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1. The plain or gently inclined uniform surface.

2. The scarp or steeply inclined slope; this is necessarily of small extent except in the direction of its length.

3. The valley, composed of two lateral parallel slopes inclined towards a narrow strip of plain at a lower level which itself slopes downwards in the direction of its length. Many varieties of this fundamental form may be distinguished.

4. The mount, composed of a surface falling away on every side from a particular place. This place may either be a point, as in a volcanic cone, or a line, as in a mountain range or ridge of hills.

[blocks in formation]

(a) Abrasionsplatten-Abraded plateaux.

(b) Marines Flachland-Plain of marine erosion.

(c) Schichtungstafelland-Horizontally stratified tableland. (d) Übergusstafelland-Lava plain.

(e) Stromflachland-River plain.

Flachboden der atmosphärischen Aufschüttung-Plains of aeolian formation.

5. The hollow or form produced by a land surface sloping inwards from all sides to a particular lowest place, the converse of a mount. 6. The cavern or space entirely surrounded by a land surface. These forms never occur scattered haphazard over å region, but always in an orderly subordination depending on their mode of origin. The dominant forms result from crustal Geology movements, the subsidiary from secondary reactions and land during the action of the primitive forms on mobile distriforms. butions. The geological structure and the mineral composition of the rocks are often the chief causes determining the character of the land forms of a region. Thus the scenery of a limestone country depends on the solubility and permeability of the rocks, leading to the typical Karst-formations of caverns, swallow-nock of Professor Davis). holes and underground stream courses, with the contingent phenomena of dry valleys and natural bridges. A sandy beach or desert owes its character to the mobility of its constituent sand-grains, which are readily drifted and piled up in the form of dunes. A region where volcanic activity has led to the embedding of dykes or bosses of hard rock amongst softer strata produces a plain broken by abrupt and isolated eminences.'

It would be impracticable to go fully into the varieties of each specific form; but, partly as an example of modern geographical classification, partly because of the exceptional importClassifica ance of mountains amongst the features of the land, one tion of exception may be made. The classification of mountains mountains. into types has usually had regard rather to geological structure than to external form, so that some geologists would even apply the name of a mountain range to a region not distinguished by relief from the rest of the country if it bear geological evidence of having once been a true range. A mountain may be described (it cannot be defined) as an elevated region of irregular surface rising comparatively abruptly from lower ground. The actual elevation of a summit above sea-level does not necessarily affect its mountainous character; a gentle eminence, for instance, rising a few hundred feet above a tableland, even if at an elevation of say 15,000 ft., could only be called a hill. But it may be said that any abrupt slope of 2000 ft. or more in vertical height may justly be called a mountain, while abrupt slopes of lesser height may be called hills. Existing classifications, however, do not take account of any difference in kind between mountain and hills, although it is common in the German language to speak of Hugelland, Mittelgebirge and Hochgebirge with a definite significance.

VI. Erosionsgebirge Mountains of erosion. From the morphological point of view it is more important to distinguish the associations of forms, such as the mountain mass or group of mountains radiating from a centre, with the valleys furrowing their flanks spreading towards every Mountain direction; the mountain chain or line of heights, forming a forms. long narrow ridge or series of ridges separated by parallel valleys, the dissected plateau or highland, divided into mountains of circumdenudation by a system of deeply-cut valleys; and the isolated peak, usually a volcanic cone or a hard rock mass left projecting after the softer strata which embedded it have been worn away (MonadThe geographical distribution of mountains is intimately associated with the great structural lines of the continents of which they form the culminating region. Lofty lines of fold mountains Distribu form the "backbones" of North America in the Rocky tion of Mountains and the west coast systems, of South America in the Cordillera of the Andes, of Europe in the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians and Caucasus, and of Asia in the mountains of Asia Minor, converging on the Pamirs and diverging thence in the Himalaya and the vast mountain systems of central and easter Asia. The remarkable line of volcanoes around the whole coast of the Pacific and along the margin of the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas is one of the most conspicuous features of the globe.

mountains.

forms.

Land

waste.

If land forms may be compared to organs, the part they serve in the economy of the earth may, without straining the term, be characterized as functions. The first and simplest Functions function of the land surface is that of guiding loose of land material to a lower level. The downward pull of gravity suffices to bring about the fall of such material, but the path it will follow and the distance it will travel before coming to rest depend upon the land form. The loose material may, and in an arid region does, consist only of portions of the higher parts of the surface detached by the expansion and contraction produced by heating and cooling due to radiation. Such broken material rolling down a uniform scarp would tend to reduce its steepness by the loss of material in the upper part and by the accumulation of a mound or scree against the lower part of the slope. But where the side is not a uniform scarp, but made up of a series of ridges and valleys, the tendency will be to distribute the detritus in an irregular manner, directing The simple classification employed by Professor James Geikie it away from one place and collecting it in great masses in another, into mountains of accumulation, mountains of elevation and mounso that in time the land form assumes a new appearance. Snow tains of circumdenudation, is not considered sufficiently thorough accumulating on the higher portions of the land, when compacted by German geographers, who, following Richthofen, generally into ice and caused to flow downwards by gravity, gives rise, on adopt a classification dependent on six primary divisions, each of account of its more coherent character, to continuous which is subdivided. The terms employed, especially for the sub-glaciers, which mould themselves to the slopes down divisions, cannot be easily translated into other languages, and the English equivalents in the following table are only put forward tentatively:

RICHTHOFEN'S CLASSIFICATION OF MOUNTAINS ⚫. 1. Tektonische Gebirge-Tectonic mountains.

