Popular Science Monthly/Volume 76/February 1910/The Geographic Aspect of Culture
| THE GEOGRAPHIC ASPECT OF CULTURE |
By STEPHEN ELMER SLOCUM, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
THE dynamic influence of geography in history has recently attracted general attention. The idea was developed from a philosophical standpoint by Hegel[1] about the middle of the last century, but only recently has it come to be regarded as of special significance. In the light of the discoveries of Hedin[2] and Huntington[3] in central Asia, however, there can be no doubt that the characteristics of primitive races are profoundly modified by environment. As an instance of this, Huntington has shown that the Kirghiz nomads inhabiting the deserts and plateaus of the Lop Basin in Chinese Turkestan are forced to lead a roving life by reason of the scantiness of subsistence. This in turn limits their occupations to the manufacture of portable articles such as rugs and felts, while it also accentuates certain characteristics such as hardihood and hospitality. In contrast to this type, the Chantos inhabiting the oases are tied down to intensive agriculture, the effect of which is also distinctly apparent in their character and occupations. This is further intensified by the lack of sufficient rainfall, which in their case has imposed such a severe limitation upon increase in population as to have given rise to the institutions of monasticism and polyandry.
The United States also furnishes a notable instance of the effect of physiographic environment.[4] The colonization of America was in itself a matter of latitude, the tier of early colonies along the Atlantic seaboard following practically the same arrangement as their European prototypes. Again the barriers of sea and mountain gave coherence to the New England colonies, which, reinforced by favorable latitude, ripened the spirit of independence. Other natural features, such as the great river valleys and mountain passes, were instrumental in determining the great trade routes, as well as in shaping the campaigns of the revolution and the civil war.
In connection with topography, the related factor of climate is also of primary importance.[5] In polar and tropical regions, as well as in certain other isolated sections such as the deserts of central Asia, it is an absolute barrier to progress. Even in the most favored localities it has a marked effect upon the trend of social evolution. The invigorating effect of clear, cold weather is commonly recognized, but it is equally true that excessive moisture depresses the vital processes and thereby hampers development, an effect strikingly exemplified in the case of Ireland. On the other hand, dry weather if sufficiently prolonged creates a surplus of energy and at the same time weakens the emotional control, resulting, as shown by statistics, in a notable increase in misconduct and crime, apparent not only locally in times of drought, but habitually in dry countries like Mexico.
A remarkable synchronism of climatic changes has also been shown to exist throughout the world, recurring in cycles of approximately thirty-six years. In America this has made itself felt in the great financial crises, each of which has been associated with the deficiency in rainfall occurring at the low point of one of these cycles. This in turn has reacted upon politics to such an extent as to be of national import.
As yet the study of geographic influences in history has related only to such external and obvious manifestations as are apparent in social, industrial and political development. It may be interesting, therefore, to point out how these results may be extended to include intellectual development. In any attempt of this kind, it is necessary at the outset to set up some universal and fundamental principle of thought to serve as a standard for comparison of racial traits, and an index of mentality. Since racial traits become more distinct and divergent the more remote the period considered, few principles are sufficiently general to answer this purpose. There is, however, at least one form of thought which has always been characteristic of the human mind wherever historically manifested. Primitive culture, however remote, has always been accompanied by some form of mathematical reasoning. It is, in fact, noteworthy that all oriental nations ascribe the origin of both their culture and their mathematics to a single personage whom they also regard as the founder of their race. With the Chinese this was the Emperor Fohi, whose reign, about 2800 b.c., marked the beginning of Chinese history. As the Chinese have no earlier records to indicate the origin of their mathematics, their traditions relate that the number system was revealed to this emperor inscribed on the back of a dragon which rose from the waters of the Yellow River. In Egyptian history the first historical personage is the King Menes, who ruled somewhere between 5000 and 3000 b.c., and was the founder of the first dynasty of Pharaohs. Here also, from lack of earlier records, the Egyptians regarded Menes as the father of numbers, calculation and writing. Even such an enlightened and careful historian as Josephus relates that Abraham taught mathematics to the Jews, and instances might be multiplied to show that this idea is prevalent throughout history.
