Geographic Influences on Migration in the Caribbean, Central & South America, Political & Cultural Issues in Confucius' Time. Geography has played a significant role in the development and spread of religions in West Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and China. 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. To fully appreciate China's broad geographic and cultural diversity, one needs to identify general characteristics that act as . Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Throughout the second half of the second millennium BCE and the first millennium BCE, Baal-Hadad often was named the patron deity of particular cities, inspiring local epithets of Baal-Hadad that linked him with those cities (e.g., Baal of Tyre, Baal of Aleppo). 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. This desert runs across the northern border of China and the southern border of Mongolia. 168 lessons Most Americans polled in 2022 expect to see a civil war within their lifetimes. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. 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. The China's first dynasties helped chinese society develop and made . There were advantages and disadvantages to these natural barriers. Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - China, China - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), China - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Biden hosts Philippines leader Marcos as China tensions grow, Biden, Marcos set to meet as tensions grow with China, Chinese who reported on COVID to be released after 3 years, US ex-security adviser calls for closer ties with Taiwan, Foreign companies in China face growing scrutiny, pressure. Early Chinese civilization was largely influenced by the Yellow River and its annual floods. Oftentimes, people with a shared heritage share cultural, religious, and ethnic characteristics. The Plateau of Tibet lies just southeast of the Himalayan Mountains and extends north to the Kunlun Mountains. Unlike other deserts, the Gobi Desert does not contain large sand dunes throughout. Religious beliefs and ideas, symbols and practice, are naturally affected by the social and geographical conditions in which the theology is elaborated (Hinnels 2010, 13). Being located exactly at the convergence of three continental plates the African, Arabian, and Eurasian has created the topography of the region and has resulted in three topographical zones: coastal plains in the west, a central band of mountain ranges, and plains and plateaus in the east. The cold temperatures also kept Ancient China from expanding to the North. The western region of the mountains is much drier than the eastern region. Unit 9.3: Classical Civilizations has long vexed users of the New Visions Social Studies Curriculum. There are also many seas that border China. A more contemporary approach to the study of the intersections of geography and religion not only highlights the role of religion in affecting landscape changes and in assigning sacred meanings to specific places, but also acknowledges how in turn, religious ideology and practice at specific spaces are guided and transformed by their location. The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category. In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam, 2754. In China, the fertile land and abundant resources led to the development of complex agricultural societies, which in turn led to the development of polytheistic and animistic religions such as Taoism and Confucianism. These names do not refer to separate deities, but instead should be considered manifestations of Baal-Hadad as associated with a particular locality (Allen 2015; Schwemer 2008, 15-16; Haddad 1960, 46). See Also: Geography, Religion, Gods, and Saints in the Eastern Mediterranean (Routledge, 2020). If you want to understand the origins of yogic texts and practices within Hindu religious traditions, you must seek to contextualize their emergence by investigating the, Asad, Talal. The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies Part One, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7, no. A traditional world religions perspective remains prevalent within religious studies textbooks and theoretical approaches (Asad 1993, 27-54; Masuzawa 2005). However, cultural influences do not just change the external shape of religion. Jennie Ebeling --Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville, Copyright 2000-2023 The Bible and Interpretation| All Rights Reserved |The University of Arizona | Developed bySBS Tech The four distinct regions of Ancient China are the Ancient China mountains, jungles, deserts, and tundra. The Yellow Sea lies along the eastern coast of China between China and the Korean Peninsula, and it also extends into the Western Pacific Ocean. In China ownership of a map indicated sovereignty over the land it depicted. The mythological narrative of Fimbulwinter and in particular its origins in snow and ice was relevant among its communities precisely because of the specific geography and geology of cold northern climates. One of the ways to understand religion is through geography. Discover what geographic features isolated ancient China from other civilizations and learn geography facts about China. How did geography affect religious events and development in West Asia, in the Indian subcontinent, and in China 1 See answer Advertisement Advertisement garciajessa072 garciajessa072 Answer: it will affect their belief but still i don't know . 1 How geography influences religion and religion affect culture? . Although there is not space in this forum to detail this argument, in my recent book, Geography, Religion, Gods, and Saints in the Eastern Mediterranean (New York: Routledge, 2020), which is the product of nearly a decade of research, I investigate the regional importance and longevity of the storm-god Baal-Hadad, as well as subsequent local counterparts such as Levantine Zeus, Jupiter, and even St. George, and alternative and corollary figures like Hebrew Bible Elijah, Late Antique Elijah, and al-Khir. Understanding the Geography of China | Asia Society Symbolism in The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank | Examples & Analysis, How the Spread of Religion Changed Developing Civilizations, Bodhi Tree Meaning, Symbol & Art |Buddha Under a Bodhi Tree, Human & Cultural Geography | Overview, Characteristics & Examples. The lens of geography, however, is far more useful in this instance than is that of world religions. Rather than searching within only the single silo of the religious tradition of Christianity in order to investigate in isolation the peculiar characteristics of St. George which results in precious little explanation using the lens of geography allows us to pan out, to investigate these same characteristics in other regional figures, across religious traditions, and across time, which helps explain not only the noteworthy and unusual characteristics of St. George, but also to identify developments and changes, as well as linkages and interconnections with other spatially and historically proximate religious traditions and figures, like Elijah and al-Khir, and even the ancient storm-god Baal-Hadad. 