Historical Geography: Retrospect and Prospect

Historical geography, originating from \%Geographic Records in Chronicles of the Han Dynasty\%, has since been known as \!evolutionary geography\, and not until 1935 did the name begin to be used. It achieved comparatively great development after 1950's, and in early 1960's authoritative scholars, taking the first step to advance the thesis that historical geography is a component of geography, promoted the research of historical physical geography and environmental changes. During the last 20 years of the 20th century, it acquired a lot of achievements, the most important ones are \%Historical Physical Geography\% in \%Physical Geography of China\%, and \%Sediments of Time, Environment and Society in Chinese History\%. The research will go on to achieve its development in the new century.