This book recovers places appearing in the mental mapping of medieval and Renaissance writers, from Chaucer to Aphra Behn. A highly original work, which recovers the places that figure powerfully in premodern imagining. Recreates places that appear in the works of Langland, Chaucer, Dante, Petrarch, Spenser, Shakespeare, Aphra Behn, and many others. Begins with Calais – peopled by the English from 1347 to 1558 and ends with Surinam – traded for Manhattan by the English in 1667. Other particular locations discussed include Flanders, Somerset, Genoa, and the Fortunate Islands (Canary Islands). Includes fascinating anecdotes, such as the story of an English merchant learning love songs in Calais. Provides insights into major historical narratives, such as race and slavery in Renaissance Europe. Crosses the traditional divide between the medieval and Renaissance periods.

Luoyang, situated in present-day Henan province, was one of the great urban centres of pre-Qin and early imperial China, the favoured site for dynastic capitals for almost two millennia. This book, the first in any Western language on the subject, traces the rise and fall of the six different capital cities in the region which served eleven different dynasties from the Western Zhou dynasty, when the first capital city made its appearance in Luoyang, to the great Tang dynasty, when Luoyang experienced a golden age. It examines the political histories of these cities, explores continuity and change in urban form with a particular focus on city layouts and landmark buildings, and discusses the roles of religions, especially Buddhism, and illustrious city residents. Overall the book provides an accessible survey of a broad sweep of premodern Chinese urban history.

Contributed articles on urbanisation in India; based on the proceedings of a seminar on urbanisation in India, trends and prospects organised by the Bihar Research Society.

This leading text offers a comprehensive, richly nuanced, and authoritative introduction to European geography. Coverage encompasses the entire region: its physical setting and environment, population and migration, languages and religions, and political organization. Particular attention is given to historic and contemporary features of the diverse urban environments in which most Europeans live, work, and play. Combining vivid description, essential information, and cogent analysis, the text is illustrated with more than 200 photographs and 64 maps. New to This Edition*Fully updated to reflect ongoing changes in this dynamic region.*Expanded coverage of timely topics such as emissions and energy policy, aging of the population, migration, religiosity and secularization, ethnonationalism, health care, popular culture, and the future of the European Union.*Engaging vignettes in every chapter on European places, cultural issues, and daily life.*Over 45 new photographs and maps.

Cities Made of Boundaries presents the theoretical foundation and concepts for a new social scientific urban morphological mapping method, Boundary Line Type (BLT) Mapping. Its vantage is a plea to establish a frame of reference for radically comparative urban studies positioned between geography and archaeology. Based in multidisciplinary social and spatial theory, a critical realist understanding of the boundaries that compose built space is operationalised by a mapping practice utilising Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Benjamin N. Vis gives a precise account of how BLT Mapping can be applied to detailed historical, reconstructed, contemporary, and archaeological urban plans, exemplified by sixteenth to twenty-first century Winchester (UK) and Classic Maya Chunchucmil (Mexico). This account demonstrates how the functional and experiential difference between compact western and tropical dispersed cities can be explored. The methodological development of Cities Made of Boundaries will appeal to readers interested in the comparative social analysis of built environments, and those seeking to expand the evidence-base of design options to structure urban life and development.

This book brings together edited articles from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam that are relevant to food culture, health, diet, and medicine in pre-Islamic Muslim societies.

America's cities: celebrated by poets, courted by politicians, castigated by social reformers. In their numbers and complexity they challenge comprehension. Why is urban America the way it is? Eric Monkkonen offers a fresh approach to the myths and the history of US urban development, giving us an unexpected and welcome sense of our urban origins. His historically anchored vision of our cities places topics of finance, housing, social mobility, transportation, crime, planning, and growth into a perspective which explains the present in terms of the past and ofers a point from which to plan for the future. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988 with a paperback in 1990.