| 11 Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. These kinds of weather patterns and water resources distinctly have shaped Levantine religious notions and practices, as well. 4 How does geography affect society culture and trade? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. By having faith,we can grow our relationship in God,not only that,we can also get closer to God,not only by lacking faith,but also having faith.d. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Religion also helps people comprehend death. Each had its own contribution to the region. News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History. Within Chinas boundaries exists a highly diverse and complex country. However, unlike in Mesopotamia, with the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, or in Egypt, with the Nile River, the Levant lacks similarly large and annually flooding rivers that can be used as water resources and for largescale irrigation. In southern Mesopotamia, the Sumerian god Ikur was responsible for storms, wind, lightning, rain, and thunder, but generally, he belonged to a less-important category of the great gods. Religion and geography - Wikipedia Additionally, it guide people in the use of their limited time on Earth. Wright --University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. The East Sea is north of Taiwan and on the very east coast of China. Early Chinese civilization was largely influenced by the Yellow River and its annual floods. 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. Stump, Richard W. 2008. 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. How geography influences religion and religion affect culture? Example: In some cases, religious identity and ethnic identity are combined. China is the worlds largest producer of rice and is among the principal sources of wheat, corn (maize), tobacco, soybeans, peanuts (groundnuts), and cotton. The tropical rainforests, or jungles, kept China from expanding south, and the cold tundra across the Tibetan Plateau kept them from expanding north. 168 lessons Most people in the Americas are Christian, while almost everyone on the Arabian Peninsula is Muslim. 223 lessons. Geography influences the development of the people who occupy given areas. Expert Answers. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. Most of Europe, the Americas, and many African countries are characterized by a Christian heritage that has made most of the population Christian today. 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. China is located in East Asia and at the West is the Pacific Ocean. Oftentimes, people with a shared heritage share cultural, religious, and ethnic characteristics. Georgic Cults and Saints of the Levant. In, Knott, Kim. 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 Yoga Sutras of Patanjali for the 4th-century CE religious, political, and geographical (relating to place) conditions that combined to influence their development. Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California San Diego, edited by William Henry Propp, vol. Indeed, increasing secularism in the West has been accompanied by rising social tensions. Typically, mountains and rivers have become barriers for human expansion in the past. succeed. Religion is a driving force in the lives of billions of people around the world. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. In old Norse mythology, Fimbulvetr (Fimbulwinter or great winter) is the harsh winter that precedes the end of the world. Geography may be part of the answer. Geographers look at physical, cultural, and legal characteristics to better understand how religion impacts society. 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. 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). The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category. In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam, 2754. 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. To that end, and as compared with a traditional world religions paradigm, theories associated with the field of Geography of Religion represent a more-promising approach for understanding the ways in which locality and temporality inform religious phenomena. 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. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Classical Civilizations | New Visions - Social Studies Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Civilization began in China along the Huang he and Chang Jiang rivers. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience as a discrete politico-cultural unit. Think about the region you live in, and the characteristics of religion and its influences in your region, and write an essay of at least two pages that describes this. The location of the Levant, situated at the Eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea basin, has affected regional climate and rainfall patterns. The steps needed by a person to become good and prevent himself/herself from becoming evil. 2010. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Understanding the Geography of China | Asia Society Along with the mainland, there are a few islands, mainly Hainan Island, that are also part of this territory. 2010. Geographers also take account of laws and social norms that shape religious practice in the present. 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. But geography does have a distinct shaping influence on religion. Cultural diffusion occurs in many different ways. Example: Sacred religious texts can divide people who interpret them differently, even if they are purported to be of the same faith. 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 1 How geography influences religion and religion affect culture? These religions emphasized the importance of living a simple and spiritual life, which was well suited to the harsh living conditions of the desert. 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). Geography and Religion | Bible Interp - University of Arizona 3c. However, liberalism is far from the ''default position'' of human life. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. 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. Religious groups often have long memories, and they can harbor resentment over past persecution for centuries. By Erica Ferg 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. Trade contributed to the spread of Islamic culture and led to a growing feeling of internationalism. Schwemer, Daniel. 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. 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If a large group of immigrants emigrates to a new country, they will bring their culture with them to the new location. In addition to laws, social norms have a huge impact on religious practice. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Ancient China | Geography, Isolation & Location - Video & Lesson In Protestantism, About Jesus or God.1. Quiz. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. A religious group that goes around burning the temples of other sects is likely to spark a war. Geography does not only affect particular religions system, such as the world's major faiths, are located but it can affect how specific beliefs are practiced and attitude. By resurrecting past wrongs, people conjure up a cycle of violence. Charlemagne, crowned Holy Roman Emperor, executed thousands of pagans who refused to convert to Christianity. Despite that, much of the Levant falls within the 400 mm (12 inches) isohyet, and most of the region generally receives, therefore, sufficient annual rainfall to enable the cultivation of rainfall or rain-fed agriculture. In the sixteenth-seventeenth century Geographers studied the spread of Christianity on a worldwide scale, Why? 4d. So that we can be These then can be examined for evidence within them of contemporaneous religious, political, and geographical influences, helping to produce a picture of specific gods, religious figures, motifs, or metaphors that accounts for the intersections within them of time and place. Using this method, texts, images, and sites associated with particular gods or other religious figures, with motifs, and with metaphors can be geographically contextualized. The opposite is true. In fact, many people think that religious diversity is healthy, making life more interesting and valuable. Pretend that you are a geographer studying religion. Corrections? What are the major features that characteristize African rivers? 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. Author of, University Professor Emeritus of History and Sociology, University of Pittsburgh. Today, a genocide is being carried out by Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The War also scared off other civilizations like Rome, Arabians, and Persians. 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). This shaping influence extends naturally to the religious traditions that develop in certain places, affecting the figures, metaphors, motifs, and physical structures that are relevant in certain areas of the world. How did geography affect religious events and development in West Asia, in the - 4932644. answered 2. In India the himalayan mountains to north protected from invasions until the Mongols occupied some of the subcontinent territories. Everest being the highest peak. The great majority of the population is Chinese (Han), and thus China is often characterized as an ethnically homogeneous country, but few countries have as wide a variety of indigenous peoples as does China. 4. History does not show that people are naturally tolerant. 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The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, 2nd ed. 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. Lesley has taught American and World History at the university level for the past seven years. There are a variety of ways to observe the relationship between religion and geography. Much of Chinas cultural development has been accomplished with relatively little outside influence, the introduction of Buddhism from India constituting a major exception. Differences in the ecological and topographical features between hilly northern Mesopotamia and flat southern Mesopotamia are key to understanding different modes of thought concerning regional storm-gods. Updates? The geography of religion also takes account of the relationship between religion and ethnicity. Indeed, many non-Western people today do not recognize a difference between religion and culture. This conclusion lies at the heart of liberalism, an ideology that emerged in response to the religious wars of the 1500s and 1600s. - Biography, Facts & Accomplishments, German Luftwaffe in WW2: Definition & Ranks, The Munich Conference of 1938: Definition & Overview, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. J.E. In other cultures, it is not uncommon for that conflict to be bloody. 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. 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. Even irreligious people are profoundly influenced by religious ideas, practices, and power. Write an essay of approximately one to two pages that explains how geographers examine religion. China, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua, also spelled (Pinyin) Zhongguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-kuo, officially Peoples Republic of China or Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo, country of East Asia. Thus, Asia Minor became a Trade Hub for traders going in and out of West Asia or Europe, which boosted the economy of Anatolia. All rights reserved. Geography, Space and the Sacred. In The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, 2nd ed., 476491.