Abstract: The introduction discusses important issues relating to the definition of the Middle Ages. It will focus firstly on the Middle 'Ages', in other words, the extent of this period of history. Following this, the article discusses the 'Middle' Ages or, in other words, the use of the term to denote a transitionary period between antiquity and the modern period. Two substantive sections then follow. The first examines medieval historical geographies or, in other words, the way in which people thought about geographical ideas during the Middle Ages, drawing on the writings of Marco Polo and Ibn-Battutah. The second section examines the ways in which historical geographers in more contemporary time periods have examined the geographies of the Middle Ages. It focuses in particular on studies of the process of medieval urbanization, the political and territorial transformations that took place during the medieval period, and the environmental histories of the Middle Ages.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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