GIS, prosopography and history

This study of the early spread of Neo-Confucianism as an intellectual–social movement in southern China in the twelfth century applies geospatial analysis to a prosopographical study of the social networks of leading figures. By analyzing the spatial distribution of intellectual networks, we see that Neo-Confucianism was most successful in areas that had strong traditions of investment in education but that were generally marginal to the commercial economy of the times. The research draws on data from the China Biographical Database, which include data on the social associations, kinship, careers and addresses of over 40,000 Song dynasty figures and the China Historical GIS, a times-series database of administrative units from 221 BCE to 1911 CE. Intellectual history traditionally has focused on the transmission of ideas; network and spatial analysis helps explain why some areas were more receptive to certain ideas than others.