This project laid the groundwork for an Internet-delivered Public Participation Geographic Information System to facilitate exploration and discovery of the past communities of the Mammoth Cave Park area. The emergence of Internet Web 2.0 design along with distributed GIS services allows for anyone to interact with and add to the information found on central Internet sites. Historical geography often relies upon public participation from individuals outside the academic world to provide narrative descriptions, photographs and manuscripts of past places and events to augment information held by institutions and academia. A public-participation website for the Mammoth Cave Historic GIS (MCHGIS) created a central Internet location for dispersed and disparate data related to pre-park communities to be presented with a geographic context. The MCHGIS project allowed for visualization of the pre-park communities in unique ways and contributed new understandings of this pre-park area.

L’objectif de la thèse est de composer un catalogue des cartes françaises de l’ensemble ou d’une partie de la région étudiée, à partir des anciens recueils de cartes, et d’étudier les méthodes de publication des anciennes sources cartographiques : il s’agit de l’archéographie. Ce travail éclaire aussi la caractéristique des cartes russes, de nature historique, de la fin du XVIII° siècle et du début du XIX° siècle : l’exemple en est fourni par la « Carte du bassin du lac Sévang en Arménie, relevée par les ingénieurs russes en 1832 » et reformulée en langue française, en 1832, par le savant suisse Du Bois de Montperreux. A partir de cette carte, l’auteur de la thèse effectue des recherches sur l’altitude du lac Sévan à l’époque de l’établissement de ladite carte et sur les changements démographiques survenus dans le bassin du lac deSévan à la suite des traités russo-persans et russo-turcs. Le travail de Vardan Mkhitaryan se présente comme la première étude des cartes françaises sur le sujet et présente un catalogue de cartes inédit dans l’ensemble. [etc.] / The goal of the thesis is to set up a catalog of the French maps of the whole or part of the studied region, based on the ancient maps collections, and to study the publishing methods of the ancient cartographic sources. This is called archeography. This also enlightens the characteristics of the Russian maps, of historical nature, of the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century: a provided example is the “Map of the lake Sevang's basin in Armenia, measured by the Russia engineers in 1832” and reworded in French, in 1832, by the Swiss scholar Du Bois de Montperreux. Basing on this map, the author of the thesis performs some researches on the altitude of the lake Sevan at the time of the setting up of the aforesaid map and on the demographic changes that occurred in the lake Sevan's basin after the Russian-Persian and the Russian-Turkish treaties. VardanMikhitarian's work appears to be the the first study of the French maps on this subject and displays, in the main, an unprecedented catalogue of maps. [etc.]

Neste estudo coloca-se como temática central a abordagem do processo histórico de construção das fronteiras de Goiás e Mato Grosso entre o final do século XVIII e início do XIX, com o que se busca avançar um pouco mais no entendimento das influências que a espacialidade da colonização portuguesa teve na formação do território brasileiro através. Agradecemos à FAPESP pelo auxílio concedido para o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa / This work focuses the historical formation of the western Brazilian frontier in Goiás and Mato Grosso during the eighteen and early nineteen centuries as an instance of how space and space relations, as Geography conceives them, can influence and even shape a wide gamut of historical phenomena. By so doing, we hope to give a little contribution to Brazilian territory-formation Geography

This thesis analyzes contemporary political ecologies of pig farming in the People's Republic of China, as well as emergent discourses of “meatification” and the industrialization of Chinese agriculture more broadly. Situated within these extensive, heterogenous, and dynamic assemblages, which I contextualize in historical-geographical terms throughout Chapter I, I narrow my argument to three relatively neglected problematics that occupy subsequent chapters: the role of pigs in the affective construction of modernity, the microbiological zones of insecurity intertwined with industrial pig production, and the re-valorization of urban food waste through peri-urban pig farming, including so-called “garbage pigs.” Animated by broad political, ethical, ontological, and epistemological concerns about society and ecology, culture and technology, and food and the mass-production of commodified organisms, this research helps demonstrate how fraught relationships between pigs, people, and place participate in the politics of "modernity" in the People's Republic of China. / 10000-01-01

