This is one of the ten treatises of the first geography book to use the term ‘geography’ in Chinese history. The author is Ban Gu (32–92 AD). Its contents include the division and development of Chinese territories and administrative regions before the Western Han Dynasty. The book consists of 3 parts: (1) the changes in the territory from Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) to the beginning of the Han Dynasty; (2) the main body of the book, which describes the administrative and political divisions of the Western Han Dynasty and its mountains, rivers, lakes, water conservancy, produce, folklore, population distribution and evolution; and (3) the relationship between China and several Southeast Asian countries and regions as well as the maritime traffic conditions since the Qin and Han Dynasties. The Treatise on Geography is the revolutionary forerunner of geography and has played a significant role in the development of historical geography.
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(2020). Han Shu (Book of Han): Treatise on Geography. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_1020
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_1020
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