The intimate connection of mathematics with early culture is further apparent in its relation to religion and philosophy. In Egypt mathematics was the peculiar possession of the priesthood, and was guarded by them with the utmost jealousy. When it passed to the Greeks it was made by them a prerequisite for philosophical study, their great philosophers being primarily mathematicians. At the beginning of the christian era mathematics again passed into the keeping of the priesthood, its preservation during the dark ages being due to the care with which it was preserved in catholic monasteries. Even the pope openly gave it the sanction of the church, threatening Galileo with the Inquisition for his heretical astronomical doctrines, and refuting them by issuing a manifesto to the effect that the sun moves around the earth in accordance with the time-honored Ptolemaic system. During the period of the reformation, mathematics was regarded as one of the most powerful weapons of Protestantism, many noted mathematicians of the time devoting all their efforts to proving that Pope Leo X. was the antichrist mentioned in Revelation 13: 18.
The history of mathematics begins in the valley plains of Egypt. On this border line between the tropical and temperate zones, climate and soil were so adapted to the needs of primitive man as to force intellect to its earliest manifestation. As Aristotle expressed it, " When pressing needs are satisfied, man turns to the general and more elevated," and consequently, as Hegel points out, the temperate zone is the true theater of history, since where heat or cold are intense, external pressure is never relieved. As the rigors of climate lessened and man attained a greater mastery over nature, these two factors conspired to force culture out of its primitive seat in the river valleys of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates towards the northwest, its northerly progress being determined by climatic changes, and its westerly course by topographic features. If the course of mathematical development is traced out on a physiographic and isothermal map, it will be clearly apparent not only that it has followed the lines of least resistance topographically, but that it has crossed successive isotherms in its northerly progress with great regularity, due, as has been suggested, to the increasing need of the nervous system, as it becomes more complex, for a more bracing climate.
The three chief geographic features which exhibit fundamental differences are valley, mountain and sea. In the valley plains of China, India, Babylonia and Egypt, the fertility of the soil assured a plentiful subsistence, while the regularity of the seasons, combined with landed values resulting from agriculture, gave rise to a fixed social relationship. In more elevated regions, such as the plateaus of Africa and South America, and the steppes of Russia, the scarcity of subsistence necessitates a nomadic life. In this patriarchial form of existence the size of the community is limited by the productiveness of the soil, as illustrated in Genesis 13: 5-11. Fixed relationships are therefore unknown, and hence the political and social order called the state is impossible.
Each of the great river valleys of antiquity developed an independent civilization, Egypt first by reason of its tropical location, closely followed by China and the Tigro-Euphrates basin, lying five degrees farther north. The beginnings of Chinese culture were equally promising with those of the other great nations of antiquity. The art of writing was probably originated by the Chinese, while the elements of mathematics and astronomy, the art of printing and various manufactures, were known to them centuries before they reached Europe. The geographical isolation of China, however, put an effectual barrier to progress, resulting in a sort of inversion of character, whereby reverence for precedent took the place of progressive development. As an instance of this inversion, it is related of one of the Chinese emperors that when he wished to confer honors upon his prime minister he conferred them upon the minister's father. Chinese culture has petrified almost at the outset, and is therefore of no significance except as a case of arrested development, due largely if not wholly to geographic limitations.
In contrast to China, the civilizations originating in the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates found a natural outlet eastward and northward by way of the Mediterranean. Here culture in all its phases reflected the influence of the soil. Religion took the form of a gross nature worship, the divinities being the great rivers, the sun and moon, and other natural sources from which their physical wants were supplied, while arts and manufactures were also limited to the practical and prosaic. In Egypt the peculiar physical conditions presented by the annual overflow of the Nile led to the invention of surveying, and of necessity to the elements of arithmetic and geometry required to apply it. In architecture also the effort to orient their temples gave rise to certain fundamental geometric theorems, still in use, such as the properties of right-angled triangles, while in art the enlargement of small drawings or paintings for their temple walls was accomplished by means of a network of squares closely related to the modern Cartesian system of coordinates. The entire absence of rainfall and consequent clearness of atmosphere also had an important effect in directing the attention of the Egyptians to the heavens, which, supplemented by the oriental use of the roof as a terrace, led to the study of astronomy.
In Chaldea the similarity of race and physical conditions to those in Egypt led to identical results, the earliest fragments of Chaldean literature disclosing a considerable knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, architecture and various practical arts and manufactures. The Assyrian temples were adjuncts of the palaces, and were also used as observatories where the priestly astrologers consulted the stars and cast horoscopes. Even before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, that city possessed a royal observatory and a calendar. In short, action was based upon nature, although interpreted by each race in accordance with its racial characteristics. Thus, with a more esthetic people, out of door life under the clear skies of Judea found expression in the poetic description of the heavens embodied in the Hebrew Psalms, instead of in the practical astronomy which the Egyptians and Assyrians associated with their religion.
