The Role and Significance of Objective (Mathematical) Methods in Geographic Research

A staff member of Leningrad University's Cartography Department reviews the introduction of quantitative methods into geography and offers a classification of physical and mathematical models used in geography. The increasing use of objective methods, including physical and chemical techniques, is expected inevitably to affect the nature of geography as a scientific discipline, just as the use of aerial photography changed the theory and practice of topographic mapping.     

The Present State of Toponymy in the USSR

A review of recent place-name research, methods, and publications in the Soviet Union by a deputy chairman of the Toponymy Commission of the Moscow Branch of the Geographical Society USSR. For a previous article on Soviet toponymy, see E. M. Murzayev, “Origin of geographic names,” Soviet Geography, Accomplishments and Tasks, American Geographical Society, 1962, pp. 254–58.     

Basic Trends in the Population Geography of Contemporary Cuba

Population changes in Cuba are analyzed on the basis of differential growth rates in provinces and urban centers. Three types of areas are distinguished: (1) those where population continues to be concentrated as a result of high growth rates exceeding the national average (notably major industrial towns and ports and rapidly developing agricultural areas); (2) areas recording absolute population increases, but at lower rates of growth than the national average; (3) areas in which population is declining.     

The Water-Balance Components of the Aral Sea and their Impact on Long-Term Level Fluctuations

An analysis of water-balance components over the 45-year period 1926–1970 seeks to establish their relative significance in the marked decline of the Aral Sea level since 1961. Long-term fluctuations in the sea level are found to reflect both natural fluctuations in the water resources available to the drainage basin and the steady growth of human activity in the watershed area. An increase in water withdrawals for irrigation in the 1950s did not appreciably affect the Aral Sea level because of generally large water resources during those years. The intensive decline of the water level since 1961 is attributed mainly to a growth of consumptive withdrawals from the Syrdarya and Amudarya, the two main tributaries of the Aral Sea. The position of the sea level also depends on the annual fluctuations of evaporation from the sea surface, which tends to be more variable than the annual streamflow to the sea. The subsurface component of Aral Sea inflow, contrary to previous studies, is found to be a negligible factor.     

从敦煌书仪看中国中古社会

书仪作为古代应用文的范本,从形式和内容上体现着传统礼制的各项规范和要求,是一个时代社会风貌的反映。敦煌遗书中的书仪写本为我们了解中古社会的面貌提供了宝贵的参考资料。     

晚清福建船政铸币史

清同治五年(1866),闽浙总督左宗棠倡议在福州马尾创办福建船政。福建船政是洋务运动时期诞生的近代中国第一批军工企业之一,是清季中国、乃至远东地区规模最大的近代造船厂,它的出现被公认为近代中国由传统手工业迈向近代大工业生产的开端。晚清时期,福建船政除制造兵舰、商船外,还曾经两次铸造货币,但铸造时间短暂,数量不多,故而其史事鲜为人知。(一)晚清福建船政的第一次铸币活动是在清光绪十一年(1885),是次铸币的始末原委,在张寿镛等人编著的《皇朝掌故汇编·钱法二》中可以了解一些端倪。据该书记载,光绪十一年,闽浙总督杨昌浚、船政大…     

关于地方志书社会部类的学理剖析和实践探索

社会主义时期新编地方志在社会部类编纂方面普遍存在概念界定难、认识分歧大、收录内容庞杂、资料信息匮乏等诸多缺憾。通过梳理社会部类编纂源流,辨其变化之端,并从学理上探究其概念内涵,可以从理论和实践相结合的角度总结出志书社会内容记述的整体性、系统性、时代性、深化性、创新性五个编纂原则。     

(丨頁)方彝铭文献疑

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巫术史研究新理路:小冰期影响范式

小冰期影响范式是近来巫术史研究中出现的新理路。它将近代早期气候异常和气候变化重新带入学术争论之中,强调小冰期气候异常影响下的人们的需要、失望和集体恐惧,并对气候在重大历史事件中的重要影响和合理定位做了充分研究,从而在自然史、社会史与文化史跨学科研究成果之间实现了某种综合。而学界对气候因素的一度忽视也有其复杂原因,如学科壁垒和跨学科研究的难度、工业社会和现代化对现代世界的解释、学术研究中的非历史主义的影响等。     

近代上海公共租界的噪音治理

作为中西交汇的国际大都市,近代上海的城市治理始终交织着华洋关系,噪音治理即为典型,并以人口密集、工商业繁盛的公共租界最为显著。上海公共租界噪音治理起步伊始,就参照了欧洲的城市治理模式,但也面临本土化的困境。租界内华洋居民因文化传统不同,对噪音的认知也不同。随着时间的推移,外侨对华人的行为逐渐有了一定程度的理解,而华人对城市噪音的认知也逐渐由不解演变为理解,并深化为对都市文明的探讨,主动参与治理。华洋双方认知的趋同,促进了噪音治理共识的形成。同时,华洋问题的背后也有利益博弈,1938年上海殡葬业噪音问题的处置,较充分地展现了租界当局、商人群体、城市居民三方各自的诉求。最终,经权衡利弊、谨慎处理,在兼顾各方权益的基础上取得了共识,有效地推动了城市治理的进展。