Cultural & Social Geog

Wollo University
College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Department of Social Studies
Geography and Environmental Studies Program
Cultural and Social Geography (GeES341)

(Module for Summer Program Students)
By
Mohammed Siraj (M.A)
Dessie
August, 2010
Cultural and Social Geography (GeES341)
Module For Summer Students
By
Mohammed Siraj (M.A)
Editor
Abebe Mohammed
Wollo university
Department of social studies
P.O.Box 1145
Tel. o331190588/89
Dessie
August 2010
CULTURAL SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY (GeES: 341) 3credit hours
I. Description of the course

The course entertains the theoretical developments in cultural Geography; the basic themes of
cultural geography; human origins and dispersals; the geography of language, religion and
ethnicity; multi culturalism, globalization and cultural perception. It also looks at the origin and
spread of human settlement.
II. Course Objectives

General objectives
The general objectives of this course is aimed at conceiving in-service students with the themes
of cultural and social geography with particular emphasis on the origin and diffusion of
agriculture, human settlement, language, religion, ethnicity, and race. It also aimed at
familiarizing students with culture and social change as well as the impact of technology and
globalization on culture and social change.
Specific Objectives
After finishing studying the module, you will be able to:
Define culture, and cultural and social geography
Explain the evolution of man and human culture, human dispersal and settlement patterns
Identify and distinguish the world’s main languages, religions, racial families and their
spatial distributions and origins.
Distinguish the sources of social change and explain how technology and globalization
affect culture and social change
III. ORGANIZATION OF THE MODULE

The module has for units. Each part embraces objectives, resource materials, activities and
exercises. The first part of the module treats the basic concepts and ideas of the course. These are
the concept of culture and the themes of culture and social geography, including cultural region,
diffusion, ecology, landscape and integration. Therefore, you are advised to be aware of this unit
thoroughly so as to easily understand the units that follow.
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The second unit deals with the evolution of human culture, human being, and human dispersal.
You also be familiarized with the types of society, agricultural origins and dispersal, and
evolution and morphology of settlement patterns. In general, this unit clearly shows the struggle
of mankind against nature to survive and settle.
The focus of unit three is cultural components such as language, religion, ethnicity and race. In
this regard, it discusses mainly about the origin of language and religion, the major world
languages, religions, and racial families, and the causes of human variation. You will learn how
these cultural components group into categories and vary across people and regions. Finally, unit
four describes the sources of social change, the impact of technology and globalization on social
change, nonmaterial aspects of culture.
Dear students, you are kindly requested to do all the exercises and activities in achieving the
intended objectives designed above.
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Table of Contents
I. Description of the course .......................................................................................................................... ii
II. Course Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... ii
III. ORGANIZATION OF THE MODULE............................................................................................................ ii
UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................ ‐ 1 ‐
1.1. Definition and scope of cultural geography ...................................................................................‐ 1 ‐
1.2. Basic Themes in Cultural Geography ............................................................................................. ‐ 4 ‐
1.2.1. Cultural Region........................................................................................................................ ‐ 4 ‐
1.2.2. Cultural Diffusion .................................................................................................................. ‐ 10 ‐
1.2.3. Cultural Ecology .................................................................................................................... ‐ 16 ‐
1.2.4. Cultural Integration............................................................................................................... ‐ 20 ‐
1.2.5. Cultural landscape................................................................................................................. ‐ 22 ‐
UNIT 2: THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CULTURE................................................................................‐ 25 ‐
The Paleolithic Period ......................................................................................................................... ‐ 26 ‐
The Mesolithic period ......................................................................................................................... ‐ 27 ‐
The Neolithic period............................................................................................................................ ‐ 28 ‐
2. 1. Types of Society .......................................................................................................................... ‐ 31 ‐
2.2. The evolution of humankind........................................................................................................ ‐ 37 ‐
2.4. Agricultural Origins and Dispersal................................................................................................‐ 42 ‐
2.5.1 The Origin and Diffusion of Plant Domestication ...........................................................‐ 43 ‐
2.5.2. Origin and Distribution of Domestic Animals .......................................................................‐ 45 ‐
2.5. Evolution of settlement patterns.................................................................................................‐ 48 ‐
2.5.1. Origin of settlement.............................................................................................................. ‐ 48 ‐
2.5.2. Settlement types and Morphology .......................................................................................‐ 52 ‐
2.5.3. Neighborhood community and residential units..................................................................‐ 56 ‐
2.5.4. Indices of settlement morphology........................................................................................‐ 57 ‐
UNIT 3: GEOGRAPHY OF LANGUAGE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY...........................................................‐ 60 ‐
3.1. Geography of language ................................................................................................................ ‐ 60 ‐
3.1.1. Origin of Language ................................................................................................................ ‐ 66 ‐
3.1. 2. Major World Languages ....................................................................................................... ‐ 70 ‐
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3.2. Geography of religion .................................................................................................................. ‐ 75 ‐
3.2.1. The Origin of Religion............................................................................................................ ‐ 76 ‐
3.2. Major World Religious ................................................................................................................. ‐ 81 ‐
3.3. Geography of Ethnicity ................................................................................................................ ‐ 87 ‐
3.4. Spatial Mileage of Race................................................................................................................ ‐ 91 ‐
3.4.1. Causes of Human Variation...................................................................................................‐ 92 ‐
3. 4.2. Major Racial families ........................................................................................................... ‐ 95 ‐
UNIT 4: CULTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGES .............................................................................................‐ 100 ‐
4.1. Sources of Social Change ...........................................................................................................‐ 102 ‐
i) Ideas/ideological ....................................................................................................................... ‐ 104 ‐
ii) Technology/technological ........................................................................................................‐ 104 ‐
iii) institutions/structural: .............................................................................................................‐ 104 ‐
4.2 Technology and Social Change...................................................................................................‐ 107 ‐
4.3 Globalization and Culture ...........................................................................................................‐ 111 ‐
ANSEWERS TO EXERCISES ..................................................................................................................... ‐ 120 ‐
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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION
Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to
Explain the concepts of culture

Define culture traits, culture complexes and culture system
Identify and explain the scope and themes of cultural and social geography
Resources
You need to refer to the following to complete your study
De Blij, Harm J, (1996). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons Inc,
Canada.
Getis. A, Getis.J and Fellmann.J, (1985). Human Geography: Culture and environment, Macmillan
publishing company, New York
Rubenstien, James. M (1989). The cultural landscapes: An introduction to human geography, 2nd
edition, Miami University, Ohio, Merril publishing company
Spencer, J.E (1969). Cultural geography: An evolutionary introduction to our humanized earth, John
Wiley & Sons Inc, New York
1.1. Definition and scope of cultural geography
Culture has been defined differently by people and analyzed "culture" in their own way. The
different definitions attach to culture is based on the differences in the orientation of the people.
The word has many connotations and a geographer might define it differently from, say, an
archaeologist. Culture, in anthropology, is the integrated system of socially acquired values,
beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society.
Cultural differences distinguish societies from one another. Archaeology studies material culture
and the remains of extinct human cultures such as pottery, weaponry etc in order to interpret
something of the way people lived. Therefore, there is no standard definition of culture.
Getis, Getis and Fellmann (1985) definition is that culture is a specialized behavioral patterns,
understandings and adaptations that summarize the way of life of a group of people. Moreover,
they state that culture is the sum of shared attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one
group of people from another.
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Culture is viewed as the configuration of institutions and modes of life. Culture is, therefore, the
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of the society. Culture also refers to refined
music, art, and literature. From wider perspective, culture is learned collective human behavior,
which is socially transmitted such as customs, belief, morals, technology, and art, rather than
biologically transmitted. It, therefore, has nothing to do with instinct, inborn or genetics.
Individuals acquire integrated sets of behavioral patterns, environmental and social perceptions
and knowledge of existing technologies. Man learns culture through the process of socialization,
enumeration, personal experience and through deliberate indoctrination or teaching. It should be
noted that learning of culture is a lifelong process from birth to death.
Culture, the total way of life that characterizes a group of people, is one of the most important
things that geographers study. There are literally thousands of cultures on Earth today and each
contributes to global diversity because a culture consists of numerous cultural elements such as
language, religion, ethnicity, race etc that vary from one culture group to the next. For example,
language is a cultural component. While some cultural communities use English, others speak
Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, or another of the thousands of languages spoken today. Likewise,
there is a world of cultural differences with respect to religion, technology and medicine,
economic and agricultural activity, and modes of architecture and transportation. Moreover,
cultural communities may differ in their dress, music, food, dance, sport, and other cultural
components.
There are wide variations in culture from one place to another that contributes to our feelings
about various places. For instance the ‘feel’ of Addis Ababa is quite different than Semera in
Afar Regional State. Moreover, Semera ‘feels’ different than Gambella. Part of the difference is
language and religion. Part of the difference is also in the cultural contributions of the residents.
Among the feature that characterize culture is that it has its own personality and identity. The
fact that we are human does not mean we are the same. However, it is noted that every moment,
we are being transformed, always growing like the cell in our bodies. Culture is
dynamic/changes, but its transformation is gradual, not sudden. Thus, culture is a continuous
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process of change. In spite of the change, culture continues to give a community a sense of
dignity, continuity, security and binds society together.
Culture has other characteristics that it is an invaluable inheritance of uncountable experiences,

experiments and endeavors. People, families, societies and civilizations develop; change or end
with the flow of time but culture is not built or changed in one era. It is nurtured in the infinite
lap of time, age after age.
Understanding cultural and social geography requires the knowledge of what geography is.
Geography is the subject which describes and explains the distribution of phenomena that
characterize our planet's surface. In so doing, geography seeks answers to the most important
questions: Where are things located? Why are they there? What is their significance? What is a
particular location or region like? How and why are some places on Earth alike or different from
others?
Culture has spatial expression, which is one reason why geographers study it. Cultural and social
geography, thus, is the study of spatial variations or culture diversity among cultural groups and
the spatial functioning of society. It focuses on describing; analyzing and explaining the ways
language, religion, ethnicity, economy, government and other cultural components vary or
remain constant from one place to another. It also explains how humans function spatially. It,
therefore, bridges the social and earth sciences by seeking an integrative view of humankind in
its physical environment. Cultural and social geography is also the study of the impact of human
culture on the landscape.
Cultural and social geography should not to be confused with Anthropology science which
studies man both as an animal and as living in society, his origins, development, distribution,
social habits, cultures, etc. They vary in that cultural geography adds location, spatial variation of
culture and landscape to Anthropologic study.
Because of the innumerable cultural differences that characterize people and land, there is an
entire subfield of geography devoted to the study of culture, appropriately named cultural
geography. This subfield is vast. Its key concepts or themes, however, are culture region, cultural
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landscape, cultural diffusion, cultural ecology, and cultural interaction/integration with emphasis
on language, religion, ethnicity, race, technology and social change. It also treats the origin and
evolution of human kind and culture, including agriculture, settlement and human dispersal.
1.2. Basic Themes in Cultural Geography
1.2.1. Cultural Region

Traits, complexes, system realm and region
In order to understand cultural region and answer why culture region is the key concept of
cultural geography, let us first define and describe terms like region, culture trait, culture
complex and culture system. It is known that region is an area having almost similar physical
features and/or anthropogenic attributes. It is the functional union of places to form a spatial unit.
A cultural region is, then, a portion of Earth’s surface that has common cultural elements such as
language, religion, ethnicity, race, technology etc.
Although there is wide variation within a culture, we learn the culture in which we were born,
but we cannot and do not learn its totality. No one can wholly understand a culture and can
examine the whole regional culture in one piece since culture system in the region is very wide
and more general. Therefore, it is essential to break down a culture system into several smaller
units to understand it and thus treating parts in different ways.
Culture is made up of four major components. These are culture trait, culture complex, culture
system and culture region. The first of these is a cultural trait. It is a single attribute of a culture
or the smallest distinctive and fundamental element of culture. There are three forms culture
traits.
Artifacts, also called material/technological object, are those aspects of culture that have a
material basis in group behavior. The artifacts of human use of the earth are the pots and
pans-the pottery-of everyday living, types of clothing and bodily adornment, housing,
tools and implements, the layout of cities and farm fields, forms of transportation, and
other tangible evidence of human behavior.
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Sociofacts are also called sociological or behavioral regularities. Sociofacts pertain to
those aspects of culture that place people in society. Among these are the structure and
systems that link individuals to family and kinship groups or interpersonal relationships
to educational and political institutions, to religious structures and organizations,
economic exchanges, and legal sanctions, social custom, politics and to all other
associations that are found in society.
Mentifacts or ideological: Included in this category are abstract ideas religious beliefs,
ideologies, legends, folklore, magic, attitudes toward nature, and views of the universe.
Artistic ideas and styles are also part of human mentifacts.
These three types of culture traits are interrelated: a trait like the can opener implies the can
(artifact), which implies a market-based economy (sociofact), which implies the idea of money
(mentifact), etc. Added to these, some scholars prefer a categorization of culture simply into
material/visible and nonmaterial/non-visible. The material culture includes the artifacts
mentioned above. But, it is seen as the direct product of available technology. On the other hand,
the non-material culture is thought to apply to behavior per se. It represents man’s intellectual
capacity to achieve change.
The second component is a cultural complex. It is a separate combination of traits exhibited by a

particular culture such as keeping cattle for different purposes. For instance, Maasai in Kenya
and Tanzania are keeping cattle. It is noted that cattle keeping is a culture trait. The personal
wealth of these people in East Africa is determined by the number of cattle they owned, their diet
contains milk and blood of cattle and they disdain for labor unrelated to herding. A combination
of these culture traits related to cattle keeping is a culture complex. The third component is a
culture system. It is culture complexes with traits in common that can be grouped together such
as ethnicity, language, religion, and other cultural elements.
The fourth and final component is the cultural region. Cultural traits and complexes or systems
have spatial extent, which is called Cultural Region. Cultural region is the area within which a
particular culture sys-tem prevails. It is marked by all the attributes of a culture. When mapped,
the regional character of culture is revealed. Culture region is a portion of the earth’s surface
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occupied by people sharing recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics or culture system
that summarize their collective attributes or activities. For example, Mexico, United States and
Canada each forms culture region.
A group of related cultural regions showing related cultural systems and landscapes is called
Cultural world or a Cultural Realm. It is a more broad generalization. United States and Canada
form culture realm, who are Christians speaking English with strong economy, whereas Mexico
belongs to a Latin American culture realm, speaking Spanish. However, one can find French
speakers in Quebec, Canada and different sects of religions in both United States and Canada.
Culture world may be too broad to be useful and casts generalizations upon large groups of
people that may not be true. It is necessary, therefore, to study the concept of cultural region
which delineates, describes and explains parts of the earth that have common cultural elements
as well as it compares and contrasts areas that are culturally different. Identifying and mapping
culture regions are significant tasks in geography because they show us where particular culture
traits or cultural communities are located. Maps of culture regions provide answers to the most
fundamental geographical question: Where?
The concept of culture region serves roughly the same educational purpose as that of historical
period. The purpose of the arbitrary divisions of world history that might be labeled the Neolithic
Revolution, the Cold War Era, and so forth is to make world history more comprehensible by
dividing it into periods that have common themes. Similarly, the purpose of arbitrary divisions of
world into regions that have something in common is to make cultural geography more
comprehensible.
Types of Cultural Region

Cultural region is a term used mainly in the field of geography. Specific cultures often do not
limit their geographic coverage to the borders of a nation state, or to smaller subdivisions of a
state. To 'map' a culture, we often have to identify an actual 'cultural region', and when we do
this we find that it bears little relationship to the legal borders drawn up by custom, treaties,
charters or wars. There are different kinds of cultural regions that can be delineated. A map of
culture that shows 'religion & folklore' may have slightly different shape to one which maps
'dress and architecture' in the same region.
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Places and regions provide the essence of geography. A culture region is a geographical unit
based on characteristics and functions of culture. Three types of culture regions are recognized
by geographers: formal, functional, and vernacular.
Formal culture region is an area inhabited by people who have one or more cultural traits in
common, such as language, religion or system of livelihood. It is an area that is relatively
homogeneous with regard to one or more cultural traits that are dominant. The cultural
geographer who identifies a formal culture region must locate cultural borders. Because cultures
overlap and mix, such boundaries are rarely sharp, even if only a single cultural trait is mapped.
For this reason, we find cultural border zones rather than lines. These zones broaden with each
additional cultural trait that is considered, because no two traits have the same spatial
distribution. As a result, instead of having clear borders, formal culture regions reveal a center or
core where the defining traits are all present. Away from the central core, the characteristics
weaken and disappear. Thus, many formal culture regions display a core-periphery pattern.
The hallmark of a formal culture region is cultural homogeneity, which is abstract rather than
concrete. By contrast, a functional culture region need not be culturally homogeneous. Instead, it
is an area that has been organized to function politically, socially, or economically as one unit.
Functional Region is thus an area tied together by a coordinating system such as law, monetary
system, roads, etc. A city, an independent state, a trade area or a farm is a functional culture
region. Functional culture regions have nodes, or central points where the functions are
coordinated and directed. For example, the scene is in the city’s Central Business District where
individual buildings are nodes of activities linked to other buildings and places. In this sense,
functional regions also possess a core-periphery configuration, in common with formal culture
regions. Many functional regions have clearly defined borders that include all land under the
jurisdiction of a particular urban government; clearly delineated on a regional map by a line
distinguishing between one jurisdiction and another.
Functional cultural regions generally do not coincide spatially with formal cultural regions, and
this disjunction often creates problems for the functional region. Germany provides an example.
For instance, Germany, an independent state, forms a functional cultural region. Language
provides a substantial basis for political unity, although the formal cultural region of German
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language extends beyond the political borders of Germany and includes part of the independent
states of France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and Poland.
Vernacular culture region is also called "Popular" or "Perceptual" Regions. Vernacular culture
regions.-are those perceived to exist by their inhabitants, as evidenced by the widespread
acceptance and use of a special regional name. Some vernacular regions are based on physical
environmental features; others find their basis in economic, political, or historical characteristics.
Vernacular regions generally lack sharp borders and the inhabitants of any given area may claim
residence in more than one such region. It grows out of people’s sense of belonging and
identification with a particular region. Vernacular Region is an area that ordinary people or non-
geographers recognize as a region. For instance The Great Somalia which includes the people of
Somali in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. It can be based on many different things such as
physical environment; economic, political, historical aspects; and often created by publicity
campaigns.
Activity 1.1 How do vernacular culture regions differ from formal and functional regions?
Often they lack the organization necessary for functional regions. As opposed to formal regions, they
frequently do not display cultural homogeneity.
Culture Hearths
Culture is constantly changing. No culture is characterized by a permanently fixed set of material
objects, systems of organization or even ideologies. In US, for example, new car models are
invented every year and Congress meets every year to write laws. Cultural Change is induced by
innovation, and spatial diffusion.
Innovation is changes to a culture that result from ideas created within the social group itself and
adopted by the culture. Changes to a culture may be invention and improvement in tools or
weapons. It may also be new form of social structure such as feudalism, Christianity and
democracy. Regions of social and technological revolution and innovation are spatially confined.
In the growth of world culture, several core ideas and basic practices were first invented in a
localized part of large area by a closely related group of people who shared these ideas and
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practices. The local region in which the first and most important ideas practiced were formulated
is known as culture hearth. Though many distinct cultures are prevalent around the world today,
those that are the most dominant have origins in one of a few culture hearths. These are viewed
as the ‘cradle’ of innovation and the heartlands of various cultures.
Some regions are considered culture hearths because such things as religion, the use of iron tools
and weapons, highly organized social structures, and the development agriculture started and
spread from these areas. In terms of religion for example, the area around Mecca is considered
the culture hearth for the Islamic religion and the area from which Muslims initially traveled to
convert people to Islam. The spread of tools, social structures, and agriculture spread in a similar
manner from the culture hearths. Although a large region may come to share core ideas and basic
practices, there may be variation in non-basic elements in several parts of a larger region. A
culture region, thus, may enclose a number of territories each of which is a sub-region. Though
Canada forms one major culture region, the French speaking Quebec region in Eastern Canada
forms a sub-region.
Cultural hearths are the sources of civilizations from which radiate ideas, innovations, and
ideologies. Cultural geographers identify both ancient and modern cultural hearths. The hearths
grew until they came into contact with one another, although their ability to travel to and contact
other cultural hearths was limited by their levels of technology and distance. Cultural hearths
have shifted greatly over time. For example, the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th
century moved cultural hearths to Europe and North America, with modern shifts in the 21st
century continuing to occur.
The early cultural hearths were centers for innovation and invention, and their non-material and
material culture spread to areas around them through a process called cultural diffusion. Early
culture hearths developed in the Middle East, North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and East
Asia in the valleys and basins of the great river systems. The Middle and South American culture
hearths evolved thousands of years later, not in river valleys, but in highlands. The West African
culture hearth emerged later still, strongly influenced by Nile Valley and Southwest Asian
innovations.
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Out of these hearths went the rules of living, the technologies, the traditions, and the human
systems that denoted these civilized society. More specifically, writing, art forms, customary
culture, architecture and politico-religious administration were derived from Egypt. The walled
settlement, the patterns of domestic and public architecture, technology in bronze metallurgy and
pottery etc characterized Chinese culture hearth. Finally, agricultural villages, irrigation systems,
the first formalization of religious systems, the beginnings of monumental architecture, and other
features distinguished Mesoamerican and Andean. The modern sources of civilization, Industrial
Revolution, also began as culture hearths, but their growth and development had wider,
sometimes global impact.
1.2.2. Cultural Diffusion

Cultural diffusion is the spatial spread of learned ideas, innovations, and attitudes. It is the spread
of culture and the factors that account for it, such as migration, communications, trade, and
commerce. Because culture moves over space, the geography of culture is constantly changing.
Generally, each cultural element originates in one or more places and then spreads, ultimately to
characterize a larger expanse of territory. It, thus, describes the spread of cultural traits from the
culture regions and the culture hearth. Culture region describes the location of culture traits or
cultural communities; cultural diffusion helps explain how they got there. For example, New
York State generally lies within the English-speaking culture region. Nevertheless there are
significant cultural communities within New York State in which Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew,
Arabic, or another language is dominant. Similarly, while most of New York State is part of the
Christian culture region, there also are local cultural communities in which Judaism, Islam, or
Buddhism is dominant. What all these languages and religions have in common is that none
originated in New York State or even in North America. Rather, each has come to characterize
segments of the Empire State as a result of cultural diffusion.
Cultural diffusion involves generally two sub-types, the most commonly being expansion
diffusion and relocation diffusion. In expansion diffusion, ideas or items spread throughout a
population from area to area and from groups to groups so that the areas of impact and the
number of people subject to impact become steadily larger. It, therefore, creates a snowballing
effect. The history of Islamic expansion through the Arabian Peninsula and across North Africa
suggests the process of expansion diffusion.
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Expansion diffusion has many forms. It may take the form of contagious diffusion, where some
item of culture is spread through a local population by contact from person to person. Ideas and
techniques radiate outwards trough the neighborhood effect. It is a wavelike diffusion, like
disease. In the contagious diffusion, ideas spread through a group of people or an area equally
without regard to social class, economic position or position of power. The spread of a
contagious disease, like the smallpox that swept through The New World with European contact
is an excellent illustration of contagious diffusion.
Figure 1.1 Contagious Diffusion

A’ is a diagram of contagious diffusion. Notice
virtually all ‘adopt.’
‘B’ is a diagram of hierarchical diffusion.