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. Some other well-known mountains in China are the Kunlun Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains, and the Qinling Mountains. How does geography play a role in the development and spread of religion? There are several different regions of the desert, ranging from having very cold climates to very hot climates, but there is a severe lack of water throughout the whole desert. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. For example take Canada its mainly made up of the protestant religion. China has a coastline of over 10,000km. This relative isolation from the outside world made possible over the centuries the flowering and refinement of the Chinese culture, but it also left China ill prepared to cope with that world when, from the mid-19th century, it was confronted by technologically superior foreign nations. Some regions can reach very high temperatures, while others can reach very low temperatures, but all of these regions lack water. Instead, the three main rivers in the Levant the Orontes, the Litani, and the Jordan as well as smaller regional rivers and hundreds of far smaller, seasonal tributaries, together with a few surface lakes and the regional aquifers, have provided the water resources necessary for life in the Levant. Based on geography, one can often predict a given person's religious faith with a reasonable degree of certainty. This mountain range runs across the southwestern part of China and creates a natural boundary between India and the Tibetan Plateau. In the past, it was common for entire peoples to convert as a whole when their leaders converted. Indeed, many non-Western people today do not recognize a difference between religion and culture. Extremists who want to justify violence usually do so by cherry-picking passages of religious texts. Throughout history, rivers such as the Yangtze and Huang He rivers made China thrive for thousands of years. However, before the ascendency of mass literacy, textual religion, the growth of a religious infrastructure that was sufficient to police and enforce particular theological positions, and a concomitant rise in exclusivist sectarian religious identities, religious communities in the Levant were marked more sharply by a shared agrarian religious culture than they were differentiated by distinct doctrinal characteristics. Despite similar characteristics between Baal-Hadad, Elijah, St. George, and al-Khir, and the fact that, for at least the past 800 years, local agricultural communities of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Alawites, and others have venerated and often conjoined these figures, outside of the Eastern Mediterranean, the linkages between these figures previously were unable to be seen. China's two river systems have also greatly influenced its history and culture. Geographical motifs in the Levant relating to rain, storms, thunder, lightning, greenness, fertility, fecundity, the ability to appear and disappear, associations with mountains and other high places, local feast or celebration days of April 23, and the motif of vanquishing a dragon, largely have been associated with regional agricultural needs specifically, with the need for rainfall from the sky. Understanding the interaction between a natural environment and various human and cultural patterns is an essential aspect of geography. Three main features in particular have affected geography in the Eastern Mediterranean. Geography and Religion | Bible Interp - University of Arizona India also traded with the Arabian Penninsula in West Asia. What are various methods available for deploying a Windows application? Another way in which we can see the effects of geography on religious narratives, figures, motifs, metaphors, and structures in this example, in the area of the Levant is through the notion of agrarian religion, first identified and coined by James Grehan in his 2014 book, Twilight of the Saints: Everyday Religion in Ottoman Syria and Palestine (Grehan 2014). Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Internal and External Criticism - brainly.ph/question/3459292, This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Are We Born Into Our Religion? In the country of Israel, things get a bit tricky, since Judaism is both a faith and an ethnic identity. All rights reserved. Each of these affects the development of religion in a given area. What experience do you need to become a teacher? That is, according to a Geography of Religion theoretical perspective, religions inherently are geographically contextualized: prevailing political, social, religious, and physical-geographical conditions evident within a particular locality are understood to influence the development and manifestation of that localitys religious traditions at any given point in time. Agricultural concerns, foremost among them water, droughts, and crop yields, shaped the contours of agrarian religion. Its climate ranges from extremely dry, desertlike conditions in the northwest to tropical monsoon in the southeast, and China has the greatest contrast in temperature between its northern and southern borders of any country in the world. 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. 2007. She has been a classroom teacher for more than 16 years and currently works at an international baccalaureate middle school located in Houston, TX. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. What are the effects of geography on language development? Author of. China, which has the largest population of any country in the world, is composed of diverse ethnic and linguistic groups. Similarly, religious groups may have disputes related to historical land ownership. These religions emphasized the importance of living in harmony with nature and the importance of social harmony, which was well suited to the agricultural way of life. Returning to the major example of this article, the characteristics shared by Elijah, St. George, and al-Khir in the Eastern Mediterranean long have been considered peculiar when those figures were studied solely as products of their respective religious traditions; i.e., when they were studied from within a world religions paradigm. My own book Sacred Worlds: an introduction to Geography and Religion, was published in 1994. Such agricultural motifs earliest were associated with the figure of the ancient storm-god, and then became associated with his subsequent regional manifestations and alternatives, in the figures of Jewish Elijah, Christian St. George, and Muslim al-Khir. In addition to laws, social norms have a huge impact on religious practice. One way of thinking of religions within this framework is as separate silos massive vertical worlds unto themselves, which do not intersect with other religious traditions. The geography of religion also takes account of the relationship between religion and ethnicity. I feel like its a lifeline. Author of, William Haas Professor Emeritus of Chinese Politics, Stanford University, California. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 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. People in those regions, dependent on the whims of the weather, resorted to cultic rituals directed to specific gods in order to obtain moisture from the skies. 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. Due to the natural barriers surrounding Ancient China, they did not have knowledge or access to other cultures for centuries. As more and more people shared the same set of beliefs and practices, people who did not know each other could find common ground and build mutual trust and respect. In India the himalayan mountains to north protected from invasions until the Mongols occupied some of the subcontinent territories. Example: The purpose of geographers is not to judge or change the religious beliefs of people in a specific region, but rather, it is to understand aspects like how that region's laws are influenced by religious beliefs. That is because a traditional world religions perspective of these figures understood the figures only in isolation, uprooted from their local settings, and separated from their local communities. What are the major ethnic groups in China? The trauma of this external challenge became the catalyst for a revolution that began in the early 20th century against the old regime and culminated in the establishment of a communist government in 1949. Early civilizations were often unified by religion a system of beliefs and behaviors that deal with the meaning of existence. They represent moments-in-time; each text, image, or site functions like a small window into history. Expert Answers. The Romans before him waged extermination campaigns against Christians who would not bow to the emperor. Similar phenomena and characteristics neither appear in the mythological or cosmogonic stories of warmer-weather locations, like the Levant, nor would they have resonated with the same effect among people there. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Throughout the second half of the second millennium BCE and the first millennium BCE, Baal-Hadad often was named the patron deity of particular cities, inspiring local epithets of Baal-Hadad that linked him with those cities (e.g., Baal of Tyre, Baal of Aleppo). lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. How culture affected the development of religions? How does geography affect society culture and trade? Discover what the relationship between religion and geography is and learn how geography and culture affect religion. Religion is a way of life that unites a community. Geography can influence the shaping of culture, religion, politics, and the economy of a country or a region. We need faith because we lack faith.c. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. China is a country located in east Asia.It has very diverse geographical features across the country, from many seas and mountains to deserts and tundra. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Ancient China was isolated in early times due to China's physical geography. What type of diffusion spreads languages? Provincial power reached its peak in the first two decades of the 20th century, but, since the establishment of the Peoples Republic, that power has been curtailed by a strong central leadership in Beijing. These religions emphasized the importance of living in harmony with nature and the cycles of life, which was well suited to the agricultural way of life. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. He has since founded his own financial advice firm, Newton Analytical. An error occurred trying to load this video. The provinces are traceable in their current form to the Tang dynasty (618907 ce). The Himalayan mountains to the north protected India from invasions until the Mongols occupied some of the subcontinent territories. The climate across the Himalayan Mountains also is not a uniform climate and changes with the monsoons. She attended the Business school at the University of Houston where she received her Bachelor's in Business Administration. Thus, when we study the Levant, we are confronted with a limestone bedrock landscape, as well as an agriculturally oriented location that simultaneously is arid, and in which water from rainfall always has constituted the main source of water for crop growth and for the success or failure of its human populations. talong45 talong45 17.10.2020 Geography Primary School answered Whatever the case may be, geographers will be there to note the relationships between religiosity, politics, and culture. Using a Different Lens: Geography of Religion. West Asia is the subcontinent that connects Asia to the Mediterranean and Europe. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. How does geography affect culture? Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Northeast China experiences short summers and cold, drawn out winters.