The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume IX, No. 4 [‎222r] (114/172)

1’HE teaching of geography in relation to history. 431
subsequently, the student should be taucrRt tn t t. c i. ,
subsist between different towns districts fnd o 1 f k h6 relatl0ns which
determined by distance eo if von ™ ! i d C0 ^ ntnes - lhese are obviously not
Rhone valley,few miles distant it "T^ ^ Grmdelwald to Bri goe in the
it can be sent by m round 1 g ! 60 r ° Und ^ Berne ’ becau8e
determined entirely by fadlHies of' ^ m0UDtain b , aSinS ’ They are even not
it hoped to tap the ocean trade li municatlon ’ as Manchester aiscovered, when
Liverpool There are m ' rec y Y the ship canal, without unloading at
bi„d ^ t„w„‘ dis T r - c rr s T h r oustom - interest ' 0 **“
cocomunication are tar les’s than bere^nS^f ^d^ ““““
.0 im^nirt the te f tog of geography '
eminent authorities twV taught-m spite of the repeated assertions of many
is to vioto th"funda m Lte& b„r litiCal "‘rT t ° WnSiip ’ C ° Untry ' etc "
or Heimatkunde, in the order in which ^rdlLtsTra^Lp^ven’
as some one has pointed out, in the order in which maps are bound in an atlas !
1 have known many a boy who has studied the geography of Nora lmerica'
and has then been taught South America because it canie next, and const uen iv
•A i„ Z i n n d,a ^ a1 '- “ 15 h0W< ™- “ unreasonable for any one
to do this m geography as it would be in history for an English bov to stud/first
the^British^Isles 6 "’ hose 8t » r y » least intimately Sound up with that of
the Jintish Isles. If, however, geography and history are taught in connection
ne order of study presents no difficulty, as the countries of Europe, United States’
pi a ofth •: hist;: WUl natUrally be StUdied ^ in C “ ^ main
With this preliminary knowledge of geography, the student would possess a
firm standpoint with which to compare and contrast such an epoch as the times
of Chaucer (1350 to 1400). I will take three headings, which of course are in no
way exhaustive, for the study of that epoch from the geographical side.
A. Causes which led Population to centralize at Different Points.
I will confine myself to one instance.
I. Point of Exit. Harbours of Enrjlanl.-IV* gives an opportunity for a most
instructive comparison. J
There happens, in the year 1317, to be a record of the number of ships supplied
by the different ports to the Calais expedition.
The Cinque Ports supplied about one-seventh of the whole number of ships
and men and the largest vessels were contributed by Yarmouth, Dartmouth
London, Bristol, and Southampton, which is sufficient to show that the populous
centres of England were mainly in the south-east and south-west. If the student
compares this with the present position of British ports, with which he is alreadv
acquainted he will be able to appreciate the influence of geographical conditions in
history, and to understand how the modern port of Liverpool, which sent on that
occasion a bark and six men, was able, as the outlet of great coal, iron, and salt
mines and populous manufacturing towns, to triumph even over Bristol with its
exceptional tidal advantages, its central position and easy communication with
the Trent and Thames, and its proximity to the metalliferous ores of Cornwall
and the coalfields of Wales.
The history of the Cinque Ports, which were even then past their prime in con
sequence of the decay of their harbours, presents an exceptionally good object-
lesson of the way in which a change of physical conditions has influenced history,
ihe causes which led to the destruction of the harbours of Romney, Rye, Winchelsea',