No intelligent knowledge of the historical nations is possible without a
corresponding knowledge of their geography. The first and most important
question that geography answers for us is _where_. Historical Geography
answers both _where_ and _when_? _Where_ is Rome located? _Where_ and
_when_ did the Babylonian Empire exist?
_History_ not only answers the questions _when_ and _who_ but, in
addition, gives us a consecutive account of the doings of civilized
mankind in their progress toward the most valued and elevating of social
and political blessings. It deals rather with the life of _nations_ than
with _races_ of men; and its special function is to sketch the career
and describe the conditions of those great nations whose ideas and
institutions, or whose achievements in politics, war, literature, art
and science, were remarkable in their own epoch, or, by influencing
other nations, helped to make the civilized world what it is now.