Influences of Geographic Environment | Page 3

similar or diverse race and culture--Thalassic vicinal
location--Complementary locations--Continuous and scattered
location--Central versus peripheral location--Mutual relations between
center and periphery--Inland and coastward expansion--Reaction
between center and periphery--Periphery in colonization--Dominant
historical side--Change of historical front--Contrasted historical
sides--One-sided historical location--Scattered location--Due to adverse
geographic conditions--Island way stations on maritime
routes--Scattered location of primitive peoples--Ethnic islands of
expansion and decline--Discontinuous distribution--Contrasted
location--Geographical polarity--Geographical marks of growth and
decline--Interpretation of scattered and marginal location--Contrast
between ethnic islands of growth and decline.

CHAPTER VI.
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
The size of the earth--Relation of area to life--Area and
differentiation--The struggle for space--National area an index of social
and political development--The Oikoumene--The unity of the human
species in relation to the earth--Isolation and
differentiation--Monotonous race type of small area--Wide race
distribution and inner diversities--Large area a guarantee of racial or
national permanence--Weakness of small states--Protection of large
area to primitive peoples--Contrast of large and small areas in
bio-geography--Political domination of large areas--Area and
literature--Small geographic base of primitive societies--Influence of
small, confined areas--The process of territorial growth--Historical
advance from small to large areas--Gradations in area and in
development--Preliminaries to ethnic and political
expansion--Significance of sphere of influence or activity--Nature of
expansion in new and old countries--Relation of ethnic to political
expansion--Relation of people and state to political
boundary--Expansion of civilization--Cultural advantages of large
political area--Politico-economic advantages--Political area and the
national horizon--National estimates of area--Limitations of small tribal
conceptions--Evolution of territorial policies--Colonial expansion--The
mind of colonials.
CHAPTER VII.
GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES
The boundary zone in Nature--Oscillating boundaries of the habitable
area of the earth--Wallace's Line a typical boundary zone--Boundaries
as limits of expansion--Boundary zone as index of growth or
decline--Breadth of boundary zone--Broad frontier zones of active
expansion--Value of barrier boundaries--The sea as the absolute
boundary--Natural boundaries as bases of ethnic and political
boundaries--Primitive waste boundaries--Alien intrusions into border

wastes--Politico-economic significance of the waste
boundary--Common boundary districts--Tariff free zones--Boundary
zones of mingled race elements--Assimilation of civilization in
boundary zones--Relation of ethnic and cultural assimilation--The
border zone of assimilation in political expansion--Tendency toward
defection along political frontiers--The spirit of colonial frontiers--Free
border states as political survivals--Guardians of the marches--Lawless
citizens deported to political frontiers--Drift of lawless elements to the
frontiers--Asylums beyond the border.
CHAPTER VIII.
COAST PEOPLES
The coast a zone of transition--The inner edge--Shifting of the inner
edge--Outer edge in original settlement--In early navigation--In
colonization--Inland advance of colonies--Interpenetration of land and
sea--Ratio of shore-line to area--Criticism of the formula--Accessibility
of coasts from hinterland--Accessibility of coasts from the
sea--Embayed coasts--Contrasted coastal belts--Evolution of
ports--Influence of offshore islands--Previous habitat of
coast-dwellers--Habitability of coasts as a factor in maritime
development--Geographic conditions for brilliant maritime
development--Scope and importance of seaward expansion--Ethnic
contrast between coast and interior peoples--Ethnic amalgamations of
coastlands--Lingua franca a product of coasts--Coast-dwellers as
middlemen--Differentiation of coast from inland people--Early
civilization of coasts--Progress from thalassic to oceanic
coasts--Importance of geographic location of coasts--Historical decline
of certain coasts--Complex interplay of geographic factors in
coastlands.
CHAPTER IX.
OCEANS AND ENCLOSED SEAS
The water a factor in man's mobility--Oceans and seas the factor of

union in universal history--Origin of navigation--Primitive
forms--Relation of river to marine navigation--Retarded and advanced
navigation--Geographic conditions in Polynesia--Mediterranean versus
Atlantic seamanship--Three geographic stages of maritime
development--Enclosed seas as areas of ethnic and cultural
assimilation--Assimilation facilitated by ethnic kinship--Importance of
zonal and continental location of enclosed seas--Thalassic character of
the Indian Ocean--Limitations of small area in enclosed
seas--Successive maritime periods in history--Contrasted historical
rôles of northern and southern hemispheres--Size of the
ocean--Neutrality of the seas--Mare clausum and Mare liberum.
CHAPTER X.
MAN'S RELATION TO THE WATER
The protection of a water frontier--Pile villages of ancient
times--Modern pile dwellings--Their geographic
distribution--River-dwellers in old and popular lands--Man's
encroachment upon the sea by reclamation of land--The struggle with
the water--Mound villages in river flood-plains--Social and political
gain by control of the water--A factor in early civilization of arid
lands--The economy of the water--Fisheries--Factors in maritime
expansion--Fisheries as nurseries of seamen--Anthropo-geographic
importance of navigation.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ANTHROPO-GEOGRAPHY OF RIVERS
Rivers as intermediaries between land and sea--Sea navigation merges
into river navigation--Historical importance of seas and oceans
influenced by their debouching streams--Lack of coast articulations
supplied by rivers--River highways as basis of commercial
preëminence--Importance of rivers in large countries--Rivers as
highways of expansion--Determinants of routes in arid or semi-arid
lands--Increasing historical importance of rivers from source to

mouth--Value of location at hydrographic centers--Effect of current
upon trade and expansion--Importance of mouth to upstream
people--Prevention of monopoly of river mouths--Motive for canals in
lower course--Watershed canals for extension of inland
waterways--Rivers and railroads--Natural unity of every river
system--In arid lands as common source of water supply--Tendency
towards ethnic and cultural unity in a river valley--Identity of country
with river valley--Rivers as boundaries of races and peoples--Rivers as
political boundaries--Fluvial settlements and peoples--Boatman tribes
or castes--River islands as protected sites--River and lake islands as
robber strongholds--River peninsulas--River islands as sites of trading