Editing Economic geography (section)

==History==
[[File:ElSalvadorfairtradecoffee.jpg|thumb|right|The [[economics of coffee|coffee trade]] is a worldwide industry.]]
Early approaches to economic geography are found in the [[History of Cartography#China|seven Chinese maps]] of the [[Qin (state)|State of Qin]], which date to the 4th century BC and in the Greek geographer [[Strabo]]'s ''Geographika'', compiled almost 2000 years ago.  As [[cartography]] developed, geographers illuminated many aspects used today in the field; maps created by different European powers described the resources likely to be found in American, African, and Asian territories.  The earliest travel journals included descriptions of the native people, the climate, the landscape, and the productivity of various locations. These early accounts encouraged the development of transcontinental trade patterns and ushered in the era of [[mercantilism]].

Lindley M. Keasbey wrote in 1901 that no discipline of economic geography existed, with scholars either doing geography or economics.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Keasbey|first=Lindley M.|date=1901|title=The Study of Economic Geography|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140442|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=16|issue=1|pages=79–95|doi=10.2307/2140442|jstor=2140442 |issn=0032-3195|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Keasbey argued for a discipline of economic geography, writing,<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>On the one hand, the economic activities of man are determined from the first by the phenomena of nature; and, on the other hand, the phenomena of nature are subsequently modified by the economic activities of man. Since this is the case, to start the deductions of economics, the inductions of geography are necessary; and to continue the inductions of geography, the deductions of economics are required. Logically, therefore, economics is impossible without geography, and geography is incomplete without economics.</blockquote>World War II contributed to the popularization of geographical knowledge generally, and post-war economic recovery and development contributed to the growth of economic geography as a discipline. During [[environmental determinism]]'s time of popularity, [[Ellsworth Huntington]] and his theory of [[climatic determinism]], while later greatly criticized, notably influenced the field. Valuable contributions also came from location theorists such as [[Johann Heinrich von Thünen]] or [[Alfred Weber]]. Other influential theories include [[Walter Christaller]]'s [[Central place theory]], the theory of core and periphery. {{Citation needed|date=January 2017}}

[[Fred K. Schaefer]]'s article "Exceptionalism in geography: A Methodological Examination", published in the American journal ''Annals of the [[Association of American Geographers]]'', and his critique of regionalism, made a large impact on the field: the article became a rallying point for the younger generation of economic geographers who were intent on reinventing the discipline as a science, and quantitative methods began to prevail in research. Well-known economic geographers of this period include [[William Garrison (geographer)|William Garrison]], [[Brian Berry]], [[Waldo Tobler]], [[Peter Haggett]] and [[William Bunge]].

Contemporary economic geographers tend to specialize in areas such as [[location theory]] and [[spatial analysis]] (with the help of [[geographic information systems]]), market research, geography of transportation, real estate price evaluation, regional and global development, planning, [[Internet Geography|Internet geography]], innovation, [[social networks]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Braha | first1 = Dan | last2 = Stacey | first2 = Blake | last3 = Bar-Yam | first3 = Yaneer | year = 2011 | title = Corporate competition: A self-organized network | url = http://necsi.edu/affiliates/braha/Journal_Version_SON_Braha.pdf | journal = Social Networks | volume = 33 | issue = 3 | pages = 219–230 | doi = 10.1016/j.socnet.2011.05.004 | arxiv = 1107.0539 | bibcode = 2011arXiv1107.0539B | s2cid = 1249348 | access-date = 2014-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180613220405/http://necsi.edu/affiliates/braha/Journal_Version_SON_Braha.pdf | archive-date = 2018-06-13 | url-status = dead }}</ref>