Leibniz and geography: geologist, paleontologist, biologist, historian, political theorist and geopolitician

摘要

This article discusses the way that the German philosopher andmathematician Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) made a number of significantcontributions to geography. In outlining his contributions as a geologist,palaeontologist, biologist, historian, political theorist and geopolitician,it challenges the straightforward way he is read in geography. Particularfocus is on his Protogaea, the Annales Imperii and theConsilium Aegyptiacum, respectively a pre-history of the earth, achronology of German nobility in the Middle Ages, and a military-strategicproposal to King Louis XIV. Making use of contemporary debates about ways ofreading Leibniz, and drawing on a wide range of his writings, the articleindicates just how much remains to be discovered about hiswork.