Notice the leapfrogging over some areas.
Another form of expansion diffusion is

hierarchical diffusion where ideas are
transmitted through leapfrog from one node
to another temporarily bypassing some within
the pre-existing hierarchical structures. In
other words, it is the spread of an idea
through an established structure usually from people or areas of power down to other people or
areas. An idea or innovation spreads by trickling down from larger to smaller adoption units.
Innovations often leapfrog over wide areas, with geographic distance a less important influence.
For example, AIDS is typically viewed as hierarchical because of its historically distinctive
urban to urban diffusion pattern. Moreover, Blackberries, though becoming cheaper, are too
expensive for most consumers to buy; therefore diffusing hierarchically.
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Figure 1.2 Hierarchical diffusion
A third type of expansion diffusion is stimulus diffusion, a

process where an idea or innovation is not readily adopted by a
population but results in local experimentation and eventual
changes in the way of doing things. The Industrial Revolution,
for example, did not immediately spread to pre- or non-
industrial societies, but did stimulate attempts to mechanize
local handicraft production.
It is also the spread of an underlying principle, concept or idea, without the spread of
specific accompanying traits due to some cultural or other barrier to the movement of the idea.
An example of stimulus diffusion is McDonald’s spread to India. It is known that Indian Hindus
do not eat beef. McDonald’s serves veggie burgers in India, which is culturally acceptable. The
idea, McDonald’s burgers, was acceptable even if made of beef, but not in its original form,
hence stimulus diffusion.
The different forms of expansion diffusion take place through populations that are stable. It is the
innovation or idea that does the moving, not the people.
Relocation diffusion is the spreading of innovations by a migrating population. It involves the

actual movement of individuals along with ideas and techniques who have already adopted the
idea or innovation, and who carry it with them to a new, perhaps distant locale, where they
disseminate it. Migration of Christianity with European settlers who moved to Africa, the
Americas and Australia is a classic example.
Exercise 1.1 Some authors suggest that AIDS diffuses through relocation diffusion. Do you
agree? Reason out
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Migrant Diffusion is a form of relocation diffusion, and occurs when an innovation originates
and enjoys strong, but brief, adoption there. The innovation may travel long distances and be
thriving, but could be faded out back at the point of origination. For example, influenza that
begun in China will reach the United States, but the epidemic could be over in China by the time
it takes holds in the United States.
Exercise1.2 Which type of cultural diffusion has had the largest impact on the spread of ideas
from places nowadays like the United States to the rest of the world? Why? Explain.
Figure 1.3: (a) is relocation diffusion as the person
goes.(b) is expansion diffusion as the idea/trait moves
or transports.
When a cultural item diffuses, it typically

does not keep spreading and spreading
forever. Instead it tends to diffuse outward
from its place of origin, encounter one or
more barrier effects. Barrier effects are
things or laws that inhibit cultural diffusion
and stop spreading. Barrier effects can
assume physical, cultural or economic forms.
Physical barrier effects consist of characteristics of the natural environment that inhibit the
spread of culture. The classic examples of physical barriers on the surface are oceans, deserts,
mountain ranges, dense forests, and frigid climates. For example, the Atlantic Ocean was a
physical barrier that prevented the westward spread of European culture for many centuries.
Physical barriers no longer hinder people's movement and the resultant spread of cultural ideas.
Expansion diffusion has recently played a role in the new spread of cultural values and as
products and people is now moving around frequently because of the today's ease of travel.
Another barrier effects that prohibit the expansion of innovations are cultural barriers. Cultural
barrier effects consist of characteristics that differentiate human groups and potentially limit
interaction between them, thus inhibiting the spread of culture. Examples include difference in
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language, religion, race and ethnicity, and a history of conflict between specific cultural
communities.
Some practices, ideas, and innovations are not acceptable or adoptable in a particular culture –
e.g. pork, alcohol, contraceptives etc. Islam, for instance, nowadays acts as a cultural barrier in
Afghanistan by discouraging adoption of certain styles of western dress, alcohol and music. In
addition, Catholics are not allowed to use contraceptives on the other hand whereas Orthodox
Church in Ethiopia prohibits eating pork. In addition to difference in culture, the economic
barriers such as lack of the necessary infrastructures such as computers, roads etc limit cultural
diffusion across space.
For much of human history, therefore, barrier effects tended to isolate cultural communities from
each other, inhibiting their ability to share cultural characteristics. Today, however, traditional
barrier effects are being overwhelmed by modern means of communication. Isolation is on the
decline. Cultural characteristics are diffusing as never before.
Now, let us turn our discussion to the absorbing and permeable barriers. Any barrier that halts or
deflects the penetration of an innovation operates as an absorbing barrier. The purpose of an
absorbing barrier is to completely halt diffusion. Soviet authorities, for example, have in the past
regularly jammed radio transmission from the capitalist world so that Soviet peoples would not
be exposed to what are officially believed to be harmful western ideas or ideologies. Again,
restrictions on trade and travel may seek to achieve a similar result. It is seldom that any barrier
erected by humans has functioned in a total manner. In the past, broad expanses of desert, seas
and mountains have effectively impeded human movement, but whether human or natural, such
boundaries and restrictions cannot prevent a certain degree of seepage. Even the Soviet attempts
to cut off its people have not been successful and news items, music styles and western clothing,
including blue jeans, penetrate the Soviet Union from the Western World. When a boundary or
human restrictions through laws and regulations fails to halt spatial diffusion, it may be
considered to be a permeable barrier. Barriers are more commonly permeable, allowing part of
the innovation wave to diffuse, but acting to weaken and retard the continued spread.
Activity 1.2 Dear Students, what do you understand from this example?
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On the other hand, there are factors that cause diffusion to occur or accelerate diffusion. The
cultural receptivity to diffusion increases if two people in different areas have nearly the same
culture, i.e. the same language, same religion etc.), the necessary infrastructure, affluence to
purchase the ideas and goods invented in other areas.
Peoples either accept or reject innovations. Time and distance decay or time-distance decay
factor plays the role of accelerating or inhibiting diffusion. It is to say that the farther away from
the source and the more time it takes, the less likely innovation adopted. To simply put, the
acceptance of an innovation is strongest where it originated, but acceptance weakens as it is
diffused farther away. This is mainly because as the distance is small between two areas,
interaction is strong so that the innovation is more likely to be adopted. Generally, the degree of
acceptance tends to weaken the greater the distance from point of origin. Time-distance decay,
then, looks like ripples on a pond. Ethiopians living at Gode, in Somali Regional State may be
less inclined to adopt a new item seized on more readily by residents living in Addis Ababa.
When this occurs, the geographers speak of distance decay. Acceptance also weakens over time.
If it takes ever-increasing time for the acceptance of an innovation at ever-greater distance from
the point of origin, then one may speak of both distance and time decay or time-distance decay.
There is an observed tendency for culture traits to originate and take hold in large cities and then
"trickle down" the settlement hierarchy to smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. Contemporary
cultural fashions in particular area have a tendency to diffuse in this manner. Because diffusion
occurs over time as well as over space, there may be a time lag between the origin of a trait in a
large city and its appearance in small towns and rural areas. Nowadays, the above phenomenon
is particularly evident and important in developing countries, where modernization tends to take
hold in major cities and then trickle down to the countryside.
Spatial diffusion is the process by which a concept, practice, innovation or substance spreads
from point to point. It is not always possible to determine with certainty whether innovation that
appears in separate locations developed independently or by diffusion. Pyramids of Egypt and
Central America are generally thought to have developed independently and are not evidence of
diffusion.
Exercise 1.3 Is China a cultural community having uniform cultural components?
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1.2.3. Cultural Ecology
Culture is an essential attribute of man. It is a characteristic that enables humans to adapt to hot
deserts and cold arctic tundra, to travel in spaceships to the moon and to explore the ocean
depths. At all times, there is an ongoing interactive process that relates people to the world
around them. The science of ecology is the study of a two-way relationship between an organism
and its physical environment. The term ecosystem was introduced to describe the situation where
this complex network of relationship forms a functioning whole in nature. The study of
ecosystems focuses on the interactions between specific organisms and their environments.
Cultural ecology is defined as the multiple interactions and relationships between a culture and
its natural environment. Ecosystem, hence, entails a functioning ecological system where
biological and cultural Homo sapiens live and interact with the physical environment.
Under the term cultural ecology, cultural geographers have long been interested in the
relationship between a given society and its natural environment, the life-forms and ecosystems
that support its life ways. Cultural ecology discusses human-environment relationships. It claims
that this relationship is reciprocal and mutually constitutive, that is, it is a two-way street. As a
result, it attempts to study the human interaction with ecosystems to determine how nature
influences and is influenced by human social organization and culture.
Cultural ecology is based on the assertion that culture is the human method of meeting physical
environmental challenges. In other words, people adapt the environment in which they live in
through culture in that culture facilitates long-term, successful, non-genetic human adaptation to
nature and environmental change. Culture is, thus, an adaptive strategy mainly, but not entirely
limited to humans, involving learned, cooperative behavior and major environmental
modifications that provides necessities of life such as food, clothing, shelter, defense etc.
Cultural ecology is the study of the cause-and-effect interplay between cultures and the physical
environment. Culture has arisen and evolved in a great variety of physical settings that differ in
climate, natural vegetation, soils, and landforms. In these diverse natural environments, humans
developed adaptive strategies to satisfy their needs for clothing, food, and shelter. Even the
traditional people in the remote region have an adaptive strategy of harnessing local resources for
their needs. The result is a literal world of difference in clothing styles and the materials from
which they are made; the production, preparation, and consumption of foods; and the
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architectural styles and materials that define human shelter. No two cultures employ the same
strategy, even within the same physical environment. The astonishing varieties of physical
settings that characterize our planet, and the amazing variety of human adaptive strategies to
them, go a long way to explain why there are so many cultures on Earth today.
The concept of cultural ecology often helps us better understand the cultural landscape. Thus,
while a cultural landscape study might identify and describe a building that typifies a specific
area; cultural ecology may be employed to explain why that building looks the way it does. The
terraced rice paddies of Bali that is an element of the cultural landscape of Indonesia, provides a
good example. The terraced rice paddies represent cultural adaptation to a rainy equatorial
climate and to what would otherwise be useless slopes at least with respect to paddy farming.
Meanwhile in snowy alpine Europe, the inverted-V roofs of their houses facilitate snow removal,
lessening the chance for structural damage.
Although a curiosity about nature and the possible relationship between nature and culture
pursued mankind through the ages and remains a basic themes of modern geography, the
geographers understanding of the role of nature, or the natural environment, in human affairs has
undergone many shifts of emphasis.
Four schools of thought are developed by cultural geographers on cultural ecology or on the
interaction between humans and physical environment. These are environmental determinism,
possibilism, environmental perception and humans as modifiers of the earth
1. Environmental determinism
Environmental determinism is the belief that the environment, most notably its physical factors
such as landforms and/or climate, determines the patterns of human culture and societal
development and shapes humans actions and thoughts. Environmental determinists believe that it
is these environmental factors alone that are responsible for human cultures and individual
decisions. Nonetheless, they see that social conditions or human beings have virtually no impact
on cultural development. For them, human kind is essentially a passive product of the physical
environment.
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The main argument of environmental determinism states that an area's physical characteristics
have a strong impact on the psychological outlook of its inhabitants. These varied outlooks then
spread throughout a population and help define the overall behavior and culture of a society. For
instance, it was said that areas in the tropics were less developed than higher latitudes because
the continuously warm weather there made it easier to survive and thus, people living there did
not work as hard to ensure their survival. Another example of environmental determinism is that
dark human skin was caused by the hot climate of Sub-Saharan Africa.
In this case, humans were clay to be molded by nature. Therefore, they thought that similar
physical environment produce similar cultures. For example, environmental determinists
believed that mountain people were backward, conservative, unimaginative and freedom loving
because they lived in rugged terrain. They also thought that desert dwellers were likely to believe
in one god and lived under the rule of tyrants, whereas temperate climates produced:
inventiveness, industriousness, and democracy. Finally, followers of this school accepted as true
that coastlands with fjords produced navigators and fishers and the island nations have unique
cultural traits solely because of their isolation from continental societies. Generally, determinists
overestimate the role of environment in human cultures. The physical environment is however
only one of many forces affecting human cultures and is never the sole determinant of behavior
and beliefs.
Despite its success in the early 1900s, environmental determinism’s popularity began to decline
in the 1920s as its critics claimed it was racist. Carl Sauer, for instance, began his critiques in
1924 and said that environmental determinism led to premature generalizations about an area’s
culture and did not allow for results based on direct observation or research. As a result of his
and others criticisms, geographers developed the theory of environmental possibilism to explain
cultural development.
2. Possibilism
Unlike environmental determinism, possibilism claims that people are the primary architects of
culture. Physical environment offers numerous ways for a culture to develop. Nonetheless,
people make culture trait choices from the possibilities offered by their environment to satisfy
their needs.
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Possibilism is a school of thought that people, not the environment, is the dynamic forces of
cultural development. The needs, traditions, and technological level of culture affect how that
culture assess the possibilities of an environment and shapes the choices it makes regarding
them. It stated that the physical environment sets limitations for cultural development but it does
not completely define culture. Instead, culture is defined by the opportunities and decisions that
humans make in response to dealing with such limitations.
The other saying is that possibilism is the scientific philosophy that the environment does not
determine elements of culture, but it does set bounds on the possible or probable forms that
culture will take. It declares that natural environments offer opportunities and constraints from
which culture groups must choose, based on their knowledge and internal power relations. The
choices that a society makes depend on the people’s requirements and the technology available
to them to satisfy their needs. High technology societies are less influenced by physical
environment.
3. Environmental perception
Environmental Perception focuses on human perception of nature. Each person’s or cultural
group’s mental images of the physical environment are shaped by knowledge, ignorance,
experience, values, and emotions, which is called environmental perception. Environmental
perceptionists see that choices people make will depend more on how they perceive the land’s
character than its actual character. Often people make decisions based on distortion of reality
with regard to their surrounding physical environment. As a result, human perceptions of the
physical environment differ considerably, depending on the individual's mental maps of various
communities and cultures. Some cultures consider natural hazards such as flooding, hurricanes,
volcanic eruption, earthquakes, insect infestations and droughts as unavoidable acts of the gods
sent down as punishments because of the people’s wrong doings. Contrary to this perception,
floods for instance are natural occurrences and, human made devices are directed toward control
rather than prevention.
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Perception of the physical environment plays a major role when a group of people chooses where
to settle and live. Different cultural groups often “see” the same physical environment in
different ways. These varied responses to a single environment influence the distribution of
people. A good example appears in the European Alps shared by Germans-and Italian-speaking
people. The mountain ridges in that area-near the point where Switzerland, Italy, and Austria
join-run in an east-west direction, so that each ridge has a sunny, south facing slope and a shady,
north facing side. German-speaking people, who rely on daily farming, long ago established
permanent settlements some 200 meters higher on the shady slopes than the settlements of
Italians, who are culturally tied to warmth-loving crops, on the sunny slopes. This example
demonstrates contrasting cultural attitudes toward land use and different perception of the best
use for one type of physical environment.
4. Humans as modifiers of the earth

Humans have the capacity to modify, indeed to transform, their natural environments. The
influence of the natural environment declines with increasing modernization and technological
sophistication. Hence, Human modification varies from one culture to another. On the other
hand, a technology enables humans to not only occupy an environment and exploit its resources,
but to modify that environment in the process.
One extreme view, that of environmental determinism, sees nature as the major control; the other
extreme postulates the dominance of culture over nature, and there are many intermediate views.
Geographers warn control over environment may be an illusion because of possible future
climatic changes. The relationships between human societies and the natural environment is
complex. Environment affects societies in countless ways from the types of crops grown to the
houses they build, but societies also modify their natural environments in ways that range from
slight to severe. One thing is certain, however, while human behavior is not controlled by the
environment, no culture, no matter how sophisticated, can completely escape the forces of
nature. The central argument of cultural ecology is that the natural environment is a major
contributor to social organization and other human institutions.
1.2.4. Cultural Integration

As stated above each culture has three sub-systems. The sub-systems of culture are artifacts,
sociofacts, and mentifacts. These three Sub-Systems of Culture are intertwined or interlocked
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with one another. They may be helpful as a way to analyze a culture. Cultural Integration means
that any cultural act or object may have a number of meanings. A dwelling, for example, is an
artifact providing shelter for its inhabitants. Sociofact is also reflecting the nature of the family or
kinship group which is designed to house. In addition, mentifact summarizes a culture group’s
convictions about appropriate design, orientation and building materials
Culture is a holistic and integrated whole system. Cultures are integrated systems in which each
part (trait) is functionally linked to all of the others and all cultural aspects fit together causally.
It is to mean that if one part of the culture changes, this necessitates change in all other related
parts. Changing one cultural trait requires an accommodating change in others. To understand
the distribution of one facet of culture, cultural geographers must study the variations in other
facets and how they are causally interrelated and integrated with one another. In the type of
employment and social standing, Hinduism segregates people into social classes (castes), and
specifies what forms of livelihood are appropriate for each. If the segregation of people has
changed in India, the livelihoods of the lowest cast system will be changed.
This situation makes it most appropriate to identify culture regions defined not by single trait but
by complexes of traits because cultures are complex wholes rather than series of unrelated traits.
Buddhists for example regard golden colors as a symbol of enlightenment. That explains why
gold-domed temples figure so prominently in cultural landscapes in various parts of Southeast
Asia. The theme of cultural integration addresses this complexity.
Moreover, cultural integration focuses on the relationships that often exist between cultural
components that characterize a given community. When geographers seek to explain why a
particular culture trait is found in a particular area, they often discover that the answer lies in
another trait possessed by that same cultural community. Mormon faith forbids consumption of
alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and other products, thereby influencing both diet and shopping
patterns. Cultural integration may explain the presence and the absence of particular traits in
particular areas. This demonstrates that cultural components are interrelated.
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1.2.5. Cultural landscape
A1 What do a high-rise apartment, stop sign, shopping center, railroad, pyramid, oil derrick, and
wheat plantation have in common? The answer is that each is a facet of the cultural landscape.
The cultural landscape consists of material aspects of culture that characterize earth’s surface
including buildings, shrines, sports and recreational facilities, economic and agricultural
structures, crops and agricultural fields, transportation systems, and other physical things. A
given culture gives character to an area. The people of any particular culture transform their
living space by building structures on it, creating lines of contact and communication, tilling the
land, and channeling the water.
Cultural landscape is the visible, material landscape that cultural groups create in inhabiting the
Earth. Cultures shape landscapes out of the raw materials provided by the Earth. Each landscape
uniquely reflects the culture that created it. Landscapes mirror culture. Much can be learned
about a culture by carefully observing its created landscape. Cultural landscape reflects the most
basic strivings of humankind for shelter, food and clothing. Because cultural landscape so often
embodies humans’ most basic needs such as shelter, food, and clothing. Many geographers
consider it as the most important aspect of cultural geography. The cultural landscape reflects
different attitudes concerning modification of the Earth by people and contains valuable evidence
about the origin, speed, and the development of cultures, since it usually preserves relic forms of
various types. Every cultural landscape is an accumulation of human artifacts, some old and
some new.
Cultural landscape is the human imprint cultures leave on the Earth's surface. These create a
distinct and characteristic landscape that reveals much about the culture presently occupying the
area, as well as those that came before. The concept of cultural landscape can assume practical
qualities when an area is inhabited and transformed in to a succession of residents; each of them
leaves a lasting cultural imprint. People of different technological and other cultural traditions
perceive a place and its resources differently. These contrasting perceptions reflected in their
respective cultural landscapes.
All cultures change over time though at different rates. As a result, the cultural landscape of a
given locale may look much different today than in the past. The cultural landscape includes all
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identifiably human-induced changes in the natural landscape, involving the surface as well as the
biosphere. For example, the skyline of Addis Ababa City is much taller today than it used to be,
thanks to technological innovations that include electricity, elevators, construction materials, and
machinery. Similarly, large areas of Addis Ababa have seen the transformation of farmland to
suburbs.
Typically, cultural landscapes change in bits and pieces. As a result, the cultural landscape may
be a tool for understanding the history and status of a given area, as well as current trends.
One geographic approach to understanding the spread of culture is to read the Landscape because
cultures leave their imprint wherever they reside. One can identify them from archeological
artifacts, architecture and infrastructure.
Landscapes also convey revealing messages about the present-day inhabitants and cultures. All
humanized landscapes bear cultural meaning. The spatial organization of settlements and the
architectural form of buildings and other structures can be interpreted as the expression of values
and beliefs of the people responsible for them. That is, the landscape can serve as a means to
study nonmaterial aspects of culture. One can read a landscape like a book.
SUMMARY
Culture is shared by a group of people that constitutes a society. Culture is learned rather than
biologically inherited from parents. Culture is also a way of life. Examples of culture traits
include both tangible and intangible elements such as language, tools and techniques of
manufacturing. A group of culture traits define a culture complex. A culture system is composed
of a number of related culture complexes. Culture traits, complexes and systems are spatially
expressed in regions and realms.
The major components of a culture are the technological subsystem of material objects and the
techniques for their use to satisfy the needs of food, clothing, and shelter; the sociological
subsystem representing the totality of expected and accepted patterns of institutional and
interpersonal relations; and the ideological subsystem of beliefs and ideas of a culture and the
language to express and transmit them.
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Geography seeks to describe and explain the distribution of phenomena that characterize Earth’s
surface. Because culture differentiates human beings and the lands they occupy, it is one of the
most important things that geographers study. Accordingly, there is an entire subfield of
academic geography devoted to the study of culture: cultural geography. The key concepts of
cultural geography are culture region, cultural diffusion, cultural landscape, cultural ecology, and
cultural interaction. Each offers insights and activities that an educator might use to teach culture
from a geographical point of view. These themes, though distinct, are interwoven and may
overlap in ways that help to describe and explain the nature of cultural communities.
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UNIT 2: THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CULTURE
Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to
Distinguish differences between the bands, tribes and chiefdoms.
Explain the development of human culture and how human kind evolved into homo
sapiens sapiens
Identify the difference among four evolutionary development
Describe the origins of agriculture and dispersal
Distinguish the origin and morphology of human settlement
Resources
De Blij, Harm J, (1977). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New
York, USA.
Harvey, William Ford Jones, Meluyn, (1991). An introduction to settlement geography, Cambridge
University Press, Scotprint Ltd, Musselburgh, Great Britain.
Jackson, W.A. Douglas (1985). The shaping of our world: A human and cultural geography, John
Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, USA
Norton William (1995). Human Geography, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Canada
Valentine, G (2001) Social geographies: Space and Society, Pearson Education Ltd: England
The date to the appearance of Homo is much in doubt. A better documented date for East African
Homo habilis is 2 million years ago. Physically similar to the related Australpiticus, the first
humans showed clear evidence of the beginnings of culture through tool and fire making. It is
assumed that they had use of language and perhaps were organized into linguistically based
bands.
For the purpose of a general differentiation of the stages of cultural development, cultural and
social geographers recognize the series of cultural-technological periods that we employ below.
Each successive period was marked by a wider distribution of humans over a greater range of
habitat. Each period displayed improving capabilities of humans to utilize their environment for
their needs and to produce from it higher levels of support for increasing population numbers.
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The Paleolithic Period
Homo erectus had migrated from Africa to Asia and southern Europe and had stone tools, more
carefully shaped and differentiated and worked to standardized designs than those made by its
predecessors. These tools also indicate that societies had an established division of labor between
men and women and between adults of the same sex. A hunter of large game animals and a
gatherer of plant food, Homo erectus maintained home bases with fireplaces and had begun the
construction of shelters. Division of labor between hunting male and foraging female created and
preserved individual biological families, and the sharing of meat from the collective hunt forged
social bonds holding together permanent bands. In general, permanent habitation in the old world
was limited to China; southeast south, and southwest Asia; Africa; and Europe north to southern
Scandinavia and parts of the British Isles.
Cro-Magnon and before Neanderthal people inhabited Western Europe and the lands around the
Mediterranean Sea from about 100,000 to approximately 10,000 years ago. They made several
kinds of tools, used animal skins and furs for clothing, and were able hunt big game. Art and
religion were important parts of the culture. Finely executed drawings have been discovered in
some of the caves in which Cro-Magnon people lived in southern France and Spain. Evidence of
religious ritual is marked by obvious ceremonial burial with tools, food, ornaments, and flowers
lay with the body in dug graves.
The term commonly employed to describe the stage of human culture during this period is
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). It began when people first used stone tools several million years
ago; the end of the period coincided in much of the old world with the retreat of the last glaciers
in Europe about 11,000 years ago.
Human tool-working techniques had become much more sophisticated and diverse, and the
variations in the types of tools characteristic of the different population groups steadily
increased. Technology thus greatly extended the range of possibilities in the use of locally
available raw materials. The result was more efficient and extensive exploitation of the physical
environment than had been achieved by earlier inhabitants.
Hunting, gathering, and, fishing formed the basis of existence. Fruits, nuts, tubers, and edible
plants joined small and large game, birds, and fish in the diet. The proportion of hunted to
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gathered food, of meat to vegetable matter, depended on their relative availability and on the
technological (tool-making) level of spatially separated populations. Within many even harsh,
environments the hunting and foraging process was not particularly demanding of either time or
energy. Recurring periods of climatic change altered the regional distribution of plants and
animals and presumably encouraged the diversification of survival strategies. The development
or adoption of innovations would be likely within populations afflicted by environmental
pressures or reduced by a sudden depletion of food.
It is assumed, then, that the Upper Paleolithic period was marked by a continuous process of
learning how to cope with a world changing in environment and by sufficient leisure time to
allow rapid advance in the decorative arts, elaboration of mythologies, and creation of complex
webs of social obligations. What was learned and created in tool making, hunting strategy,
language, religion, and art was transmitted within the cultural group. The increasing variety of
adaptive strategies and technologies and the diversity of non-economic creations in art, religion,
and custom meant an inevitable cultural variation of humankind. The differentiation among
societies so evident today probably began during the Paleolithic period.
The Mesolithic period

The retreats of the last glaciers about 11,000 years ago marked the beginning of the Mesolithic
period (the Middle stone ago) in cultural development in the Old world. Glacial recession and the
resulting warm weather produced various climatic, vegetation, and faunal changes that imposed
on humans new ecological conditions to which adaptation was required. Forests began to appear
on the open plains and the tundra of Europe and northern china. In the Middle East, where plant
and animal domestication would later occur, dry steppes were replaced by savanna vegetation.
The large grazing animals, such as reindeer, mammoth, and buffalo, retreated to the north or
disappeared.
As the food and ecological base altered, so did human technologies. Fishing hooks and nets,
spears and harpoons, dugout canoes and skin boats reflected an increase in fish and shellfish in
the diet of Europeans. Notched bows, arrows with refined heads, and spears were employed in
harvesting the forest game. The spread of forests led to an increased use of wood; to the
appearance of creases use of wood; to the appearance of hafted (as opposed to hand-held) axes of
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antler, bone, or stone; and to wooden shelters. Importantly, a broadly based subsistence economy
came into being utilizing a variety of food sources within an area.
Such changes reflect the stresses felt by a continually growing population since the carrying
capacity of the earth for hunter-gatherers is low. By the late Pleistocene, growing, spreading
populations had occupied areas of winter freeze, had filled the less desirable environments within
the older tropical and subtropical zones of habitation, and had spread to all sections of the world
that could with reasonable ease support hunting and gathering mode of existence. It had already
become necessary in many areas to broaden the food base to support increasing numbers.
Adaptation to further population pressure had to take the form of increasing the supply of
cultivated foods that yielded the largest possible number of edible calories per unit of land. The
domestication of both plants and animals, which began during this period, led subsequently to
fully developed agricultural societies and to the creation of cities and city-based empires. The
Mesolithic period from about 11,000 to 5000 B.C. in Europe-was crucial for the transition from
the collection of food to its production.
The domestication of plants in its refined form marked the onset of the Neolithic period. Usually
it involved the movement of selected species to ecological niches for which they were not ideally
adapted, thus, hastening mutation or change. They assumed sedentary residence to protect the
planted areas from animal, insect, and human predators. They developed labor specializations
and created more formalized religious structures, in which fertility and harvest rites became
important elements. The regional contrasts between hunter-gatherer and sedentary agricultural
societies increased.
The Neolithic period

