Influences of Geographic Environment | Page 4

due to size--Continental convergence and ethnic kinship--Africa's location--The Atlantic abyss--Geographical character of the Pacific--Pacific affinities of North America--The Atlantic face of America as the infant Orient of the world--The Atlantic abyss in the movements of peoples--Races and continents--Contrast of the northern and southern continents--Effects of continental structure upon historical development--Structure of North and South America--Cultural superiority of Pacific slope Indians--Coast articulations of continents--Importance of size in continental articulations--Peninsular conditions most favorable to historical development--The continental base of peninsulas--Continental base a zone of transition--Continental base the scene of invasion and war--Peninsular extremities as areas of isolation--Ethnic unity of peninsulas--Peninsulas as intermediaries.
CHAPTER XIII.
ISLAND PEOPLES
Physical relationship between islands and peninsulas--Character of insular flora and fauna--Paradoxical influences of island habitat on man--Conservative and radical tendencies born of isolation and accessibility--Islands as nurseries and disseminators of distinctive civilizations--Limitation of small area in insular history--Sources of ethnic stock of islands on nearest mainland. Ethnic divergence with increased isolation--Differentiation of peoples and civilizations in islands--Differentiation of language--Unification of race in islands--Remoter sources of island populations--Double sources--Mixed population of small thalassic isles--Significant location of island way stations--Thalassic islands as goals of maritime expansion--Political detachability of islands--Insular weakness based upon small area--Island fragments of broken empires--Area and location as factors in political autonomy of islands--Historical effects of island isolation in primitive retardation--Later stimulation of development--Excessive isolation--Protection of an island environment--Islands as places of refuge--Islands as places of survival--Effects of small area in islands--Economic limitations of their small area--Dense population of islands--Geographic causes of this density--Oceanic climate as factor--Relation of density to size--Density affected by a focal location for trade--Overflow of island population and colonies to the mainland--Precocious development of island agriculture--Intensive tillage--Emigration and colonization from islands--Recent emigration from islands--Maritime enterprise as outlet--Artificial checks to population--Polyandry--Infanticide--Low valuation of human life.
CHAPTER XIV.
PLAINS, STEPPES AND DESERTS
Relief of the sea floor--Mean elevations of the continents--Distribution of relief--Homologous reliefs and homologous histories--Anthropo-geography of lowlands--Extensive plains unfavorable to early development--Conditions for fusion in plains--Retardation due to monotonous environment--Influence of slight geographic features in plains--Plains and political expansion--Arid plains--Nomadism--Pastoral life--Pastoral nomads of Arctic plains--Historical importance of steppe nomads--Mobility of pastoral nomads--Seasonal migrations--Marauding expeditions--Forms of defense against nomad depredations--Pastoral life as a training for soldiers--Capacity for political organization and consolidation--Centralization versus decentralization in nomadism--Spirit of independence among nomads--Resistance to conquest--Curtailment of nomadism--Supplementary agriculture of pastoral nomadism--Irrigation and horticulture--Scant diet of nomads--Effects of a diminishing water supply--Checks to population--Trade of nomads--Pastoral nomads as middlemen--Desert markets--Nomad industries--Arid lands as areas of arrested development--Mental and moral qualities of nomads--Religion of pastoral nomads.
CHAPTER XV.
MOUNTAIN BARRIERS AND THEIR PASSES
Man as part of the mobile envelope of the earth--Inaccessibility of mountains--Mountains as transit regions--Transition forms of relief between highlands and lowlands--Piedmont belts as boundary zones--Density of population in piedmont belts--Piedmont towns and cities--Piedmonts as colonial or backwoods frontiers--Mountain carriers--Power of mountain barriers to block or deflect historical movement--Significance of mountain valleys--Longitudinal valleys--Passes in mountain barriers--Breadth of mountain barriers--Dominant transmontane routes--Height and form of mountain barriers--Contrasted accessibility of opposite slopes--Political and ethnic effects--Persistence of barrier nature--Importance of mountain passes--Geographic conditions affecting the historical importance of passes--Passes determine the transmontane routes--Navigable river approaches to passes--Types of settlement in the valley approaches--Pass cities and their markets--Pass peoples--Their political importance.
CHAPTER XVI.
INFLUENCES OF A MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT
Zones of altitude--Politico-economic value of a varied relief--Belief and climate--Altitude zones of economic and cultural development--Altitude and density belts in tropical highlands--Increasing density where altitude confers safety--Geographic conditions affecting density of mountain population--Terrace agriculture--Its geographical distribution--Terrace agriculture in mountainous islands--Among savage peoples--Fertilizing terrace lands--Economy of level land--Mountain pastures and stock-raising--Life and industry of the summer herdsmen--Communal ownership of mountain pastures--Hay making in high mountains--Winter industries of mountain peoples--Overpopulation and emigration--Preventive checks to increase of population--Religious celibacy--Polyandry--Marauding tendencies in mountaineers--Historical consequences of mountain raiding--Conquest of mountain regions--Political dismemberment of mountain peoples--Types of mountain states--Significance of their small size--Mountain isolation and differentiation--Survival of primitive races in mountains--Diversity of peoples and dialects--Constriction of mountain areas of ethnic survival--Isolation and retardation of mountain regions--Mental and moral qualities of mountain people.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE UPON MAN
Importance of climatic influences--Climate in the interplay of geographic factors--Its direct and indirect effects--Climate determines the habitable area of the earth--Effect of climate upon relief and hence upon man--Man's adaptability to climatic extremes--Temperature as modified by oceans and winds--Rainfall--Temperature and zonal location--Mutual reactions of contrasted zones--Isothermal lines in anthropo-geography--Historical effects of compressed isotherms--Historical effects of slight climatic differences--Their influence upon distribution of immigration--Temperature and race temperament--Complexity of this problem--Monotonous climatic conditions--Effects of Arctic cold--Effect of monotonous heat--The tropics as goals of migration--The problem of acclimatization--Historical importance of the temperate zone--Contrast of the seasons--Duration of the seasons--Effect of long winters and long summers--Zones of culture--Temperate zone as cradle of civilization
INDEX

LIST OF MAPS.
DENSITY OF POPULATION IN THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE 8 DENSITY OF POPULATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 9 POWELL'S MAP OF INDIAN LINGUISTIC STOCKS 54 PRIMITIVE INDIAN STOCKS OF SOUTH AMERICA 101 ETHNOGRAPHICAL MAP