Hildegard Binder Johnson (August 20, 1908 – January 18, 1993) was a German-American geographer known for her research into the German diaspora and for her work in historical geography on the midwestern United States.

She founded the geography department at Macalester College and was heavily involved in geographical research in the state of Minnesota.

Serving on multiple state government committees and positions in various academic societies, she was given a number of awards for her geography research, teaching activities, and environmentalism.

The thesis she defended was on the subject of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and what constituted its geographical boundary, along with letters from Queen Victoria and King Wilhelm that had never been studied previously.

Several years later at the onset of WWII, Johnson became the editor for the geography tests given as a part of the special training program conducted by the US Army.

Another speaking role she involved herself in was with non-profit and professional organizations that she spoke to about the importance of geographical knowledge and environmental ethics and conservation around the world.

[6] She also paid special attention to the rectangular survey system and its impact on geographical map development,[3] alongside the spread of German settlers into the American Midwest[7] from the time period of 1688 to just before 1900.

[9] From the 1960s onward, she returned to her original topic of German colonial development in Africa and focused instead on how Christian missionaries impacted the landscape of the continent and the geographical partitioning of land.

A significant amount of Johnson's research attention involved maps and how they shaped cultural understanding and history by how geographical regions were represented over time and their interactions with geopolitics.

[3] They also named The Hildegard Binder Johnson award after her, which is presented annually to outstanding junior geography majors.