Neolithic (or New Stone Age) designates a stage of cultural development, not a specific span of
time. The term implies the creation of an advanced set of tools and technologies to deal with the
conditions and needs encountered by an expanding, sedentary population whose economy was
based on the agricultural management of the environment. During this period, culture began to
alter at an accelerating pace, and change itself became a way of life. As a result, technological
and social innovations came with a speed, surpassing all developmental progress of the
preceding millions of years.
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Humans learned the arts of spinning and weaving plant and animals fibers. They learned to use
the potter’s wheel and to fire clay and make utensils; they developed techniques of brick making,
mortaring, and building construction; and they discovered the skills of mining, smelting and
casting metals. Permanent villages appeared along with such technical advancements. A more
complex exploitive culture engendered a stratified society to replace the rough equality of adult
in hunting and gathering economies. The invention of the sailboat helped to promote the
development of long-distance trading connections.
By the end of the Neolithic epoch, food-producing rather than purely food-foraging societies had
been created. In the process, they restructured their environment though plant and animal
modification and by the management of soil, terrain, water and mineral resources. Animal energy
was used to supplement that of humans. Refined tools and superior weapons were made of
metal-firs, pure copper, and later, the alloy of tin and copper. Humans had moved from adopting
and shaping to the art of creating.
Exercise 2. 1. What are the main cultural developments in each three geologic periods?
Table 2.1. Key dates and chief deployments in the Evolution of Culture
Recent fossil discoveries make uncertain the early sequence of hominid development.
Approximate number of
Cultural period years before present Chief Developments
4-2 million Emergence of Australopithecus (Pliocene) and Homo (Pleistocene)
Paleolithic 1.5 million Evolution of Homo erectus; migration to Asia and Europe; use of fire
and crude tools.
100.000-11,000 Homo sapiens develop and disperse across world. Hunting and
gathering economy; variety of tools; artwork; burial rituals; retreat of
last glaciers.
Mesolithic 11.000-900 Domestication of plants and animals, some production of food; semi-
permanent settlements; further refinements of tools.
9000-5500 Systems of agriculture; use of animals for work;
Specialization in occupation.
Neolithic 5500 to present Growth of culture hearths, cities, city-states and empires; continuous
development in all systems of culture.
a
Dates apply to East Africa and the Old world. Societies in other parts of the world passed through many of these
stages as later dates. Source: Geits, Geits and Fellmann (1985) pp7
With the aim of allocating or controlling of land, new and more formalized rules of conduct and
control emerged. Governments were seen and began to enforce more complex laws and legal
‐ 29 ‐
codes and to specify punishments for wrongdoers so as to protect private property. Religions
became increasingly formalized, with seasonal rituals and an established priesthood that stood
not only as intermediaries between people and the forces of nature but also as authenticators of
the timing and structure of the rituals. Early people saw themselves as subject to the whim of
uncontrollable forces outside themselves, forces such as the wind and the rain, floods and
droughts, the wanderings of game animals, and the dangers of the hunt. The collective concerns
of agriculturalists were based on the calendar: the cycle of rainfall, the seasons of planting and
harvesting, and the rise and fall of waters to irrigate the crops. These developments led to
increasing specialization in occupations. Metalworkers, potters, sailors, priests, and, in some
areas, warriors complemented the work of farmers and hunters.
To sum up, long before the beginning of the ice age, man had learned to descend from the trees,
walk erect on the land, and use his hands for a variety of purposes. Of basic importance was
man’s ability to use tools, many of which were readily available perhaps the first tool that man
used was a stick sharpened with the broken edge of a piece of flint. As time went on, crude stone
implements were greatly improved and elaborated into beautiful examples of knives scrapers,
arrow heads, and spear points.
Because he could use fire, man was able to keep warm as he penetrated into cold lands. With
fire, he could make edible foods which he could not tolerate in the raw state. Fire cleared forests
and renewed grasslands, thereby attracting wild game, providing pasturage for domestic animals,
and supplying land for cultivation. Man probably used fire long before he knew the methods of
making fire from flints or from rotating sticks since wild fire was available from volcanoes and
from forest fires set by lighting, with the careful addition of fuel, man could maintain a fire for
his use and even transport it from one camp to another.
Of great value to man in his struggle against his environment was the power of speech. Although
the more primitive primates were able to communicate in a limited way, man was the only
creature who learned to covey complicated ideas. By enabling man to communicate the things he
had learned, the power of speech facilitated the dispersal of his culture.
Another attribute of man which proved very useful to him was his capacity for eating. With his
excellent teeth and good digestion, man was able to chew and digest foods which would cause
great suffering, if not death, to most other animals. This ability permitted early man to penetrate
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into areas where he had never been before and to live on the vegetable and animals fare which he
found there.
In addition to these qualities, man developed very freely moving arms; rather delicate but strong,
grasping hands; and very sharp-focusing eyes. The ability to focus on nearby objects with a
temporarily cross eyed vision evolved in man to a high degree. Moreover, man could see at great
distances, although the sharpness of his vision was not as great as that of some of the other
animals. Most important of all, perhaps, was the brain of man, a large brain that made him a
reasoning, planning, and inventive creature.
2. 1. Types of Society
There are several varied definitions of society depending on the theoretical perspective employed
by researchers. While culture refers to the way of life of the members of a society, society refers
to the system of interrelationships that connect individuals together as members of culture,
referring to attitudes and behaviors.
Why community forms a group or society? The social fact can be identified, understood or
specified within a circumstance that certain resources, requirements or results are needed and
utilized in an individual manner and for individual ends, although they cannot be achieved in an
individual manner. On the contrary, they can be fulfilled only in a collective, collaborative
manner. Like other groupings, a society thus allows its members to achieve needs or wishes they
could not fulfill alone. A society or a human society is thus a group of people related to each
other through persistent relations such as a social status, roles and social networks. Human
societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive
culture and institutions.
Types of societies are sets of societies in which individual societies resemble others of their type
more than those of other types. The distinctions reflect real and important differences. Societal
types are valuable analytical tools that help us to understand societies.
Experts tend to classify different societies into four major types according to their political
organization and social complexity. From least to most socially complex, they are bands, tribes,
chiefdoms and states.
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The smallest functioning human group is the natural or nuclear family consisting of two parents
and immediate offspring. Nearly every human child begins life within a family, the first social
group the child comes to know. In time, the child becomes aware of a larger pattern of
interrelationships with broader spatial dimensions based on ties of blood that place the child’s
immediate family within an extended family, a clan, or even a tribe. It is unlikely, than human
occupancy of the earth began though the dispersal of single families. It is much more likely that
the band formed the first living group.
The development and expansion of language stone tool making, and fire use facilitated group
formation. Such early human groups probably numbered ten to thirty (occasionally as high as
100) people linked by kinship. The factors that prompted language, tool making, and group
formation are unclear, but probably include information sharing matting, childcare, basic
subsistence requirements, cooperative hunting, and minimizing conflict. Early human groups are
typically labeled bands.
A band is a small often as low as twenty and never more than a few hundred, autonomous group
of people, made up of nuclear families that live together, and are loosely associated with a
territory on which they hunt. A band as a political structure is typically found amongst societies
with a hunter- gather economy. Age and gender were likely the two principal means by which
individuals were differentiated. There was no separate political authorities and religion. Any
authority was limited to family heads. Band societies have no specialized roles. Social order is
maintained through public opinion. In other words, it is retained through the informal
mechanisms of gossip, ridicule and avoidance. They earned their livelihood or food from nature.
The second of the major forms of political structure is the tribe. A tribe is a large collection or
group of bands tied together by familiar bonds/kinship ties such as lineages, clan, and moieties,
but the ties that bind a tribe are more complicated than those of bands. Tribes tend to have a
common territory. Leadership is personal or charismatic with no political offices containing real
power and a "chief" is merely a man of influence, a sort of adviser. The means of tribal
consolidation for collective action are therefore not governmental since follow native customs
rather than state law. . Tribes have developed kin-based mechanisms to accommodate more
sedentary life, to redistribute food, and to organize some communal services. Public opinion
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plays a major role in decision making. Tribal people tend to be egalitarian and tend to think that
humans are part of nature itself, the world is composed of dualities that form a harmony, and life
is designed to work for the good of the whole community or good of the whole.
The third form of political organization is the chiefdom. Chiefdoms are societies headed by
individuals with unusual ritual, political, or entrepreneurial skills. The society is kin-based but
more along hierarchical lines than a tribe. Chiefdom is associated with greater population
density. It has centers which coordinate economic, social and religious activities, hence more
complex and more organized than tribes. Whereas tribes have some grouping that can informally
integrate more than one community, chiefdoms have some formal structure integrating multi-
community political units. The formal structure could consist of a council with or without a
chief, but most commonly there is the chief who has higher rank and authority than others. The
position of chief, which is hereditary and permanent, gives high status on its holder. Unlike a
tribe, chiefdom is made up of parts that are structurally and functionally different from one
another. A ranking system means that some families, and the individuals in them, have higher or
lower social status than others. The more complex chiefdom has a greater measure of authority
but still lacks a bureaucracy to administer food surpluses nor to distribute and store resources.
The society is more divided along two lines, namely nobility and commoners. Nobility tends to
compete for leadership, prestige, and religious authority making the chiefdom relatively unstable.
The fourth form of political organization is the state. The state is defined as "an autonomous
political unit, encompassing many communities within its territory and having a centralized
government with the power to collect taxes, draft men for work or war, and declare and
implement laws." It is the notion of a centralized government that distinguishes the state from the
decentralized type of political organization. States represent highly complex organizational
structures that function to control large societies. They are associated with large territories,
administrative bureaucracies, a high degree of specialization, and large, dense populations. A
non-kin-based relationship between rulers and those who are ruled marks a state as a major
departure from other forms of societies.
The common features of state –organized societies are
o a centralized political structure and a central bureaucracy that runs the state;
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o rigid social stratification that concentrates power in the hands of a privileged elite at the
head of the social pyramid while slaves were at the lowest. Other classes include artisans,
priests and most people were commoners, and farmers.
o Intensified food production capable of supporting large numbers of non-food producers.
Such intensification took many forms, but often involved state-organized water control
and distribution systems. For example, irrigation canals were vital in Egypt and
Mesopotamia;
o elaborate public buildings, which served as temples, administrative centers, and
dwellings for the elite; and
o writing, or some equivalent form of record keeping.
Exercise 2. 2 What is the difference between pre-state societies (band, tribe and chiefdom) and
state-organized society?
Still, other scholars defined the society based on its level of technology into the following
six basic types, although humans have established many types of societies throughout
history.
1. Hunting and gathering societies

The hunting and gathering societies primarily survive by hunting animals, fishing, and
gathering plants. They are today on the verge of extinction. These early small human
societies completely depended upon their immediate environment. They were quite mobile
because the society had to relocate to an area where resources were plentiful when the
animals left the area, the plants died, or the rivers dried up. Although most of these societies
were nomadic, small villages might form in areas where resources were abundant.
Labor in these societies was divided equally among members. They also had some division
of labor based on gender. They were unable a surplus of goods to produce because of the
mobile nature of the society. In this connection, males probably traveled long distances to
hunt and capture larger animals while females hunted smaller animals, gathered plants,
made clothing, protected and raised children, and helped the males to protect the community
from rival groups. They were tribal, hence, members shared an ancestral heritage and a
common set of traditions and rituals.
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2. Pastoral societies
Pastoral societies pasture animals for food and transportation. They still exist today,
primarily in the desert lands of North Africa. Domesticating animals allows for a more
manageable food supply than do hunting and gathering. Hence, pastoral societies are able to
produce a surplus of goods, which makes storing food for future use. They developed
settlements and the desire to develop settlements that permit the society to remain in a
single place for longer periods of time resulted from the storage of food. Again, with
stability comes the trade of surplus goods between neighboring pastoral communities. As a
result, pastoral societies allow certain of its members to engage in other activities other than
domesticating animals. Traders, healers, spiritual leaders, craftspeople, and people with
other specialty professions appear.
3. Horticultural societies
As opposed to pastoral societies, horticultural societies rely on cultivating fruits, vegetables,
and plants. Like hunting and gathering societies, they were mobile and forced the people to
leave due to the depletion of the land resources or declining water supplies. Horticultural
societies occasionally produced a surplus, which permitted storage as well as the emergence
of other professions not related to the survival of the society.
4. Agricultural societies
Agricultural societies use technological advances to cultivate crops, especially grains such
as wheat, rice, corn, and barley over a large area. The invention of animal drawn plough
marked the beginning of agrarian societies. Experts use the phrase Agricultural Revolution to
refer to the technological changes that led to cultivating crops and raising farm animals.
Increases in food supplies then led to larger populations than in earlier communities. This
meant a greater surplus, which resulted in towns that became centers of trade supporting
various rulers, educators, craftspeople, merchants, and religious leaders who did not have to
worry about locating nourishment.
Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agricultural societies. For example,

women previously had higher social status because they shared labor more equally with
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men. In hunting and gathering societies, women even gathered more food than men. But as
food stores improved and women took on lesser roles in providing food for the family, they
became more subordinate to men. As villages and towns expanded into neighboring areas,
conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food
in exchange for protection against invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social
status also appeared, called nobility. This nobility organized warriors to protect the society
from invasion. In this way, the nobility managed to extract goods from the “lesser” persons
of society.
Exercise 2. 3 What distinguishes hunter-gatherer society from agrarian society?
5. Feudal societies
From the 9th to 15th centuries, feudalism was a form of society based on ownership of land.
Unlike today's farmers, vassals under feudalism were bound to cultivating their lord's land.
In exchange for military protection, the peasants are expected to provide food, crops, crafts,
homage, and other services to the owner of the land such as cultivating their lord's land for
generations. Feudalism was replaced by a new economic system called as capitalism
between the 14th and 16th centuries, which is marked by open competition in a free market
in which the means of production are privately owned.
6. Industrial societies
Industrial societies are based on using machines (particularly fuel-driven ones) to produce
goods. The Industrial Revolution begun during the 18th century when goods are produced in
mechanized factories began. As productivity increased, means of transportation improved
to better facilitate the transfer of products from place to place. Great wealth was attained by
the few who owned factories, and the “masses” found jobs working in the factories.
Industrialization brought about changes in almost every aspect of society. As factories

became the center of work, “home cottages” as the usual workplace and the family's role in
providing vocational training and education became less prevalent. Public education the
mass media became the norm. People's life expectancy increased as their health improved.
Political institutions changed into modern models of governance. Cultural diversity
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increased, as did social mobility. Large cities emerged as places to find jobs in factories.
Social power moved into the hands of business elites and governmental officials, leading to
struggles between industrialists and workers. Labor unions and welfare organizations
formed in response to these disputes and concerns over workers' welfare. The Industrial
Revolution also saw to the development of bureaucratic forms of organization, complete
with written rules, job descriptions, impersonal positions, and hierarchical methods of
management.
7. Postindustrial societies
Cultural and social geographers note that with the advent of the computer microchip, the
world is witnessing a technological revolution. This revolution is creating a postindustrial
society based on information, knowledge, and the selling of services. Society is being
shaped by the human mind, aided by computer technology, rather than being driven by the
factory production of goods,. Although factories will exist, the key to wealth and power
seems to lie in the ability to generate, store, manipulate, and sell information.
Activity 2. 1. What will you predict to happen in the future because of technological advancement?
As a result of advances in subsistence technology, the following changes are predicted:
i) Size of societies: One of the most important consequences of technological advance is an increase in the size of
societies. Technologically more advanced types have on average larger populations.
ii) Permanence of settlements: Technologically advance societies establish more permanent settlement.
iii) Societal complexity: Technological advancement is linked to a greater complexity of the social system.
i) Ideology: The world’s views and beliefs of technologically advanced societies will differ from those of the
less advanced.
2.2. The evolution of humankind

The nature of the evolutionary process has recently been the subject of considerable controversy.
Although our knowledge continues to increase, there is still much that we do not know about
human origins and early history. Current evidence suggests that the large apes evolved as one
primate line in Africa about 25 million years ago and then split into a number of relatively
distinct evolutionary lines. One of these gave rise to gorillas, which in turn split into two further
lines, chimpanzees and humans. We can suggest with reasonable confidence, using a
combination of fossil, geological and genetic evidence that as this split occurred, human
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ancestors diverged from the ape line about 6 million years ago. The most compelling evidence is
that humans and chimpanzees differ in only about 1 per cent of their genes, a fact that means that
these two species could not have been evolving separately for more than about 6 million years.
Our ancestors become increasingly differentiated from other animals, learned how to adapt to a
variety of environments, and gradually spread over the surface of the earth in a prolonged
developmental process. From an early date, humans and their immediate ancestors demonstrated
their ability to be the active elements in the complex of human environment interactions leading
to the peopling and the exploitation of the earth's surface.
Australopithecus
Not accepted by all scientists as a hominid, ramapithecus appears to have moved from the trees
to a more open savanna environment. It may represent a link between the early apes and the two
or more genera of later hominids, undoubted members of the human family that began to develop
approximately 5 million years ago.
By about 2 million years ago, the branch leading to modern humans was represented by possibly
two types. One was tough, with a massive face and strong facial muscles, essentially a vegetarian
and a grubber of roots. Scientists now think that this strong vegetarian died out about two
hundred fifty thousand years ago. The other type, slender in build and about four feet tall, was
most likely a hunter. The samples of teeth he had indicate carnivorousness, suggesting that meat
was the predominant component of the diet. This type became extinct at an early period, or
possibly was replaced by a larger, stronger creature. It is not certain if any of these early
creatures migrated to lands beyond Africa-a continent that had undergone relatively fewer
geographical and climatic changes than the other continents. However, it seems possible that
groups crossed into Eurasia sometime beginning around seven hundred thousand years ago.
Apart from this, they may have used pebble tools, but there is no evidence of materials culture.
One of these was Australopithecus, "near man," walking erect and with limb and tooth
structures. These creatures were clearly the first hominid, or "Humanlike" creatures, diverged
from their apelike ancestors. Australopithecus may have given rise to the genus Homo, or "true
man". Not surprisingly, there is fossil evidence of their presence throughout eastern and southern
‐ 38 ‐
Africa. Fossil evidence found in Afar, Ethiopia farther to the north, shows that bipedalism, two
footed movement, was fully developed. This is a critical adaptation that permitted efficient
movement over great distances while carrying objects at the same time. The now-famous "Lucy",
discovered in 1974 and assigned a disputed age of 3.6 million years, and the perhaps 4-million-
years old male fossil unearthed in 1982 to the south of the "Lucy" site in Ethiopia have been
assigned the species name Australopithecus afarensis, the Afar ape-man, in part reflecting the
size and shape of the chimpanzee like skull.
This species had a small brain of about 440 ml (modern human brains average 1,450 ml). The
creatures evolved in eastern and southern Africa were of short creatures, no taller than a pre-
teenage boy, of the genus or family known as Australopithecus. These creatures walked in a
stooped but some-what upright manner, and they lived on the ground. Australopithecus was
contemporary with early humans, but arrived at an evolutionary dead end, and became extinct
perhaps 1 million years ago.
Homo Habilis
The next evolutionary event in the human ancestors occurred about 3 million years ago when this
hominid line split into two types, one of which became extinct and one of which evolved into
modern humans. The first representative of the line leading to modern humans appears to be the
species Homo habilis. Both Australopithecus and Homo habilis were probably restricted to
Africa, notably the east and South African savanna areas, eating small animals and plants. But
Homo hibilis used their increased brain size (about 680 ml) to begin a new and important cultural
behavior in that they made stone tools. Tool making is a major technological advance. Brain size
distinguished Homo habilis from other previous hominids and from other hominid lines living at
the same time. Some evidence suggests that Homo habilis, unlike Australopithecus, possessed
the capacity for speech.
Although we are uncertain of the answers to the questions such as why Australopithecus
afarnensis split into two types about 3 million years ago and why one of these become extinct,
there is evidence to suggest that global climatic changes are causal factor. A decline in global
temperatures corresponds with each of these evolutionary events. Such declines prompted drying
trends in Africa and hence decrease in tropical forest and related increase in open woodland and
‐ 39 ‐
dry savanna. Evolutionary changes can be seen as varying adaptations to these changing physical
environments.
Homo Erectus
The fossilized bones discovered in Java in 1991 and in China at Choukoutien (Zhoukoudian)
near Beijing in the 1920s, together with similar fossilized remains subsequently unearthed in
other parts of the old world, are now regarded as belonging definitely to humanlike creature, but
of a much later period than the australopithecines mentioned above. This creature was known as
Homo erectus because they walked erect.
After the appearance of Homo erectus, human biological evolution stabilized for sometimes,
although cultural adaptation, including the use of clothing and shelters and fashioned crude stone
tools (Lower Paleolithic or Old Stone Age culture) and possibly knew how to create fire were
considerable. Different cultural adaptations were devised for different environments. By about
400,000 years ago, hunting strategies had progressed to include the use of fire and possibly
planned hunting of larger game. Peking man (the name given to the fossil remains in china)
seems to have used fire in caves as far back as four hundred thousand years ago for heating,
cooking, and protection against the attack of animals. An innovation at this time was the
introduction of relatively permanent pair bonding-monogamy. Human language also increased
substantially to encourage the gradual development of human culture.
This new species was distinguished from Homo habilis primarily because of the increased brain
size of about 1,000 ml, a brain size at about the lower limit of modern humans. Homo erectus
first appeared in Africa and subsequently spread over much of Africa and into the warm
temperate areas of Europe and Asia. Currently this hominid species is thought to be the first to
move out of Africa. Some recent evidence suggests that Homo erectus may have reached Asia
shortly after the first appearance in Africa. Reasons for this movement are not known, but the
explanation probably related to climatic change, population increases, and the associated search
for food. Again, the basis of subsistence was hunting and gathering.
The wide geographic distribution of Homo erectus suggests an adaptive capacity not possessed
by the earlier australopithecines because the former could live and hunt under a greater range of
environmental conditions. Still, during the early Ice ages (Pleistocene epoch) when ice covered
‐ 40 ‐
mountains and the northern part of Eurasia, Homo erectus remained restricted to more temperate
areas of the old world.
Homo Sapiens
a) Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis:
Some 400,000 years ago, an immediate precursor of modern humans but a new hominid evolved
from Homo erectus. This species is similar to modern humans, but because there are physical
differences between them and modern humans, they are often called archaic Homo sapiens.
Their mean brain size of 1,220 ml was about 85 percent of that of modern humans. The best-
known subset of these archaic was named Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis (Neanderthal man),
who first appeared about 130,000 years ago and lasted until about 30,000 years ago. The name is
derived from a skull unearthed in 1856 in the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, in what is now
the Federal Republic of Germany.
A comparison of the skull of Neanderthal-man with the skulls of earlier creatures has suggested
that the former was not as primitive as was once thought. For that reason, the Neanderthal man is
now included in the human family. Over the past century, many other fossils, animals’ bones,
and hand worked tools have been uncovered in Africa, Asia, and Europe, suggesting that
Neanderthals were also widely dispersed. The cave at Le Moustier in southern France-where a
great diversity of flaked stone tools, bone points and spear like, sharpened animal ribs have been
found-has given its name to local Neanderthal culture (i.e. Mousterian). A number of
Neanderthal burial sites suggest some degree of social organization and possibly a religious
consciousness.
b) Homo sapiens Sapiens
Before the last advance of the ice had come to a halt, the Neanderthals had presumably become
extinct. The sole hominid survivor of the period was Cro-Magnon man, who is recognized as a
member of the genus Homo sapiens sapiens. The Cro-Magnons, who were nomadic hunters,
migrated into Europe from the Middle East. They occupied the coastal areas of the
Mediterranean and scattered inland to what was then the tundra, the treeless barrens on the
southern margin of the retreating glaciers in Europe.
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The cave paintings in France and Spain suggest that these new people had developed a way of
life that was different from the habits of the Neanderthals. They had become considerably more
skilled in the making of stone and bone tools, they could draw and paint with considerable skills
and imagination, and they had developed speech, which certainly has tended the formation of
social groups and the development of culture.
The warming trend in the earth’s climate that occurred about eight to ten thousand years ago
meant the extraction of many mammals that had long roamed the earth-the woolly mammoth,
giant wolves, and cave bears, as well as reindeer and horsing in north America. These climatic
changes were accompanied by movements of people that resulted in a fundamental redistribution
over the surface of the earth. New invaders from the near east and south-central Asia bought to
Europe advances in the art of tool making and a more highly developed social structure. Among
these human beings were groups that were by now essentially agriculturalist. Waves of
migrants-like a series of pulsations dating possibly from forth thousand years ago-had crossed
the narrow Bering straits that separate Asia from Alaska either by island hopping or over a dry
land bridge) and had found their way from the old world to the New world. At the same time,
other members of the human species had reached the peripheral regions of the earth, the pacific
island and Australia.
We have now reached a critical point-the emergence of modern humans, often called Homo
spines sapiens. This evolution was from a group of archaic before 100,000 years ago. These
humans spread though out the world replacing existing archaic groups because of some adaptive
advantage. From this time onwards, human evolution is cultural, not biological.
2.4. Agricultural Origins and Dispersal

The world’s huge population seeks its livelihood in various ways, but all depend on agriculture
for food, either directly or indirectly. Agriculture is the tilling of crops and rearing of
domesticated animals to produce food, drink, and fiber. It has been the principal enterprise of
humankind throughout human history. Even today, agriculture remains by far the most
important economic activity in the world, occupying the greater part of land area and employing
about half of the world population. In some parts of Africa and Asia, it employs as high as 80
percent of the labor force. However, in Europe’s and North American, it is on the decline. In
North America, for example, only less than 2 percent of the population is agriculturalists.
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The long road from ancient weeds to modern cultivated plants and from wild to domesticated
animals leads through many thousands of years and through unclear lines of dispersal from
places of origin. It should be noted that domestication involves the alternation of plants and
animals by selection, hybridization, and other methods. In the early days this domestication and
alternation was casual or even accidental, whereas today it is highly organized, scientific, and
quite complicated. Although cultivated plants and domesticated animals are often closely
associated, it is simpler, at first, to discuss them separately.
2.5.1 The Origin and Diffusion of Plant Domestication

After harvesting the wild upland grasses growing in Asia, the early man realized that the seed of
grasses might be planted. Thus, after a long period of trial and error, the cultivator was born. The
growth in output of foodstuffs that occurred in the centuries following supported ever larger
concentrations of people. The domestication of plants means the deliberate planting, raising, and
storing of the seeds, roots, or shoots of selected stock by humans. The domesticated plants are
genetically different from their wild ancestors because of deliberate improvement through
selective breeding by agriculturists. They are also bigger in size, producing larger, more
abundant fruit or grain than wild species. Selection of seeds from superior plants and genetic
isolation from other inferior plants to prevent cross-pollination are two necessary conditions
needed to develop and improve plant varieties.
In general, the domestication of plants marked a great step forward in man’s use of the earth. The
domestication of plants enabled man to produce much more food from a given area and to insure
a supply of food that was steadier than that gained from hunting, gathering, and fishing. In some
cases plant domestication also led to greater leisure for the new agriculturalists, some of which
could be used in collecting, selecting, and improving the plants with which they were already
familiar.
A number of cultural and environmental preconditions were necessary for the domestication of
plants. First of all, it assumed sedentary residence to protect the planted areas from animal,
insect, and human predators as well as to follow up the planting from season to season and from
year to year in order to develop a successful transplant from a wild species. In addition, it was
necessary to have a favorable climate so that domestication could be accomplished without
‐ 43 ‐
danger from excessive frost or drought. It was also important for man to be aware of the change
or improvement of a plant from season to season.
Another favorable condition for the domestication of plants involved the as occupancy of areas
with marked plant diversity, a forest clearing traditions and tools, the existence of wooded plain
areas away from river valley and a population that afford the time required of the selection,
propagation and improvement of plant. Finally, much later, hybridization and selective breeding
were developed, partly through rules of thumb and accidental selection.
It has been hypothesized that plant domestication was a widely adopted strategy for coping with
the critical population pressures encountered nearly simultaneously throughout the world. In
each case, domestication focused on plant species selected apparently for their capability of
providing large quantities of storable calories or protein.
The domestication of plants appears to have occurred independently in more than one area of
settlement between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. Though the evidence was not complete, it
would seem logical to suppose that cultivation began in several places on the earth’s surface
because of the wide distribution of peoples at that time. Certainly, a most striking fact about
early agriculture is the universality of its development or adoption within a very short span of
human history. Some 10,000 years ago, virtually all of human kind was supported by hunting
and gathering; by 2000 years ago, the vast majority lived by farming. Nonetheless, recognizable
areas of “invention” of agriculture have been identified. From them, there was rapid diffusion of
food types, production techniques, and new modes of economic and social organization.
One source region, and possibly the oldest, was in present-day Iraq and Iran, Mesopotamia. The
existing evidence indicates that most of the cultivated plants and the idea of domestication itself
occurred in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East and northeastern Africa, which gave the
world the great bread grains such as wheat, barley, sorghum, cowpeas, rye, and oats-as well as
grapes, apples, olives, and many others.
Another center of domestication was Southeastern Asia where some forms of grains such as rice,
bananas, yams, taro and sugarcane. In china, some varieties of barley and millet originated.
The third area of early domestication was in the New World, encompassing the Andean region of
South America, Central America, and the mid-latitude regions of North America. In South
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America on the high Andean plateau, when the area was discovered by Europeans, a number of
crops originated, including the white potato, the sweet potato, the peanut, the pineapple, manioc
(cassava), tobacco and cacao. In the higher plateaus of Mexico and Central America a number of
crops, such as maize squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and avocados were being grown at the time of
the European conquest. The only crops that were domesticated in North America, North of
Mexico, were the sunflower and the Jerusalem artichoke.
Overall, the American Indians domesticated an array of crops for superior in nutritional value to
those of the two Eastern Hemisphere centers combined. An even most important diffusion
brought American Indian crops to the Eastern Hemisphere. For example, Chili peppers and
maize became basic elements in the diet all across South Asia carried by the Portuguese.
The various agricultural regions result from cultural diffusion. Agriculture and its many
components are inventions that arose as innovations in certain source areas and diffused to other
parts of the world. Many of the crops have reached their greatest commercial importance outside
their homelands. Coffee, for example, originated in Ethiopia, but most of it is grown in Brazil.
Rubber is also native of South America but it succeeds in southeastern Asia. The shift from
homeland to commercial region, therefore, is no accident.
The diffusion of domesticated plants did not end in the distant past. Even today, crop farming
continues to spread in areas such as the Amazon Basin, extending the diffusion begun may
millennia ago. Introduction of the lemon, orange, grapes, and the date palm by Spanish
missionaries in eighteenth-century Californian, where no agriculture existed in the American
Indian era, provided a recent example of agricultural diffusion. The introduction of European
crops that accompanied the mass emigration from Europe to the Americas, Australia, New
Zealand, and South Africa was part of a larger diffusion.
2.5.2. Origin and Distribution of Domestic Animals