A tese de doutorado intitulada 360° O PÉRIPLO DO AÇÚCAR EM DIREÇÃO À MACRORREGIÃO CANAVIEIRA DO CENTRO-SUL DO BRASIL tem como objeto de análise o açúcar e sua espacialização sobre o globo terrestre. A pesquisa trata o tema por meio de uma proposta de regionalização da atividade açucareira, distinguindo nove macrorregiões de amplitude mundial. São estas o Subcontinente Indiano, o Mundo Árabe, a Europa, o Gran-Caribe, os Estados Unidos, o Sudeste Asiático, a Australásia, o Sudeste Africano e a Macrorregião Canavieira do Centro-Sul do Brasil. A análise é feita com base no estudo da geografia histórica e da história contemporânea de cada uma dessas áreas, para nas conclusões se estabelecer um panorama da produção mundial de açúcar no momento presente. Conclui-se que no atual período da globalização, a Macrorregião Canavieira do Centro-Sul do Brasil desempenha papel hegemônico no Mercado Mundial de Açúcar. / The thesis entitled 360° THE SUGAR PERIPLUS TOWARDS THE SUGARCANE MACROREGION OF SOUTH-CENTRAL BRAZIL has sugar as object of analysis and its spatial distribution over the globe. The research approaches its subject through a proposal for a regionalization of the sugar industry, distinguishing nine global macroregions. Those are the Indian Subcontinent, the Arab World, the Europe, the Gran-Caribe, the United States of America, the Southeast of Asia, the Australasia, the Southeast of Africa and the Sugarcane Macroregion of South-Central Brazil. The analysis is based on the study of the historic geography and the contemporary history of each of those areas, to reach the conclusions of establishing an overview of world sugar production in the present moment. The conclusion is that in the current period of globalization, the Sugarcane Macroregion of South-Central Brazil played an hegemonic role in the World Sugar Market.

This thesis examines scientific, technological, and organizational innovations in Newfoundland's saltfish industry between 1887 and 1937. Since entering the orbit of European capital in the fifteenth century, Newfoundland's economy and society was organized around the export of saltfish (salted and dried cod) to consuming markets in Southern Europe and Latin America. By the nineteenth century, saltfish production was organized primarily around the small-scale fishing family financed by merchant capital. This mode of production consistently produced a large aggregate amount of saltfish of highly uneven quality. By the late-nineteenth century, however, this production system was placed under pressure as consumers in the key European markets demanded uniformly high quality saltfish, and Newfoundland's competitors began providing it. Using archival and secondary sources, this thesis examines attempts to improve and modernize saltfish production in Newfoundland over a fifty-year period, beginning with the formation of the first Fisheries Commission in 1887.I argue that saltfish producers had to confront and overcome "the problem of fluctuation." This refers to both the biogeophysical processes controlling the quantity of cod extracted (reproduction, predation, ocean dynamics, etc.) and the biogeophysical processes determining the quality of saltfish produced and consumed (decomposition, preservation, socio-biology of consumption). In contrast to many studies of the political economy of fishing, and inspired by agrarian political economy, I develop a theoretical framework called "aquarian political economy" that expands the analytical focus beyond extraction to include the entire circulation of capital. Between 1887 and 1937, I document a number of attempts at reshaping biogeophysical processes to suit the dynamics of capital accumulation in the "upstream" (pre-extraction) and "downstream" (post-extraction) phases of production. These innovations proceeded by way of introducing abstract, scientific forms of measure, which identified and helped render biogeophysical processes as amenable to human control. I define these innovations as moments in an expanded conception of the "real subsumption of nature under capital." Although many of these innovations and interventions were defined by false starts and only partial success, I conclude that this period witnessed a shift in the notion of expertise from practical experience on the ocean to techno-scientific managerial knowledge behind the desk. Through my empirical research and theoretical framework, this thesis makes a contribution to the political economy of fishing, critical resource geography, and the historical political economy of Newfoundland.

Regional administration in Bohemia originated already in the Middle Ages and has survived till these days as an basic constituent of the state administration. Cartographical material, especially maps of provinces, which has been so far rather neglected, is very interesting and important source for the cognition of the development of Czech provinces. These maps have been issued since the 18th century and especially in the earlier period had been widely used by general public. The only list of these documents "Soupis map českých zemí" compiled by František Roubík provides outdated and inconsistent informations. The primary aim of this work is to provide a more detailed list of these maps in the form of a catalog and bring more informations on the various creators and publishers of the maps.

