Abstract
Leonard Peacefull's new volume on the geography of Ohio arrives on the scene during a period of renewed and ex - panded interest in regional geography at all scales. What follows here is an ac - counting ofthis new and useful text on an important state of the United States. After a brief introduction, a team of au - thors cover in sixteen chapters the fun - damental components, patterns, and pro - cesses of Ohio's geographic character. The first four discuss the environments and mineral resources of Ohio (Peacefull, Schmiolin, Nash and Gerber, and Peacefull, respectively). Noting that Ohio's environmental attributes are largely assets and quite varied, these chapters properly set the stage for the human ingredients that will later be added to Ohio. They also are heavily charged with maps, graphs, and data profiles that represent rather re - cent, and hence, useful analyses. Chapters five, six, and seven present the developments of Ohio 's past human geographies. Gordon focuses upon the aboriginal landscapes of Ohio and delineates the long-term development and influences of Ohio's original inhabitants up to the early 1600s, when Europeans fi - nally became a part of Ohio's human geography. Wilhelm and Noble next focus upon the building of a European-American cultural landscape in Ohio, primarily after the end of the American Revolution. Crucial in the settling of the land and the resulting cultural region patterns were the many land divisions of the area. These land divisions included private holdings sold on speculation, and a vari - ety of public land units used to compensate soldiers, refugees, and others for either service or misfortune during the Revolution. Because of the separated and segmented nature of these units, a num - ber of ethnic and cultural patterns arose in Ohio, including in general a " New England" north, a "Virginian" south, and a middle area most strongly influenced by Pennsylvanians and Jerseyans. The pat - tern of Ohio's settlement frontier changes • from southeast to northwest was also explained. Finally, the material cultu re of Ohio's development is presented.
Recommended Citation
Rumney, Thomas A.
(2000)
"A Geography of Ohio by Leonard Peacefull,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 42:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol42/iss2/7