(a) Bruchgebirge oder Schollengebirge-Block mountains.
1. Einseitige Schollengebirge oder Schollenrandgebirge
Scarp or tilted block mountains.

(i.) Tafelscholle-Table blocks.
(i.) Abrasionsscholle-Abraded blocks.

(iii) Transgressionsscholle-Blocks of unconform

able strata.

2. Flexurgebirge-Flexure mountains.

3. Horstgebirge-Symmetrical block mountains. (b) Faltungsgebirge-Fold mountains.

1. Homöomorphe Faltungsgebirge-Homomorphic fold

mountains.

2. Heteromorphe Faltungsgebirge-Heteromorphic fold

mountains.

1 On this subject sce J. Geikie, Earth Sculpture (London, 1898); J. E. Marr, The Scientific Study of Scenery (London, 1900); Sir A. Geikie, The Scenery and Geology of Scotland (London, 2nd ed., 1887); Lord Avebury (Sir J. Lubbock) The Scenery of Switzerland (London, 1896) and The Scenery of England (London, 1902).

Some geographers distinguish a mountain from a hill by origin; thus Professor Seeley says "a mountain implies elevation and a hill implies denudation, but the external forms of both are often identical." Report VI. Int. Geog. Congress (London, 1895), p. 751. "Mountains," in Scot. Geog. Mag. ii. (1896) p. 145.

• Führer für Forschungsreisende, pp. 652-685.

Glaciers.

which they are guided, different ice-streams converging to send forward a greater volume. Gradually coming to occupy definite beds, which are deepened and polished by the friction, they impress a characteristic appearance on the land, which guides them as they traverse it, and, although the ice melts at lower levels, vast quantities of clay and broken stones are brought down and deposited in terminal moraines where the glacier ends.

Rain.

Rain is by far the most important of the inorganic mobile distributions upon which land forms exercise their function of guidance and control. The precipitation of rain from the aqueous vapour of the atmosphere is caused in part by vertical movements of the atmosphere involving heat changes and apparently independent of the surface upon which precipitation occurs; but in greater part it is dictated by the form and altitude of the land surface and the direction of the prevailing winds, which itself is largely influenced by the land. It is on the windward faces of the highest ground, or just beyond the summit of less dominant heights upon the leeward side, that most rain falls, and all that does not evaporate or percolate into the ground is conducted back to the sea by a route which depends only on the form of the land. More mobile and more searching than ice or rock rubbish, the trickling drops are guided by the deepest lines of the hillside in their incipient flow, and as these lines converge, the stream, gaining strength, proceeds in its torrential course to carve its channel deeper and entrench itself in permanent occupation. Thus the streambed, from which at first the water might be blown away into a new channel by a gale of wind, ultimately grows to be the strongest line of the landscape. As the main valley deepens, the tributary streambeds are deepened also, and gradually cut their way headwards, enlarging the area whence they draw their supplies. Thus new land forms are created-valleys of curious complexity, for example

River

systems.

drainage.

limnology (see LAKE). The existence of lakes in hollows of the land
depends upon the balance between precipitation and evaporation.
A stream flowing into a hollow will tend to fill it up, and Lakes and
the water will begin to escape as soon as its level rises high internal
enough to reach the lowest part of the rim. In the case
of a large hollow in a very dry climate the rate of
evaporation may be sufficient to prevent the water from ever rising
to the lip, so that there is no outflow to the sea, and a basin of internal
drainage is the result. This is the case, for instance, in the Caspian
sea, the Aral and Balkhash lakes, the Tarim basin, the Sahara, inner
Australia, the great basin of the United States and the Titicaca
basin. These basins of internal drainage are calculated to amount.
to 22% of the land surface. The percentages of the land surface:
draining to the different oceans are approximately-Atlantic, 34.3 %
Arctic sea, 16.5%; Pacific, 14.4%; Indian Ocean, 12.8%.