This is a study of the Old Norse (hereafter abbreviated to ON) setr/sætr and ærgi place-names in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. The elements setr/sætr and ærgi all have a general meaning of a place for summer grazing in the hills, referred to in Scotland as a shieling. However, the related terms setr and sætr, are employed as shielings names in Norway and are indistinguishable from each other in Britain. It is only in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Britain and the Faroes that ærgi is found to signify a shieling site. The element ærgi was adopted as a loanword from either, the Scottish Gaelic àirigh or Irish áirge, both of which can also have the meaning of a shieling. What is unusual about this adoption is it is rare for a more prestigious speech community (ON in this instance) to adopt a word from, what is believed to have been, a less prestigious language at the time (Gaelic). Various scholars have looked at this question, but none have adequately explained the reason for the adoption. Much of the previous research has relied on comparisons of local farming systems that were recorded many centuries after the Viking Age. Farming techniques from the fifteenth to twentieth century are unlikely to adequately represent the agricultural situation in the Viking Age due to different social imperatives. The overall question I want to answer in this thesis, is why Scandinavian settlers in Scotland adopted ærgi, when they already had corresponding ON terms for a shieling. The distribution of ON settlement names is one of the main pieces of evidence to prove Scandinavian settlement in Scotland during this period. This is especially true of secondary settlements, such as shielings, which rarely feature in early documentation. The language shift to either Gaelic or Scots-English is likely to have led to the loss of many ON place-names, but will also have fossilised some names in the landscape. The location of these settlement names can give an understanding of how Scandinavian settlers utilised the landscape and highlight differences in the use of different shieling names. This thesis is interdisciplinary in nature, but one based on cultural and historical geography. The first element of the study is to understand why shielings developed in Scandinavian society and if there are identifiable environmental factors behind their location. Studies in Norway suggest shielings developed as a response to environmental constraints to agriculture and social pressures to produce a surplus. A locational study of shielings in areas that were the likely origin of Viking settlers in Norway, highlighted seven key locations for shielings. These locational factors were then compared to setr/sætr-names in Scotland. The locations were broadly similar to Norwegian shielings, however, Scottish setr/sætr-names were more likely to be situated in slightly more fertile locations than Norwegian examples studied. A comparison of Scottish setr/sætr-names with ærgi-names also revealed the latter to be more likely found on even richer grazing land. The conclusion being, setr/sætr had a more general meaning of a place for summer grazing, whereas, ærgi was specifically linked to richer soils and richer grazing land. This link may relate to an intensive dairy economy, something which is known from contemporary documentary sources from the Gaelic world, but has not been proven in pre-Viking Age Norway.

This thesis forms a contribution to the historical geography of botanical knowledge. It examines the writings, teaching and public engagement in botany of John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), Regius Professor of Botany and Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) between 1845 and 1879. The thesis explores the methods and approaches used by Balfour to promote botany. It pays specific attention to his scientific correspondence, publications, teaching and pedagogical practices (including fieldwork) and to his role in promoting the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The curriculum Balfour constructed covered the major aspects of nineteenth-century botanical knowledge: plant structure, morphology and classification as well as aspects then 'on the fringes' of becoming popular - plant physiology. In order to teach this curriculum, Balfour meticulously shaped scientific, pedagogic and social spaces into places of scientific production and discovery. Study of his published work, classroom, field sites and involvement with the public sphere together form the principal elements of this thesis. These are the central places and productive sites in which his botany was made. Balfour's published work allowed him to develop theoretical aspects in his view of botany. For Balfour, writing was an occupation about which he cared deeply both in terms of its role in knowledge circulation but also from a personal perspective. His publication of texts suitable for several distinct audiences (while financially rewarding,) was also an excellent method of circulating botanical and religious knowledge, two topics he was passionate to promote. The classroom provided the setting for Balfour to teach through practical instruction. He employed sensory stimulating objects in order to encourage students to learn the skill of botanical identification and observation. The 'field', like the classroom, was also a site of practical instruction. Balfour's construction of 'the field' was careful and deliberate. It was based on familiarity of location, experience of working in the field, and an extensive knowledge of the geographical distribution of plants in Scotland. Balfour's engagement with the public was evident in his involvement with the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (BSE), and by lectures delivered to groups with the object of moral improvement through botany. The thesis situates Balfour's work within recent literature on the historical geography of scientific knowledge, with particular attention to the importance of place and the sites of science's making. In this way, Balfour's work is illustrative of wider elements of the situated production, and variable dissemination, of scientific (botanical) knowledge.

abstract: This research investigates the biophysical and institutional mechanisms affecting the distribution of metals in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. To date, a long-term, interdisciplinary perspective on metal pollution in the region has been lacking. To address this gap, I integrated approaches from environmental chemistry, historical geography, and institutional economics to study the history of metal pollution in the desert. First, by analyzing the chemistry embodied in the sequentially-grown spines of long-lived cacti, I created a record of metal pollution that details biogeochemical trends in the desert since the 1980s. These data suggest that metal pollution is not simply a legacy of early industrialization. Instead, I found evidence of recent metal pollution in both the heart of the city and a remote, rural location. To understand how changing land uses may have contributed to this, I next explored the historical geography of industrialization in the desert. After identifying cities and mining districts as hot spots for airborne metals, I used a mixture of historical reports, maps, and memoirs to reconstruct the industrial history of these polluted landscapes. In the process, I identified three key transitions in the energy-metal nexus that drove the redistribution of metals from mineral deposits to urban communities. These transitions coincided with the Columbian exchange, the arrival of the railroads, and the economic restructuring that accompanied World War II. Finally, to determine how legal and political forces may be influencing the fate of metals, I studied the evolution of the rights and duties affecting metals in their various forms. This allowed me to track changes in the institutions regulating metals from the mining laws of the 19th century through their treatment as occupational and public health hazards in the 20th century. In the process, I show how Arizona’s environmental and resource institutions were often transformed by extra-territorial concerns. Ultimately, this created an institutional system that compartmentalizes metals and fails to appreciate their capacity to mobilize across legal and biophysical boundaries to accumulate in the environment. Long-term, interdisciplinary perspectives such as this are critical for untangling the complex web of elements and social relations transforming the modern world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2019