Author

CHEN Rihua (School of History, Nanjing University)

Abstract

Since the 1570s, there had been an upsurge of compiling chorography by the gentry in England. Chorography recorded the nature and geography, traditions and customs, celebrities and scenic spots of the region, which involved land survey, topography, researches on land and soil, and cognition of life and diseases. The attention and writing of the gentry class to natural knowledge showed that they not only managed manors and participated in politics, but also pursued knowledge and tried to cognize the natural environment in which they lived scientifcally. While compiling chorography, the gentry class formed a new cognitive paradigm, which was the continuation and development of British empiricism.

Published on Economic and Social History Review, Issue 1, 2021.