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. BEGINNINGS 1 CHAPTER II. THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS 8 CHAPTER III. THE DARK AGE 33 CHAPTER IV. THE MEDIÆVAL RENASCENCE 42 CHAPTER V. PORTUGUESE EXPANSION AND THE REVIVAL OF PTOLEMY 51 CHAPTER VI. THE NEW WORLD 59 CHAPTER VII. THE FAR EAST AND THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 68 CHAPTER VIII. POLAR EXPLORATION TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 74 CHAPTER IX. JAMES COOK AND HIS SUCCESSORS 87 CHAPTER X. MEASUREMENT, CARTOGRAPHY, AND THEORY, 1500–1800 90 CHAPTER XI.