Historical economic geography

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Historical economic geography" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2014)

Part of a series on
Geography
Portal Outline
History of geography Graeco-Roman Chinese Islamic Age of Discovery History of cartography Historical geography Environmental determinism Regional geography Quantitative revolution Critical geography
Human geography Fields Behavioral Cognitive Critical Cultural Animal Children's Economic Agricultural Cyber Development Financial Histo-economic Labor Marketing Retail Theoretical economic Transport Language Linguistics Music Vernacular Moral Psychological Emotional Neo Sexuality Religion Food Health Historical Palaeo Imagined Internet Political Critical geopolitics Electoral Geopolitics Strategic Military Population Settlement Regional Urban Music Transport Social Tourism Tropical
Physical geography Fields Biogeography Ecology Phytogeography Zoogeography Climatology / Paleoclimatology / Palaeogeography Coastal geography/ Oceanography Earth science Geology Geomorphology Glaciology Hydrology / Hydrography Landscape ecology Limnology Pedology Quaternary science
Technical geography Fields Geodesign Geodesy Geoinformatics Geographic information science Geomatics Statistical geography Spatial analysis
Integrated geography Fields Environmental social science Environmental studies Landscape architecture Landscape ecology
Methods Quantitative Cartography Computer cartography Web mapping Geochronology Geographic information system Distributed GIS Internet GIS Web GIS Geologic modelling Geomathematics Geostatistics Geovisualization Global Positioning System Hydrography Map algebra Participant observation Photogrammetry Remote Sensing Statistical survey Surveying Land change modeling Qualitative Ethnography Geopoetics Interview (research) Survey (human research)
Theoretical Approaches Behavioral Critical Feminist Marxist Non-representational theory Modernism Structuralism Semiotics Postmodernism Post-structuralism Deconstruction
Societies Index Geographers
v t e

Historical economic geography examines the history and development of spatial economic structure. Using historical data, it examines how centers of population and economic activity shift, what patterns of regional specialization and localization evolve over time and what factors explain these changes.

The first major societies grew in regions with reliable access to arable land, water for irrigation and access to domesticated crops.

The Industrial Revolution began in towns in Britain that were close to flowing rivers that easily accessed surface coal deposits that provided cheap energy along with access to trafficable rivers to transport their goods. This made them an ideal locations for the first factories.

Most major cities have developed on major trade routes. Many cities have grown around major harbours, such as London and New York City, Singapore and Guangzhou. Many major inland cities such as Paris and Moscow grew on rivers that served as trade routes.

Since the industrial revolution, many cities have grown in response to access to man made transport hubs. Manchester grew rapidly as an industrial centre following the construction of a canal to the ocean. Chicago grew around a short channel that linked Lake Michigan with a tributary of the Mississippi River.

Containerisation has caused large changes in transport networks and in manufacturing. In the 1960s, container trade overtook traditional break bulk shipping. This caused a massive change in the nature of ports, away from the waterfront communities built around docks and dock workers, towards centralised container terminals.^[1]

Some cities fates have changed in response to the development of transport technology. Buffalo was once the 8th largest city in the United States of America, largely due to its location on the Erie Canal. However it declined when it was bypassed by the St Lawrence Seaway. Detroit grew as a major cluster of automotive businesses at a time when there were significant economies related to clustering businesses together. It went into decline when containerisation made dispersed production cheaper as manufacturers were able to efficiently and effectively source their components from remote suppliers.