"Egypt and Assyria," said Lenormant, "were the birthplaces of material civilization; the Phœnicians were its missionaries." This describes in brief the part taken by the Semitic race occupying the little strip of seacoast, 180 miles long by 12 broad, on the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean in transmitting ancient civilization to Europe. Here again the geographical element was strongly apparent, both subjectively in their national culture and objectively in their relation to history. While the effect of mountain ranges was to shut off such regions as central Africa, eastern Asia and northern Europe from the general course of historical development, and that of the great valley plains was to intensify human activity, the sea formed a bond of union and at the same time stimulated bravery, independence and breadth of vision. To this characteristic difference between coastal and interior regions is due their frequent separation, as, for example, Holland has separated itself from Germany and Portugal from Spain. The influence of the sea was especially apparent in the development of the nations surrounding the Mediterranean. Here were three continents surrounding a sea of such shape as to afford a long coast line and of such width as to stimulate adventure. The effect was to make the Mediterranean the center of world history. On its shores arose the great centers of civilization, Athens, Rome, Carthage and Alexandria, as well as of religious faith, Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina.
The geographical location of Phœnicia, midway between Egypt, Assyria and Arabia, naturally made it first to develop commercial activity. From their rich commercial cities of Tyre and Sidon the Phoenicians pushed out in all directions, settling Cyprus, Sicily and Sardinia, founding Cadiz in Spain, and Utica and Carthage in Africa. As early as 1500 B.C. the Mediterranean was already the great highway of Phœnician commerce, their vessels penetrating the eastern archipelago, the Hellespont and the Black Sea. When these avenues were closed to them by the Greeks in the eleventh century b.c., the Phoenician commerce turned westward, bringing silver from Tarshish in southern Spain, and even passing the Pillars of Hercules and braving the perils of the Atlantic to bring tin from Britain and amber from the Baltic. In connection with their maritime trade they also established great overland routes, their caravans bringing gold from Ophir in southeastern Arabia, and passing through Palmyra, Baalbec and Babylon, whence they penetrated all the east.
Although the Phœnicians were thus brought into intimate contact with all the great nations of antiquity, their culture was essentially different. Forced to rely upon the sea for their livelihood, they developed an industrious and hardy manhood in marked contrast to the dependent attitude characteristic of nations relying upon agriculture for their subsistence. In religion the same contrast was apparent, the religion of the Egyptians and Assyrians being a crude and sensuous idolatry, whereas the Phœnicians worshipped Hercules, a divinity whom the Greeks said raised himself to Olympus by virtue of his own courage and daring. In mathematics the Phœnicians developed commercial arithmetic, necessitated by their enormous commerce. According to Strabo, the Syrians applied themselves especially to the science of numbers, navigation and astronomy. They were, in fact, the first to notice the connection of the moon with the tides, and make a practical application of astronomy to navigation. It is also said that the Phœnicians regularly supplied the weights and measures used by their neighbors, the Chaldeans. In all respects, therefore, their culture was a natural consequence of the commercial spirit engendered by the sea.
With the rise of Grecian culture, a new topographical principle entered to alter the trend of development. Numerous mountain walls fence off the Grecian peninsula into a large number of isolated districts, each of which became the seat of a separate community or state, which never coalesced into a single nation. Moreover the coast is indented with numerous deep inlets, forming excellent harbors and giving every inducement to commerce. So numerous and deep are these inlets that the country is practically an archipelago, no place in Greece being forty miles from the sea. To this combination of mountain and coastal elements was largely due the versatility of the Greeks, while the exhilarating atmosphere and brilliant skies of Attica were also intimately related to their intellectual vigor and attainments.