Like plants, the major domesticated animals were introduced slowly and gradually to the
agricultural economy. Animal domestication means the successful breeding of species that are
dependent on human beings. A domesticated animal differs from wild species in physical
appearance and behavior due to controlled breeding and frequent contact with humans. Animal
‐ 45 ‐
domestication began during the Mesolithic epoch, occurred later than the planting of crops and
developed independently in several world regions.
Were the hunters the first societies to domesticate animals? It was formerly thought that animals
were domesticated by hunters who captured young animals, brought them into hunting camps,
and gradually found uses for them. However, it seems more likely, as Sauer suggests that the
principal herd animals could not have been tamed by hunters because the domestication of
animals required a sedentary group which had both leisure and plenty of food, since hungry
people would have eaten the young animals before there was time for them to become
domesticated.
Probably, the domestication of both household and herd animals came about when
agriculturalists, encountering the young of wild animals, brought them into the home site either
for the purpose of entertainment or for some religious ceremony. Undoubtedly, the animals were
kept at first not for economic reason. Gradually, however, as the production of milk became
important, there was further domestication and further selection and development of animals in
order to find the ones that would furnish the most milk as well as the ones that could be used for
meat animals, riding animals, or draft animals. It is likely that these, young animals were nursed
by the women and then cared for by the children, led out to graze, tethered, and thus brought into
an adjustment with the household.
The ceremonial use of cattle gradually developed into the use of them as draft animals; cattle
were probably the first plow animals to be used extensively. For many centuries the use of cattle
for milk or for meat purposes was decidedly minor. More recently, in Europe, in East Africa,
and then in many other parts of the world, beef has become an important food of man. In general,
man’s choice of which animals were to be domesticated throws a very interesting light on man’s
agricultural origins.
Recently, dated fossils from Iraq indicted that dogs had been domesticated before goats, sheep,
cattle, pigs and horse. The early farmers of the Middle East in the Fertile Crescent Farmers were
not known as domesticators of animals. They deserve credit for the taming of poultry and the
first great animal domestications of herd animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats, lived
primarily in a belt running from Syria and southeastern Turkey eastward across Iraq and Iran to
central Asia. The farmers in the Middle East combined domesticated plants and animals into an
‐ 46 ‐
integrated system for the first time. These people began animal drawn plough, a revolutionary
invention that greatly increased the acreage under cultivation. They also began setting aside a
portion of the harvest as livestock feed.
Similarly, the American Indian remained rather unsuccessful in domesticating animals such as
cattle, sheep, goats etc perhaps in part because of the absence of such animals. .Nonetheless, they
domesticated the llama, alpaca, guinea pig, and turkey.
As the grain-herd livestock farming system continued to expand, particularly in the Fertile
Crescent area, tillers entered marginal lands where crop cultivation proved difficult or
impossible. Population pressure forced people into these hard lands, and they abandoned crop
farming. They began wandering with their herds so as not to exhaust local forage. In this
manner, nomadic herding probably developed on the margins of the Fertile Crescent.
Agricultural innovations and practices did not end with the original spread of farming and
herding. New ideas arose often during the seeding and spread through agricultural space as
waves of innovation. More importantly, the twentieth century witnessed the spread of hybrid
maize throughout the United States in the present century provides. It is a good example of
expansion diffusion and specifically hierarchical diffusion because this innovations gain initial
acceptance by wealthier, large-scale farmers. Another innovation diffusions was involved the
spread of pump irrigation through many parts of Western Great Plains of US. When the first
irrigation well began in 1935, it was retarded in apart by a shortage of capital in the Great
Depression years. However, irrigation spread quite rapidly after 1948.
In the spread of such innovations, contagious diffusion was observed from the core area or initial
acceptance and then time-distant decay. It has the neighborhood effect because the closer a
potential irrigation site is found to an existing irrigated farm, the more likely its owner will
accept the innovation. In this connection, some barriers to the diffusion of irrigation weakened
through time. For instance, banks and other money lending institutions were initially reluctant to
lend money to farmers for investment in irrigation, but once the technique proved to be
economically successful, loans were easily available and interest rates reduced.
All innovations were not spread wavelike across the land, but mainly is a much less orderly
pattern. In India, for example, acceptance of the hybrid seed, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides
‐ 47 ‐
associated with the green revolution spread widely in a relatively short time span, becoming
almost the normal type of farming. By contrast, countries such as Myanmar resisted the green
revolution, favoring the traditional method. Non-acceptors of the new revolution were named
“laggards”. A study made in India showed that although requiring chemical fertilizers and
protection by pesticides, the new hybrid rice and wheat seeds allowed India’s 1970-grain
production to double in output.
However, the great majority of poorer farmers could not afford the capital expenditures for
fertilizers and pesticides, and thus widening the gap between the rich and poor farmers. Most of
the poor became displaced from the land and migrated to the overcrowded cities of India, greatly
aggravating urban problems. In addition, the green revolution or the use of chemicals and
poisons on the land intensified environmental damage.
Another problem related to the adoption of hybrid seeds is the loss of plant diversity or genetic
variety. Before hybrid seeds came into widespread use, each farm developed its own instinctive
seed types, through the practice of setting aside seeds from, the better plants annually at the
harvest time for the next season’s sowing. Enormous genetic diversity vanished almost instantly
when farmers began purchasing hybrids rather than saving seed from the last harvest.
In sum, the green revolution proved at best to be a mixed blessing. Perhaps the “laggards” were
correct, in the end; a Western innovation in plant genetics may have caused more harm than
good in India and elsewhere. Not all diffusion related to agriculture has been intentional.
2.5. Evolution of settlement patterns

The term settlement has two distinct meanings in geographic literature. It may refer to the
colonization of new territories by migrating peoples; or it may refer to the grouping of peoples
and houses into hamlets, villages, towns and cities. It is with the second of these meanings that
we are concerned here.
2.5.1. Origin of settlement
Humans often settle in groups, mainly in bands and create artificial shelter. The human
occupancy of the earth was begun by the groups of individuals consisting of perhaps about one
‐ 48 ‐
hundred, rather than nuclear families because bands are required to collect food, defend enemies
and reproduce.
There is abundant evidence that Neanderthals regularly occupied the mouths of caves and rock
shelters in Europe and Southwest Asia. These provided a degree of weather protection,
especially during the colder times of the last ice age. It is also likely that they created open-air
camps with temporary shelters during seasonal migrations to find food. It is unlikely that
Neanderthals often ventured deep into large caves since those areas are extremely dark,
dangerous, and lack food as well as wood for fuel. However, some Neanderthals did leave
artifacts hundreds of feet into Bruniquel Cave in Southern France 47,600 years ago.
Concentrated smoke residues high on the walls of that cave suggest that Neanderthals were
using torches for light.
The thought that the first human habitation was the cave is unreal, for man never restricted
himself only to territories possessing caves located at convenient intervals, thus the dwelling
sites of early humans apparently were often in the open where they created simple brush covered
dwellings. Excavation at the Terra Amata site in 1966 revealed evidence of what might have
been separate oval living floors within branch and brush huts on the beach. These ovals were up
to 12 m long and 6 m wide. While some of the evidence of structures there is now in question, it
is clear that people were living seasonally at that site, creating fires, cooking meat, and making
tools.
Reconstruction of a 400,000 year old possible temporary dwelling at Terra Amata, France
(Illustration on the left is a view looking down at the ground without the structure)
By the early Neolithic period, both the circular and rectangular floor plans were in use and
construction involved small branches inter woven and dubbed with mud plasters, sun dried
‐ 49 ‐
bricks, and stone. In this period, the houses were built for the purpose of storing goods, penning,
sheltering animals and as a place of work. After a long period of diffusion, regions of
architectural and technological specialization in particular forms and with particulars traditions
developed. The manifestation of particular forms varied from flat roof, sun dried bricks of the
dry desert regions to pitched roofs with over charges in arid regions. Regarding the traditions, it,
for examples, varies from cone or cylinder grass in Eastern Africa to wooden construction
amplified by elaborate carving in the Sumatran high lands. Added to this, a wide variety of
architectural types and technological systems were developed. They also included shrines,
focusing on sacred objects and the disposed of the dead.
Geographers have interest in the housing and settlements types, the materials used, the purpose
for where it is developed, the spacing of house etc in different parts of the world. These
characteristics of settlement reveal much about the regions cultural traditions of the occupants,
building materials available, the social and economic needs and the natural environments that the
house must with stand. House types can indicate cultural traditions and transitions. In the layout
and function of house, we get an impression of social values and economic needs. In some parts,
for example, people and some of their live stocks live under the same roof, while in others
different rooms serve different purposes such as cooking, bathing, eating and sleeping. The
building materials used also show the purpose for which the houses are built and the materials
available in the area. In tropical areas, the houses are made of leaves, branches and mattering.
However, in cold and forested areas, houses have thick walls and pitched roof made of the log
with the aim of withstanding extreme cold conditions and heavy snow falls.
There is relationship between the spacing or density of houses and the intensity of crop
production, although care must be taken to generalize. Dispersed settlement does not always
show that land is extensively cultivated. In USA Mid- west, for example, individual houses lie
for apart, but land is intensively cultivated using machines. In Java, Indonesia, the settlement
pattern is nucleated with intense land use but the work is done by animals drawn plough and
hands.
In the Paleolithic, people did normally live in shelters that were built of perishable materials
subject to collapse and rapid decay. Therefore, it is difficult to know what the earliest human
‐ 50 ‐
shelters were. The shelter of the early people changed dramatically from the Paleolithic to the
Neolithic era. In the Neolithic, mud brick houses started appearing that were coated with plaster.
The growth of agriculture made permanent houses possible. Doorways were made on the roof,
with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses. The roof was supported by
beams from the inside. The rough ground was covered by platforms, mats, and skins on which
residents slept.
Dwellings of the people in parts of the world were the focal points of their daily lives. Their
houses have the functions of protecting against cold, precipitation of all kinds and wind. Through
time, residential areas are regarded as the center of comfort, the store of belongings and they
used to show off their wealth and status.
Certainly, settlement locations assume many and varied patterns depending on the physical
environments, culture, social organizations, political influences and economic activities.
Generally, patterns range between the extremes of dispersion (random or uniform) to nucleation
(clustering). For example, people who settle in the clustered villages generally earn their
livelihood from the cultivation of crops, which requires less land than raising livestock does.
Thus a farming economy permits villagers to live close together without having to travel too
much distance from farmstead to the field.
Early human settlements, were dependent on proximity to water and, depending on the lifestyle,
other natural resources, such as arable land for growing crops and grazing livestock, or
seasonally by hunting populations of prey. However, humans have a great capacity for altering
their habitats by various methods, such as through irrigation, urban planning, construction,
transport, manufacturing goods, deforestation and desertification. Deliberate habitat alteration is
often done with the goals of increasing material wealth, increasing thermal comfort, improving
the amount of food available, improving aesthetics, or improving ease of access to resources or
other human settlements. With the advent of large-scale trade and transport infrastructure,
proximity to these resources has become unnecessary, and in many places, these factors are no
longer a driving force behind the growth and decline of a population.
‐ 51 ‐
Technology has allowed humans to colonize all of the continents and adapt to virtually all
climates. Within the last century, humans have explored Antarctica, the ocean depths, and outer
space, although large-scale colonization of these environments is not yet feasible.
2.5.2. Settlement types and Morphology

Settlements are of various sizes, from the hamlet of four on five houses grouped closely together,
to the village of perhaps a few dozen houses, to the town and the city. The distribution of people
is clearly reflected in the cultural landscape. Farm people differ from one culture to another; one
place to another in how they situate their dwellings, producing greatly contrasted rural
landscapes. They range from tightly clustered villages on the one extreme to fully dispersed
farmsteads on the other.
Farm Villages
In many parts of the world, farming people group themselves together in clustered settlements
called farm villages. These nucleated settlements vary in size from a few dozen inhabitants to
several thousand. Farm villages contain the house, barn, sheds, pens, and garden. The fields,
pastures, and meadows lie out beyond the limits of the village, and farmers must journey out
from the village each day to work on the land.
Why do many farm people group together in villages? Nucleated settlements dominate the rural
landscape, at least partly in response to the basic human need to communicate and cooperate
with others. Being with other people is important for security, social life, religious activities, and
the regular exchange of goods and services. Reasons for the development of nucleated settlement
include a scarcity of good building land such as in areas that experience regular flooding, a need
to defend the group against others, the need for group labor to construct a particular agricultural
feature such as terraces on steep slopes or irrigation systems, and a political or religious
imperative.
It is increasingly clear that many villages have been subject to short-distance movement, re-
alignment enlargement and/or contraction during their existence and this can greatly complicate
attempts to explain their past or present morphology. Throughout the world, the degree of
dispersion (or scattering) of rural houses varies radically. At one extreme are the very compact
‐ 52 ‐
rural settlements of the orient, particularly of china, Japan, India and Pakistan, called farm
villages. These highly nucleated or grouped settlements are usually associated with population
density and fairly intensive activities, such as irrigation farming. At the other extreme are the
widely scattered farmhouses of Middle Western United States, the Argentine Pampas, and many
other areas, where each farmer traditionally lives on his own farm and where the farms are
sometimes large, each consisting of several section of land. In very general terms, two basic
village forms have often been identified: the nucleated village and the linear village.
The nucleated village has two commonly recognized, widely distributed subtypes: the irregular
nucleated village and regular nucleated village. Irregularly clustered settlement suggests
unplanned or spontaneous growth over time. It is a maze of winding, narrow streets and a jumble
of farmsteads. The irregular nucleated village is common in England, in eastern France,
Belgium and large parts of western Germany. It is also found in many part of Asia, including the
North China plain, north and northwest India. In Europe its irregular shape has usually been
attributed to its gradual expansion over a long period of time from an isolated farm or hamlet
into a village through the practice of divided land inheritance and the subsequent multiplication
of family and farm units.
The crossroad village is slightly more compact than the street village. The houses, residences
stores, or markets, are located as close to the cross roads as possible in order to take advantage of
traffic going both ways. The crossroad village tends to develop in a more or less irregular
rectangular pattern as additional streets are laid out approximately parallel neither to the original
crossroads. Of course, these streets are neither straight line nor at right angles to each other.
Other types of farm villages are regular nucleated settlements that may result from some form of
planning. In other words, these types of village may generally owe their morphology to a later
and often planned land settlement, but there are exceptions to this generalization. It includes
elongated street village, the green village and the grid-iron village, and the checkerboard village.
The street village consists of farmsteads or houses arranged along both sides of a single, central
street, producing elongated settlements. It develops where there is essentially no crossroad or
other strong focus of settlement. The street village is associated with the system of landholding
in which the fields of the individual frame are scattered throughout the surrounding country.
‐ 53 ‐
Since the ownership of the land shifts frequently, it is more satisfactory for the farmer to live in
the loose cluster of houses in the street village than to live on his land. Street villages are
particularly common in Eastern Europe, including much of Russia.
Another type is the green village, consists of farmsteads grouped around a central open place, or
green, which forms a common property. The green village is most widely distributed the plain
areas of northwestern Europe, mainly along the old Germanic-Slav border in Central Europe. In
this area, it is known, depending on its size, as a Rundling (Small round village) or Runddorf
(round village). The core of such settlements is a roughly circular green around which the
farmsteads are grouped. They probably represent a form associated with medieval German
colonization.
The compact villages that are nearly similar in form with green villages are sometimes called the
round village. In the round village, the houses were arranged in a radial pattern. The round
village was developed for protection and often encircled by a wall. As the settlement grew and
new walls were constructed farther from the center of the village, the original wall would
become a street. The resulting pattern of these villages, which were very common in the Slavic
portions of Eastern Europe, consisted of radial streets which led out from a central square or
market and were connected by crude circular streets. The radial plan lends itself to a satisfactory
modern settlement provided that it makes appropriate provisions for such necessities as market
area and recreational area.
Grid-iron villages or the checkerboard villages are regular in a layout based on a gridiron pattern
of streets meeting at right angles. Grid-iron village is very widely distributed, hence found in
many parts of Asia and in parts of Eastern Europe but their origins are diverse. In the latter case,
they are associated with planned settlements along the middle and lower Danube by the
government of the Austro Hungarian Empire as a means of re-populating war-torn areas. In
many parts of the world they are associated with the development of mining activity and have
given rise to basically similar forms in places as far apart as south Wales, northern France,
Australia and northern Canada. Planned settlements of this kind have also developed in many
colonial plantation schemes.
‐ 54 ‐
Semi-clustered Rural Settlement
Some forms of rural settlement share characteristics of both clustered and dispersed types and
may best be referred to as semi clustered. Hamlet is the most common type of semi-clustered
settlement. It consists of a small number of farmsteads grouped loosely. Like villages, the
hamlet farmsteads lie in a settlement nucleus separate from cropland, but the hamlet is smaller
and less compact, containing a few as three or four houses. Hamlets appear most frequently in
poorer hill districts of parts of Western Europe, China, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Most hamlets seldom lie close to one another, constituting a loose irregular village. The
individuals in a hamlet are often linked to a clan or religious group. Loose irregular villages
involve a deliberate segregation of inhabitants, either voluntary or involuntary. In India, farmers
of the “untouchables” castes, the lowest ranking group in the caste system is segregated from
other people in this manner.
The row village is another type of semi-clustered settlement, consists of a loose chain of
farmsteads spaced at intervals along a road, river, or canal, often extending from many
kilometers. The individual farmsteads lie farther apart than those in a street village.
Isolated Farmstead
In many parts of the world, the rural population lives in dispersed, isolated farmsteads, often
some distance from their nearest neighbors. These dispersed rural settlements grew up mainly in
Anglo-America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa-that is in lands colonized by
Europeans. But even in areas dominated by village settlements-such as Japan, Europe, and parts
of India-some isolated farmsteads appear.
The conditions encouraging these types of settlements include peace and security in the
countryside, removing the need for defense. Colonization by individual pioneer families;
agricultural private enterprise, rural economies dominated by livestock raising; and well-drained
land where water is readily available are also important factors. Most dispersed farmsteads
originated rather recently and date primarily from the colonization of new farmland in the last
two or three centuries.
‐ 55 ‐
2.5.3. Neighborhood community and residential units
As you know, cities are internally complex, with different land uses, different realities for
different people, and different people, and different districts-districts of high social status and
others of low social status.
Perhaps an understanding of the urban environment can best be approached by considering the
many and complex ways in which social structures and individual actions relate. It is
acknowledged that group identity is the mainspring of human society. If groups live together,
then there is a shared understanding of place. When places have a meaning shared by many,
there is a lack of conflict over land use. But in any urban area, there are locations used by many
groups and these take on a multitude of meaning and may become areas of conflict. Thus any
urban area has two types of space: places occupied by groups whose members have a common
image and a shared meaning, and locations used by diverse groups but belonging to none.
Scholars distinguished between proxemic space, such as neighborhoods, and distemic space,
such as roads. Proxemic spaces reflect group identity, while distmic spaces have varied meanings
according to the social background of the individual. Traditionally, the most successful and
stable diatomic space is the market.
The focus on individuals as members of groups encourages geographers to acknowledge the

meanings that different people attach to different locations. It becomes easier to understand the
values that people ascribe to a place and the conflicts that can emerge over land use.
Urban areas are characterized not only by a number of different land uses but also by distinctive
residential areas. Typically, these areas are distinguished on the basis of class, ethnicity, or some
other cultural variable. In European and some other cities prior to the industrial revolution, the
most distinctive urban residential district was the Jewish district, usually labeled as a ghetto.
Ghettos are apart from, rather than a part of, the lager city and are held together by the internal
cohesion of the group and the desire of non-group members to resist spatial expansion of the
group.
During the industrial revolution, class divisions become more evident and spatial consequences
were apparent. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, some were aware of the establishment
of working class districts close to the factories and the establishment of middle-class districts
‐ 56 ‐
elsewhere, especially on the outskirts of the urban area. Distinct residential areas appeared most
obviously in large immigrant-deceiving North American cities in the nineteenth century, with
distinctions based on ethnicity as well as class. Once a particular ethnic group was large enough,
it settled as a group usually in an inexpensive area close to employment opportunities.
In some parts of the world, such segregation might be based on religion, as in Belfast Northern
Ireland. In South Africa, even before the formal institutionalization of apartheid, cities were
clearly divided on explicitly ethnic line. Residence variation also results from lifestyle
preferences and the proximity of major employers such as universities and hospitals. There is no
doubt that society and space are permanently intertwined.
The link between society and space is perhaps clearest when neighborhoods are evident. The
concept of neighborhood is not formalized, but it does imply a district that reflects social values.
Some geographers contend that the best indicator of neighborhood identity is the presence of
neighborhood activism. Unfortunately, some neighborhood such as slum districts and service-
dependent ghettos has an identity that is negative, and any neighborhood activism aims not to
preserve identity but generate change. Acknowledging that human landscapes reflect social
processes, geographers recognize the need to eliminate such areas by eliminating their causes.
2.5.4. Indices of settlement morphology

Nearest Neighbor Analysis
In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to attempts to describe patterns of
settlement based on the technique of nearest neighbor analysis. This technique, ‘borrowed’ from
plant ecologists, considers the location of individual rural settlements in relation to other similar
points in an area. It is an approach designed to provide a more objective, statistically based
method of describing settlement distributions. The technique involves calculation of a nearest
neighbor index (Rn) based on a comparison between the settlement pattern actually observed in
an area and an assumed random settlement pattern. In theory the index can range from 0 (when
all point are clustered closely together) to 2.15 (when all points are distributed uniformly
throughout the area under consideration and so are as far away from one another as possible). An
index value of 1.0 indicates a random distribution, while indices close to 0 are regarded as
indicating a ‘clustered’ pattern and those near to 2.15 a ‘regular’ pattern. The following formula
with example provides an illustration of how this approach can be used.
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The formula for calculating the index is as follows:
Rn = D (obs) where neighbors in a random distribution D (ran). This can be
shown to be
D (ran)
0.5 a where
Rn is the nearest neighbour statistic; n
D (obs) is the mean of the distances between the settlements a = the area of study in km2; and
in a area and the nearest neighbor of each of these settlements;
n = the number of settlements within it
D (ran) is the assumed means distance between settlements
and their nearest neighbors if all the settlements were 6. Finally, calculate the nearest neighbor index using the
randomly distributed formula:
Apply the formula is a particular situation using the following Rn = D (obs)
procedure: D (ran)
1. Delimit the area of study and define the type of Thus, if the mean distance between settlements in an area of
settlements to be studied (not always an easy task-a 800km2 was 3.5km and there were 25 settlements in the area:
group discussion on this way be helpful)
a) the value of D (obs) would be 3,5;
2. Locate the settlements in the pattern to be analyzed
on an appropriate map. b) the value of D(ran) would be 0.5 800 =
25
3. Measure the distance between each settlement (the
settlement closest to it) and record these distances. 0.5
32 = 2.8;
4. Calculate the mean of the distance recorded in stage
c) the nearest neighbor index (Rn) could then be calculated
3 about (D (obs) in the formula).
Rn= D(obs) = 3.5= 1.25
5. Calculate the expected mean distance between
settlements and their nearest D(ran) 2.8
Critically discuss the value of your findings and the
effectiveness of nearest neighbor analysis as a technique for
describing settlement patterns.
Summary
Long before the beginning of the ice age, man had learned to descend from the trees, walk erect
on the land, and use his hands for a variety of purposes. Of basic importance was man’s ability
to use tools, many of which were readily available perhaps the first tool that man used was a
stick sharpened with the broken edge of a piece of flint. As time went on, crude stone
implements were greatly improved and elaborated into beautiful examples of knives scrapers,
arrow heads, and spear points.
Because he could use fire, man was able to keep warm as he penetrated into cold lands. With
fire, he could make edible foods which he could not tolerate in the raw state. Fire cleared forests
and renewed grasslands, thereby attracting wild game, providing pasturage for domestic animals,
and supplying land for cultivation. Man probably used fire long before he knew the methods of
making fire from flints or from rotating sticks since wild fire was available from volcanoes and
‐ 58 ‐
from forest fires set by lighting, with the careful addition of fuel, man could maintain a fire for
his use and even transport it from one camp to another.
Of great value to man in his struggle against his environment was the power of speech. Although
the more primitive primates were able to communicate in a limited way, man was the only
creature who learned to covey complicated ideas. By enabling man to communicate the things he
had learned, the power of speech facilitated the dispersal of his culture.
Another attribute of man which proved very useful to him was his capacity for eating. With his
excellent teeth and good digestion, man was able to chew and digest foods which would cause
great suffering, if not death, to most other animals. This ability permitted early man to penetrate
into areas where he had never been before and to live on the vegetable and animals fare which he
found there.
In addition to these qualities, man developed very freely moving arms; rather delicate but strong,
grasping hands; and very sharp-focusing eyes. The ability to focus on nearby objects with a
temporarily cross eyed vision evolved in man to a high degree. Moreover, man could see at great
distances, although the sharpness of his vision was not as great as that of some of the other
animals. Most important of all, perhaps, was the brain of man, a large brain that made him a
reasoning, planning, and inventive creature.
‐ 59 ‐
UNIT 3: GEOGRAPHY OF LANGUAGE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY
Objectives
Explain how religion and language are originated
Describe the relationship between toponyms and places in the past.
Define terms such as dialects, pidgin, lingua franca, and creole
Differentiate between ethnicity and race
Elaborate the concepts of acculturation and assimilation
Explain how race is evolved
Resources
De Blij, Harm J, (1977). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New
York, USA.
De Blij, Harm J, (1996). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons Inc,
Canada.
Jackson, W.A. Douglas (1985). The shaping of our world: A human and cultural geography, John
Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, USA
Rubenstien, James. M (1989). The cultural landscapes: An introduction to human geography, 2nd
edition, Miami University, Ohio, Merril publishing company
3.1. Geography of language

