Historiography and GIS: Mapping the Construction, Production, and Dissemination of American History in the English Atlantic World, c. 1550–1650

Historians agree that there was a transformation in historical thought in early modern England and Europe.  People who thought of history as chronicles of proceedings rooted in the present now viewed history as not only events in the past responsible for present circumstance, but occurrences whose significance was subject to interpretation.  Historians formerly believed that the move towards modern historical thought was caused by the invention of the printing press and the proliferation of printed books.  However, historians now tend to argue that humanism and the development of an historical sense of nation had much to do with the process.  What if the discovery and proliferation of knowledge of America had something to do with this transformation in historical thought?  This paper will examine this question using GIS, arguing that the creation of an American historiographical tradition in the early modern English Atlantic forced people to think about history in new ways.  Through mapping the construction, production, and dissemination of American history in the English Atlantic world between c. 1550 and c. 1650, including the locations of historians, publishers, subjects, and sources, this paper will demonstrate how GIS helps us to understand the connections and patterns that different historians used, as well as the role of American history in the transformation of English historical thought.