ABSTRACT
Historical geography focuses on the effects of time on a region and stresses the cultural changes seen in the landscape. Such changes occur in response to human migration and settlement, innovative ideas and methods for living, the variety of humans in one place, and natural events that occur. Farms and settlements developed, prospered, or declined in response to one or all of the historical variables. But within the past four hundred years several historical scenarios have played a major role in bringing about the present pattern of the urban-rural settlement in Illinois. The era from the time of British colonization through the revolutionary war, the American confederation government, and the constitutional convention that created the present United States left few significant imprints on Illinois. Another historical theme is the growth of statewide trouble within state and city governments, labor unions, and organized crime.