Termino logy of river

by the "capture" and diversion of the water of one river by another, | leading to a change of watershed. The minor tributaries become more numerous and more constant, until the system of torrents has impressed its own individuality on the mountain side. As the river leaves the mountain, ever growing by the accession of tributaries, it ceases, save in flood time, to be a formidable instrument of destruction; the gentler slope of the land surface gives to it only power sufficient to transport small stones, gravel, sand and ultimately mud. Its valley banks are cut back by the erosion of minor tributaries, or by rain-wash if the climate be moist, or left steep and sharp while the river deepens its bed if the climate be arid. The outline of the curve of a valley's sides ultimately depends on the angle of repose of the detritus which covers them, if there has been no subsequent change, such as the passage of a glacier along the valley, which tends to destroy the regularity of the crosssection. The slope of the river bed diminishes until the plain compels The parts of a river system have not been so clearly defined as is: the river to move slowly, swinging in meanders proportioned to its desirable, hence the exaggerated importance popularly attached to size, and gradually, controlled by the fattening land, ceasing to "the source "of a river. A well-developed river system transport material, but raising its banks and silting up its bed by has in fact many equally important and widely-separated the dropped sediment, until, split up and shoaled, its distributaries sources, the most distant from the mouth, the highest, struggle across its delta to the sea. This is the typical river of which or even that of largest initial volume not being necesthere are infinite varieties, yet every variety would, if time were sarily of greater geographical interest than the rest. given, and the land remained unchanged in level relatively to the sea, The whole of the land which directs drainage towards one river is Adjust. ultimately approach to the type. Movements of the land known as its basin, catchment area or drainage area sometimes either of subsidence or elevation, changes in the land by by an incorrect expression, as its valley or even its watershed.. ment of the action of erosion in cutting back an escarpment or The boundary line between one drainage area and others is rightly rivers to land. cutting through a col, changes in climate by affecting the termed the watershed, but on account of the ambiguity which has rainfall and the volume of water, all tend to throw the been tolerated it is better to call it water-parting or, as in America river valley out of harmony with the actual condition of divide. The only other important term which requires to be noted its stream. There is nothing more striking in geography than the here is talweg, a word introduced from the German into French perfection of the adjustment of a great river system to its valleys and English, and meaning the deepest line along the valley, which when the land has remained stable for a very lengthened period. is necessarily occupied by a stream unless the valley is dry. Before full adjustment has been attained the river bed may be The functions of land forms extend beyond the control of the broken in places by waterfalls or interrupted by lakes; after adjust-circulation of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the water which ment the bed assumes a permanent outline, the slope diminishing is continually being interchanged between them; they are exercised more and more gradually, without a break in its symmetrical descent. with increased effect in the higher departments of biogeography and Excellent examples of the indecisive drainage of a new land surface, anthropogeography. on which the river system has not had time to impress itself, are to be seen in northern Canada and in Finland, where rivers are separated by scarcely perceptible divides, and the numerous lakes frequently belong to more than one river system.

cycle.

The action of rivers on the land is so important that it has been made the basis of a system of physical geography by Professor W. M. Davis, who classifics land surfaces in terms of The geo. the three factors-structure, process and time. Of graphical these time, during which the process is acting on the structure, is the most important. A land may thus be characterized by its position in the geographical cycle," or cycle of erosion, as young, mature or old, the last term being reached when the base-level of erosion is attained, and the land, however varied its relief may have been in youth or maturity, is reduced to a nearly uniform surface or peneplain. By a re-elevation of a peneplan the rivers of an old land surface may be restored to youthful activity, and resume their shaping action, deepening the old valleys and initiating new ones, starting afresh the whole course of the geographical cycle. It is, however, not the action of the running water on the land, but the function exercised by the land on the runhing water, that is considered here to be the special province of geography. At every stage of the geographical cycle the land forms, as they exist at that stage, are concerned in guiding the condensation and flow of water in certain definite ways. Thus, for example, in a mountain range at right angles to a prevailing sea-wind, it is the land forms, which determine that one side of the range shall be richly watered and deeply dissected by a complete system of valleys, while the other side is dry, indefinite in its valley systems, and sends none of its scanty drainage to the sea. action of rain, ice and rivers conspires with the movement of land waste to strip the layer of soil from steep slopes as rapidly as it forms, and to cause it to accumulate on the flat valley bottoms, on the graceful flattened cones of alluvial fans at the outlet of the gorges of tributaries, or in the smoothly-spread surface of alluvial plains. The whole question of the régime of rivers and lakes is sometimes treated under the name hydrography, a name used by some writers: in the sense of marine surveying, and by others as synonymous with occanography. For the study of rivers alone the name potamology has been suggested by Penck, and the subject being of much practical importance has received a good deal of attention. The study of lakes has also been specialized under the name of See, for a summary of river-action, A. Phillipson, Studien über Wasserscheiden (Leipzig, 1886); also I.C. Russell, River Development (London, 1898) (published as The Rivers of North America, New York, 1898).

The

W. M. Davis, "The Geographical Cycle," Geog. Journ. xiv. (1899) p. 484. A. Penck," Potamology as a Branch of Physical Geography," Geog. Journ. x. (1897) p. 619. See, for instance, E. Wisotzki, Hauptfluss und Nebenfluss (Stettin, 1889). For practical studies see official reports on the Mississippi, Rhine, Seine, Elbe and other great rivers.

Systems.

Blogeography..