The same principle of diversity is also met in the origin of the Greeks. There was here no such inbreeding of native stock as characterized Egypt and China, but at the outset a mixture of races, partly autochthonous and partly foreign, from which there evolved a higher type of intellect than had yet appeared. The diverse sources of their civilization was acknowledged by the Greeks in their mythology. Thus the introduction of agriculture was ascribed to Triptolemus; fire was introduced by Prometheus from the Caucasus; Æschylus speaks of iron as "Scythian"; while Poseidon introduced the olive, the horse and the arts of spinning and weaving. The foundation of the various states was also ascribed to foreigners. Thus Athens was said to owe its origin to Cecrops, the Egyptian; the Peloponnesus derived its name from Pelops, of Phrygia; Argos was settled by Danaus, of Egypt; and Thebes by Cadmus, of Phoenicia. Even their religion was borrowed from more ancient nations. For example, the twelve labors of Hercules rests upon the ancient idea of the sun performing its cycle through the twelve signs of the zodiac.
With the general shifting of the tribes which succeeded the Trojan War, the Dorians and Ionians came to be the dominant races of Greece. The Dorian band which invaded Lacedemon, called also Sparta from its grain fields, was at first forced by the scantiness of its numbers to be constantly on the defensive, which developed in them the warlike and hardy spirit which finally made the Spartans dominant in the Peloponnesus. The Ionians inhabited Attica, where the contending geographic factors of plain, coast and mountain transformed their original monarchy into a democracy, and their little fortress upon a rock into the mighty Acropolis of Athens, for centuries the synonym of learning and democracy. "The Athenians," said Herodotus, "then grew mighty, and it became plain that liberty is a brave thing."
No phase of Greek culture was more expressive of their national characteristics than their mathematical attainments. Heterogeneity, which formed the basal element of their national character, was here apparent in the diverse sources from which their mathematics was derived. Thales, the first great Greek mathematician and the founder of the Ionian School, was a native of Miletus, but spent much of his life in Egypt as a merchant, where he studied geometry and astronomy. Pythagoras, who was a contemporary of Thales and founder of the Pythagorean School, was of Phoenician origin, and in his early life studied for several years in Egypt and traveled extensively in Asia Minor. The Ionian and Pythagorean schools were jointly the founders of Greek mathematics, which took the form of an abstract deductive geometry, as distinguished from the practical empirical geometry of the Egyptians. It was, in fact, the boast of the Pythagoreans that they sought knowledge and not power, and had raised mathematics above the needs of merchants. One of their maxims was, "a figure and a step forward; not a figure to gain three oboli." The disciples of Pythagoras were required to pass through a preliminary training, consisting in a moral and religious preparation for life, which included the elements of music and mathematics. In fact Pythagoras made the science of numbers the basis of his philosophy in the belief that accurate measurement was essential to the definition of form, and consequently that the entire universe was founded upon a numerical basis. Thus among other attributes of number, the cause of color was the number 5; the origin of fire was to be found in the pyramid; the four elements, earth, air, fire and water were represented by the tetrad; 8 was the symbol of death, because the sum of the figures in the successive multiples of 8 decreased successively by one; 9 was the symbol of immortality, since the sum of the figures in the multiples of 9 remains constant, etc.
Plato, the great philosopher of the later Athenian school, also regarded mathematics as the basis of his philosophy, placing over his door the famous inscription, "Let none ignorant of geometry enter here." It is also noteworthy that when he was questioned as to the occupation of the Deity, Plato replied, "He geometrizes continually." This lofty idealism was characteristic of Greece and entirely foreign to the prosaic civilizations of Egypt and Assyria. Only the combination of sea, mountain and climate found in Hellas could produce the unique type of the Grecian genius. This dependence of type on surroundings is evidenced by the fixity of type apparent in ancient races. Thus the Fellaheen still bear the imprint of the Pharaohs on their countenances, and draw water with the Shadoof as at the dawn of history, while the Chinaman is still found reckoning with the beaded "swan pan," invented twenty-six centuries before Christ.
