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The New Primary Geography
There’s very, very many things I love about this book.
The New Primary Geography was published in 1870, making it nearly 150 years old at this point. Recorded geography ages in a fun way – while physical geography remains the same, the world sitting atop of it is constantly moving.
1.
This book was written as a school book for kids, so it’s almost entirely written in this “Question? Answer.” format. The responses are short & certain.
While a lot of the responses are pretty innocent & decent generalizations, in other places this text book really shows the era it was written in. In particular this page on THE PEOPLE WHO INHHABIT THE EARTH as it describes the ‘white race’…
Elsewhere while remarking on the population of the United States, it states “The Indians are ignorant and barbarous, and are but few in number.”
2.
I get the feeling we mostly see maps either in the recent world – such as a parents globe that still has the Soviet Union displayed, or an old board of RISK – or antinque maps from the Age of Exploration.
1870’s seem surprisingly recent yet unfathomably far away! Which makes it all the more surprising to have a physical reminder of how little of Africa or northern Canada were known.