The sum of the organic life on the globe is termed by some geographers the biosphere, and it has been estimated that the whole mass of living substance in existence at one time would cover the surface of the earth to a depth of one-fifth of an inch. The distribution of living organisms is a complex problem, a function of many factors, several of which are yet but little known. They include the biological nature of the organism and its physical environment, the latter involving: conditions in which geographical elements, direct or indirect, preponderate. The direct geographical elements are the arrangement: of land and sea (continents and islands standing in sharp contrast) and the vertical relief of the globe, which interposes barriers of a less absolute kind between portions of the same land area or oceanic: depression. The indirect geographical elements, which, as a rule,. act with and intensify the direct, are mainly climatic; the pre-. vailing winds, rainfall, mean and extreme temperatures of every locality depending on the arrangement of land and sea and of land! forms. Climate thus guided affects the weathering of rocks, and! so determines the kind and arrangement of soil. Different species: of organisms come to perfection in different climates, and it may be stated as a general rule that a species, whether of plant or animal, once established at one point, would spread over the whole zone: of the climate congenial to it unless some barrier were interposed! to its progress. In the case of land and fresh-water organisms: the sea is the chief barrier; in the case of marine organisms, the land. Differences in land forms do not exert great influence on the distribution of living creatures directly, but indirectly such land forms as mountain ranges and internal drainage basins are very potent through their action on soil and climate. A snow-capped mountain ridge or an arid desert forms a barrier between different forms of life which is often more effective than an equal breadth of In this way the surface of the land is divided into numerous natural regions, the flora and fauna of each of which include some distinctive species not shared by the others. The distribution of life is discussed in the various articles in this Encyclopaedia dealing with biological, botanical and zoological subjects.

sca.

F. A. Forel, Handbuch der Seenkunde: allgemeine Limnologie (Stuttgart, 1901); F. A. Forel, "La Limnologie, branche de la geographie," Report VI. Int. Geog. Congress (London, 1895), p. 593: also Le Léman (2 vols., Lausanne, 1892, 1894); H. Lullies. "Studien über Seen," Jubiläumsschrift der Albertus-Universitat (Königsberg, 1894); and G. R. Credner," Die Reliktenseen," Petermanns Millerlungen, Ergänzungshefte 86 and 89 (Gotha. 1887, 1888).

J. Murray," Drainage Areas of the Continents," Scol. Geog. Mag. ii. (1886) p. 548.

7 Wagner, Lehrbuch der Geographie (1900), i. 586.

For details, see A. R. Wallace, Geographical_Distribution of Animals and Island Life; A. Heilprin, Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals (1887); O. Drude, Handbuch der Pflanzen geographie; A. Engler, Entwickelungsgeschichte der Pflanzenwelt; also Beddard, Zoogeography (Cambridge, 1895); and Sclater, The Geography of Mammals (London, 1,899).

Floral

areas.

The classification of the land surface into areas inhabited by | distinctive groups of plants has been attempted by many phytogeographers, but without resulting in any scheme of general acceptance. The simplest classification is perhaps zones. that of Drude according to climatic zones, subdivided according to continents. This takes account of (1) the Arctic Alpine zone, including all the vegetation of the region bordering on perpetual snow; (2) the Boreal zone, including the temperate lands of North America, Europe and Asia, all of which are substantially alike in botanical character; (3) the Tropical zone, divided sharply into (a) the tropical zone of the New World, and (b) the tropical zone of the Old World, the forms of which differ in a sig. nificant degree; (4) the Austral zone, comprising all continental land south of the equator, and sharply divided into three regions the floras of which are strikingly distinct-(a) South American, (b) South African and (c) Australian; (5) the Oceanic, comprising all oceanic islands, the flora of which consists exclusively of forms whose seeds could be drifted undestroyed by ocean currents or carried by birds. To these might be added the antarctic, which is still very imperfectly known. Many subdivisions and transitional zones have been suggested by different authors. From the point of view of the economy of the globe this classification by species is perhaps less important than that by mode of life and physiological character in accordance with Vegetation environment. The following are the chief areas of vegetational activity usually recognized: (1) The icedeserts of the arctic and antarctic and the highest mountain regions, where there is no vegetation except the lowest forms, like that which causes "red snow." (2) The tundra or region of intensely cold winters, forbidding tree-growth, where mosses and lichens cover most of the ground when unfrozen, and shrubs occur of species which in other conditions are trees, here stunted to the height of a few inches. A similar zone surrounds the permanent snow on lofty mountains in all latitudes. The tundra passes by imperceptible gradations into the moor, bog and heath of warmer climates. (3) The temperate forests of evergreen or deciduous trees, according to circumstances, which occupy those parts of both temperate zones where rainfall and sunlight are both abundant. (4) The grassy steppes or prairies where the rainfall is diminished and temperatures are extreme, and grass is the prevailing form of vegetation. These pass imperceptibly into-(5) the arid desert, where rainfall is at a minimum, and the only plants are those modified to subsist with the smallest supply of water. (6) The tropical forest, which represents the maximum of plant luxuriance, stimulated by the heaviest rainfall, greatest heat and strongest light. These divisions merge one into the other, and admit of almost indefinite subdivision, while they are subject to great modifications by human interference in clearing and cultivating. Plants exhibit the controlling power of environment to a high degree, and thus vegetation is usually in close adjustment to the bolder geographical features of The divisions of the earth into faunal regions by Dr P. L. Sclater have been found to hold good for a large number of groups of animals as different in their mode of life as birds and mammals, Paunal and they may thus be accepted as based on nature. realms. They are six in number: (1) Palaearctic, including Europe, Asia north of the Himalaya, and Africa north of the Sahara; (2) Ethiopian, consisting of Africa south of the Atlas range, and Madagascar; (3) Oriental, including India, Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago north of Wallace's line, which runs between Bali and Lombok; (4) Australian, including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Polynesia; (5) Nearctic or North America, north of Mexico; and (6) Neotropical or South America. Each of these divisions is the home of a special fauna, many species of which are confined to it alone; in the Australian region, indeed, practically the whole fauna is peculiar and distinctive, suggesting a prolonged period of complete biological isolation. In some cases, such as the Ethiopian and Neotropical and the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, the faunas, although distinct, are related, several forms on opposite sides of the Atlantic being analogous, e.g. the lion and puma, ostrich and rhea. Where two of the faunal realms meet there is usually, though not always, a mixing of faunas. These facts have led some naturalists to include the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions in one, termed Holarctic, and to suggest transitional regions, such as the Sonoran, between North and South America, and the Mediterranean, between Europe and Africa, or to create sub-regions, such as Madagascar and New Zealand. Oceanic islands have, as a rule, distinctive faunas and floras which resemble, but are not identical with, those of other islands in similar positions.

