Catching up: the space as a research problem in colonial history

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to review the colonial studies that emphasize the variable “space” as a research problem. The article questions the fact that the latest expansion of colonial studies have not given importance to the debate with geography and regional studies. Before the difficulties of this type of research, ways and alternatives are pointed out, highlighting the historiography of so-called “traditional”, which gave great importance to the space and developed methodologies for their study time. In this way, modern systems of the geographic information (GIS) can dialogue with that legacy of the old historiography, producing innovative and complex searches. Several examples of this kind of research are pointed out in the article.