Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area by only Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe. They might also be able to show how geography can shape the borders of certain religions. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 The biggest advantage is that China was able to stay isolated from outsiders and was protected from any invaders. Thus, many Jews in Israel are not believers, but they are still Jewish. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. How Geography Has Impacted the Development of Ancient Cultures Essay There followed a century of decline and decrepitude, as China found itself relatively helpless in the face of a foreign onslaught. Sacred sites in the region intimately are related to geography, and often were hulled from the rocky landscape or simply created around natural wonders, consisting of holy mountains, noteworthy rock formations, and caves especially caves with access to subterranean water. Quiz. Hainan Island has been vulnerable to manmade devastation in the past, such as lumbering and poaching, but now there are laws set in place to help protect this natural environment. Cultural diffusion spreads as cultures interact with each other. Religious groups might even come to violence over past persecution, significant differences, or land disputes. The Himalayan Mountains have the highest elevation in the world, with Mt. The much drier, cooler climate in the eastern part of China brought much famine and drought in ancient times. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. The attempt to convert people through the use of violence has made a regular appearance throughout history. That is, texts, images, and sites can be thought of like artifacts that can tell us a great deal about the societies in which they were produced. However, the other world religions can be easily separated from ethnicity. 2005. PDF RELIGION AND GEOGRAPHY - Lancaster University Agrarian religion in the Levant, in Grehans formulation, was driven by geographical influences and characterized by sacred sites, essential agricultural needs, shared religious culture, and saints and holy figures. The War also scared off other civilizations like Rome, Arabians, and Persians. Geographers look at physical, cultural, and legal characteristics to better understand how religion impacts society. Humans respond and adapt to the conditions they encounter, developing patterns of behavior and customs to cope with dry deserts, arctic cold, high mountain ranges or the isolation of an island. When we study Elijah, St. George, and al-Khir as. China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience as a discrete politico-cultural unit. Daniel Schwemer argues that the relative significance and sphere of activities of the individual storm-gods was dependent, among other things, on the climatic conditions in the individual regions (Schwemer 2007, 129-130). Ancient China was isolated in early times due to China's physical geography. China - Social, political, and cultural changes | Britannica In some areas of China, especially in the southwest, many different ethnic groups are geographically intermixed, including Buyi, Miao, Dong, Tibetans, Mongolians, and others. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. If you are uncomfortable writing about your personal experience with your region's religion, then simply make up a scenario about the way geography and religion intersect. And these motifs extend even further back in time. Where did civilization begin. Specifically, it was Asia Minor(or Anatolia), which is now modern-day Turkey, became the landbridge between Europe and Asia. Agrarian religion in the Levant consists of a fine attunement to the essentially agrarian conditions of everyday existence; as much urban as it was rural, it was the expression of an entire social and economic order whose rhythms were tied to the slow turnings of the seasons, and finely attuned to the vagaries of earth, sky, and environment (Grehan 2014, 140 and 16). Schwemer, Daniel. What are the effects of geography on language development? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Religion is a driving force in the lives of billions of people around the world. Religions of East Asia - OMF (U.S.) China, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua, also spelled (Pinyin) Zhongguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-kuo, officially People's Republic of China or Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo, country of East Asia. Other major geographical features located in China are the Himalayan Mountain Range and the Tibetan Plateau. However, liberalism is far from the ''default position'' of human life. Knott, Kim. Updates? Due to the vast differences of landcover throughout China, there are also many other contrasting climates. Early civilizations were often unified by religion a system of beliefs and behaviors that deal with the meaning of existence. How did geography affect religious event and development in - Brainly However, it is important to note that Judaism is both a religious and an ethnic identity. Indeed, despite the political and social upheavals that frequently have ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience as a discrete politico-cultural unit. Mountain ranges protect China's southwest borders while the Gobi Desert in the West and North. Kevin has edited encyclopedias, taught history, and has an MA in Islamic law/finance. Since the 1960s, the field of Geography of Religion has evolved in various ways, but one of its more important contributions is the contextualization of religion that is evident in local, geographically oriented studies of religion (Stump 2008, 177; Knott 2010, 476-491). The South Sea is south of Taiwan along the southeast coast of China. Masuzawa, Tomoko. Religious violence can also be based on strong differences in beliefs. China has a coastline of over 10,000km. Two very different approaches have been adopted in recent work - 'religious geography' and . