For many of us, geography has an inexorable quality. Brimming with real and imaginary objects like mountains, oceans, and borders, our world seems quite literally set in stone. But over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings, both through ingenuity and brute force. From the Qhapaq Nan, South America''s ''Great Road'', to the Panama Canal; from Mozambique''s railways to Korea''s sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how humans have etched our needs onto the natural landscape, and in doing so, changed the very course of history. A sweeping work that touches on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being prisoners to the inevitability of geography, we are instead fundamental and intrinsic to it.

Vorwort
How humans harnessed the geographical landscape and wrote ourselves onto our surroundings

Autorentext

Maxim Samson is an independent researcher, specialising in cultural geography and geography of religion. He holds a PhD in geography from the University of Leeds and has researched, taught and presented keynote lectures at universities the United Kingdom, United States and Indonesia.

Prior to his current role as geography teacher and head of EPQ (a nationally recognised student research qualification), he worked for seven years as an award-winning adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, where he additionally chaired an international research group and served as associate editor of a peer-reviewed academic journal. *

Earth Shapers* is his second book, following Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World.

Klappentext

Mountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings. From the Qhapaq Ñan, South America's 'Great Road', and the Panama Canal to Mozambique's railways and Korea's sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history. An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.

Zusammenfassung
How humans harnessed the geographical landscape and wrote ourselves onto our surroundings