Themes in the Historical Geography of France

List of Contributors

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

List of Tables


1 The Practice of Historical Geography in France

Historical Geography and Geographical History

Geographical Contributions to the Historical Geography of France

Notes

References


2 Peopling and the Origins of Settlement

Introduction

New Methods, Ideas and Findings

Prehistory and Protohistory

The Gallo-Roman Period and the Early Middle Ages to A.D. 1000

Further Aspects of the Peopling of France after A.D. 1000

Notes

References


3 Early Urban Development

Introduction

First Generation : The Classical Legacy

The Dark Ages

Second Generation : Medieval Urbanization

Planned Medieval New Towns

Notes

References


4 Retreat of Rural Settlement

Introduction

Causes of Settlement Contraction

Settlement Retreat Prior to the Fourteenth Century

Settlement Retreat in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

Settlement Retreat after the Fifteenth Century

The Continuum of Settlement Adjustment

References


5 Regional Contrasts in Agrarian Structure

Hugh Prince

The Concept of an Agrarian Civilization

The Density of History

Forms and Functions in Agrarian Structures

The Antiquity and Continuity of Agrarian Structures

Dividing France into Two, Three or More Cultural Provinces

A Twofold Division : le Nord and le Midi

Natural Divisions

Cultural Divisions

The Legacy from Rome

A Threefold Division: the Threefield System and Other Field Systems

Roger Dion's Regions of Collectivism, Individualism and Opportunism

Marc Bloch's Regions of Regular Openfields, Irregular Openfields and Bocage

Gaston Roupnel's Division into Southern Individualism, Western Bocage and Northern Campagne

Agrarian Structures in Transition

Mediterranean Features in the Limagnes

Ancient Links with the South Preserved

Northerly Field Systems in the Plaine Marneuse

Agricultural Distress in the Late Nineteenth Century

Agrarian Structures as Systems

Notes

References


6 Reclamation of Coastal Marshland

Introduction

Drainage in Medieval France

The Hollandries of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Drainage in the Nineteenth Century

Notes

References


7 Petite Culture 1750-1850

Population and Resources

The Problem of Poverty

Sharecropping and the Rise of Smallholdings

References


8 Reclamation of Wasteland During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

The Study of Land Clearance

Wasteland Clearance in the Early Eighteenth Century

The Results of Land Clearance Legislation of the 1760s

Wasteland in the Early Nineteenth Century

The Process of Land Clearance through the Nineteenth Century

Factors Behind Nineteenth Century Land Clearance

Archival Sources

Appendix

Acknowledgments

References


9 Historical Georgaphy of Western France

The Concept of Western France

Regional Divisions

Rural Settlement

Cultivated Land and Waste

Field Patterns

Conclusion

Notes

References


10 Vernacular Architecture and the Peasant House

Introduction

Published Work and Sources

Construction

House Type, Plan and Evolutionary Sequence

The Rectilinear House

Conclusions

Notes

References


11 Agricultural Change in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Did France Undergo an 'Agricultural Revolution'?

The Evidence in Favor

Rural France on the Eve of the Railway Age

The Evidence Against

Advance or Stagnation in French Agriculture After Mid-Century?

Checks and Balances in French Farming

Retrospect and Prospect

Notes

References


12 Industrial Development in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Introduction

The 'Traditional' Industrial Pattern

Advances in Transport and the Emergence of a National Economic System

A New Industrial State?

Notes

References


13 Urban Growth, 1500-1900

Introduction

Urban Growth 1500-1800

Urban Growth in the Nineteenth Century

Baron Haussmann and the Renewal of Inner Paris During the Second Empire

Suburban Paris in the Nineteenth Century

Urban Growth in Provincial France

The Legacy of Nineteenth Century Urbanization

Notes

References

Appendix I Some Sources For The Historical Geography of Rural France in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Introduction

Eighteenth Century Sources

Nineteenth Century Sources

Appendix Note

Appendix References

Appendix II Additional Reading on Themes in the Historical Geography of France