Language is a vital element of culture; no culture exists without it. Language is an important
focus for study because it is a central aspect of cultural identity. Without language, cultural
accomplishments could not be transmitted from one generation to the next. Among all the culture
traits, one of which we are perhaps most immediately made aware is language. Language makes
possible the understandings and shared behavior patterns called culture.
What is a language? The term has been defined in numerous different ways. Language is
defined as “a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the means of
conventionalized signs, gestures, marks, or especially articulate vocal sounds. Words are
essentially symbols for the features of a culture. When we speak, we transmit our experience by
creating and transferring symbols. Speaking is the vocalization of the symbols of culture. In
short, communication is symbolic, based on commonly understood meanings of signs or sounds.
‐ 60 ‐
Language, above all, is a conveyor of ideas or cultural phenomena. Like all other aspects of
culture, it is transmitted to successive generations by learning and imitation. Many languages
also have a literary tradition, or a system of communication through writing.
Language is the most important medium by which culture is transmitted. It is what enables
parents to teach their children what the world they live in are like and what they must do to
become functioning members of society.
The diversity of languages is a cultural characteristic that is largely taken for granted. The
heterogeneous collection of languages spoken throughout the world is one of the clearest and
most obvious characteristics of cultural diversity. Cultural geographers can use language to
identify important differences in the cultural landscape.
Studying language is important to understand how people think and feel about the world around
them and how their expressions of thought and feeling have helped shape the world we live in.
Language corresponds to, and reflects, the experience of a people, an experience that a people
have shared with each other over a period of time. Geography of languages should convey
something of the diversity of human experiences. Some argue that the language of a society
structures the perceptions of its speakers. By the words that it contains and the concepts that it
can formulate, language is said to determine the attitudes, the understandings, and the responses
of the society to which it belongs. Language, therefore, may be both a cause and a symbol of
cultural differentiation.
A common language fosters unity among people. It promotes a feeling for a region. If it is
spoken throughout a country, it fosters nationalism. For this reason, languages often gain
political significance and serve as a focus of opposition. French Canadians have asked for and
received government recognition of their language and now have established it as the official
language of Quebec Province; Canada itself is officially bilingual. In India, where over 100
languages are spoken serious riots were caused in 1965 by people expressing opposition to the
imposition of Hindi as the single official language.
Language is one of the most fiercely defended elements of a culture and a source of conflict.
Some groups in Ethiopia such as Tigray and Oromo people demanded the right of instruction in
their own language and the Basques have been waging a civil war to achieve a linguistically
based separatism. Belgium is another small European country that contains more than one
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nationality divided by language. However, Belgium has had more difficulty in reconciling the
interests of the two cultural groups. The residents of the north speak Flemish, a Dutch dialect,
while the southerners, who are known as Walloons, speak French. The language boundary
sharply divides the country into two regions. Antagonism between the Flemings and the
Walloons is aggravated by economic and political differences. Historically, the Walloons
dominated Belgium’s economy and political structure, and French was the official state
language.
Few states in the world peacefully embrace nationalities that speak different languages.
Switzerland succeeds by having a much decentralized form of government. Local authorities
hold most of the power, and decisions are frequently made by special voter referendums.
Switzerland has four official languages-German French, Italian, and Romansh.
Like all elements of culture, languages follow processes of diffusion and evolution. Linguistic
diffusion is usually a result of migration or conquest and trade. The diffusion of the English
language worldwide reflects the establishment of English overseas colonies and the long-term
dominance of the English in world trade.
Language is also a clue to important cultural elements, reflecting environment. Arabic has 80
words related to camels, an animal on which people rely for food, transport, and labor; Eskimos
use a variety of terms for the seal; and Japanese contains over 20 words for various types of rice.
Russian is rich in terms for ice and snow, indicative of the prevailing climate.
Lingua franca and pidgin
Historically, where there is a multiplicity of languages that makes communication difficult, one
language may be used by several communities for specific purposes even when they are not the
first language of populations. A lingua franca is a language mutually understood by people who
have different native languages or who mostly speak other languages. It is a language used is
trade organization and general communication among peoples. Certain regional languages have
gained special favor. A more famous lingua franca is Swahili, more correctly called Kiswahili,
from the Arabic word meaning coastal-developed among Arabic-speaking settlers of the East
African coast. Although Swahili has been modified by the introduction of Arabic words, it is still
classified as a Bantu language. Swahili subsequently was carried inland by Arab traders and its
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space expanded greatly. Swahili, therefore, has strong Arabic influences in its vocabulary and is
one of the few African languages with an extensive literature. It is spoken in Kenya, Tanzania,
and Uganda serving effectively as a means of communication because it is a language mutually
understood by people who have different native languages.
Like bilingualism or multilingualism, pindigenization represents another type of accommodation

to a situation in which the different speakers of two or more language group can communicate.
Pidgin language also has come into existence to bridge the gap between peoples. A pidgin is an
amalgamation of languages-usually a simplified form of one language, such as English or
French, with borrowings from another, perhaps from a native language. In its original form, a
pidgin is not the mother tongue of any of its speakers. It is a second language for everyone who
uses it. Generally, it is restricted to specific functions such as trade, commerce, administration or
work supervision. Pidgins are characterized by highly simplified grammatical structure and a
sharply reduced vocabulary but tend to eliminate the difference. Most pidgins are developed as a
result of European colonization. A pidgin has no native speakers, even though it may be widely
used, as English pidgin is in Papua New Guinea today.
When the use of pidgin spreads and once a pidgin has become the first language or the mother
tongue of a group of speakers, who may no longer know their native language, creolization has
occurred. To simply put, if a pidgin becomes relatively elaborate and serves as a mother tongue,
it is known as a Creole. A creole is a language that has evolved from a pidgin to become a
distinctive language that is the first language of society. In their development, creoles acquire a
complex grammatical structure and enhanced vocabulary. Although rarely written, such a
language serves as a useful medium of communication. Creoles are relatively common in the
Caribbean region. This has been true of the French Creole spoken in Louisiana and the West
Indies. Another example of creolization outside Caribbean is Africans, a pidginize form of 17thc
ditch used in the republic.
Language and Community Spaces
Before looking more closely at the geography of language, however, it is necessary to become
familiar with some basic vocabulary. There exists a distinct community of language in areas
where a common language in spoken. Such a community will share a common segment of earth
space within which frequent social contact and interaction have taken place.
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Just as languages evolve from a common ancestor, so can several dialects derive from one
language. A dialect is a form of a language spoken in a local area. One dialect of a language is
normally recognized as the standard language, which is the form used for official government
business, education, and mass communications. The official language, is the language adopted
for use by the government.
Geographers study dialects to understand the relationship between culture and the landscape.
Dialects, like language families acquire distinctive distribution across the landscape through
various social-processes, such as migration, interaction, and isolation. At the same time, a dialect
reflects unique characteristics of the physical environment in which a group of people live, and
changes change partially in response to modification of the landscape. Like other languages,
Amharic has a wide variety of dialects, and the people who speak the same language may use
different pronunciations and sometimes meanings for particular words, for example, ‘Ashker’ in
Gojam means a young boy or girl while in Wollo it stands for ‘maid servant’.
If for some reason social interaction among people inhabiting a region weakens, then differences
in expression may occur. Variation in word usage or intonation may lead to the formation of
dialects. Dialects are the regional variations within one language in vocabulary, pronunciation,
grammar, and the speed at which the language is spoken Dialect s are place-based in nature and
may set group of speakers a part from one another. Afan Oromo is among the dialects spoken in
Oromiya Regional State that are the most easily recognized by their distinctive accents. This is
evident in Ethiopia where population mobility in the past was relatively low, especially in
Amhara Regional State. Striking differences in pronunciation and in some words between a long-
time resident of Wollo, Gojam, and Gonder farmers persist even to the present. This practice of
using two or more variant of the same language is known as diglossia.
If there is extended separation among groups or social interaction ceases altogether, as it must
have done among the earth’s early hunting populations, distinct languages develop. The larger
the earth space and the weaker the pattern of social interaction within it, the more likely it is for
broad variation to occur.
The dialects have been documented primarily though the study of particular words. Every word
that is not used nationally has some geographic extent within the country and therefore has
boundaries. A boundary, known as an isogloss, can be constructed for each word. These
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isoglosses are determined though showing people, especially natives of rural areas, pictures or
sentences to be completed with a particular word. While every word has a unique isogloss,
boundary lines of different words coalesce in some locations to form regions.
Language differences tend to be greater in rural areas than in cities, because farmers are
relatively isolated from interaction with people from other dialect regions. Differences in
pronunciation in the various regions of one language are more familiar than differences in words,
although it is harder to draw precise isoglosses from them.
Language in Landscape
Our discussion so far has emphasized the centrality of language to culture and group identity,
and its effects on our partitioning of the earth. But language plays another key role-language is in
landscape. Place names or toponyms are the clearest such expression. We name places for at
least two reasons: first, in order to understand and give meaning to landscape. A landscape
without names would be like a group of people without names; there would be little basis for
distinguishing one location or person from another. Second, naming places probably serves an
important psychological need to name is to know and control, to remove uncertainty about the
landscape. For these two reasons, humans impose names on all landscapes that they occupy.
Place names, or toponyms are particularly useful in the study of migration patterns and the
historical geography of an area. Thus, in England, place names ending in Chester (as in
Winchester and Manchester) evolved from the Latin Castra, meaning “came. Common Anglo-
Saxon suffixes for settlements were ‘ing’ and ‘ham’ both denoting grassland. In Ethiopia, Oromo
place names such as Wereelu, Werebabu etc are found across the country, mainly in Amhara
Regional State, indicating the former distribution of Oromo people.
Place names, then, are a feature of our human-made landscapes, often visible in the form of road
signs and an integral component of maps, our models of the landscape. Many place names
combine two parts, genetic and specific. Newfoundland, for example, has newfound as the
specific component, land as the generic component-the type of location being identified.
There are many ways of classifying place names. One classification is based on the mechanisms
of naming useful. Possessive names indicate an association, possibly ownership, by an individual
(Personal) or a group (ethnic), for example, Aleyuamba, Werehimeno etc. Of ninety-two Finnish
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place names, fifty-two were possessive. Commemorative place names commemorate an
important place names identify an easily recognizable characteristic of a location, such as
marshland; there were nineteen such names. Only five place names could not be easily
accommodated by this classification.
Analyses of place names thus provide information about the spatial and social origins of settlers.
Place names are often an extremely valuable route to understanding the cultural history of an
area. This is especially clear in areas of relatively recent first effective settlement, but is also the
case in older settled areas. In many parts of Europe, for example, former cultural boundaries can
be identified through place name analysis.
Toponymy is the study of place-names. Toponymy has become a science in itself. A place-name
may tell us who the founder of a settlement was. In Ethiopia, there are a repetition of place
names from Afan Oromo languages such as Kombolca and Kobbo in East Harrege, and Wollo.
Through the study of place-names, it is also possible to learn something of the original
community, the area from where the people came, what language they spoke or what religious
beliefs they held, and so on. Place-names also provide another example of how word usage
reflects social values.
3.1.1. Origin of Language
Unlike writing, spoken language developments have left no direct fossil traces. Many biologists
and anthropologists alike believe that language was developed earlier in human evolution. They
do not yet agree on when or how language use first emerged among humans or their ancestors.
How did the first language come into being? There is some debate as to whether language
developed gradually over thousands of years or whether it appeared suddenly.
Concerning the origin of the first language, there are two main hypotheses, or beliefs. The first
is the belief that language is the gift of the gods to humans. The most familiar is found in the
Bible, Genesis 2:20, which tells us that Adam gave names to all living creatures. This belief
suggests that humans were created from the start with an innate capacity to use language. The
other is that humans acquired a more sophisticated brain which made language invention and
learning possible in the evolutionary development process. In other words, at some point in time
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humans evolved a language acquisition device. The simple vocalizations and gestures inherited
from our primate ancestors then quickly gave way to a creative system of language, perhaps
within a single generation or two. According to this natural evolution hypothesis, as soon as
humans developed the biological, or neurological, capacity for creative language, the cultural
development of some specific system of forms with meanings would have been an inevitable
next step. Neither can be proven or disproved given present knowledge.
Biologists’ believed that at some stage of human evolution, several systems of verbal
communication emerged from proto-linguistic and non-linguistic means of communication. It is
noted that the proto-language is a primitive form of communication lacking a fully-developed
syntax, tense and auxiliary verbs, and a non-lexical vocabulary. Some ligustists place the first
emergence of such a language somewhere between great ape and fully developed modern human
languages with the earliest appearance of Homo during the Lower Pleistocene, and associates its
appearance with the pressure of behavioral adaptation to the niche construction of
scavenging faced by Homo habilis. It is mostly undisputed that pre-human australopithecines did
not have the primitive language-like systems.
During the course of human evolution brain size increased rapidly in a short period, bringing
forth a new species. The first was the arrival of Homo erectus and the next was the existence of
Homo sapiens. Fossil evidence indicates that Broca's area and Wernicke's area, the main areas of
the brain associated with language may have begun to enlarge in Homo erectus. The increase in
mental power would have enabled the hominids to increase their vocabulary, and progress from
one word statement to two word or even multiple word statements. Analyzing their artifacts, the
level of communication must have been low but possibly intermediate between humans and
primates. Later it is found that they were able to communicate through their tongue pronouncing
several words which are even used today. Captive apes using lexigrams produce strings of
symbols to communicate in a pidgin like manner.
The greatest step would have been the progression from this simplified pidgin like
communication to a Creole like language with all the grammar and syntax of modern languages.
Scholars believe that this step could only have been accomplished with some biological change
to the brain such as a mutation. It has been found that a gene - FOXP2 may have undergone a
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mutation allowing humans to communicate. Evidence shows that this change took place
somewhere in Africa around 50,000 years ago, which rapidly brought significant changes in
lexicon of the Homo sapiens.
The Neanderthal ritual burial of its own dead implies a belief in an afterlife. This is basically a
rudimentary religious concept. Likewise, the ritual burial of cave bear trophy heads is consistent
with a supernatural belief system. The transmission of such beliefs from generation to
generation very likely required a spoken language. Similarly, their tool making skills and other
technical knowledge would suggest some sort of sophisticated communication.
Since the Neanderthal brains had speech centers that were as large as our own, it is reasonable to
assume that they were capable of language. The modern human form of the FOXP2 gene has
been found recently in the bones of two Neanderthals from Northern Spain. This gene is
associated with the ability to comprehend grammar and to control the mouth movements
necessary to produce words. The implication is that Neanderthals could comprehend and
produce something like modern speech. The shape and position of the horseshoe-shaped hyoid
bone in the neck of Neanderthals was essentially the same as in modern humans. This has
important implications for speech because the horseshoe-shaped hyoid bone supports muscles in
the jaw, tongue, and larynx. Its high location makes it possible to produce the extraordinarily
wide range of human vocal sounds. However, since Neanderthal mouths and nasal cavities were
somewhat different in shape from our own, there is a question as to whether they would have
been able to produce all of the vowels and consonants that we use today. Based on this chain of
evidence, it is agreed that the Neanderthals probably did have spoken language, though it may
have sounded a bit odd to our ears.
Ultimately, there is no scientific evidence showing the origin of languages, but still there are
several assumption which shows that languages evolved with the evolution and development of
brain. Recently, some research institutes have banned discussion of the origin of language,
deeming it to be an unanswerable problem. Researchers however are still doing a lot of
investigation in this arena and we are hoping to find more about the birth of languages.
How might humans have devised the first language?
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There are still debates and several hypotheses as to how language might have been consciously
invented by humans based on a more primitive system of hominid communication. Each
hypothesis is predicated on the idea that the invention of language called invention hypotheses,
and its gradual refinement served as a continuous impetus to additional human mental
development. None of the invention hypotheses is convincing and most rational linguists agree
that the origin of language is still a mystery.
First, there are four imitation hypotheses that hold that language began through some sort of
human mimicry of naturally occurring sounds or movements. These are the belief that:
¾ Language began when humans started naming objects, actions and phenomena after a
recognizable sound associated with it in real life.
¾ It holds that the first words came from involuntary exclamations of dislike, hunger, pain,
or pleasure, eventually leading to the expression of more developed ideas and emotions.
¾ It holds that vocabulary developed from imitations of animal noises. In other words, the
first human words were a type of index, a sign whose form is naturally connected with its
meaning in time and space.
¾ Language developed from gestures that began to be imitated by the organs of speech.
Hence, the first words were lip icons of hand gestures.
A second set of hypotheses on language origin holds that language began as a response to some
acute necessity in the community. Some of the several necessity hypotheses of the invention of
language are:
Language may have evolved from warning signals or started with a warning to others,
such as Look out, Run, or Help. In other words, the first words were indexes used during
everyday activities and situations.
Language developed on the basis of human cooperative efforts. The earliest language
was chanting to simulate collective effort, whether moving great stones to block off cave
entrances from roving carnivores or repeating warlike phrases to inflame the fighting
spirit.
There are no scientific tests to evaluate between these competing hypotheses. All of them seem
equally far-fetched. Each of the imitation hypotheses might explain how certain isolated words
of language developed. Very few words in human language are verbal icons. Most are symbols,
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displaying an arbitrary relationship of sound and meaning. In addition, each of the necessity
hypotheses might explain how involuntary sounds made out of need in certain contexts might
have come to be manipulated as words for an object even out of context.
Regardless of whether language was a special gift from the gods, a natural evolutionary
acquisition, or an ingenious, conscious human invention made at some specific moment in our
species' distant past, the fact remains that language does exist.
Could the success of our species vis-a-vis other hominids be explained by its possession of
superior communicative skills? Speaking people could teach, plan, organize, and convey more
sophisticated information. This would have given them incomparable advantage over hominid
groups. Obviously, no one knows whether Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalis used creative
language. In any case, Homo sapiens, "the wise human," should perhaps really be called Homo
loquens, "the speaking human" because language and humans are everywhere found together.
3.1. 2. Major World Languages

There are about 3000 languages in the world, however. Obviously some languages have many
more speakers than others; even this level of diversity may be reduced if we group languages
into families. A linguistic family is a group of languages thought to have a common origin. For
example, the Indo-European family of languages includes, among many others, English, Greek,
Hindi, and Russian. Languages in the Indo-European family are spoken by about half the world’s
peoples. Linguists think that these languages derive from a common ancestor language called
proto-Indo-European, which was several thousand years ago. As these groups of people spread
across Europe and Asia and settled isolated from one another, their language evolved differently.
With a linguistic family, we can distinguish branches. The romance languages (e.g., French,
Spanish, and Italian) and the Germanic languages (e.g., English German, and Dutch) are
branches of Indo-European. The languages in a branch often show similarities in sounds,
grammatical structure, and vocabulary such as English ‘daughter’, German ‘Tochter’, and
Swedish ‘dotter’.
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A languages family is a collection of individual languages related to each other by virtue of
having a common ancestor. Though several thousand languages are spoken around the world,
they can be grouped into a small number of language families. A language branch is a collection
of languages that share a common origin but that have evolved into individual languages.
Language branches are divided into language groups. Germanic language branch consists of
three groups. These are West Germanic, North Germanic, and East Germanic.
In the classification of languages, we use terms employed in biology; and for the same reasons;
certain languages are related to each other, some are not. Languages grouped in a family are
thought to have a shared origin and in the subfamily their commonality is more definite. These
are divided into language groups, which consist of sets of individual languages.
For the purposes of classification, languages are divided into families, branches, and groups. A
language family is a collection of individual languages believed to be related in their pre-
historical origin. About 50 percent of the world’s people speak a language that originated from
the Indo-European family. A language branch is a collection of languages that possess a definite
common origin but have split into individual languages. A language group is collection of
several individual languages that are part of a language branch and that shares a common origin
in the recent past and has relatively similar grammar and vocabulary. Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Italian, Romanian and Catalan are a language group, classified under the Romance
branch as part of the Indo-European language family.
Although there are between three and four thousands languages presently spoken on earth, a very
small number of languages are spoken by the greater proportion of the world’s total population.
At present some 400 million people speak English as a first language and many more may use
English on certain occasions, covering large areas of the world. No single language in the world
is spoken by more people than is Mandarin Chinese. The world’s languages, if some variations
are allowed, may be grouped into principal language families: Indo-European; Hamito-Semitic;
Sino-Tibetan; Malayo-Polynesian; Uralic-Altaic; and so on.
Indo-European family
Most of the languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European family. One branch of the family
spread north westward into Europe. The other branch, consisting of two divisions-Indo-Iranian
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and Indo-Aryan-was carried southeastward though the Iranian plateau into the Indian sub-
continent.
The indo-European languages of Europe consist of three principal branches: Germanic, romance,
and Slavic. Each branch includes a number of closely interrelated languages (groups). Within the
Germanic are found German, English, Dutch, and the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish
languages. The Romance subgroup includes Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian.
The principal Slavic languages are Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, and
Bulgarian.
The Indo- Iranian includes the languages of the Tadzhiks and the Iranians (i.e., Farsi) as well as
of the Pushtu (or Pashto) of Afghanistan and the Baluchis of Pakistan, durdish speakers. Nearly
half of the people in the world speak an Indo-European language. Indo-European languages are
used in every continent of the world. Spoken in nearly all of Europe and much of Asia, the Indo-
European language family in modern times has been carried by colonists to Africa, Australia,
and the Western Hemisphere.
Semito-Hamitic Language Family
The principal language family throughout much of the dry world of northern Africa, Middle East
and south-western Asia is designated Semito-Hamitic. The terms Hamite and Semite are derived
from two of Noah’s sons, Ham and Shem, mentioned in the biblical account of the flood.
i) The Semite language family includes Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic, as well as a number of
less-used languages found primarily in northern Africa and south-western Asia. Although one of
the world’s largest language families, its international significance transcends the number of
speakers because the languages were used to write the holiest books of two of the three major
world religions: the Judeo-Christian Bible and the Islamic Koran.
Arabic: Approximately three-fourths of the Semito- Hamitic speakers use Arabic, an official
language in approximately two dozen countries of North Africa and Southwest Asia, from
Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, a large percentage of the world’s Muslims have
at least some knowledge of Arabic because the Koran was written in it in the seventh century.
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Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia spoken by about 18 million people, is also classified
as a Semitic tongue, but it differs from other Semitic languages, in that it has a different alphabet.
Although Amharic originated with Semitic invaders from southern Arabia, it was modified by
the languages originally spoken in Ethiopia and those spoken by the peoples of the upper Nile.
Hebrew is a semetic tongue. In the twentieth century, the emergence of the state of Israel has led
to a revival of Hebrew, although its forms are different. For Jews who lived in the Diaspora,
however classical Hebrew served as the language of prayer and study.
Arabic, spoken by over 150 milling people, is the dominate language in the Dry World west of
the Indo-Iranian and Indo-Aryan language groups. It is the primary language of Islamic
civilization because its oldest and most important literary and religious text, the Koran, is written
in Arabic.
Hebrew: As a native language, Hebrew is spoken by only approximately five million people.
Even so, it holds considerable interest for two reasons. First, most of the Old Testament was
written in Hebrew, although a small part of it was written in another Semitic language, Aramaic.
Second, Hebrew is one of the few dead language ever to be revived. As a language used in daily
activity, Hebrew become extinct in the fourth century B.C and was thereafter retained only for
Jewish religious services.
When the state of Israel was established in 1948, Hebrew, along with Arabic, became one of two
official languages,, despite the fact that the language had been dormant for 2,000 years. Hebrew
was chosen because the Jewish population of Israel consisted of exiles and migrants from around
the world, and no other language could unify the disparate cultural groups in the new country.
The task of reviving Hebrew as a living language was formidable. Words had to be created for
thousands of objects and inventions unknown in biblical ties, such as telephones, cars, and
electricity.
ii) Hamatic languages were widely spoken throughout northern Africa before the Arab conquest.
Today, peoples belonging to the Hermitic family are scattered across northern Africa and reach
as far south as Nigeria in the west and |Kenya in the east. Some of the principal members of
Hamatic languages are the Berbers, mainly in northwest Africa; the Oromo in Ethiopia; the
Somali in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, and the Hausa in Nigeria.
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Sino Tibetan Family
The Sino-Tibetan family includes a large number of people found in an area stretching from the
Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas north ward to the Amur River and the Pacific. Though this
area is vast, it is not as congested linguistically as Europe or Africa because a single-language
community encompasses an incredible number of people. The Sino-Tibetan family includes four
sub-branches, such as Chinese, Tibeto-Burman, Thai, and Miao-Yao. Chinese, spoken by more
than 1 billion people, consists of a number of dialects, the most important of which are mandarin,
the official tongue to the People’s Republic of China.
The Japanese language ranks among the top 10 languages of the world. Korean, too, ranks as an
independent language, its space largely coterminous with the political extent of North and South
Korea. Vietnamese remains almost an independent tongue, and its alphabet is also unique,
having been devised by Catholic missionaries in the seventeenth century.
Sino-Tibetan is the language family encompassing the languages of the People’s Republic of
China, the world’s most populous state, as well as many smaller countries in Southeast Asia.
However, no single language is known as Chinese. The most important language of China is
Mandarin, spoken by approximately three-fourths of the Chinese, Mandarin is also the language
spoken by the greatest number of people in the world.
Malayo-Polynesian language
The Malayo-Polynesian language space stretches more than halfway around the globe, from the
Malagasy Republic off the east coast of Africa, through the Indonesian archipelago, the
Philippines, and across the island of the pacific. The may-Indonesian branch is the principal
division; it includes Indonesian, Javanese, and Malagasy. On the islands that dot the Pacific
Ocean, hundreds of Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken.
Ural-Altaic language
The Ural-Altaic languages occupy a broad belt of territory across Eurasia from Finland in the
northwest and Turkey in the southwest to eastern Siberia and the Pacific in the far East. Because
of significant differences within the classification, the subgroups are often treated as separate
language families.
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Of the Uralic language, the most important being the Finnic, Hungarian and Estonian group. The
Altaic languages are thought to have originated in the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. The
family consists of three subdivisions: Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic.
Ural-Altaic Family
Like indo-European, the Uralic languages were carried to Europe by migrants. One branch
moved north along the Volga River and then either turned west toward Finland or east into
Siberia. The second branch moved overland south and then west to present-day Hungary. The
Finns and Hungarians speak languages that belong to the Uralic family.
The Altaic languages are spoken over a wide area of Asia, with the largest number in Turkey and
the remainder either spread across the Soviet Union or across Mongolia from the Ural Mountains
to the Pacific Ocean. The Altaic language family has traditionally been linked with the Uralic
languages because the two families display similar word formation, grammatical endings, and
other structural elements.
Niger Congo family
South of the Sahara Desert, the distribution of languages is more complex. More than 95 percent
of the people of Sub-Saharan Africa use languages belonging to the Niger Congo family, while
most of the remaining population speaks Khoisan or Nilo-Saharan language. The Niger-Congo
group, including the Bantu stretches from the Cameroons to Kenya. However, the Niger-Congo
family alone includes six branches, and many languages are difficult to classify. Language of the
Benue-Congo branch account for approximately half of the languages in the Niger-Congo family
and are used in a wide area, from the Congo to South Africa. The most important language of the
Benue-Congo branch is Swahili.
3.2. Geography of religion

