Regional History

Once upon a time, schoolchildren could be expected to know the name of the mountains separating France from Spain, the location of the Nile River, the capitals of all fifty states, and what and where the Pampas could be found. Now, even adults have a hard time naming the most populous city in the U.S. or the countries of Asia. These are, indeed, sad times, and doomed to become sadder if this geographic ignorance is not turned to knowledge.

Without a firm grasp on geography, how can we expect to know anything about history? History is rooted in a sense of place. Why did the Union troops lose the Battle of Cold Harbor? Because they were attacking Confederate fortifications uphill. And if you don't know anything about the Alps, the fact that Hannibal's army crossed them with elephants won't surprise you near as much as it should. Understanding the physical terrain and the demographics of an area are essential to understanding the history of that region.

Which is why studying history by place is such a good idea. There are cultural considerations, of course, and these can be immensely helpful guides in their own right, but simply looking at the lay of the land so to speak will provide a sense of context more abstract boundaries never can. African history, for instance, makes so much more sense if you know what the continent is like.

Even cultures are influenced by geography. Take the United States: some of the most important advances in transportation technology happened within her borders largely due to necessity. The steam engine train was perfected here, automobiles and airplanes were invented here, and in the last few decades we've led the world in space exploration.

It's not that no one traveled before the 19th and 20th century, or outside the North American continent—it's just that because the new nation was so vast, and there were so many natural barriers (the Mississippi River, the Grand Tetons and Great Smokey Mountains, the Mojave Desert), new forms of getting from here to there were not only a good idea, they were a necessity.

There probably isn't one instance in the history of the world in which geography and events weren't directly tied. Certainly this is true for military history, and exploration, and agriculture, but it's also true of ideas and ideologies. Part of the reason slavery was such an important part of Southern culture in the U.S. was that cotton was an immensely growable crop and only armies of slaves could be counted on to get all the work done; in order to justify the use of forced labor, however, a philosophical ethos was developed.

Other instances may be more obscure, but no less true. In France, the mild climate and fertile country led to a series of approaches to thought that emphasized experience and the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake (particularly existentialism); in ancient Greece, the geographical isolation enforced by mountains and seas allowed democratic polity to emerge among the city states.

Geography and history are pretty much Siamese twins, and academic technology has not advanced to the point where they can be separated without risk of life to both. We've organized the subcategories in this section along pretty standard lines (continents, countries, and the like), but standards arise because they work. Explore a region you're unfamiliar with; you're likely to uncover quite a few surprises.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.  Read more of his reviews here.
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14 Cows for America
by Carmen Agra Deedy, in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah
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1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
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1812: The War and the World
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20th Century in America Lap-Pak
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33 Roads to the White House
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A is for Abigail
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Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys
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ABC Book of Early Americana - Coloring Book
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Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance
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Abigail Adams
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About Our Flag
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Above the Trenches
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln
Weekly Reader Heroes of the Civil War
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Abraham Lincoln
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75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
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1940 Caldecott Medal winner
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$17.95
Abraham Lincoln
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Historical Non-fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Abraham Lincoln - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Across America
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Across the Wide & Lonesome Prairie
Dear America
by Kristiana Gregory
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
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Adam of the Road
Puffin Newbery Library
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Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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Adara
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Addy Learns a Lesson
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Addy Learns a Lesson
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Adoniram Judson
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
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Adventure to Home
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Adventures of King Arthur - Coloring Book
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Adventures of Lewis and Clark
North Star Books #29
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Adventures of Munford: Munford Meets Lewis & Clark
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Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
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1954 edition from Rand McNally
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Adventures of the American Revolution
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Adventures with the Santa Fe Trail
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Revised from Kansas Heritage Center
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Africa For Kids
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African Critters
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African Plains - Coloring Book
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African Traveler
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African-Americans in the Thirteen Colonies
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After the Train
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Air Raid - Pearl Harbor!
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1st Gulliver Books pbk. ed from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Airplanes of the Second World War - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
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Airplanes of World War I - Coloring Book
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Akavak
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Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
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Alamo!
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Alaskan Wildlife - Coloring Book
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Albert Schweitzer
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Alexander Graham Bell
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Alia's Mission
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All About Aviation
All About Books #51
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All Thirteen
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Daring Rescues for 4th-7th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book, 2021 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
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All Through the Ages
by Christine Miller
3rd edition from Nothing New Press
World History Reference for All grades
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Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad
On My Own History
by Marlene Targ Brill
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Almost Home
Daughters of the Faith
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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
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Amazing Mind of Granville Woods
by Maggie Felsch; illustrated by Kessler Garrity
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Amelia Earhart - Coloring Book
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Childhood of Famous Americans
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Amelia to Zora
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$7.95
America - with CD
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America At War: Korean War
by John Perritano
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America First updated
by Lawton B. Evans, Updated & Revised by Rachel Lebowitz
from Charlotte Mason Plenary LLC
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
America from the Beginning - Student Manual
by Joshua Franklin, Debbie Lawrence
from Answers in Genesis
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America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson
from Yesterday's Classics
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
America In Korean War
by KidCaps
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America in the Time of Abraham Lincoln
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
America in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
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America in the Time of George Washington
by Sally Senzell Isaacs
from Heinemann Library
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America in the Time of Lewis and Clark
by Sally Senzel Isaacs
from Heinemann-Raintree
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
America is Born
A History for Peter #1
by Gerald W. Johnson (iilustrations by Leonard Everett Fisher)
from William Morrow & Company
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$45.00 (1 in stock)
America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
from Yesterday's Classics
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America Moves Forward
A History for Peter #3
by Gerald W. Johnson
from William Morrow & Company
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America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
America's First Ladies - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Leslie Franz
Revised Edition from Dover Publications
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$5.99
America's Lost Dream
by Tom Dooley
from Master Books
American History for 4th-6th grade
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$12.79 $10.00 (2 in stock)
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
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$12.99
America's Robert E. Lee
by Henry Steele Commager, illustrated by Lynd Ward
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America's War Heroes
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$10.39
American Adventures
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from Macmillan
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American Adventures Part 1
by Morrie Greenberg
from Brooke-Richards Press
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$3.50 (5 in stock)
American Adventures Part 2
by Morrie Greenberg
from Brooke-Richards Press
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
American Fairy Tales
1st edition from Hyperion Books for Children
for 3rd-Adult
American Family of the Colonial Era - Paper Dolls
by Tom Tierney
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dover Paper Dolls (Location: COL-DOLL)
American History for Young Students I
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-5th grade
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
American History for Young Students II
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-5th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
American History for Young Students III
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 1st-6th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
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