10 When I began my Geography studies at the University of Barcelona, in the late sixties, the discipline was undergoing a profound transformation. The mnemonic geography of rivers, mountain ranges, and capitals was starting to give way to a much more critical way of understanding the territory. Already having finished my degree, in that intellectual environment, Horacio Capel was probably the one who introduced me to Yves Lacoste. Or, at least, the one who made me understand that this French geographer was changing the way of looking at the world. I was not his student in Paris. I was a disciple of his books. I still remember the impact that reading La géographie, ça sert, d’abord, à faire la guerre (Geography serves, first and foremost, to wage war) had on me. The title seemed like a provocation, but it hid a fundamental idea: geographical knowledge has always been a tool of power. Governments, armies, and empires have used maps to administer, control, and conquer territories, while in schools an apparently innocent geography was taught, reduced to the description of landscapes.

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