Influences of Geographic Environment | Page 4

posts and colonies--Swamps as barriers and boundaries--Swamps as
regions of survivals--Swamps as places of refuge--The spirit of the
marshes--Economic and political importance of lakes--Lakes as nuclei
of states--Lakes as fresh-water seas.
CHAPTER XII.
CONTINENTS AND THEIR PENINSULAS
Insularity of the land-masses--Classification of land-masses according
to size and location--Effect of the size of land-masses--Independence
due to location versus independence 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