There is no commonly accepted definition. It is difficult to define a religion as religion manifests
itself in different ways. In this connection, religion is a belief in the worship of the sun, sky, or
mountains. It is also a belief in spirits, divinities (polytheism), or a single god (monotheism);
and recognition of a sacred realm in life as opposed to a secular realm. It entails, therefore, a
belief system and a set of practices that recognizes the existence of a power higher than humans,
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the supernatural force. Perhaps, it is best to think of religion as a collective name for a variety of
human experiences associated with the search for the meaning of life.
3.2.1. The Origin of Religion

Why people begun a faith in supernatural forces than objective realities?
In fact, you might have heard that the origins of religion lie in man’s fear, suspicion and
insecurity. In the days before organized religions began, people did not have adequate
knowledge and they could not understand the real nature of this life and what would happen to
them after their deaths. They could not understand even the causes of natural phenomena or
natural occurrences.
Early societies owing to their limited understanding suspected that there must be certain
unknown forces which created all these pleasant or unpleasant things. Eventually, they began to
notice that there is energy behind the forces of nature. They experienced an inexplicable sense of
awe and fear towards these powers which they felt could harm them in some way. They therefore
felt that these powers must be calm down and used to protect or at least to leave them alone. So
societies have known that they are unable to talk directly to these forces in ordinary language,
they thought it would be more effective to send their messages. Finally the actions to enlist the
favor of these forces became ritualized into forms of worship. Some people were identified as
having special powers to communicate with these forces and they enjoyed great power in the
group.
How could earlier societies begun believing in supernatural forces since time immemorial?
After worshipping and praying, early men thought they could control the undesirable
occurrences and at the same time ensure a degree of protection as reward from these unseen
forces or energies. To help them better visualize what they were trying to communicate with,
they gave each force a name and a form; either conceiving it in human or in monstrous non-
human form, but always inducing a sense of awe and fear. As time went by, they forgot the
original significance of these representations and took them for real and eventually accepted
them as deities.
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Different cultures translated ideas and concepts into physical form and developed particular
rituals to honor and worship these images as gods. Later as early urban settlements began and
social control became necessary certain practices were used as the bases to develop moral
behavior and to guide citizens in the correct path to ensure the well being of the community. In
this regard, various societies in different geographical locations have developed concepts such as
humanism, human responsibilities and human values such as honesty, kindness, compassion,
patience, tolerance, devotion, unity and harmony. To ensure that these qualities would be further
enhanced, the leaders instilled fear in the believers, threatening them with punishment by the
gods in the life hereafter if they did not behave in an accepted manner. Religion was the result of
the fusion of moral behavior and belief in the supernatural. It should be noted that the evolution
of religion is the function of man’s fear and inability to control nature and all its intrigues.
Today, even the modern science and technological innovation has remained far short of
managing, let alone controlling, nature and natural events.
Religion may intimately affect all facets of a culture, openly or indirectly. Most of the various
Hindu sects have strict dietary rules; Muslims do not eat pork; Roman Catholics until recently
ate no meat on Fridays. Christians regard Sunday as the day of rest; for Jews it is Saturday and
for Muslims, Friday. Religious beliefs exert control over people’s daily lives.
There are other important ways in which religions shape believers’ lives and thoughts. Religions
are an integrals part of a culture. They are formalized views about the relation of the individual
to the world and to the hereafter. Each carrier a distinct conception of the meaning and value of
this life and most contain rules that restrict about what must be done to achieve salvation. These
rules become interwoven with the traditions of a culture. One cannot understand India without
knowledge of Hinduism, or Israel without an understanding of Judaism.
Most religions have statement of belief often enshrined in authoritative books or documents and
a ritual or ceremony. If organized, they may have hierarchical administrative structure, especially
the major faiths like Christianity and Islam. These bureaucracies have a hierarchy of officers and
command a great deal of wealth and authority over people’s lives. Religious officers seek to
maintain the approval set of standards and the code ethics prescribed by the religion.
Religion also is an important thread in the fabric of culture. It has been a major force in
combating social ills, sustaining the poor, promoting the arts, educating the deprived and
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advancing medical knowledge. However, Religious ideas affect the role of women in a society,
marriage and divorce customs and taboos, and the importance attached to education. Religion is
a strong force for promoting cultural stability through rituals and scripture, time-honored ways of
doing things fostered. Religions in general act to retard cultural change.
Many religions may elevate certain types of physical environment in the landscape to a holy
position, the sacred space. The concept of scared space embodies human spiritual aspiration.
Rivers, such as the Ganges for Hindus and the Jordan for Christens, are sacred places. The Kaaba
in Mecca is a building venerated because of the Black Stone embedded in one of its concerns; it
annually draws millions of pilgrims from all over the Muslim world. More generally, almost any
religious addition to landscape is sacred whether it is a church, cemetery, shrine, or some other
feature.
Religion leaves a strong imprint on the landscape. Symbols play an important role in the
development and practice of religion, and some have even been imposed on the landscape. Art,
music, and architecture have traditionally been closely associated with religion. For Christians,
the central symbol of their faith is the cross.
The importance of religion for individuals and group identity varies considerably. For some,
religion is irrelevant or marginal. In developing countries, religion is the main bond of
relatedness, the guiding rule of daily life. From eating habits to dress codes, religion sets the
standards for members of those societies. In much of the more developed world especially in
urban areas, however, religion is not central to human activity. Despite such examples of the
declining relevance of religion, in reality most humans in both societies are unable to separate
themselves from religion.
Religious beliefs and practices constantly change as new interpretations are advanced or new
spiritual influences are adopted. The most important influence on religious change has been
conversion from one set of beliefs to another. During the colonial period, religious conversion
flowed from the core to the periphery. In the current postcolonial period, however, the opposite
is becoming true. For example, the fastest-growing religion in the United States today is Islam.
Religious beliefs and practices are altered though larger processes of globalization. One impact
of globalization upon religious change occurs by conversation through the electronic media. The
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rise of television evangelism, or televangelism, especially in the United States, has meant the
conversion of large number of people to Christian fundamentalism.
Like other cultural characteristics, religion is a source of pride and a means of identification with
a distinct culture. At the same time, religions have promoted contact between regions by
inspiring believers to convert others. Many of the major religions have thus acted as unifying
forces, bringing large numbers of people formerly more diverse to a belief in a common faith. In
some cases, religion is an even more potent unifying force in resisting outside influence even
more so than language.
Nonetheless, religion is also a source of conflicts between different religions or sects within a
religion. French Catholics and French Huguenots/Protestants freely slaughtered each other in the
name of religion in the 16th century; English Roman Catholics were hounded from the country
after the establishment of the Anglican Church. Added to this, ongoing conflicts in Pakistan
(Islam/Hindu), Lebanon (Christianity/Islam), and Northern Ireland (catholic/protestant versions
of Christianity) are but three examples. Areas of current religious conflict include Northern
Ireland, Lebanon, and the Philippines.
For many people, the religion in which they are raised is considered the only religion. They often
look on the religions of others as being in error, if not completely false. Ignorance, intolerance,
and discrimination have all too often been associated with religious beliefs, and we can see the
consequences of these attitudes at work throughout the world today.
The emergence of Pakistan as an independent state in 1947 was a reaction to the Hindus
dominated rule that had prevailed there under British Imperial control in the nineteenth century.
The overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 was a fundamentalist response to the forces of
modernization that threatened traditional values and a way of life.
In recent years, there has been a strong revival of interest in traditional Christian and Islam
values. For example, the rallying cry of Islam, Allahuakhbar, meaning God is great, echoes
louder today in Muslim countries than it has for centuries. Even in the United States, this revival
has been expressed in attempts to strengthen the family, opposition to abortion, and a request for
the institution of daily prayers in the classroom.
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Lack of understanding associated with religious differences is by no means confirmed to
Muslim-Christian relationships. The communities in Northern Ireland are primarily divided by
religion between the protestant establishment and the catholic minority. The struggle there is one
that has at its core a demand for universal equal rights. Religions segregation spreads throughout
the community and is expressed not only in employment but also in the classroom.
Why a religion is split into sects? Much of the diversity within a given religion has occurred as
its believers have been faced with changing times or conditions. We are now familiar with at
least the names of many of the various sects of Protestantism such as Lutheran, Unitarian,
Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian etc. Each is characterized by beliefs or practices that
distinguish it from the rest. Similarly, Islam contains several sects; among them are the Sunnites
and the Shiites. Often this diversity has been caused by different interpretations of religious
doctrine, sometimes by the differences that evolved when a major religion came in to contact
with native cultures.
Cultural integration occasionally yields a situation in which a language group is linked to a

particular religious faith, a linkage that greatly heightens cultural identity. Perhaps Arabic
provides the best examples of this cultural link. It spread from a core area on the Arabian
Peninsula with the Islamic faith. Arabic would not have diffused widely without the religion of
Islam. The other Semitic languages also correspond to particular religious groups. The Amharic
speakers in Ethiopia are Coptic, or Eastern Christian.
Certain languages have even acquired a religious status. Latin survived mainly as the ceremonial
language of the Roman Catholic and similarly Geez survived as ceremonial language of the
Orthodox Church of Ethiopia. In non-Arabic Muslim lands, such as Iran, Arabic is still used in
religious ceremony. Great religious books can also shape languages by providing them with a
standard form. Luther’s translation of the Bible led to the standardization of the German
language, and the Koran is a model for written Arabic.
The linkage of language and religion greatly enhances the possibility of nationalistic conflict.
Examples include some of the bitterest disputes today, such as Greek / Christian – Turkish /
Muslim problem in Cyprus, the Armenian / Christian – Azeri / Muslim war, and the Arab /
Muslim battle against Nilo-Saharan / Christian and animist tribal groups in Sudan.
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Exercise 3. 1. List at least three similarities between language and religion
3.2. Major World Religious

Only a few religions can claim the adherence of large numbers of people, and each of these has a
distinctive distribution across the earth’s surface. A simple but useful classification of religions
distinguishes between universalizing, ethnic and traditional types.
Universalizing religions attempt to appeal to all people, not just to residents of one cultural
background or location, have spread far beyond their hearths and gained hundreds of millions of
adherents distributed across wide areas of the world. They incorporate mechanisms such as
missionaries and conversion procedures designed to transmit their beliefs to other. Three
principal religions of universality are Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.
Ethnic religion differs from a universalizing religion in that they are strongly ethnic in outlook
and for that reason has remained largely among the peoples with whom they originated and has a
more clustered geographic distribution. Ethnic religions have an identity with a particular group
of people living in or attracted to the particular environment who do not actively convert others.
This is true of Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism and Confucianism in China, and Shinto in Japan.
Many culture favored traditional religions prior to the diffusion of universalizing beliefs.
Traditional religions have many versions, but essentially involve the belief that specific
inanimate objects such as the sun, moon, rivers, or mountains are of value of spiritual reasons.
The distribution of a religion is generated by a process of spatial interaction; it is diffused from a

point of origin in accordance with a distinctive pattern of communication networks. The process
of diffusion of a religion is important to geographers because religion is a major force in the
spread of cultural values. Now let see some religions spatial distributions and diffusion patterns
from each category.
I) Universalizing religions
We can identify three main universalizing religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Each
began with an individual founder who preached a message accepted initially only by immediate
followers. These followers in turn transmitted themes to people elsewhere on the earth’s surface.
Today; these three universalizing religions have hundreds of millions of adherents distributed
across wide areas of the world.
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a) Buddhism
Buddhism is the religion that grows out of the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha
Gautama (C. 563-C.483 B.C.), the Buddha, was born at Buddh Gaya in northeastern India.
Legend reports that in search of enlightenment, he resolved to sit in meditation under a Bodhi
tree (Fissus religiosa) until he experienced “awakening”. When this occurred, he became a
Buddha, an enlightened one. Buddh Gaya remains one of the holiest of Buddhist sites. Buddhism
remains essentially a religion of detachment or non-activity. Striving for a freedom from all
worldly cares, Buddhism urges an acceptance of the inevitability of cause and effect and
recognition that nothing is permanent, even the Buddha must die.
Although Buddhism profoundly affected Indian culture, it later lost ground and was absorbed by
Hinduism. It originated about 500 BC in northern India and about 100 BC began expanding to
China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. In the third century B.C., Buddhism reached Srilanka,
from where it spread to Burma, Thailand, and Indo-China.
Each of these three religions, Christianity, Islam and Buddihism, might be better regarded as a
religious group. Buddhism has two principal versions: Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia
and Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia. Christianity experienced a major east/west division in
1054 and a protestant breakaway in the west in the 1500s. Islam is divided into two principal
groups, Shiite and Sunni. Shiites are the majority in Iran and Iraq, while Sunnis dominate in
Arabic-Speaking areas.
b) Christianity
The second universalizing religion is Christianity which began after Buddhism and an offshoot
of Judaism. Christianity has more than 1.6 billion adherents, far more than any other world
religion, and predominately existed in Africa and Asia. It spread throughout Europe, and
subsequently moved across the globe as Europe expanded. Today, Christianity is the most
widespread religion spatially and most significant numerically.
Traditional Jewish hope had been nationalistic in character. Jews looked for a restoration of the
ancient kingdom of David The Christian religions had their beginnings in the appearance of
Jesus. Many saw in Jesus a manifestation of God, but probably even more hoped that he would
be a temporal as well as a spiritual leader and secure freedom as well as salvation. Traditional
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Jewish looked for a restoration of the ancient kingdom of David under a Davidic king, the
Messiah. On the contrary, the central figure of the new faith, Jesus, offered the promise of
eternal life in the kingdom of heaven, God’s kingdom, which was at hand. The great majority of
the Jews refused to accept this interpretation of the Messiah. The disciples of Jesus maintained
that he had arisen from the dead, carefully preserved their traditions about him.
Instrumental in promoting a broadened interpretation of the faith was Paul, a Hellenized Jew and
a Christian convert. His preaching took him to the marketplaces of many Greco- Roman cities.
Paul’s letters to the Christian communities, the gospels detailing Jesus’ life and the written
traditions of the Jerusalem community came to form much of the New Testament. The latter was
added to the Old Testament to constitute the Christian Bible.
How did Christianity become the world’s most practiced and most widely distributed religion?
The diffusion of Christianity from its point of origin in Palestine was facilitated by the Roman
Empire. The disciples of Jesus carried the religion to-people in other locations along the empire’s
protected sea routes and excellent road network. Thus, people in the commercial and military
settlements directly linked by the communication network received the message first. When the
Romans adopted Christianity as their official religion of the empire during the fourth century, the
empire’s administration organization ensured further diffusion of the religion over a larger
region.
At a very early stage in its development, from a Jewish sect to a religion claiming universality, it
came in contact with Greek or Hellenistic thought, which was to exercise a profound influence
on its character and content. As a result, Christianity represents a fusion of many ideas and
concepts, seemingly contradictory.
Migration by Europeans since the year 1500 has extended Christianity to other regions of the
world. Through the permanent resettlement of Europeans, Christianity became the dominant
region in north and-south America, Australia, and New Zeeland. Christianity’s dominance was
further achieved by conversion of the indigenous populations and intermarriage.
Islam
The third universalizing religion is Islam, which began some 600 years after Christianity and
subsequently spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia. The word
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Islam, in one sense, refers to the universal religion conveyed to humankind by a series of
prophets-Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Each of whom carried a massage from
God. To Muslims, the last prophet, Mohammed, is the greatest and the book he brought, the
Koran, completes and supersedes all previous revelations.
When Mohammed was born about 570 G.C in Meccan, the Semitic Arab peoples had not yet
entered history. Rather, they had lived on the periphery of the great civilizations of Greece,
Rome, Persia, and Byzantium. The religion of the people in Mecca was associated with worship
of a black stone, the Kaaba. Both Judaism and Christianity had penetrated the desert with the
camel caravans and had made converts in the oasis towns. Mohammed, experiencing his “call” at
the age of 40, made few inroads among the local Meccan merchants, who feared a loss of trade if
their traditional religious base was destroyed. As a result, Mohammed “fled” to Medina to the
north, in 622 G.C, in a move called the hijira. This event marks the beginning of the Muslim
calendar. In 630, he captured Mecca, incorporating into Islam the ritual of the Kaaba and the
practice of pilgrimage.
Islam traces its origin from the same legendary story as Judaism and Christianity. All three
religions consider Adam to have been the first man and Abraham one of his descendents.
According to legend, Abraham married Hagar after Sarah and bore a son, Ismail. Muslims trace
their story through Ismail. Ismail and Hagar wandered through Arabian Desert after their
banishment, eventually reaching Mecca.
The central theme of the Koran is monotheistic, but this concept is not presented in the story like
manner that characterizes much of the old and new testaments, the bible. Because of the beauty
of expression, the koran is especially suited for reciting aloud. Islam has no priesthood or
complicated theology. Possibly, for these reasons, it has appealed to many peoples, especially in
Africa where it is winning converts even today. Apart from prayer and fasting, it requires every
Muslim to make a pilgrimage, or hajj, at Least once in a lifetime to the holy cities of Mecca and
Media.
When Mohammed died in 632 in Medina, his followers had overrun all of the Arabian Peninsula.
Muhammad’s successors extended the region of Muslim control over an extensive area of Africa,
Asia, and Europe, including non-Arabs. Islam, the religion of nearly 1 billion people, is located
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predominantly in a zone that extends from North Africa to Central Asia, from Morocco to
Pakistan. The two largest concentrations of Muslims out-side this zone are in Bangladesh and
Indonesia.
II) Ethnic religions
Hinduism
The ethnic religion with the largest number of followers is Hinduism, which evolved in northern
India about 200 B.C. Although Hinduism is the word third-largest religion, more than 99 percent
of its followers are concentrated in one country, India. Unlike the three universalizing religions,
Hinduism did not originate with a specific founder.
The origins of Hinduism are complex, but the name derives from a region in northwestern India
through which the Sind River flows. The oldest sacred writing of Hinduism is the Rig-Veda,
parts of which may date to 1500 B.C. The term Hinduism probably originated with Muslim
invaders of the elevenths century G.C. They called the land they were invading Hindustan and
the religion of the people Hinduism. The word Hinduism is simply a term for the religious
system of India.
As a faith, Hinduism is an amalgam of religious expressions that range from the worship of sprits
in nature to that of many gods and from a belief in a single personal god to an exalted form of
mysticism. Although not a coherent religion, Hinduism has its texts, temples, and shrines. The
essential spirit of Hinduism seems to be to live and let live. In many ways, this viewpoint has
permeated almost all aspects of Hindu life. Moreover, the natural futures of the landscape, such
as trees, hills, mountains, and rivers, all possess a spiritual quality. Hinduism has a strong link
with nature.
Hinduism has no dogma and only a loosely defined philosophy by religious standards. It is a
polytheistic religion, belief in more than one god, and has close ties to the rigid social
stratification of the caste system. Hinduism, therefore, adheres to the belief that more than one
path exists to reach God. These approaches are needed because people start from different
backgrounds and experiences. The appropriate form of worship for any two individuals is not
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necessarily the same. Because Hinduism does to have a central authority or a single holy book,
each individual selects suitable rituals.
Judaism
1a A second ethnic religion is Judaism, the oldest monotheistic or the belief in the existence of
only one god. Judaism offered a sharp contrast with the practice of neighboring tribes who
worshipped a collection of idols, originating about 2000 BC in the near east. It developed as a
local religion in the territory of the Middle East called Canaan in the bible, Palestine by the
Romans, and the state of Israel since 1948.
Judaism, which is both religion and a culture, attempted at one time to make converts, but
missionary activities ended with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70
G.C. The Old Testament, recorded over a period of a thousand years, is the central document of
Judaism around which its liturgy is developed. What is unusual about the book is that it presents
a totally new concept of god in the world: it is entirely monotheistic. Moreover, it affords a
revolutionary new concept of humans that man is created in the image of a God who transcends
nature. Thus, man is raised out of nature but endowed with a supernatural dignity. Chief
concerns of the Old Testament are ethnical morality, righteousness, and social justice.
Judaism plays a more substantial role in western civilization than its number of adherents would
suggest. First, two of the three universalizing religions Christianity and Islam evolved from
Judaism. Second, the spatial distribution of Jews differs from that of other ethnic religions.
Third, Jews have been subjected to unique problems in their attempt to occupy a portion of the
earth’s surface.
Other ethnic religions include Shinto, the indigenous Japanese religion, and Taoism and
Confucianism, religions primarily associated with China.
Confucianism was derived from historical figures, Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 B.C.
Confucianism emphasized the importance of following tradition, fulfilling obligations with
sympathy and respect. The basic principle of this religion is the maintenance of good
relationships with other people by treating subordinates as you wish to be treated by your
superiors.
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Buddhism coexists with shintoism in Japan. One of Shinto’s traditional elements was the worship
of the Japanese emperors as a god, as a practice stopped only after the country’s defeat in World
War II. Shintoism therefore was as much a political cult as a religion, and in a cultural sense all
Japanese are Shintoists. Many Japanese profess adherence to both shintoism and Buddhism,
especially in the rural central part of the country.
III) Traditional religions
African traditional religions believe that inanimate objects such as plants and stones, or natural
events such as thunderstorms and earthquakes, have discrete spirits and conscious life. Relatively
little is known about African religions because few holy books or other written documents have
come down from ancestors. Religious rituals are passed from one generation to the next by word
of mouth. African religions are, however, apparently based on monotheistic concepts, although
below god exits a hierarchy of divinities. These divinities may be assistants to god or
personifications of natural phenomena, such as trees or rivers.
3.3. Geography of Ethnicity

Ethnicity is another way in which geographers are exploring cultural identity. Ethnicity is often
poorly defined or not defined by those who use the term. It is a term derived from the Greek
word ethnos, meaning a “people” or “nation.” In Latin, the adjective became ethnos with the
same meaning to the Greek ethnos. It is recognized that this literal translation is incomplete.
Ethnic groups are composed of individuals who share some prominent traits or characteristics,
some evident physical or social identification setting them apart from the majority and other
minority population among whom they may live. No single trait denotes ethnicity. Group
recognition may be based on language, religion, national origin, unique customs, or an ill-
defined concept of “race.” Whatever may establish the identity of a group, the common unifying
bonds of ethnicity are a shared ancestry and cultural heritage, the retention of a set of distinctive
traditions, and the maintenance of in-group interactions and relationships. Ethnicity is a shared
cultural heritage. Members of an ethnic category have common ancestors, language or a religion
that, together, confer a distinctive social identity.
Some geographer advocated that ethnic should refer to any group that has a common cultural
tradition that identifies itself as a group and that is a minority group. The term ‘ethnicity’ is
generally regarded as one of the least clear labels in social sciences and it is important to
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acknowledge these confusions. The greatest confusion occurs when terms such as ‘race’ or
‘minority’ are used interchangeably with ‘ethnic.’
Ethnicity is a socially created system of rules about who belongs to a particulars group based
upon actual or perceived commonality such as language or religion. A geographic focus on
ethnicity is an attempt to understand how it shapes and is shaped by space and how ethnic groups
use space with respect to mainstream culture. For cultural geographers, territory is also a basis
for ethnic group cohesion.
The majority of world societies, even those outwardly seemingly most homogeneous, house
distinctive ethnic groups, populations that feel themselves bound together by a common origin
and set off from other groups by ties of culture, race, race, religion, language, or nationality.
Ethnic diversity is a near-universal part of human geographic patterns Currently, on earth there
are at least 5,000 ethnic groups. European states house increasing numbers of African and Asian
immigrants and have effectively become multiethnic societies. European colonialism created
pluralistic societies in tropical lands Polyethnic Russia, India, and most African countries,
including Ethiopia are characterized by racial and cultural diversity than by uniformity. The idea
of an ethnically pure nation-state is no longer realistic.
Ethnicity is always based on a firm understanding by members of a group that they are in some
fundamental ways different from others who do not share their distinguishing characteristics or
cultural heritage. Ethnicity is a spatial concept. Ethnic groups are associated with clearly
recognized territories, either large homeland districts or smaller rural or urban enclaves, in which
they are primary or enclave occupants and upon which they have placed distinctive cultural
marks.
Cultural groups, for example, may be ethnically identified or may be spatially segregated from
the wider society in ghettos or ethnic enclaves. This group may also use space to declare their
subjective interpretations about the world they live in and their place in it.
Ethnicity thus accrues from different combinations of cultural traditions, racial background, and
even physical environments. In Northern Ireland, there is no racial distinction between two
ethnic groups locked in tragic struggle; the dominant ethnic glue is religion, Catholic for one
community, Protestant for the other. In Belgium, the glue is principally language. In Northern
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Belgium, the Flemings form an ethnic entity of more than 6 million people. Heirs to the rich
culture history of Flanders, the Flemings speak a Dutch-derived language. Southern Belgium is
the domain of nearly 4 million French- speaking Walloons. The capital, Brussels, lies north of
the ethnic chasm that splits Belgium, a divide so deep that each region has its own parliament.
As in so many multiethnic countries, one ethnic group the Walloons fears that domination by
a larger or more powerful ethnic group within the national boundaries.
Ethnicity exists at many spatial dimensions. Ethnic communities in American cities and towns
are often quite small, numbering no more than a few thousand people. On the national scale,
ethnic groups, as in the case of Ethiopia, ex-Yugoslavia and Belgium, number in millions. The
underlying rational is the same; there if comfort and security in the familiarity of one’s own
culture and cultural landscape. In the smaller urban communities, group identity and
cohesiveness yield advantages for the individual in that it constitutes a social network and, in
case of personal difficulty, a safety net. Members of a particular community may be especially
successful in certain businesses in the larger urban scene, and they will promote their “own” in
such businesses. For new arrivals, an ethnic neighborhood will ease the transition because a
familiar language is still in use, the common church marks the urban landscape, and stores carry
products valued in the local culture. Thus, there is advantage in the self-preservation of an ethnic
neighborhood, where local group cohesiveness protects and preserves customs and traditions to
mutual advantage.
‘Ethnic’ is a convenient term to employ partly because it defies explicit definition. Human
geographers often utilize the ethnic label in identifying and discussing cultural regions in rural
and urban areas. Generally speaking, an ethnic region or neighborhood is an area occupied by
people of common cultural heritage who are voluntarily choosing to live in close spatial
proximity
Ethnicity refers to some sense of an enduring collective identity; time as well as space is shared
because of the notion of common decent. Most groups identified as ethnic base their ethnicity on
one or both of the two principal cultural variables language and religion. In common with both of
these identifying labels, ethnicity is also both inclusionary and exclusionary. Some people are
defined as insiders because they share the common identity of the group, while others are seen as
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outsiders because they are different. By definition then, people belong to at most one ethnic
group, but it is quite possible for an ethnic group to gradually change its identity and behavior.
Since territory and ethnicity are inseparable concepts, ethnicity becomes an important concern in
the cultural patterning of space. In most parts of the world, the close association of territoriality
and ethnicity is well recognized, and accepted, but often politically disruptive. Indigenous ethnic
groups have developed over time in the specific locations through ties of kinship, language and
culture, religion, and shred history, and have established themselves in their own and others’
eyes as distinctive peoples with defined homeland areas. The boundaries of most countries of the
world encompass a number of racial or ethnic minorities, whose demand for special territorial
recognition have increased rather than diminished with advances in economic development,
education, self-awareness. For instance, the centralized state of ex-USSR which was recognized
as a single ‘Russian’ culture realm contained 52 ethnically defined political-administrative units
in the federated structure. The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 both released the 14
ethnically based union republics that formerly had been dominated by Russia and Russians and
opened the way for many smaller ethnic groups to seek recognition and greater local control
from the majority populations. In Asia, the Indian subcontinent was divided to create separate
countries with primarily religious-territorial affiliations, and the country of India itself has
adjusted the boundaries of it constituent states to accommodate linguistic-ethnic realities.
Ethnic Areas: Acculturation and Assimilation
It is usual for immigrant ethnic groups, especially those moving into urban areas, to experience
assimilation or acculturation eventually. An initial period of social and spatial isolation for
immigrant may lead to a low level of well-being, relative deprivation, and an ethnic colony,
enclave, or ghetto. We can interpret these common initial experiences of an immigrant ethnic
group-deprivation and residential segregation-as social and spatial expressions of outsider status.
When cultures of different strengths make contact, the stronger culture prevails. The culture of
the weaker society may be somewhat changes considerably modified, or even completely
transformed, but in every case the stronger culture will contribute certain of its qualities to it.
This process, whereby a culture is hanged substantially through interaction with another culture
is acculturation. The process of acculturation is that of the adoption by the immigrants of the
values, attitudes, ways of behavior, and speech of the receiving society. In the process, the ethnic
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group loses its separate identity as it accepts over time the culture of the larger host community.
If acculturation occurs, the ethnic group functions in the larger culture, but retains a distinctive
identity.
Actually, the process of acculturation is not the one-way street. Stronger cultures do impose
many of their attributes on weaker ones, but they themselves may well adopt some of the weaker
culture’s properties. Acculturation is a slow process for many immigrant individuals and groups,
and the parent tongue may of choice or necessity be retained as an ethnically identifying feature
even after fashions of dress, food, and customary behavior have been substantially altered in the
new environment. In 2008 population census of Ethiopia, for example, some percent of the
population in Addis Ababa are reported speaking a language other than Amharic, mainly
Guragigna, Afan Oromo, Tigrigna etc in the home.
Despite the often negative experiences for a new immigrant ethnic group, assimilation is a
common later experience. Through time new arrivals integrate into economic and cultural
mainstream and the process is complete. At this time, one can say that assimilation has occurred.
Assimilation is a term used to describe the process by which an outsider, immigrant, or
subordinate minorities gradually becomes indistinguishably integrated into the dominant host
society and adopt pattern of the dominant culture.
Groups that move into cities steadily lose ethnic traits such that the group eventually becomes a
part of the larger culture. Assimilation implied that the subordinate group actually came to accept
and internalize the values and culture of the dominant group. Whether or not assimilation occurs
is dependent upon two factors. One key factor is the degree of residential proximity. If group
members live in close spatial proximity, then social interaction with the larger culture is limited
and assimilation unlikely. Another factor is the impact of state policies.
3.4. Spatial Mileage of Race

