Geographical - historically permeation: in the context of the time

The writings of Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, particularly his discussion of how the Nile River delta formed, probably provide the earliest example of what would be called historical geography today. From those beginnings the study of the earth as the home of humans, of earth processes, and of the distribution of terrestrial phenomena has continued to our day (Sala, ). Historical geography, remained a relatively undeveloped field of study until the 17th century, when Philipp Clüver, published a historical geography of Germany. In the 19th century the importance of geography as the basis for understanding history was taught in many universities (particularly in Great Britain). The establishment of the Journal of Historical Geography (1975) and historical - geography research groups by the Institute of British Geographers (1973) and the Association of American Geographers (1979) served to vindicate the historical approach in geography. Modern technology has certainly aided in the practice of historical geography in more recent decades. With the development of cheaper and faster computing systems and the Internet, access to historic geographic data has grown substantially.