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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237 Items found Print
Active Filters: 10th grade (Ages 15-16), Trade Paperback, New Books & Materials
1776
by David McCullough
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Abraham Lincoln's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster
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Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
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Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
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2005 Newbery Honor Book
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Amazing Grace
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America and Vietnam
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American History in Verse
by Burton Stevenson
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Poetry for 3rd-Adult
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$11.00
Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping, eds.
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Ancient Rome
by Richard Maybury
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And There Was Light
by Jacques Lusseyran
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Anna and the King of Siam
by Margaret Landon
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Annals of Imperial Rome
Penguin Classics
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Anne Bradstreet
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Christian Renegades Series
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Augustus Caesar's World
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Awakening of Miss Prim
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Band of Brothers
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25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
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Battle of Lexington
by Jonas Clark
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Beginning of the Republic
A Basic History of the United States Volume 2
by Clarence B. Carson
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Betty Before X
by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
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Between the Forest and the Hills
Bethlehem Books Adventure Library
by Ann Lawrence
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Humorous Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
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Beyond the Desert Gate
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
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Blood Brothers
by Elias Chacour with David Hazard
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Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
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Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
by Bryan Mealer, William Kamkwamba
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Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
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Brethren
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Bridge to the Sun
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Bring Your Eyes and See
International Adventures
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Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
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Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle
by Bruce Olson
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Caine Mutiny
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Call to Conscience
by Martin Luther King, Jr., Edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard
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Captain, My Captain
by Deborah Meroff
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Carver and the Queen
by Emma C. Fox
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Charis in the World of Wonders
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Children of the River
by Linda Crew
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Children of the Storm
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Churchill
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Citizen Soldiers
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Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
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Co. Aytch
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Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
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Colonial Experience
A Basic History of the United States Volume 1
by Clarence B. Carson
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Colonist of Southwest Africa
The Louis Wessels Commando #5
by Lawrence Penning
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Color the Pacific Northwest
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Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
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Conquest of Gaul
Penguin Classics
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Consolation of Philosophy
by Ancius Boethius
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Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
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Czar, The
by Deborah Alcock
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Darius, Artaxerxes, and Ahasuerus in the Bible
by James B. Jordan
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Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey
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David Livingstone
by C. Silvester Horne
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Debunking Howard Zinn
by Mary Grabar
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Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
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Dubliners
by James Joyce
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Dubliners
by James Joyce
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Dubliners
by James Joyce
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Early History of Rome
by Livy
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Elizabeth I
by Jacob Abbott, updated for the present day reader by Knox Merkle
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Evidence Not Seen
by Darlene Deibler Rose
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Fair Margaret
by H. Rider Haggard
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Faithful Spy
by John Hendrix
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Farewell to Manzanar
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
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First Voyage to America
by Christopher Columbus
from Dover Publications
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Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
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For God and His People
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Forgotten Daughter
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
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1934 Newbery Honor Book
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Four Voyages
by Christopher Columbus
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Foxe's Book of Martyrs
by John Foxe
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George Washington's World
by Genevieve Foster, expanded by Joanna Foster and edited by Rea Berg
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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George Whitefield
by Arnold A. Dallimore
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God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
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God's Samurai
by Gordon Prange, with Donald Goldstein & Katherine Dillon
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Great Crash: 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith
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Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
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$16.95
Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reissue from Charles Scribner's Sons
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$17.00
Growth of America
A Basic History of the United States Volume 4
by Clarence B. Carson
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$19.00
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
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Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
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Guns of August
by Barbara W. Tuchman
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$8.99
Heavenly Man
by Brother Yun, Paul Hattaway
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Hero Born
by Jin Yong, translated by Anna Holmwood
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Hidden Treasure
Reformation Trail Series #21
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Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
35th Anniversary Edition from Chosen Books
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History of King Charles II of England
by Jacob Abbott
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History of the Reformation in Scotland
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Hitch
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Hitler
by Albert Marrin
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Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
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How the Irish Saved Civilization
by Thomas Cahill
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I Must Betray You
by Ruta Sepetys
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Ides of April
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Mary Ray
from Bethlehem Books
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