All the people of this world belong to the same species. We all have far more features in
common than these are differences between individuals or groups. The term “race” has come to
refer to an undeniable reality of our human existence: people differ physically from each other.
And what is more, those differences have regional expression. Even after centuries of movement
and migration, mixing, and intermarriage, and even in our mobile world, peoples with distinct
physical traits remain clustered in particular areas of the world. Thus we use the term “race” in
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quite a different way: we speak of the European, African, Polynesian races of humanity. It may
not be quite correct to do so.
Prevailing ideas and practices with respect to race have also been used to understand the shaping
of places and responses to these focuses. Race is a problematic classification of human beings
based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Biologically speaking, however, no such
thing as race exists within the human species. The visible characteristics of hair, skin, and bone
structure made race into a category of difference that was and still is widely accepted and often
spatially expressed.
Race, then, is first and foremost a biological concept, for it refers to people’s physical features
such as skin color, hair type, height and size. A racial group such as European, African is
recognized because it has a distinctive combination of such physical traits, the product of a
particular genetic inheritance. This inheritance has been determined by many centuries of
isolation and inbreeding, during which a certain dominant set of genes-a gene pool-evolved for
each racial group. Humanity may be presumed to have evolved from common stock, but after
radicalizing outward from the source area, perhaps southwest Asia, northern, and Eastern Africa,
spatial and social isolation began to play their role in generating discrete gene pools and racial
groups in Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. And so humanity differentiated into
what used to be called the white, black, red, yellow, and brown races. As the concept of race was
refined other terms emerged: Caucasoid, Negroid, Amerindian, mongoloid, Australian.
3.4.1. Causes of Human Variation

One of the notable characteristics of the human species today is its great variability. People of
the world vary in physical characteristics such as skin color, hair form etc. Biologists labeled
people with relatively light skin and fine hair as Caucasian; they called those with darker skin
and coarser, curlier hair Negroid; and people with yellow or brown skin and distinctive folds on
the eyelids were termed Mongoloid.
This concern has led scholars to establish a scientific knowledge on what has caused human
variations. The issue of human variation could be known with the study of the evolution of
human beings as a product of the interplay in its biological, cultural, and environmental
variables.
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Human genetic variation is the genetic diversity of humans and represents the total amount of
genetic characteristics observed within the human species. Genetic differences are observed
between humans at both the individual and the population level. No two humans are genetically
identical. There are at least two reasons why genetic variation exists between populations.
Natural selection may confer an adaptive advantage to individuals in a specific environment if an
allele provides a competitive advantage. Alleles under selection are likely to occur only in those
geographic regions where they confer an advantage. The second main cause of genetic variation
is due to the high degree of neutrality of most mutations. Most mutations do not appear to have
any selective effect one way or the other on the organism. The main cause is genetic drift; this is
the effect of random changes in the gene pool. In humans, founder effect and past small
population size (increasing the likelihood of genetic drift) may have had an important influence
in neutral differences between populations.
The theory that humans recently migrated out of Africa is sometimes given as an example of
this. It has been theorized that the population which migrated out of Africa only represented a
small fraction of the genetic variation in Africa, and that this is a contributing cause of the
observed lower levels of diversity in all indigenous humans outside of Africa.
It has become apparent that the amount of genetic variation in humans is relatively low,
compared to that of other primate species. Nonetheless, human biological variation is a fact of
life, and physical anthropologists have learned a great deal about it. Much of it is related to
climatic adaptation. A correlation has been noted between body build and climate:
Generally, people native to regions with cold climates tend to have greater body bulk (not to be
equated with fat) relative to their extremities (arms and legs) than do people native to regions
with hot climates, who tend to be long and slender. Interestingly, these differences show up as
early as the time of Homo erectus.
Certain body builds are better suited to particular living conditions than others. People with
larger body bulk and shorter extremities may suffer more from summer heat than someone
whose extremities are long and whose body is slender. But they will conserve needed body heat
under cold conditions. The reason is that a bulky body tends to conserve more heat than a less
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bulky one, since it has small surface relative to volume. People living in hot, open country, by
contrast, benefit from a body build that can get rid of excess heat quickly so as to keep from
overheating; for this, long extremities and a slender body, which increase surface area relative to
volume, are advantageous.
Anthropologists have also identified the correlation between the body features such as nose, eye
shape, hair textures and skin color in relation to climate. Subject to tremendous variation, skin
color is a function of four factors: transparency or thickness of the skin, distribution of blood
vessels, and amount of carotene and melanin in a given area of skin. Exposure to sunlight
increases the amount of melanin, darkening the skin. Natural selection has favored heavily
pigmented skin as protection against the strong solar radiation of equatorial latitudes. In northern
latitudes, natural selection has favored relatively de-pigmented skins, which can utilize relatively
weak solar radiation in the production of Vitamin D. Selective mating and geographical location
play parts in skin color distribution.
Some genetic traits can be beneficial in certain circumstances and useless or harmful in others.
Among the most obvious is skin color. That is, light colored skin is advantageous in the northern
latitudes, where sunlight is less intense, because it facilitates the body's absorption of sunshine
and thus the creation of vitamin D. However, it can be disadvantageous closer to the equator
because it is vulnerable to sunburn and skin cancer. Genetic variants will be expressed in
different frequencies in these geographically dispersed populations.
In the course of their evolution, humans in all parts of the world came to rely on cultural rather
than biological adaptation for their survival. Nevertheless, as they spread beyond their tropical
homeland into other parts of the world, they did develop considerable physical variation from
one population to another. The forces responsible for this include: 1) genetic drift, (i.e., changes
in gene frequencies in isolated populations over time) especially at the margins of their range
where small populations were isolated for varying amounts of time; ii) biological adaptation to
differing climates.
The variety is also the product of migration and intermarriage over the course of human history,
so that many genetic characteristics once common to a single place are now evident throughout
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the world. The most striking racial variation appears in the Middle East, Southwest Asia that has
long served as a ‘crossroads’ of human migration. Striking racial uniformity, by contrast,
characterizes more isolated peoples such as the island-dwelling Japanese. But no society lacks
genetic mixture, and increasing contact among the world’s people will ensure that racial blending
will accelerate in the future.
Although much of this physical variation can still be seen in human populations today, the
increasing effectiveness of cultural adaptation has often reduced its importance. Cultural
practices today are affecting the human organism in important, often in surprising, ways.
The probability of alterations in human biological makeup induced by culture raises a number of
important questions. By trying to eliminate genetic variants, are we weakening the gene pool by
allowing people with hereditary diseases and defects to reproduce? Are we reducing chances for
genetic variation by trying to control population size? We are not sure of the answers to these
questions.
3. 4.2. Major Racial families

The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of dividing humans into groups on
the basis of various sets of characteristics. The most widely used human racial categories are
based on visible traits, especially skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture, and self-
identification.
Conceptions of race and specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time. They
are often controversial for scientific as well as social and political reasons. The controversy
ultimately around whether or not races are natural types or socially constructed, and the degree
to which observed differences in ability and achievement, categorized on the basis of race, are a
product of inherited (i.e. genetic) traits or environmental, social and cultural factors.
The first scientific attempts to classify humans by categories of race date from the 17th century,
along with the development of European imperialism and colonization around the world. The
visible characteristics of hair, skin, and bone structure made race into a category of difference
that was and still is widely accepted and often spatially expressed. Initially, scholars focused on
cataloguing and describing the natural varieties of mankind in to five major divisions of humans
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which still reflected in some racial classifications. These are the Caucasoid race, Mongolid race
the Negroid race, American race and Malayan race.
Scientists belonging to this group made three claims about race. First, races are objective,
naturally occurring divisions of humanity. Second, there is a strong relationship between
biological races and other human phenomena such as forms of activity and interpersonal
relations and culture, and the relative material success of cultures, thus biologizing the notion of
"race. Third, race is, therefore, a valid scientific category that can be used to explain and predict
individual and group behavior. In this regard, races were distinguished by skin color, facial type,
cranial profile and size, texture and color of hair. Moreover, races were almost universally
considered to reflect group differences in moral character and intelligence. In many parts of the
world, the idea of race became a way of rigidly dividing groups by culture as well as by physical
appearances.
In the nineteenth century, biologists again separate mankind into three main divisions. These are:
Negroid (black) Race, Mongolian (yellow) Race and Caucasians (white) race. According to this
classification, the black race have excessive length of the legs; skin from dark brown almost to
black; thick black, and frizzly hair, with scant hair on the body; powerful broad, and high jaws.
Among the characteristics of the yellow race are deficient length of the limbs; have brownish-
yellow to light yellow skin, coarse and black hair, with scant body hair ; broad, short jaw; short,
small, strong foot with moderate arch. Among the criteria of the white race are normal
proportions; light brown to almost white skin; from slight to hardly noticeable frontal ridge;
narrow, high jaws; large muscles of the seat and calves; narrow, long foot with powerful arch;
strong ball of the great toe; powerful heel.
Most of the above racial classifications offer certain advantages. However, such category or
classification may be misleading, since no society is composed of biologically pure individuals.
In fact, world traveler notices gradual and subtle racial variations from region to region. The
people we might call ‘Caucasian’ or, more commonly, ‘white people’ actually display skin color
that ranges from very light (typical in Scandinavia) to very dark (widespread in southern India).
One also finds the same variation among so-called ‘Negroids (‘Africans’ or, more commonly,
‘black people’ and ‘Mongoloids’.
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Populations of the world are genetically mixed. Over many generations, the biological traits of
Negroid Africans, Caucasian Europeans and Mongoloid Native Americans, whose ancestors
were Asian, spread widely throughout the world. Many ‘black’ people, therefore, have a
significant proportion of Caucasian genes and many ‘white’ people have some Negroid genes. In
short, no matter what people may think, race is no black-and-white issue.
Classifications are still changing. Anthropologists have recently been using a nine-unit racial
classification of man. These are 1) European, the European race includes not only Scandinavians,
Russians, Germans, and Italians, but also the peoples of south west Asia (such as the Iranians,
Syrians, Saudi Arabians) and North Africa (Egyptians, Algerians, Moroccans); 2) Indian,
peoples of the Indian subcontinent; 3) Asian, peoples of China, Japan, inner Asia, Southeast
Asia, Indonesia; 4) African, peoples of African south of the Sahara; 5) American, the indigenous,
Indian population of the Americas; 6) Australian, the original peoples of Australia; 7)
Micronesian; 8) Melanesian; and 9) Polynesian. The last three groups are peoples of the Pacific
Ocean’s islands.
Yet, despite the reality of biological mixing, however, people around the world are quick to
classify each other racially and rank these categories in systems of social inequality. This process
of ranking people on basis of their presumed race is race is racialisation. People may also defend
racial hierarchy with assertions that one category is inherently ‘better’ or more intelligent than
another, though no sound scientific research supports such beliefs.
Certainly there have been scholars with racist conception, who have sought to prove that there
are inherent qualities of superiority in certain race over others. Some are still working on the
proposition that western society has advanced farther than other peoples because the white race
is superior to other races. But there is no basis at present for concluding that the human races
differ in their innate capacity for cultural development. True, peoples differ in their physical size,
height, skin color, hair type, and in other ways. But these are not grounds for assuming that one
racial group is better adapted for functioning under modern condition than others. Nor, does the
“closer to the ape” analysis of human physiology sustain the thesis that white peoples are more
developed that some of their contemporaries.
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Exercise 3.1 Certainly, the term ‘race’ is used interchangeably with ‘ethnicity’. Nonetheless,
they are quite different. Write two main differences between race and ethnicity and
support with examples.
Summery
Language, religion, and ethnicity are immediate and enduring evidences of cultural
distinctiveness, evolution, and diffusion. Race, a genetic matter, has no meaning in the
considerations of culture. Despite thousands of years of interactions among people across
countries, the world remained culturally divided. Among the traits of cultural diversity, language,
religion, and ethnicity rank very high.
The number of languages spoken, between 6,000 and 7,000, is expected to decline because of the
spread of more dominant languages with large numbers of speakers. Linguistic diversity is
reduced by recognizing language families. Present world linguistic patterns reflect past
migrations and conquests. Languages are dynamic; they change through isolation, cultural
contact, and time.
A speech community may have both a standard language and social and regional dialects.
Toponymy, the study of place names, helps trace migrations and population change. Pidgins,
creoles, and lingua franca are languages developed or adopted to foster communication between
speakers of different tongues.
Geographers classify religions as universalizing, ethnic, and tribal. Universalizing faiths are most
widely distributed; ethnic religions are most closely identified with specific regions and cultures.
Tribal religions are being lost through absorption and conversion. Each of the limited number of
major religions has its own mix of cultural values and, perhaps, diffusion patterns. Principal
religions reviewed in the text are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and East
Asian ethnic religions. Fundamentalism is presented as a conservative reaction against secular
modernity and is not limited to certain adherents of Islam but can be found in other major
religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
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Ethnicity refers to populations distinguished by common origins and distinctive cultural or racial
traits. It is a spatial concept. Recognized homeland areas, urban enclaves, or rural settlement
districts are the rule.
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UNIT 4: CULTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGES
In this section we are going to discuss culture and social change. The section is organized into
three basic concepts such as the sources of social change, technology and social change and
globalization and culture. In fact, the aforementioned issues are closely intertwined to each other,
but treated separately.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:

Define the term social change.
Distinguish the sources of social change
Explain the impact of technology and globalization on culture and social change
Resources
To complete your study if this unit, you need to refer to

Knox, Paul Marlston, S,(1998), Places and Regions in Global Context: Human Geography.
Prentice Hall Inc: Newjersy
Globalization 101 org (2009). Culture and Globalization: A project of The Levin Institute
http://www.globalization101.org Accesed on 8/23/2010
Nabudere, Dani (2000) Globalization, Africa and post traditionalism
The literature on contemporary identities and social change is complex. In fact, societies are
fragmenting and disintegrating; their internal structures are becoming disassembled and merged
into the mainstream of the `global post-modern. The boundaries of societies and cultures are
being breached by vast, crisscrossing flows of ideas, images and information, and now
impermeable boundaries have become an illusion. Communities once invested with deep
meanings and showing close-knit relations are becoming de-localized. They are now separated
from familiar and particular places. Everywhere the once separate items in the global mosaic of
cultures are leaking, merging into one another. Cultural specificities are now losing their
distinctiveness. Meanwhile nations have become `unbound' and experience deterritorialization
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as multinational corporations (MNCs) merge several local economies into their own global
empires.
The term “culture” is slippery: we all are experienced it every day in extremely personal ways,
yet it is difficult to capture in words. Others noted that often knowing “culture” is much easier
once you have gotten out of your own and have spent time in another.
Put simply, culture implies the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts,
communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious,
or social group. Culture often is referred to as the totality of ways being passed on from
generation to generation.
People’s basic values and beliefs are changing, in ways that affect their political, economic,
cultural and religious behavior. These changes are roughly predictable: to a large extent, they
can be explained by modernization. Modernization is a process of human development, in
which economic development gives rise to cultural changes. Value systems of society are in
dynamic developments being accompanied by the introduction of new developments in value
systems.
What is Social Change?
Social change is the change in the social structure, social institutions, social behavior (culture)
and social relations of a given specific cultural society over time. It is the result of the
collective change in the behavior patterns which becomes visible in a large community. Social
change can be a positive or a negative change. It can be against the norms of the society or it
can be in the favor as well. Therefore, a social change is the change in the overall thinking
patterns of the people in a community which can become permanent with time. No society
could successfully resist change in history, but the rate, nature, and direction of change differed
greatly from one society to another.
Can you state some of the social institutions found in your society?
Social institutions are organizations that are established by members of a society for managing
their social, political, economic and religious activities. To elaborate it briefly, market is an
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example of an economic institution as does the state is a political institution. Churches,
mosques, and religious assemblies are centers of religious institutions.
To understand social change, the dynamic aspect, we need to understand social order and
stability, the static aspect.
4.1. Sources of Social Change

What are the sources of social change?
Why society has been changing?
What are the yard sticks of evaluating whether or not a given society is undergoing a
social change?
When is society forced to experience social change?
Is society static?
Perhaps the three most powerful sources of social change today are ideas, technology, and
institutions. In fact, these sources of social change are related with and refer to ideology, means
of production and production forces, and social structures. Expressed in more philosophical
terms, we could say sources of social change are ideological, material, and structural.
Scholars have different theoretical perspectives on theorizing the concept of social change.
Social Change Theory looks at the factors contributing to change within the structure of society.
Broadly speaking, theorists focusing on studying social change can be categorized into two:
traditional and modern ones.
Traditional theories take the position that change within society is brought about by a myriad of
interactions within a society framework that begin with the individual person. Therefore,
societal change is initiated by a person to a member of his/her community and if it is accepted,
the society will adapt to the new idea. The classical theories of social change comprise one of
three broad categories.
There are scholars who viewed social change as linear. At this juncture, social change is
progressive, develops in a linear way and contends that societies have biological evolution. In
fact, it is thought that the social analyst should study the evolution of society from its simple to
complex forms.
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There are also scholars who viewed social change as cyclical. The pattern is such for each
culture that it arises, develops, ripens, decays and falls never to return. In this case, social
changes follow a trendless cyclic pattern, i.e., like a swinging pendulum, culture moves in one
direction and then back in another.
The third and final category includes scholars who classically viewed social change as
dialectical. Every idea and all of history goes through the dialectic process whereby an idea
(thesis) develops, is challenged by an opposite idea (antithesis), and merges into a new form
(synthesis). The synthesis then becomes the thesis and the process begins over again. The
importance of this theory can be seen in the writing of Marx. Marx too viewed history as moving
in a dialectic pattern. However, for him the prime mover was materialism and not idealism.
Thus, Marx was an economic determinist for he saw the material forces of production as the
substructure of all society.
Even though these theories reflect the dominate thinking of men in a particular socio-historical
setting, and even though their development occurred over a period of many years, none of them
are without criticisms. Most of these theories are speculative and somewhat subjective when
compared with contemporary analysis. Likewise, the concepts have surplus meaning; they are
vague and ambiguous. Furthermore, the theorists failed to account for extraneous or intervening
variables.
Technological determinism is the view that social change is initiated by technology and not
necessarily by the individual. This is contrary to what traditional theorists believe. If this is true
then new technologies once invented take on “a life of their own and develop seeing society
adapt to changes.
However, society faces challenges and opportunities in its effort to coup up with technological
change. Hence, it should be noted that while we are for the most part eager to accept and use
new technological advancements we have to be aware of the negative consequences of these
technological advancements.
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Today, theories of change follow several patterns. Some are isolated studies dealing with
attitude change, change in family structure, or societal change. Other theories today reflect
attempts to account for development of society. For instance, one uses population increase, in
Size and density, to demonstrate changes in social relations and organizations. Another scholar
uses terms like urbanization, bureaucratization, industrialization, and centralization to describe a
process of social evolution.
Exercise 4.1 What is the difference between traditional/classical social change theorists and
technological determinism?
Today, changes are taking place now as never before. The problem of finding the specific
sources of social changes is easier than finding a general theory of social change. Some of the
important sources of social change are described below
i) Ideas/ideological: Ideas are important in social change. Marx argued that social conditions
shape people’s ideologies, not the other way round. But Weber gave prominence to ideas.
Durkheim stated that social conditions give rise to ideas but ideas once expressed develop a life
of their own and they act on society and create change. Hence, social changes are accompanied
by changes in the idea and ideology of a society.
Religion is one example of ideas. Say, new pastor moves into your community that teaches a
new kind of religion. Some people may decide they like it and start to go to his church instead
of the Catholic Church down the block evoking a social change in the community.
ii) Technology/technological: Technology is a major source of social change. The more

advanced a society’s technology, the more rapid social change tends to be. You will see it in
detail about the effect technology on social change.
iii) institutions/structural: Changes in economic institutions for instance market and political
institutions can cause social change. The size of a population has a strong influence on social
organization.
a) Changes in the social organization of a society may cause changes in the society’s social
structure, social composition, social relations and social order one way or the other. For
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example, huge exodus of people significantly brings about social changes on the country of
immigrant destination and the very refugees themselves. This is because with new nationalities
migrating into a country, social change is inevitably unavoidable. Communities experiencing an
influx of Latino immigrants most likely will develop new establishments that are based around
Latin Americans, thus a social change.
b) Economic situations may also bring a social change. Times of hardship change almost every
aspect of daily life. Economic downfalls can destroy communities. Neighbors may no longer
live across the street because they cannot afford their mortgage payments on their little house. It
all leads to social change.
The physical environment can also be added or considered as a source of social change. The
physical environment of a place changes very slowly. Hence, its effect may not be significant.
Exercise 4.2 What are the main sources of social change?
In earlier centuries, social change was generally regarded as negative. Social order and stability
were deemed to be normal, necessary, and not negotiable. Social change was discouraged,
negated, put down, or at least limited by established authorities such as kings, religious
institutions, tradition, and entrenched powers. The sources of social change were held in check
by force and threat of death. Human need and desire, the sources of social change were
suppressed.
The cultural forces of the Renaissance, the religious reformation, and the enlightenment era
unleashed powerful new sources of social change, challenged unilateral established power, and
opened the floodgates for eventual social change. What gradually arose were multiple and
competing elites that gained power through new ideas, new technology, and new forms of
associational belonging. Sources of social change were multiplied.
Today, sources of social change are related not only to the power of wealth, ownership of
property, and inherited social position. Now sources of social change include other forms of
power such as elective political office, the control of information, organizational skill, media
networks, use of innovative technology, and highly organized collaborative people power.
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Collaborative organizations have become powerful sources of social change. Collaborative
recognize the deep human need for constructive social change, build social solidarity, create
mutual trust, enable the pooling of resources, focus on specific social change goals, and
empower long-term coordinated efforts for achieving substantial social change.
c) Political Developments
Political developments among society are vital in affecting the cultural aspects of the society in
many ways. Social Movement is one of the major forms of collective behavior. We hear of
various kinds of social movements launched for one or the other purpose. A social movement
can be defined as collectively acing with some continuity to promote or resist change in the
society or group of which it is a part. It is a collective effort to generate, promote or resist social
change.
In fact, there are two major characteristics which constitute what social movement is. These are
collective action and a movement aims at social change. Collective Action should be noted that
a given random collective action by a society is not meant a social movement. Social movement
involves collective action. However it takes the form of a movement only when it is sustained
for a long time. This collective action need not be formally organized. But it should be able to
create an interest and awakening in relatively large number of people and need to stay longer.
Another major feature of a social movement is the fact that it is generally oriented towards
bringing about social change. This change could either be partial or total. Though the movement
is aimed at bringing about a change in the values, norms, ideologies of the existing system,
efforts are also made by some other forces to resist the changes and to maintain the status quo.
The counter attempts are normally defensive and restorative rather than innovative and initiating
change. Anthony Wallace view social movement as an attempt by local population to change
the image or models they have of how their culture operates.
Put simply, social movement is a collective mobilization of people in a society in an organized

manner under an individual or collective leadership in order to realize an ideologically defined
social purpose. The specific goal of a social movement has a collective significance; ideological
interpretation of the collective goal; a rank of committed worker and strong leadership.
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Do you think culture is a factor which ameliorates/deteriorates the global climate? If you say,
No please reason it out. If you say, yes, explain how culture affects climate.
Culture is linked with changes in environment. In fact, climate change is the greatest threat
facing humanity today. The human dimensions of global environmental change in general, and
climate change in particular, have emerged as a significant area of interest for researchers and
commentators across a range of disciplines. Central to our understanding of human dimensions
of climate change is the notion of ‘culture’, which, while difficult to define, can be understood
as the common way in which a community of persons makes sense of the world. As Proctor has
pointed out, culture ‘always plays a role in informing human practices connected with global
environmental change’. Culture can be viewed as both a cause of climate change, for example
consumerist culture, and as something that in itself will be affected by climate change – for
example, demands for changes in patterns of consumption. Furthermore, culture underlies the
ways in which we understand climate change and the measures we are able to undertake in
addressing climate change.
4.2 Technology and Social Change