Passing from Greece to Italy, as the next stage in the evolution of culture, another great change is manifest. Italy presents no such natural unity as offered by the valley of the Nile and the Tigro-Euphrates basin, nor does it present the diversity of Greece. A narrow peninsula bounded by the sea on three sides and lofty mountains on the fourth, the physical peculiarities of Italy naturally cemented the diverse tribes with which it was originally peopled into a single state. The origin of the Imperial city dated from a predatory band of Latin shepherds who received into their community the outcasts of the neighboring tribes, so that even at the outset the dominant idea was that of physical force, a principle which pervades the whole fabric of Roman civilization. The rape of the Sabine women confirms the tradition that the band, being without women, was a predatory union of outcasts, or what Livy calls a "colluvies." The growth of the Roman state was throughout a process of accretion, rather than the unfolding of a vital principle. The civilization of the Romans was likewise due to this policy of absorption, borrowing their religion and culture from surrounding nations. But while the gods of the Greeks and the Egyptians found a home on the banks of the Tiber, they were there worshipped in a spirit entirely foreign to that of their nativity, for whereas the Greeks worshipped their divinities from an innate love of abstract beauty, the Romans worshipped the same gods from a spirit of necessity, bargaining with them for physical protection and material success. Again, although the Romans borrowed the Grecian games, they had no idea of the esthethic pleasure derived by the Greeks from perfect physical development, but degraded them into mere gladiatorial combats or exhibitions of brute force in which they were spectators and not participants. Science and art were neglected, and in literature they were largely indebted to the Greeks. Only in building and public works did the practical spirit of the Romans assert itself with any originality. Even here outside assistance was relied upon to furnish the necessary technical skill, the order issued by Augustus Cæsar that all the world should be taxed being based on a survey by Egyptian surveyors.
The fifth century A.D. was known as the "Era of the Great Migration." Owing, it is supposed, to climatic changes, the Teutonic tribes inhabiting the great central plain of Europe were forced outward, and poured east and south into the Roman empire. So great was the disturbance occasioned by this outbreak that nearly two centuries elapsed before the turbulance subsided sufficiently to note the changes that had taken place. Meanwhile an invasion from the east threatened for a time to give an Asiatic cast to civilization. With the fanaticism bred by the inaccessible deserts of the Arabian peninsula, the Saracens in the seventh century swept westward until they reached southern France, where the tide was finally turned by Charles Martel on the field of Tours. No less astonishing than their conquests was the facility with which the Arabs assimilated the culture and learning of the nations whom they subjugated. Their capitol Bagdad, situated on the Euphrates midway between Greece and India, soon became by reason of its location the meeting place for the scientific thought of these nations, whence it was transmitted by their conquests to western Europe. The mathematical attainment of the Arabs was, however, distinct from those of either Greece or India, its trend being determined by their religious observances. Thus the extent of the Moslem dominions coupled with the requirement that a believer should face toward Mecca during prayer, made a determination of direction necessary. Also the performance of prayers and ablutions at definite hours of the day and night required an accurate determination of time, while the motion of the moon had to be observed in order to fix the dates of their feasts. From these and similar reasons the Arabs became active in astronomical research, and in consequence developed the auxiliary science of trigonometry.
The turmoil attendant upon the invasion of the ancient world by the Teutons and Saracens so obscured the progress of civilization that this period, although in reality one of beginnings, is known in history as the Dark Ages. The most important feature of this vast influx of barbarians, so-called, was the rapid conversion of the Teutons to Christianity. A colder climate had bred in them a more vigorous mentality and a higher type of morality than that of the south, and Christianity appealed with especial force to their innate love of freedom and spirit of brotherhood. History thus far had been a record of the physical evolution of humanity. Egypt, China, Chaldea, Assyria and Babylonia typified the childhood of the race with its characteristic dependence upon nature apparent even in its culture; Greece with its love of form, self-consciousness and passion for freedom represented the adolescent stage; while physical development culminated in the forceful and prosaic Roman spirit, typical of manhood. The birth at this time of the Child, in Bethlehem in Judea, was then not a casual event but a necessity. The first Adam had been made a living soul, and in slow process of time had attained his majority. The second Adam was made a quickening spirit, creating a new form of energy which thenceforward was destined to transform religion, philosophy, art, music, science, language and sociology. Well may the Germans call its founder "der Einzige."
The connecting link between ancient and modern civilization during this transition period was found in the church. Early in its history the church had developed the institution of monasticism in the attempt to check the flagrant social evils of the east and preserve the purity of the northern races. The institution so established soon spread over all Europe, one order alone, the Benedictines, having at one time over 40,000 monasteries. The spirit of brotherhood thus manifested by the church was also apparent in the state in the development of feudalism from slavery, and more especially in the principle of chivalry.