a region.

distribu

The study of the evolution of faunas and the comparison of the faunas of distant regions have furnished a trustworthy Biological instrument of pre-historic geographical research, which enables earlier geographical relations of land and sea to tion as be traced out, and the approximate period, or at least the a means chronological order of the larger changes, to be estimated. of geoIn this way, for example, it has been suggested that a graphical land, "Lemuria," once connected Madagascar with the research. Malay Archipelago, and that a northern extension of the antarctic land once united the three southern continents. The distribution of fossils frequently makes it possible to map out

Reaction of

on environ

ment.

approximately the general features of land and sea in long-past geological periods, and so to enable the history of crustal relief to be traced. While the tendency is for the living forms to come into harmony with their environment and to approach the state of equilibrium by successive adjustments if the environment should happen to change, it is to be observed that the action of organisms themselves often tends to change their organisms environment. Corals and other quick-growing calcarcous marine organisms are the most powerful in this respect by creating new land in the ocean. Vegetation of all sorts acts in a similar way, either in forming soil and assisting in breaking up rocks, in filling up shallow lakes, and even, like the mangrove, in reclaiming wide stretches of land from the sea. Plant life, utilizing solar light to combine the inorganic elements of water, soil and air into living substance, is the basis of all animal life. This is not by the supply of food alone, but also by the withdrawal of carbonic acid from the atmosphere, by which vegetation maintains the composition of the air in a state fit for the support of animal life. Man in the primitive stages of culture is scarcely to be distinguished from other animals as regards his subjection to environment, but in the higher grades of culture the conditions of control and reaction become much more complicated, and the department of anthropogeography is devoted to their consideration.

The first requisites of all human beings are food and protection, in their search for which men are brought into intimate relations with the forms and productions of the earth's surface. The degree of dependence of any people upon environ- Anthropo⚫ ment varies inversely as the degree of culture or civiliza- geography. tion, which for this purpose may perhaps be defined as the power of an individual to exercise control over the individual and over the environment for the benefit of the community. The development of culture is to a certain extent a question of race, and although forming one species, the varieties of mandiffer in almost imperceptible gradations with a complexity defying classification (see ANTHROPOLOGY). Professor Keane groups man round four leading types, which may be named the black, yellow, red and white, or the Ethiopic, Mongolic, American and Caucasic. Each may be subdivided, though not with great exactness, into smaller groups, either according to physical characteristics, of which the form of the head is most important, or according to language.

Types of

man.

The black type is found only in tropical or sub-tropical countries, and is usually in a primitive condition of culture, unless educated by contact with people of the white type. They follow the most primitive forms of religion (mainly fetishism), live on products of the woods or of the chase, with the minimum of work, and have only a loose political organization. The red type is peculiar to America, inhabiting every climate from polar to equatorial, and containing representatives of many stages of culture which had apparently developed without the aid or interference of people of any other race until the close of the 15th century. The yellow type is capable of a higher culture, cherishes higher religious beliefs, and inhabits as a rule the temperate zone, although extending to the tropics on one side and to the arctic regions on the other. The white type, originating in the north temperate zone, has spread over the whole world. They have attained the highest culture, profess the purest forms of monotheistic religion, and have brought all the people of the black type and many of those of the yellow under their domination.

The contrast between the yellow and white types has been softened by the remarkable development of the Japanese following the assimilation of western methods. The actual number of human inhabitants in the world has been calculated as follows:

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In round numbers the population of the world is about 1,600,000,000, and, according to an estimate by Ravenstein, the maximum population which it will be possible for the earth to maintain is 6000 millions, a number which, if the average rate of increase in 1891 continued, would be reached within 200 years.