Technology is the creation of tools or objects that both extend our natural abilities and alter our
social environment. Hence, the presence of technology influences social change. Technology is
binding the world of work and the world of home in ways that redefine what is means to be in
each. Some changes are dramatic, others are subtle, but the changes are experienced in the
routine activities of everyday life.
Every technological innovation cannot be good for what a society needs. Technological
innovations can be either appropriate or inappropriate. Appropriate Technology is a technology
designed to be suitable to the needs and resources of a particular group of people. Appropriate
technology relies on local skills and resources that fit into the local situation economically and
culturally, and that do not harm the environment.
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Technological innovations do affect the cultural set up of a society in various ways. It is due to
the fact that technological changes do bring about the following major developments whose
effect on the culture and identity of a society is significant.
Industrialization: Technology has contributed to the growth of industries or to the process of

industrialization. Industrialization is a term covering in general terms the growth in a society
hitherto mainly agrarian to modern industry with all its circumstances and problems, economic
and social. It describes in general term that the growth of a society in which a major role is
played by manufacturing industry. The industry is characterized by heavy, fixed capital
investment in plant and building by the application of science to industrial techniques and by
mainly large-scale standardized production. The Industrial Revolution of 18th century led to the
unprecedented growth of industries. Industrialization is associated with the factory system of
production. The family has lost its economic importance. The factories have brought down the
prices of commodities, improved their quality and maximized their output. The whole process
of production is mechanized. Consequently, the traditional skills have declined and good
number of artisans has lost their work. Huge factories could provide employment opportunities
to thousands of people. Hence men have become workers in a very large number. The process
of industrialization has affected the nature, character and the growth of economy. It has
contributed to the growth of cities or to the process of urbanization.
Urbanization: In many countries the growth of industries has contributed to the growth of cities.
Urbanization denotes a diffusion of the influence of urban centers to a rural hinterland.
Urbanization can be described as a process of becoming urban moving to cities changing from
agriculture to other pursuits common to cities and corresponding change of behavior patterns.
Hence only when a large proportion of inhabitants in an area come to cities, urbanization is said
to occur.
Urbanization has become a world phenomenon today. An unprecedented growth has taken place
not only in the number of great cities but also in their size. As a result of industrialization
people have started moving towards the industrial areas in search of employment. The more
people are added in the new centers of industrial production, this the industrial areas later on
have progressively developed into towns and cities.
‐ 108 ‐
Modernization: Modernization is a process which indicates the adoption of the modern ways of
life and values. It refers to an attempt on the part of the people particularly those who are
custom-bound to adapt themselves to the present-time, conditions, needs, styles and ways in
general. It indicates a change in people's food habits, dress habits, speaking styles, tastes,
choices, preferences, ideas, values, recreational activities and so on. People in the process of
getting them modernized; give more importance to science and technology. The scientific and
technological inventions have modernized societies in various countries by bringing about
remarkable changes in the system of social relationship. Likewise, the impacts of technological
and scientific innovations are worth vital to be considered in installing new ideologies that are
not compatible with the values, beliefs and ideologies which the society has taken for granted
hitherto.
Developments in the means of Transportation and Communications: Development of transport

and communication has led to the national and international trade on a large scale. The road
transport, the train service, the ships and the aeroplanes have eased the movement of men and
material goods. Post and telegraph, radio and television, newspapers and magazines, telephone
and wireless and the like have developed a great deal. The space research and the launching of
the satellites for communication purposes have further added to these developments. They have
helped the people belonging to different corners of the nation or the world to have regular
contacts.
Economic Transformation and Emergence of new social classes: The introduction of the factory
system of production has turned the agricultural economy into industrial economy. The
industrial or the capitalist economy has divided the social organization into two predominant
classes-the capitalist class and the working class. These two classes are always at conflict due to
mutually opposite interest. In the course of time, an intermediary class called the middle class
has evolved.
Technology and Changes in social institutions: Technology profoundly altered our modes of
life. Technology has not spared the social institutions of its effects. The institutions of family
and marriage, religion, morality, state, property have been altered. Differing aspects of culture
are integrated with industrial location but equally pronounced are the effects of industry on
‐ 109 ‐
culture and social change. Indeed, industrialization is the most potent and effective agent of
social change in modern times. Entire cultures have been reshaped as a consequence of the
industrial revolution. Traditions thousands of years old have been discarded almost overnight.
Modern technology is taking away industry from the household and has radically changed the
family organization. With the further expansion of industrialization and modernization,
members of the family are forced to fix their own families in areas where the factory is located.
Now unlike the earlier traditional extended or multigenerational family, there is the emergence
of nucleus families particularly in developed world. Many functions of the family have been
taken away by other agencies.
Marriage is losing its holiness. It is treated as a civil contract than a sacred bond. Marriages are
becoming more and more unstable. Instances of divorce, desertion and separation are
increasing. Technology has elevated the status of women but it has also contributed to the
stresses and strains in the relations between men and women at home.
Perhaps the principal cultural change introduced by the industrial revolution and a subsequent
cornerstone of Western civilization was the concept of technology-based progress, the by-
product of continual invention and change. By accepting a faith in progress, many discarded the
notions of heaven and the afterlife to accept the belief in a better future on Earth, as an industrial
society became more secularized. Religion is losing hold over the members. People are
becoming more secular, rational and scientific but less religious in their outlook. Inventions and
discoveries in science have shaken the foundations of religion. The function of the state or the
field of state activity has been widened. Modern technology have made the states to perform
such functions as -the protection of the aged, the weaker section and the minorities making
provision for education, health care etc.
Transportation and communication inventions are leading to a shift of functions from local
government to the central government of the whole state. The modern inventions have also
strengthened nationalism. The modern governments which rule through the bureaucracy have
further impersonalized the human relations. However, the level of impact of technology on
‐ 110 ‐
society varies from place to place and it is more related with the scope of technological progress
of societies and states.
Other changes produced by industrialization include increased interregional trade and

intercultural contact, a shift from rural to urban residence for vast numbers of people, the
ultimate disappearance of child labor, and increase in the rate of population growth followed by
an unprecedented decline in birth rates. It also greatly increased educational opportunities for
the non-wealthy, and an increase in government influence and functions. Perhaps the most basic
change is the way people make their living.
4.3 Globalization and Culture

In this part, it will be dealt with the relationship between the globalization process and ‘culture’-
the complex human condition. But first it is needed to say very briefly about globalization.
What is globalization?
Various theorists defined globalization in various ways. Some give more emphasis on the
economic aspects of globalization; other focused on its political aspect; and some others viewed
it as a cultural project.
Economically, globalization is the increasing interaction of national economy of states. It is a

process which is viewed by advocates of globalization as determinately good for all societies all
over the world. These globalists (those who advocate further economic integration of the world
society contend that globalization ultimately aims at creating a state of frictionless capitalism. It
is a process of creating a global market in which increasingly all nations are forced to
participate. Therefore, globalization can be viewed as a process of shifting autonomous
economies into a global market. In other words, it is the systematic integration of autonomous
economies into a global system of production and distribution.
Globalization as a political process entails that there is interconnection of sovereign nations

through trade and capital flows; harmonization of economic rules that govern relationship
‐ 111 ‐
among these sovereign nation; creating structures to support and facilitate interdependent and
creating a global market place.
From the culture point of view, globalization is the process of harmonizing different culture and
beliefs. Globalization is the process that erodes differences in culture and produces a flawless
global system of culture and economic values. The harmonization is achieved due to
advancement in communication thus countries are increasingly being forced to participate. The
consequent is that the word separate nation-states is said to be ending if the process of
globalization is allowed to run its logical course. The new technology, based on the computer
and satellite communication have revolutionized our traditional conception of the media, both
print and electronic. Books, newspapers, radio, television and video program are now being
transposed into the multimedia world of the cyber space and available to all people of the world
wherever they may live.
Technology has now created the possibility and even the likelihood of a global culture. The
Internet, fax machines, satellites, and cable TV are sweeping away cultural boundaries. Global
entertainment companies shape the perceptions and dreams of ordinary citizens, wherever they
live. This spread of values, norms, and culture tends to promote Western ideals of capitalism. In
this regard, while some scholars viewed the cultural aspects of globalisation as an opportunity,
some other scholars view it as a threat and refer the process of globalisation as the expansion of
cultural imperialism and promotion of western societies cultural values, belief, norm, and
ideals.
Globalization involves rapid social change that is occurring simultaneously in the world
economy, in politics, in communications, in the physical environment and in culture; and each
of these transformations interact with the others. So it is a complex process to grasp in its
entirety. This is because there are all sorts of theoretical issues to do with its causality, its
historical and geographical sources, its relationship to other concepts like modernity and post
modernity, its social consequences, and its differential impact on politics and economy of states
are difficult and controversial.
Globalization is affecting cultural, spiritual, political and economic identity of societies in

various parts. For some, globalization is first and foremost a cultural project and then an
‐ 112 ‐
economic and political one. These processes manifest themselves in a dialectical way. Nabudere
(2000) has stated globalization in a rather systematic and quite assertive and self evident
manner. He argued that globalization as a western driven force encompasses only Western
vision of the world. The contestation against this domination by other civilizations and cultures
has produced some of these challenges which constitute part of the cultural diversity of
modernity and the global field. These challenges also impose on the unidirectional movement of
western economic globalization and its concomitant cultural domination.
However, there is something going on which is quite simple to describe and it is called a
process of accelerating connectivity. By this it is meant that globalization refers to the rapidly
developing and ever-crowded network of interconnections and interdependencies that
characterize modern social life. At its most basic, globalization is quite simply the various
‘flows’ of capital, commodities, people, knowledge, information and ideas, crime, pollution,
diseases, fashions, beliefs, images and so on across international boundaries. This increasing
connectivity is an obvious aspect of our lives. It is something we can all recognize in everyday
routine practices: in our use of communications technologies such as mobile phones, computers,
email, the internet; in the built environment we inhabit; in the sort of food we eat; in the way we
earn our livings; and in the way we entertain ourselves like in cinema, television and so on.
It is obvious that we are living in a much more globally ‘connected’ world today than even
thirty or forty years ago. The world is becoming a small village that societies from various
corners of the world are becoming increasingly aware of political, economic, cultural and social
developments of the other diametrically opposite corner of the world. But what does this all
mean culturally? Does it mean that we are inevitably being drawn together, for good or ill, into
a single global culture?
However, increasing global connectivity does not imply that the world is becoming
economically, culturally or politically ‘unified’. Some claimed that the effects of globalization
currently extends to every single person or place on the planet. Despite its reach, it has pointed
to trends towards social, political and cultural division that we see around us. This is a point that
is frequently made by theorists of development: what used to be called the ‘Third World’ does
not partake of the globalised economy or of globalised communications in the same way as the
developed world.
‐ 113 ‐
Hence, such aspects of cultural globalisation have brought the following questions to the
forefront: Will local cultures inevitably fall victim to this global "consumer" culture? Will
English eradicate all other languages? Will consumer values overwhelm peoples' sense of
community and social solidarity? Or, on the contrary, will a common culture paved the way to
greater shared values and political unity? This section looks at the impact of globalisation on
culture and other issues of culture and globalization.
The impact of globalization on the culture is immense and diverse. There are views that are
diametrically opposite to each other regarding the impacts of globalization on culture. In this
case, there are optimists and pessimists, who have contradicting views. Optimists look forward to
global village linked altogether by internet, and benefiting from over-increasing material well
being. On the other hand, pessimists see that globalization destroy the environment and culture,
and remove away all that is healthy and meaningful for human existence. Probably it deteriorates
the end of geography and the end of sovereignty.
An importance feature of globalization is the interchange of ideas as symbolized by the internet.

The concern involves the clash of cultures and the spread of materialistic values. The internet
allows any person to access and wonder into the Hollywood library and no one is there to stop,
control or direct you. This has enormous influence on how people think, act or behave. The
values that this entertainment industry reflects often promote materialism, violence and
immorality.
Technology now created the possibility and even the likelihood of global culture. The fax
machine, satellite and cable T.V have swept away the national cultural boundaries. Global
entertainment companies shape understanding and dreams of ordinary citizens wherever they
live. The local culture are inevitably falling victim to global ‘’consumer’’ culture. For instance,
English Language is gradually but steadily eradicating the local dialect while consumer values
are overwhelming people’s sense of community and social solidarity. For instance, globalization
has increasingly knitted together the world created unity out of great diversity. It is noted that
Coca Cola and McDonald symbolize the process along with Sony.
McDonaldization is a result of globalization and, ultimately, leads to global uniformity,
influencing local habits and traditions. Take, for example, the Starbucks coffee disrupting the
traditional coffee culture in Italy. This sometimes leads to negative reactions, such as in the case
‐ 114 ‐
of the Starbucks coffeehouse in the Forbidden City in central Beijing. This particular Starbucks
branch, which opened in 2000, was shut down in 2007 due to heavy protests. Critics called it a
stain on China’s historical legacy. In fact, Cocacolisation and MacDonalisation have then
become expressive concepts of the process of globalization. They are influencing consumer’s
taste globally. These are known and consumed all over the world. It has affected the cultural
aspect of people in different ways. For instance, the loud echoing advertisement rhythms of the
famous Coca-Cola drinks can be heard across the boundaries in towns, cities and even in remote
rural areas where drinking water is hard to get. It is observed that people had to change their
living ways due to influence of globalization. In addition, these are powerful companies that
drive globalization forward, creating new laws, new business process, new ways to eat and drink,
and new hopes and dreams.
The continuing world-wide growth of access to internet is being reflected by an equally visible
rise in its use by ethnic, ideological and national groups concerned to claim their culture identity.
Globalization has made it possible for the whole world to be wired and plugged into T.V
program, movies, news, music, life style and entertainment of the advanced countries. Satellite,
cables, phones, walkmans, V.C.Ds, D.V.Ds and retails grants as well as wonders of
entertainment technology are creating the mass marketing of culture.
While globalization encourages cultural sharing and interaction between peoples, it may also
promote conflict. The impact can be viewed from the angle that what would happen on ones
culture whenever its members are all obsessed by the culture of others. And also starts to adopt
certain values and practices of others which in effect are not part of his/her culture. According to
Samuel Huntington, culture will be the principal factor that divides the world in the future. He
briefly stated that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily
ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating
source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world
affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of
different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. He defined a
civilization as the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity
‐ 115 ‐
people have. It is defined by both common objective elements, such as language, history,
religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of people.
Some others again forwarded ideas on the way cultures clash and saw the world splitting along
cultural lines. They defined the battle as one between traditional values, which is the source of
anti-globalizing movement, on the one hand; and the forces of globalization, or McWorld, on the
other. The emergence of hard-line politicians or extremists in the Middle Eastern countries, for
example, is the manifestation of conflicts threatened by the spread of Mcdonaldization.
Research in Nigeria revealed that indigenous languages are rendered impotent because, English
Language is the official language of the country. Globalization has made English language a
predator language. English language has run rampant all over Nigeria. People want to speak
English language because it is the language of advertising, movies and pop music, as well as
vital tool of success. English language has become certainly the most successful lingua franca
we have ever seen. Global communication is flattening the cultural terrain in the direction of
the dominance of the modes and material practices of the global economic leaders, most
particularly in the United States of America and Western Europe. The ownership of the strategic
components of the global communication technology’s i.e. Microsoft, is seen as determining
element in this flattening of terrain. Today, the world is moving towards the extinction of a rich
and varied cultural and symbolic life and emerging in the global language. English language
that is emerging as global language is no longer under the control of its original owners. On the
other hand, the Nigerian indigenous languages are facing serious danger of extinction.
Moreover, music in developing countries and other developed countries alike has been
neutralized with the western beats. Many youth in developing third world now prefer western
hair style, shoes and dressing, mainly Jeans. Young people of the Third World countries are the
largest consumers of global culture. All over the world, people of all ages are exposed to the
same music, the same sporting events, the same news, and the same glamorous life style. `It is
observed that the culture of U.S. is available everywhere. Satellite T.V. has made T.V.
programs to be available for 24 hours, which are dominated by U.S. films, music and life style.
Observably, children no longer sit in the evening for tales by moonlight that promotes the
values of respect, integrity, peace, love and unity. Even, it has been neglected in the rural areas
‐ 116 ‐
where this sort of environment would fit best. The struggle now is for survival; how to get a
bond of meal to fill family. Children now involve themselves in crime such as robbery, violence
and female prostitution.
Globalization is rapidly determining the cultural practices of the people in different parts of the
world. Culture of the developed economy has taken over the local culture. Many prefer the
cultural practices of the developed countries. It is observed that globalization is characterized by
intense competition and an aggressive quest for supremacy by various contending people and
interest groups of the world. For some, globalization is a continuation and expansion of Western
Imperialism. This is because it is a fresh phase of recolonization of Africa societies which
attempts to continue the promotion of western linguistic heritage and literacy esthetic canons at
the expense of African indigenous languages and literature.
The recolonization has imposed on all cultural values on African society and culture thereby
distorting the African value system and identity. This is achieved by fostering increasing
disruption and managerialization of the art and culture of their people. Indigenous culture is
portrayed as less functional and perhaps inferior to the culture of other people of the world. This
is why the people are losing their touch of the natural environment, including the indigenous
landscapes, settlement patterns and mode of architecture. However, it must be realized that
economic growth without social and cultural justice cannot be the idea of sustainable world
development.
There are multiple discourses on globalization and its impact on the nature of African states.
Particularly, the end of the cold war era has led to the emergence of the New World Order. The
New World Order is said to have reigned with the ascendancy of the West and the demise and
disintegration of the socialist block. Arguably, it is mentioned that the post cold war era has
created the universalization of the world culture, politics; and economy and globalization is
featured as a historical process that has served in creating global interdependence, the
hegemonic rise of global capitalism, emergence of a global mass culture driven by mass
advertising and technical advances in mass communication.
‐ 117 ‐
Summary
Social change is the change in the social structure, social institutions, social behavior and
social relations of a given specific cultural society. It is the result of the collective change in the
behavior patterns which becomes visible in a large community.
It has also been noted that technology is a significant factor for accelerating social change.
Developments in science and technological innovations are the main factors for accelerating the
cultural and economic aspects of globalization. However, technological benefits are unevenly
distributed. Technology by itself has both pros and cons. Technology and social change are
inextricably linked and are intertwined one way or the other. Progress in technology has led to
many developments in the world. Thus, some scholars have even gone to the extent of arguing
that the technology determines society’s destiny.
In brief, it has been discussed that globalization is a complex process comprising of political,
economic, cultural aspects. It is noted that globalization as a cultural project is arguably said to
have caused the ascendancy of western cultural imperialism over the culture and particular
historical trajectory of societies across the world. However, globalization as a cultural process
has not brought about the homogenization of world culture based on cultural and political ideals
of western developed societies. It should be noted that currently there is an increasing concern
on cultural particularism as societies from various parts of the world has become assertive of
their culture.
Adoption of a new culture item is accompanied by the disuse of an old one. This in turn,
significantly declined global cultural diversity. This does not mean a single global culture, but
rather a trend toward cultural communities that come in fewer instances.
‐ 118 ‐
References
De Blij, Harm J, (1977). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons
Inc, New York, USA.
De Blij, Harm J, (1996). Human geography: Culture, society and space, John Wiley & Sons
Inc, Canada.
Getis. A, Getis.J and Fellmann.J, (1985). Human Geography: Culture and environment,
Macmillan publishing company, New York
Harvey, William Ford Jones, Meluyn, (1991). An introduction to settlement geography,

Cambridge University Press, Scotprint Ltd, Musselburgh, Great Britain.
Jackson, W.A. Douglas (1985). The shaping of our world: A human and cultural geography,
John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, USA
Knox, Paul Marlston, S,(1998), Places and Regions in Global Context: Human Geography.
Prentice Hall Inc: Newjersy
Nabudere, Dani (2000) Globalization, Africa and post traditionalism
Rubenstien, James. M (1989). The cultural landscapes: An introduction to human geography,

2nd edition, Miami university, Ohio, Merril publishing company
Spencer, J.E (1969). Cultural geography: An evolutionary introduction to our humanized earth,
John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York
‐ 119 ‐
ANSEWERS TO EXERCISES
Exercise 1.1
This is true by the fact that the diffusers “take” the disease with them. However, AIDS is not
contracted by everyone in its path. More importantly, the pattern of AIDS diffusion is more
classically hierarchical and therefore expansion.
Exercise1.2
Nowadays, cultural diffusion happens when cultural ideas or practices are spread through a
middleman or even another culture. Technology, advertising through mass media, and the
internet are both playing a huge role as a middleman in promoting this type of cultural diffusion
around the world today. These have, for example, allowed people worldwide to see what is
popular in the U.S. and as a result, blue jeans and Coca-Cola products can be found even in
remote villages.
Exercise 1.3
Dear students, if you travel across the cultural landscape of China, for example, you will
discover a land of rapidly modernizing cities, many with world-class industries, office towers,
and port facilities. In contrast, portions of rural China are still dominated by traditional pre-
modern agricultural tools and techniques. In reality, therefore, China is not a cultural community,
but is instead a mosaic of many cultural communities. The same is true of Mexico, India, Peru,
and virtually every other country on Earth today. Cultural differences exist within countries as
well as between them. Thus, all Chinese or all Mexicans, Indians, Peruvians, etc. are not the
same. Rather, countries are composed of numerous cultural communities
Exercise 2. 1
In Paleolithic period Human kind dispersed across the world, used of fire and crude tools,
hunting and gathering economy; variety of tools; artwork; burial rituals;
retreat of last glaciers
In Mesolithic period Domestication of plants and animals as well as semi- permanent settlements
begun; tools were further refined.
In Neolithic period Systems of agriculture, use of animals for work, and specialization in occupation
emerged. Moreover, cities, city-states and empires developed.
‐ 120 ‐
Exercise 2.2 :Pre-State societies are small scale societies based on the community, the band, or
the tribe and chiefdom. They vary greatly in their degree of political integration. Usually, the
community is the largest political unit, with no centralized and permanent authority whatsoever
over all of them. Still, other pre-state societies are highly organized, with many communities
under the overall authority of a centralized or supreme political authority, which can sometimes
be a hereditary leader. However, these societies lack the highly stratified class structure and other
characteristics of the state.
Exercise 2. 3
The mode of production of the agrarian society that is cultivation using animal drawn ploughs
distinguishes it from the hunter-gatherer society which produces none of its food. It also has
larger population size along with towns and greater system of social stratification between males
and females as well as between nobility and farmers.
Exercise 3. 1 List at least three similarities between language and religion
Both religion and language are
Symbols of identity and unifying forces
Sources of conflict
Are constantly changing
Exercise 3.2
First, race is biological while ethnicity is cultural. Second, ethnicity involves even more
variability and mixture that race does, for most people identify with more than one ethnic
background, a person might claim to be, say, an Amhara and Oromo. Moreover, people may
intentionally modify their ethnicity over time. Many West Indian immigrants to England
gradually shed their cultural background, becoming less ‘West India’ and absorbing new ethnic
traits from others. In a reversal of this pattern, Some Jamaicans have highlighted their
background through ‘Rastafarianism’ unlike West Indian.
Exercise 4.1
Traditional theorists view that social change within the society is initiated by individual person
in the community rather than technology.
Exercise 4.2
9 Ideological changes such as change religion, ideologies etc
9 Technological changes
9 Institutional changes which includes changes in economic structures and political
organization
‐ 121 ‐

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Wollo University

College of Social Sciences and Humanities

Department of Social Studies

Geography and Environmental Studies Program

Cultural and Social Geography (GeES341)

Mohammed Siraj (M.A)

I. Description of the course

II. Course Objectives

III. ORGANIZATION OF THE MODULE

 Explain the concepts of culture

1.1. Definition and scope of cultural geography

Culture has other characteristics that it is an invaluable inheritance of uncountable experiences,

1.2. Basic Themes in Cultural Geography

1.2.1. Cultural Region

The second component is a cultural complex. It is a separate combination of traits exhibited by a

Types of Cultural Region

1.2.2. Cultural Diffusion

Figure 1.1 Contagious Diffusion

‘B’ is a diagram of hierarchical diffusion.

Another form of expansion diffusion is

A third type of expansion diffusion is stimulus diffusion, a

Relocation diffusion is the spreading of innovations by a migrating population. It involves the

When a cultural item diffuses, it typically

Exercise 1.3 Is China a cultural community having uniform cultural components?

4. Humans as modifiers of the earth

1.2.4. Cultural Integration

You need to refer to the following to complete your study

The Mesolithic period

The Neolithic period

1. Hunting and gathering societies

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agricultural societies. For example,

Industrialization brought about changes in almost every aspect of society. As factories

2.2. The evolution of humankind

b) Homo sapiens Sapiens

2.4. Agricultural Origins and Dispersal

2.5.1 The Origin and Diffusion of Plant Domestication

2.5.2. Origin and Distribution of Domestic Animals

2.5. Evolution of settlement patterns

2.5.1. Origin of settlement

2.5.2. Settlement types and Morphology

The focus on individuals as members of groups encourages geographers to acknowledge the

2.5.4. Indices of settlement morphology

You need to refer to the following to complete your study

3.1. Geography of language

Lingua franca and pidgin

Like bilingualism or multilingualism, pindigenization represents another type of accommodation

Language and Community Spaces

3.1.1. Origin of Language

How might humans have devised the first language?

3.1. 2. Major World Languages

Semito-Hamitic Language Family

Niger Congo family

3.2. Geography of religion

3.2.1. The Origin of Religion

Cultural integration occasionally yields a situation in which a language group is linked to a

3.2. Major World Religious

The distribution of a religion is generated by a process of spatial interaction; it is diffused from a

II) Ethnic religions

III) Traditional religions

3.3. Geography of Ethnicity

Ethnic Areas: Acculturation and Assimilation

3.4. Spatial Mileage of Race

Explain the concepts of culture