The church, however, had a more direct influence upon culture by reason of the schools which sprang up in the shelter of the monasteries, and later developed into the early medieval universities. All learning, and particularly mathematics, was confined to these conventual schools, and comprised practically nothing more than was essential to the church. Learning was divided into the trivium and quadrivium, the trivium consisting of grammar, logic and rhetoric, or, in short, the mastery of the Latin language in which the services of the church were conducted, and the quadrivium consisting of arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. The latter were also limited to the needs of the church, comprising arithmetic for keeping accounts, music for use in church services, geometry for surveying the extensive property of the church, and astronomy for the calculation of Easter. These constituted the seven liberal arts, as enumerated in the line
lingua, tropus, ratio; numerus, tonus, angulus, astra,
and marked the limit of attainment, or, as expressed in a verse of the eleventh century,
Qui tria, qui septem, qui totum scibile novit.
The most significant effect produced by the church upon culture, however, arose in a manner unintentional and unforeseen. The rapid growth of papal authority had led the church to undertake violent measures for its own aggrandizement, chief of which was the crusades. The activity incident to these great movements made Florence and Venice renowned for their wealth, while it also gave the Hanseatic League command of the trade of the north. With the growth of prosperity came increased leisure for intellectual development, resulting in the Italian Renaissance and the European Revival of Learning. The crusades also influenced development still more directly by opening lines of communication with the east, whereby the learning that had lain dormant in the Byzantine empire became current in Europe.
Toward the close of the fifteenth century the discovery of America, closely followed by the circumnavigation of the world, gave dominance once more to the influence of the sea. The effect of such a strong suggestion of boundless and unknown possibilities, intensified by the element of hazard and daring, became at once an important factor in development, stimulating ambition, creating moral fiber and inspiring a passion for freedom. With the opening of the sixteenth century the narrow and vague ideas characteristic of scholasticism began to give place to clear and strong thinking. As the church had been the center and source of medieval authority, the struggle for freedom naturally centered around this institution. Beginning with the reform of certain abuses, the spirit of the reformation ended by repudiating the entire authority of the church, epitomized by the action of Luther in nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittemberg, thus undermining the whole system of tradition and inaugurating a new principle of action based on individuality.
The relation of this mental attitude to the development of culture was nowhere more evident than in the trend taken by mathematics. Everywhere old methods were questioned and new ones substituted. The first great advance naturally occurred in Germany and Italy. In the former the time-honored system of Ptolemaic astronomy gave place to the Copernican theory, and notable advances were also made in other branches of mathematics, especially algebra and trigonometry. The intervention of the Thirty Years' War, followed by the Prussian war, stayed German development for a time, but with the return of peace the German spirit again manifested itself in the critical attitude toward science and religion which found expression in mathematics in the function theory, and in philosophy and religion in agnosticism.
In France where the invigorating effects of climate and race were less marked, the sixteenth century was characterized by such acts of religious intolerance as the massacres of Vassy and St. Bartholomew, leaving no energy for scientific pursuits. The ascension of Henry IV. to the throne, however, followed by the Edict of Nantes which terminated the religious strife, produced an immediate effect, the Age of Richelieu being remarkable for scientific and cultural progress. Great literature was produced and in mathematics the period was made illustrious by the names of Roberval, Descartes, Desargues, Fermat and Pascal, who in brief founded modern analytic and projective geometry, and laid the foundations for the calculus.
The latitude of England made it later in development than either France or Germany, while its insular position also introduced an important modification. Extensive commercial relations were developed, which, as in the case of the Phoenicians, forced arithmetic into prominence. The first advance consisted in substituting for the old Boethian arithmetic, inherited from the Romans, the more powerful algorism of the Arabs, introduced by way of the trade routes between England and Italy. In the hands of the English, however, arithmetic was soon transformed into the practical art demanded by their commerce and characteristic of their genius, the most notable addition being the invention of logarithms. So rapidly was this transformation effected that within a decade after the invention of logarithms they had come into general use.
With the growing mastery of man over nature the effect of environment in modifying history becomes somewhat less apparent. Sufficient has been said, however, to suggest the dynamic influence of geography upon culture, and indicate the new light thrown upon intellectual development when studied from the standpoint of physiography.
- ↑ Hegel, "The Philosophy of History" (1st ed., 1837), English translation, Bell & Sons, 1902.
- ↑ Hedin, "Central Asia and Tibet," Scribners, 1903.
- ↑ Huntington, "The Pulse of Asia," Houghton, Mifflin, 1907.
- ↑ Semple, "American History and its Geographic Conditions," Houghton Mifflin, 1903.
- ↑ Dexter, "Weather Influences," The Macmillan Co., 1904.