While highly civilized communities are able to evade many of the restrictions of environment, to overcome the barriers to intercommunication interposed by land or sea, to counteract the adverse 1 See particularly A. de Lapparent, Traité de géologie (4th ed., Paris, 1900). Estimate for 1900. H. Wagner, Lehrbuch der Geographie, i Estimate for year not stated. A. H, Keane in International Geography, p. 108. In Proc. R.G.S. xiii. (1891) p. 27.

p. 658.

influence of climate, and by the development of trade even to inhabit countries which cannot yield a food-supply, the mass of mankind is still completely under the control of those conditions which in the past determined the distribution and the mode of life of the whole human race.

man.

are tents.

In tropical forests primitive tribes depend on the collection of wild fruits, and in a minor degree on the chase of wild animals, for their food. Clothing is unnecessary; hence there is Influence little occasion for exercising the mental faculties beyond of environ- the sense of perception to avoid enemies, or the inment on ventive arts beyond what is required for the simplest weapons and the most primitive fortifications. When the pursuit of game becomes the chief occupation of a people there is of necessity a higher development of courage, skill, powers of observation and invention; and these qualities are still further enhanced in predatory tribes who take by force the food, clothing and other property prepared or collected by a feebler people. The fruit-eating savage cannot stray beyond his woods which bound his life as the water bounds that of a fish; the hunter is free to live on the margin of forests or in open country, while the robber or warrior from some natural stronghold of the mountains sweeps over the adjacent plains and carries his raids into distant lands. Wide grassy steppes lead to the organization of the people as nomads whose wealth consists in flocks and herds, and their dwellings The nomad not only domesticates and turns to his own use the gentler and more powerful animals, such as sheep, cattle, horses, camels, but even turns some predatory creatures, like the dog, into a means of defending their natural prey. They hunt the beasts of prey destructive to their flocks, and form armed bands for protection against marauders or for purposes of aggression on weaker sedentary neighbours. On the fertile low grounds along the margins of rivers or in clearings of forests, agricultural communities naturally take their rise, dwelling in villages and cultivating the wild grains, which by careful nurture and selection have been turned into rich cereals. The agriculturist as a rule is rooted to the soil. The land he tills he holds, and acquires a closer connexion with a particular patch of ground than either the hunter or the herdsman. In the temperate zone, where the seasons are sharply contrasted, but follow each other with regularity, foresight and self-denial were fostered, because if men did not exercise these qualities seed-time or harvest might pass into lost opportunities and the tribes would suffer. The more extreme climates of arid regions on the margins of the tropics, by the unpredictable succession of droughts and floods, confound the prevision of uninstructed people, and make prudence and industry qualities too uncertain in their results to be worth cultivating. Thus the civilization of agricultural peoples of the temperate zone grew rapidly, yet in each community a special type arose adapted to the soil, the crop and the climate. On the seashore fishing naturally became a means of livelihood, and dwellers by the sea, in virtue of the dangers to which they are exposed from storm and unseaworthy craft, are stimulated to a higher degree of foresight, quicker observation, prompter decision and more energetic action in emergencies than those who live inland. The building and handling of vessels also, and the utilization of such uncon trollable powers of nature as wind and tide, helped forward mechanical invention. To every type of coast there may be related a special type of occupation and even of character; the deep and gloomy fjord, backed by almost impassable mountains, bred bold mariners whose only outlet for enterprise was seawards towards other landsthe viks created the vikings. On the gently sloping margin of the estuary of a great river a view of tranquil inland life was equally presented to the shore-dweller, and the ocean did not present the only prospect of a career. Finally the mountain valley, with its patches of cultivable soil on the alluvial fans of tributary torrents, its narrow pastures on the uplands only left clear of snow in summer, its intensified extremes of climates and its isolation, almost equal to that of an island, has in all countries produced a special type of brave and hardy people, whose utmost effort may bring them comfort, but not wealth, by honest toil, who know little of the outer world, and to whom the natural outlet for ambition is marauding on the fertile plains. The highlander and viking, products of the valleys raised high amid the mountains or half-drowned in the sea, are everywhere of kindred spirit.

It is in some such manner as these that the natural conditions of regions, which must be conformed to by prudence and utilized by labour to yield shelter and food, have led to the growth of peoples differing in their ways of life, thought and speech. The initial differences so produced are confirmed and perpetuated by the same barriers which divide the faunal or floral regions, the sca, mountains, deserts and the like, and much of the course of past history and present politics becomes clear when the combined results of differing race and differing environment are taken into account.1

The specialization which accompanies the division of labour has important geographical consequences, for it necessitates communi

On the influence of land on people see Shaler, Nature and Man in America (New York and London, 1892); and Ellen C. Semple's American History and its Geographic Conditions (Boston, 1903).

population.

cation between communities and the interchange of their products. Trade makes it possible to work mineral resources in localities where food can only be grown with great Density of difficulty and expense, or which are even totally barren and waterless, entirely dependent on supplies from distant sources. The population which can be permanently supported by a given area of land differs greatly according to the nature of the resources and the requirements of the people. Pastoral communities are always scattered very thinly over large areas; agricultural populations may be almost equally sparse where advanced methods of agriculture and labour-saving machinery are employed; but where a frugal people are situated on a fertile and inexhaustible soil, such as the deltas and river plains of Egypt, India and China, an enormous population may be supported on a small area. In most cases, however, a very dense population can only be maintained in regions where mineral resources have fixed the site of great manufacturing industries. The maximum density of population which a given region can support is very difficult to determine; it depends partly on the race and standard of culture of the people, partly on the nature and origin of the resources on which they depend, partly on the artificial burdens imposed and very largely on the climate. Density of population is measured by the average number of people residing on a unit of area; but in order to compare one part of the world with another the average should, strictly speaking, be taken for regions of equal size or of equal population; and the portions of the country which are permanently uninhabitable ought to be excluded from the calculation. Considering the average density of population within the political limits of countries, the following list is of some value; the figures for a few smaller divisions of large countries are added (in brackets) for comparison:

