GEOGRAPHY
Where we live influences how we live—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Earth's geographical features have played an important role in the who, what, why, where and when of human history. Why? Because its mountains, rivers, oceans, valleys, forests and deserts have been steppingstones or stumbling blocks to hunting, fishing, agriculture, mining, trade, exploration and conquest. The long term history of humans on every continent is evidence that the differences between the people in one area compared to the people in another area were due primarily to the differences in the environment those people faced and secondarily to the innate skills and resourcefulness of the people themselves. Differences in...
- Plants and animals available for food and domestication—some animals are too wild
- Geographical barriers to trade and migration—some areas are too isolated
- Number of people in the area—small populations have fewer potential inventors
It would be easy to assume, therefore, that humans have been slaves to what some historians call "geographic determinism" as if human creativeness is feeble compared to the environment. But without human inventiveness we'd still be hunter-gatherers chasing wild animals with spears and cutting raw meat with stone tools. So the influence of Earth's geographical features has decreased because mankind's imagination and inventiveness has overcome these obstacles to build cities and civilizations, navigate rivers and oceans, cross mountains, penetrate thick jungles and dense forests, domesticate plants and animals, and bring water to deserts. Despite geographical obstacles, humans made the difficult but rewarding transition from being nomadic hunter-gatherers and slash-and-burn planters to settled, agriculturally based farmers—they developed alphabets, writing, wheels, steam engines, guns and food-producing, iron-equipped cities, states and political institutions. And setting history aside, who isn't intrigued with the geographical wonders of Earth itself—its rivers, mountains, canyons, waterfalls and the anomalies that cause strange events in the Bermuda, Nevada, Michigan Lake and Alaska Triangles?
Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar, coined the word geo-graphy—geo meaning Earth and graphy meaning writing. His geo-writings and accomplishemnts, including his measurement of the circumference of the Earth, resulted in him being known as the Father of Geography. Since then, the study of geography has branched into three discipline.
- Physical geography—geologists study how natural events shaped the land.
- Cultural geography—anhropologists study how humans interacted with their local environments.
- Historical geography—geologists study how Earth's features influenced what people did and where they went.
Where people went involves where they could go to acquire the things they wanted or needed—gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, silk, knives, swords, wool, cloth, spices, wine, leather, cotton, salt—even slaves. And trade wasn't restricted to goods. People traded techniques too because they needed to know how to make tools with iron, weapons to defend themselves and ways to transport themselves to other places to acquire more territory or conquer other people. Common sense suggests that necessity is therefore the mother of invention, but most inventions were developed by people driven by curiosity or the love of tinkering, not by any need for the device they had in mind. If the inventor found an application for the device, and consumers decided they needed it, then it might be said that invention is the mother of necessity.
So trade routes developed quickly in the old world and most were pioneered by explorers like Marco Polo who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels provided the Europeans with a clear picture of the East's geography and inspired Christopher Columbus and other explorers. He also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Catalan Atlas and the Fra Mauro map.
As you can see from the map of the silk trade routes, water played an important role in determining trade routes. The Nile River, for example, served the Egyptians as a communication and trade route across a vast and harsh land. It played such an essential role in the development of Egyptian civilization that we cannot separate the history of Egypt from its geography. In fact, water covers over 70% of the Earth's surface and more than 50 percent of people on Earth live next to a body of water—rivers, lakes, seas and oceans—and coastal regions host 40% of the world's population because coastal regions have some of the best natural resources available.
