The Early Life of Paul Vidal de la Blache and the Makings of Modern Geography

Abstract

This paper summarizes our current state of knowledge of the biography of Paul Vidal de la Blache until the early 1870s, correcting minor errors of fact in existing secondary accounts and adding a considerable amount of new information from archival sources. A key question in the life of Vidal concerns his transformation from Classical studies to geography. It is argued that an important element in this reorientation concerns the wider moves to reform the teaching of geography in the state-supported education system under Jules Simon, at the beginning of the Third Republic. This argument implies a somewhat different model for the institutional development of the discipline of geography than for, say, sociology. Some evidence consistent with this argument, concerning Vidal's appointment at the Faculte des lettres at Nancy in 1872-73, is also suggested.

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