Richard Colebrook Harris (July 4, 1936 – September 26, 2022), better known as Cole Harris, was a Canadian geographer and university professor.

Education

Harris received a Bachelor of Arts degree (1958) from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Science degree (1962), and a Ph.D. (1964) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Cole Harris

Personal life and death

In 1964 Harris joined the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor, and became an Associate Professor in 1971. Later that year he joined the University of British Columbia as an Associate Professor, and became a Professor at that university in 1973.

Cole Harris

Harris died at home on September 26, 2022, at the age of 86.

Cole Harris

Awards

Harris was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1982. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society awarded Harris a Gold Medal in 1988, and awarded him the Massey Medal in 2003. Harris was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004.

Selected publications

The Seigneurial System in Early Canada: A Geographical Study - 1966

Canada Before Confederation: A Study in Historical Geography - 1974 (edited with John Warkentin) Letters from Windermere, 1912-1914 - 1984 (edited with Elizabeth Phillips) Historical Atlas of Canada, vol. I: From the Beginning to 1800 - 1987 The Resettlement of British Columbia: Essays on Colonialism and Geographical Change - 1997 Making Native Space: Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia - 2003 (nominated for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize) The Reluctant Land: Society, Space, and Environment in Canada before Confederation - 2009

References

1936 births

2022 deaths

Canadian geographers

Historical geographers

Canadian non-fiction writers

Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Officers of the Order of Canada

University of British Columbia alumni

Academic staff of the University of British Columbia

Academic staff of the University of Toronto

University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni

Writers from Vancouver

Massey Medal recipients