This article argues that the method of transregional history offers a valuable new tool for studying early modern territorial borders. Where existing research strands do not always suffice to accommodate the complexity of such boundaries, this new concept can serve as an alternative. Firstly, transregional history points out that early modern boundaries were not the outcome of actions that were pursued at one spatial level, be it local, regional, national, transnational, or global, but existed at multiple negotiated levels at once. Secondly, the method prompts historians: a) to not predefine “the” singular border of the region under scrutiny, but to follow historical actors as they shifted from one course of action to another in dealing with these multiple borders; and b) to question what transcended the boundaries of a region instead of highlighting how they separated one “unique” area from the next. In doing so, transregional history helps to reformulate questions about territorial boundaries, to make novel heuristic choices in research where and when borders matter, and, hence, to improve our understanding of transboundary historical change.

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如何做跨区域历史：早期现代边界研究的概念、方法和工具

本文认为，跨区域历史方法为研究早期现代领土边界提供了一种有价值的新工具。在现有的研究链并不总是足以适应这种边界的复杂性的情况下，这个新概念可以作为替代方案。首先，跨区域历史指出，早期现代边界不是在一个空间层面上追求的行动的结果，无论是地方的、区域的、国家的、跨国的还是全球的，而是同时存在于多个协商的层面。其次，该方法提示历史学家： a) 不要预先定义被审查地区的“单一边界”，而是在处理这些多重边界时跟随历史参与者从一个行动方案转移到另一个行动方案；b) 质疑是什么超越了一个区域的边界，而不是强调它们如何将一个“独特”区域与下一个区域分开。在这样做的过程中，跨区域历史有助于重新表述关于领土边界的问题，在边界何时何地重要的研究中做出新的启发式选择，从而提高我们对跨界历史变化的理解。