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Importance of geography in history
Importance of geography in history
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Geography’s Impact on Culture and Society
When studying ancient civilizations and the beginning societies in the world, the geography has shaped its story significantly. Depending on the location of the civilization society, whether or not water was nearby was crucial for its survival. With trade networks, metals, foods, and languages were spread. Weapons were able to be formed from these metals which led to a stronger military. Mountain ranges formed the boundaries of civilizations. Geography greatly impacted Asia, Africa and Europe.
Asia
Asia is “the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres”. Its land mass covers almost 9% of the Earth's surface area, 30% of its land area and it holds nearly 60% of the world's current human population . Most of central Asia is covered by cold steppes. Dictionary.com describes a steppe as “an extensive plain, especially one without trees” , consisting mainly of grasslands and considered to be a land that is “too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert” .
The coastal border of Asia was inhabited by some of the world's earliest known civilizations that developed around fertile river valleys. These people “may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel with one another”1.
The central steppe region had long been inhabited by nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes on horseback. The northernmost part of Asia, which includes much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to these steppe nomads, due to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated due to the geography of the land that made living conditions difficult.1
The center a...
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... other surrounding Mediterranean lands, helping conquer new territories and further developing trade routes.
Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steppe?s=t
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppes
Traditions and Encounters 26
Traditions and Encounters 33
Traditions and Encounters 88
Traditions and Encounters 89
Traditions and Encounters 102,103
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
Traditions and Encounters 310
Traditions and Encounters 310
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa
Traditions and Encounters 52
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile
Traditions and Encounters 58
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Greece
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens
Traditions and Encounters 193
The Mongols were nomadic people who didn’t know much about mining, and didn’t farm. They mostly lived off of meat and milk. They used hides from horses and wools from sheeps for their clothes and materials. The Mongols first conquered land, when Temuchin was given the title Genghis Khan. The Mongols were barbaric, they conquered a lot of land, and they were smart.
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
...hose a region where it would be easy to settle down, an area with plenty of food and water not to mention an easy life. Their choices not only had an effect on themselves but also had a long term affect on the region that they chose to settle in. An example is the North China Plain and how its economic opportunities broadened when more and more people moved to it. The people of ancient civilizations whether ancient China or ancient Greece chose to move from one place to another frequently to find a location that was most suitable for their settlement. How they chose the region was based on its economic and geographic factors which were determined by the experiences of others there. The ancient nomadic people wanted what was best for them and used push and pull factors to do this. They analyzed to area with various methods and in return got what was the best for them.
The Mongols were nomadic people that lived in tribes in Asia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The joining of numerous tribes would eventually form one of the biggest empires in history. With the lack of rain though the region, the Mongols did not have wide spread agriculture, instead they would herd sheep, cattle, goats, horses, and camels that thrived on the grasses and shrubs of the steppe lands where they lived. The Mongol tribes would travel with their herds to lands with copious amounts of grasses so their animals could graze. When their herds exhausted the vegetation, they would migrate to a new area. The tribes were self-sufficient, they not only lived off the meat, milk, and hides provided by their animals, but also used them for trade purposes.
The Mongolian nomads relied heavily on the animals that they kept upon the steppes for survival. Throughout the year they would move their camps regularly in search of water and grass for their animals. The constant migrations prevented them from transporting reserves of food or other essential necessities. Living upon the steppes left them vulnerable to the elements as well. Heavy snows, ice, and drought could afflict the many animals that were essential to survival upon the steppe. Disease also played a deadly role in eliminating flocks and herds that the nomads were dependent upon.
7 Hanes, Samuel. 2011. "Southwest Asia and North Africa." World Geography (class). University of Maine, Orono.
Sherman, D. (2000). Civilizations of the Ancient World. Western Civilizations: Sources, Images, and Interpretations (pp. 8-12). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Now you know was how geography affected many ancient civilizations and how those civilizations use them. The climate was a big role in the geography because it would depend if they were able to grow their crops. The rivers and mountains would offend help them grow their crops and protect them from other civilizations or invasions. Every civilization would use their geography that was around them the way that would most benefit them.
Geography is the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by it, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries. Environmental influences, such as cost, changing weather, climate patterns, their potential impacts, and the threat of spreading diseases, are of increasing concern. Geography allows us to participate and enjoy our planet. It gives us a sense of reference to where we live and where we may be going in relationship to where we have been, and the appreciation of the world we live in. Anthropology is the study of human kind and culture, everybody wants to know where and how humans came to be. Our daily lives such as family, friends, co-workers and the under...
Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.
As Americans we live in isolation, surrounded by advertisements, electronic screens, fast food, the internet, etc. We live these lives while thousands scream out in hunger and thirst begging to nourish their families. Living lives in excess, often unknowingly supporting a system that is not sustainable, breeds capitalism, and unplugs us from the rest of the world. Having been raised in a typical suburban home my ideas of culture were going to Olive Garden or walking by Riverside in Minneapolis. However, Geography 111 has challenged what I believed, truly allowing me to grasp that I am not part of solution I am problem that spreads neocolonialism, capitalism, and western culture wherever a profit can be made. Learning about these topics and combining it with a geographical perspective I know will enable me to break from the molds and forge new paths.
The contributions of the civilizations of Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent, classical China, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire laid the foundations for living in the modern world. Breakthroughs in a multitude of fields, including art, architecture, math, science, philosophy, law, government and others are crucial to the way people live all over the world. Although these ancient civilizations may seem primitive today, they shaped the progress of the world for many centuries.
The six concepts of geography are location, region, spatial pattern, spatial interaction, human/ environmental interaction, and culture. The location is everything; it is the starting point in geography. The region is the area of the land with consistent recognizable features, it has variations in its physical features. There are mountains, hills, valleys, plains, plateaus, oceans, lakes, deserts and wilderness, variations occur in its social and cultural features too. The spatial pattern is when a pattern is found in places that are far apart. Spatial interaction is when geographers believe one event can lead to a change in another location that is far away. Managing change is a key aspect of geography, geographers learn from past changes and predict and future ones. Human/ environmental interaction is the impact humans have on the environment. Interaction is closely linked to change. Again, in both physical and human aspects of the subject, geographers want to find out how things are linked together and how one aspect affects another. Lastly culture has different impacts on the environment, natural resources, concern issues of how people think about the world and how they communicate that thinking to
earth. Many species live in cold areas, but with the climate rising those areas are becoming
...entral Plain of what is now Thailand was neither not nearly as populous nor as densely settled as it is today. Where now there are rice-fields in every direction, back then there was still lush forest, much wildlife like elephants and even tigers, and few buildings to interrupt the skyline. Much of the southern part of the plain - which we will here call by its ancient name, Siam - was then still inundated much of the year, either by the sea or by overflowing rivers that rushed down from the north laden with the silt that ultimately would make it among the most productive rice-plains in the world. Human habitation was concentrated around the fringes of the plain, from Ratburi, Phetburi, Nakhon Chaisi and Suphanburi on the west; Although this area was similar to the important areas that lay beyond it in all directions, it also had a distinctive identity of its own.