Regional history is the study of the history of a specific geographic area. It may be focused on the social development of period-specific cultures without any reference to contemporary political, economic or social organisations.

The fundamental principle underlying this approach is that older political and conceptual structures exist which exercise greater influence on the spatial-social identity of individuals than is understood by the contemporary world, bound to and often blinded by its own worldview - e.g. the focus on the nation-state.