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). | 11 Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Its topography encompasses the highest and one of the lowest places on Earth, and its relief varies from nearly impenetrable mountainous terrain to vast coastal lowlands. Thus, India in historical times had political and commercial interaction from the east with China. What is the relationship between culture and geography? Geography 101: Human & Cultural Geography, The Geography of Languages, Religions, and Material Culture, Material Culture in Sociology: Definition, Studies & Examples, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, Adam De Gree, Christine Serva, Lesley Chapel, How Geography and Culture Affect Religion, Introduction to Human & Cultural Geography, Language & Language Regions: Definitions & Dialects, The World's Major Languages: Development & Diffusion, The World's Major Written Languages: Letters & Symbols, What are Emoticons? For example, ISIS terrorists often invoked the Crusades, which ran from 1095 to 1271, in their campaign to establish an Islamic state in the 2010s. Religion is also studied within cultural geography, which studies how cultural processes spread. A religious group that goes around burning the temples of other sects is likely to spark a war. in the geography-religion interface. A traveler can reach populations of people in whichever direction he decides to go to, whether he was on foot or on the back of an animal. The Romans before him waged extermination campaigns against Christians who would not bow to the emperor. The Plateau of Tibet lies just southeast of the Himalayan Mountains and extends north to the Kunlun Mountains. Throughout history, rivers such as the Yangtze and Huang He rivers made China thrive for thousands of years. Explore China's iconic cultural monument the Great Wall of China. After all, how can people with different values live together peacefully? How culture affected the development of religions? Haddad, Hassan S. 1960. 2010. Ancient Civilization: China - National Geographic Society The geography of religion also takes account of the relationship between religion and ethnicity. The Storm-god in the Ancient Near East. Cultural diffusion occurs in many different ways. Study 36 Terms | Chapter 4: Ancient India & China Flashcards | Quizlet the human.b. God.c. In the sixteenth-seventeenth century Geographers studied the spread of Christianity on a worldwide scale, Why? 20 chapters | China, which has the largest population of any country in the world, is composed of diverse ethnic and linguistic groups. 2015. The island province of Taiwan, which has been under separate administration since 1949, is discussed in the article Taiwan. Geography of Religion as A Theory: Geography Shapes Religion "Geography is far more important in the study of religions than is generally appreciated. Find an answer to your question How did geography affect religious event and development in West Asia in the Indian subcontinent and in chaina. From small farming communities rose dynasties such as the Zhou (1046-256 B.C.E. The years from the 8th century bce to 221 bce witnessed the painful birth of a unified China. In fact, since at least 1200 CE, agrarian communities of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others in the Eastern Mediterranean largely have shared and sometimes conflated the figures of Jewish Elijah, Christian St. George, and Muslim al-Khir. Identifying the common geographical and cultural environment for these figures explains as well why these figures are not shared in the same way outside of the Levant. Whether it is religion or other beliefs, we are influenced by the cultures and regions we are from. Since religious texts offer profound reflections on human nature, many contain violent passages. We need faith because we lack faith.c. There are many mountain ranges in China, however, the most significant range is the Himalayan Mountains. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The climatological weather patterns of the wider Mediterranean Sea region govern seasonal wind flows, as well as precipitation. Influence of geography on language development can be of many types: 1. China's first dynasties helped chinese society develop and made many other achievements. Green, in the cultural and religious evolutions of any region [of the ancient Near East], certain inherent geographical and climatological factors contribute substantially to the local conception of a deity (Green 2003, 9). Its land frontier is about 12,400 miles (20,000 km) in length, and its coastline extends for some 8,700 miles (14,000 km). The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category. In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam, 2754. The interaction of culture and geography is called human geography, which is the study of peoples language, religion, medicine, economics and entertainment and how these practices have been influenced by their location. Many important religious notions, in the Levant, in Norse traditions, and certainly in every religious tradition have nothing whatsoever to do with geography. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. READ: East Asia (article) | Khan Academy how did geography affect religions event and development in west asia, in the indian subcontinent, and in china? Agricultural concerns, foremost among them water, droughts, and crop yields, shaped the contours of agrarian religion. New York: Routledge. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it covers approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of Earth. Investigating this particular example offers a good case study for the usefulness of geography of religion as both a theory (geography shapes religions) and as a method (geographical contextualization allows us to see that religious traditions always are a product of both place and time). China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government; these consist of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities (Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), and 2 special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). In West Asia, the harsh desert environment and the scarcity of resources led to the development of monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 1 How geography influences religion and religion affect culture? What are the major features that characteristize African rivers? Indeed, even in the West, religious differences can be met with fear and spark conflict. Hinnels, John R., ed. Although China's diverse geography prevented trade and expansion, it also served as protection by keeping out invaders. In old Norse mythology, Fimbulvetr (Fimbulwinter or great winter) is the harsh winter that precedes the end of the world. If religion is a whole way of life, many people simply cannot imagine that different religions could coexist peacefully. Naturally, these factors also affect the development of religious notions: gods and narratives take on particular characteristics or serve particular purposes relevant to and reflective of certain geographical areas (and not reflective of other areas); motifs and metaphors are more meaningful in certain geographical areas than in others; and historical religious structures and the locations in which they are built are largely shaped by the landscapes out of which they are born. Twilight of the Saints: Everyday Religion in Ottoman Syria and Palestine. Geography, of course, does not drive religious belief. Even when the country was penetrated by such barbarian peoples as the Manchu, these groups soon became largely absorbed into the fabric of Han Chinese culture. China has mountains, plateaus, deserts, and tropical rainforests. Haddad, Hassan S. 1969. The country is bounded by Mongolia to the north; Russia and North Korea to the northeast; the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east; the South China Sea to the southeast; Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal to the south; Pakistan to the southwest; and Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan to the west. March 2020, The Way We Usually Think About Religion: A World Religions Paradigm. It explores the ways in which religion, its symbols, rites, beliefs and hopes have shaped the world in which we live. Shanghai is the main industrial city; Hong Kong is the leading commercial centre and port. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Since it is a driving force for billions of people, religion is a fruitful area of study. Geography does not only affect where particular religions or belief systems, such as the world's major faiths, are located but it can affect how specific beliefs are practiced and behaviors that it encourages. Accordingly, an understanding of regional geography is absolutely essential for a proper understanding of the geographical and meteorological motifs that have developed there and remained relevant and compelling in Levantine culture for the past few thousand years. With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, China is one of the few existing countries that also flourished economically and culturally in the earliest stages of world civilization. The surrounding desert, mountains, and seas created natural barriers which protected the Ancient Chinese civilization from outside invaders. How did geography affect religious events and development in the country? 4 How does geography affect society culture and trade? By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Just because of one belief Adolf Hitler had, millions died. Example: Religious beliefs can be used as the basis to explain why certain practices are morally, socially, and/or racially unjust. All rights reserved. Hence, religions like Buddhism and Sikhism spread within these civilizations. Wright --University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies In northern and western Mesopotamia those areas characterized by rainfall agriculture and dry farming the storm-gods occupied positions of high importance within their panthea and often were perceived of as hot-tempered, fickle, and bellicose. In his article, Haddad was the first to make the provocative but unsubstantiated claim that the cults of these georgic saints is a continuation, with variations, of the cults of the Baals of ancient Syria (Haddad 1969, 22), referring to the millennia-long regionally dominant figure of the Syro-Canaanite storm-god, Baal-Hadad, as well as to Baals regional syncretic manifestations. Like other early civilizations, Ancient China developed along rivers: the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. 2007. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . succeed. Ancient China developed along The Yellow River and Yangtze River, which are still protected today by natural barriers. Corrections? Whatever the case may be, geographers will be there to note the relationships between religiosity, politics, and culture. The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies Part Two. In, Schwemer, Daniel. Of these, the Beijing dialect is the most widespread Chinese tongue and has officially been adopted as the basis for the national language.