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The movement of people from one place to another without the immediate intention of returning is known as migration, and according to its origin it may be classed as centrifugal (directed from a particular area) and centripetal (directed towards Migration. a particular area). Centrifugal migration is usually a matter of compulsion; it may be necessitated by natural causes, such as a change of climate leading to the withering of pastures or destruction of agricultural land, to inundation, earthquake, pestilence or to an excess of population over means of support; or to artificial causes, such as the wholesale deportation of a conquered people; or to political or religious persecution. In any case the people are driven out by some adverse change; and when the urgency is great they may require to drive out in turn weaker people who occupy a desirable territory, thus propagating the wave of migration, the direction of which is guided by the forms of the land into inevitable channels. Many of the great historic movements of peoples were doubtless due to the gradual change of geographical or climatic conditions; and the slow desiccation of Central Asia has been plausibly suggested as the real cause of the peopling of modern Europe and of the medieval wars of the Old World, the theatres of which were critical points on the great natural lines of communication between east and west.

In the case of centripetal migrations people flock to some particular place where exceptionally favourable conditions have been found to exist. The rushes to gold-fields and diamond-fields are typical instances; the growth of towns on coal-fields and near other sources of power, and the rapid settlement of such rich agricultural districts as the wheat-lands of the American prairies and great plains are other examples.

There is, however, a tendency for people to remain rooted to the

See maps of density of population in Bartholomew's great large. scale atlases, Atlas of Scotland and Atlas of England. Almost exclusively industrial. Almost exclusively agricultural,

land of their birth, when not compelled or induced by powerful | or federated of distinct self-governing units like Germany (where external causes to seek a new home.

Political

Thus arises the spirit of patriotism, a product of purely geographical conditions, thereby differing from the sentiment of loyalty, which is of racial origin. Where race and soil conspire to geography. evoke both loyalty and patriotism in a people, the moral qualities of a great and permanent nation are secured. It is noticeable that the patriotic spirit is strongest in those places where people are brought most intimately into relation with the land; dwellers in the mountain or by the sea, and, above all, the people of rugged coasts and mountainous archipelagoes, have always been renowned for love of country, while the inhabitants of fertile plains and trading communities are frequently less strongly attached to their own land. Amongst nomads the tribe is the unit of government, the political bond is personal, and there is no definite territorial association of the people, who may be loyal but cannot be patriotic. The idea of a country arises only when a nation, either homogeneous or composed of several races, establishes itself in a region the boundaries of which may be defined and defended against aggression from without. Political geography takes account of the partition of the carth amongst organized communities, dealing with the relation of races to regions, and of nations to countries, and considering the conditions of territorial equilibrium and instability. The definition of boundaries and their delimitation is one of the most important parts of political geography. Natural boundaries are always the most definite and the strongest, lending Bound. themselves most readily to defence against aggression. aries. The sea is the most effective of all, and an island state is recognized as the most stable. Next in importance comes a mountain range, but here there is often difficulty as to the definition of the actual crest-line, and mountain ranges being broad regions, it may happen that a small independent state, like Switzerland or Andorra, occupies the mountain valleys between two or more great countries. Rivers do not form effective international boundaries, although between dependent self-governing communities they are convenient lines of demarcation. A desert, or a belt of country left purposely without inhabitants, like the mark, marches or debatable lands of the middle ages, was once a common means of separating nations which nourished hereditary grievances. The "buffer-state" of modern diplomacy is of the same ineffectual type. A less definite though very practical boundary is that formed by the meeting-line of two languages, or the districts inhabited by two races. The line of fortresses protecting Austria from Italy lies in some places weil back from the political boundary, but just inside the linguistic frontier, so as to separate the German and Italian races occupying Austrian territory. Arbitrary lines, either traced from point to point and marked by posts on the ground, or defined as portions of meridians and parallels, are now the most common type of boundaries fixed by treaty. In Europe and Asia frontiers are usually strongly fortified and strictly watched in times of peace as well as during war. In South America strictly defined boundaries are still the exception, and the claims of neighbouring nations have very frequently given rise to war, though now more commonly to arbitration.1

The modes of government amongst civilized peoples have little influence on political geography; some republics are as arbitrary and exacting in their frontier regulations as some absolute monarchies. It is, however, to be noticed that absolute monarchies are confined to the east of Europe and to

Forms of govern

ment. Asia, Japan being the only established constitutional monarchy east of the Carpathians. Limited monarchies are (with the exception of Japan) peculiar to Europe, and in these the degree of democratic control may be said to diminish as one passes eastwards from the United Kingdom. Republics, although represented in Europe are the peculiar form of government of America and are unknown in Asia.

The forms of government of colonies present a series of transitional types from the autocratic administration of a governor appointed by the home government to complete democratic selfgovernment. The latter occurs only in the temperate possessions of the British empire, in which there is no great preponderance of a coloured native population. New colonial forms have been developed during the partition of Africa amongst European powers. the sphere of influence being especially worthy of notice. This is a vaguer form of control than a protectorate, and frequently amounts merely to an agreement amongst civilized powers to respect the right of one of their number to exercise government within a certain area, if it should decide to do so at any future time.

The central governments of all civilized countries concerned with external relations are closely similar in their modes of action, but the internal administration may be very varied. In this respect a country is either centralized, like the United Kingdom or France,

For the history of territorial changes in Europe, see Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, edited by Bury (Oxford), 1903; and for the official definition of existing boundaries, see Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty (4 vols., London, 1875, 1891); The Map of Africa by Treaty (3 vols., London, 1896). Also Lord Curzon's Oxford address on Frontiers (1907).

the units include kingdoms, at least three minor types of monarchies, municipalities and a crown land under a nominated governor), or the United States, where the units are democratic republics. The ultimate cause of the predominant form of federal government may be the geographical diversity of the country, as in the cantons occupying the once isolated mountain valleys of Switzerland, the racial diversity of the people, as in Austria-Hungary, or merely political expediency, as in republics of the American type.

The minor subdivisions into provinces, counties and parishes, or analogous areas, may also be related in many cases to natural features or racial differences perpetuated by historical causes. The territorial divisions and subdivisions often survive the conditions which led to their origin; hence the study of political geography is allied to history as closely as the study of physical geography is allied to geology, and for the same reason.

Towns.

The aggregation of population in towns was at one time mainly brought about by the necessity for defence, a fact indicated by the defensive sites of many old towns. In later times, towns have been more often founded in proximity to valuable mineral resources, and at critical points or nodes on lines of communication. These are places where the mode of travelling or of transport is changed, such as seaports, river ports and railway termini, or natural resting-places, such as a ford, the foot of a steep ascent on a road, the entrance of a valley leading up from a plain into the mountains, or a crossing-place of roads or railways.? The existence of a good natural harbour is often sufficient to give origin to a town and to fix one end of a line of land communication.

In countries of uniform surface or faint relief, roads and railways may be constructed in any direction without regard to the configuration. In places where the low ground is marshy, Lines of roads and railways often follow the ridge-lines of hills, or, as in Finland, the old glacial eskers, which run parallel communi to the shore. Wherever the relief of the land is pro- cation. nounced, roads and railways are obliged to occupy the lowest ground winding along the valleys of rivers and through passes in the mountains. In exceptional cases obstructions which it would be impossible or too costly to turn are overcome by a bridge or tunnel, the magnitude of such works increasing with the growth of engineering skill and financial enterprise. Similarly the obstructions offered to water communication by interruption through land or shallows are overcome by cutting canals or dredging out channels. The economy and success of most lines of communication depend on following as far as possible existing natural lines and utilizing existing natural sources of power.

cial geo

graphy.

Commercial geography may be defined as the description of the earth's surface with special reference to the discovery, production, transport and exchange of commodities. The transport Commer concerns land routes and sea routes, the latter being the more important. While steam has been said to make a ship independent of wind and tide, it is still true that a long voyage even by steam must be planned so as to encounter the least resistance possible from prevailing winds and permanent currents, and this involves the application of oceanographical and meteorological knowledge. The older navigation by utilizing the power of the wind demands a very intimate knowledge of these conditions, and it is probable that a revival of sailing ships may in the present century vastly increase the importance of the study of maritime meteorology.

The discovery and production of commodities require a knowledge of the distribution of geological formations for mineral pro ducts, of the natural distribution, life-conditions and cultivation or breeding of plants and animals and of the labour market. Attention must also be paid to the artificial restrictions of political geography, to the legislative restrictions bearing on labour and trade as imposed in different countries, and, above all, to the incessant fluctuations of the economic conditions of supply and demand and the combinations of capitalists or workers which affect the market." The term "applied geography" has been employed to designate commercial geography, the fact being that every aspect of scientific geography may be applied to practical purposes, including the purposes of trade. But apart from the applied science, there is an aspect of pure geography which concerns the theory of the relation of economics to the surface of the earth.

It will be seen that as each successive aspect of geographical science is considered in its natural sequence the conditions become

For numerous special instances of the determining causes of town sites, see G. G. Chisholm, "On the Distribution of Towns and Villages in England," Geographical Journal (1897), ix. 76,

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The whole subject of anthropogeography is treated in a masterly way by F. Ratzel in his Anthropogeographie (Stuttgart, vol. i, 2nd ed., 1899, vol. ii. 1891), and in his Politische Geographie (Leipzig. 1897). The special question of the reaction of man on his environment is handled by G. P. Marsh in Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as modified by Human Action (London, 1864).

For commercial geography see G. G. Chisholm, Manral of Commercial Geography (1890).

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