The most famous historical and cultural regions of the world. Regionalization in humanitarian geography Brief description of cultural and historical regions
QUESTIONS AND TASKS
1. What is an ethnos? What is the difference between the formation of races and ethnic groups?
Ethnos is a historically formed community of people that has a common language, culture, economy, territory and ethnic identity. Ethnic groups unite all of the above, and the race is the genotype.
2. On what grounds are peoples distinguished?
1) The language they speak; 2) External signs: skin color, clothing, etc.; 3) Lifestyle; 4) Culture; 5) Religion (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism).
3. Name examples of large and small ethnic groups. Show on the map where they live.
Large: Greeks, Spaniards, Italians. Small: Teleuts, Telengits, Chelkans
4. Within each cultural and historical region, select the largest countries.
Iberian CIR: Portugal, Spain. Balkan KIR: Greece, Turkey
5. Find and systematize information about cultural heritage sites in any cultural and historical region.
Athens Acropolis. It is a 156-meter rocky hill with a gentle top (approx. 300 m long and 170 m wide). This was the main place for finding the king. Also inside there were many temples where prayers were offered to the Greek gods and sacrifices were made. At the time of the conquest by the Turks, the Acropolis acted as a mosque for them. Today it is an ancient monument of architectural art.
Workshop
2. Using the text of the textbook and maps of the atlas, make a table with columns reflecting world religions, the main regions of their distribution, the main religious centers.
a) Christianity:
Catholicism (countries of North and South America, countries of Southern Europe, etc.)
Orthodoxy (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, etc.)
Protestantism (countries of Northern and Central Europe, USA, Canada, South Africa, etc.)
b) Islam (Muslim):
Shiism (Iran, Iraq)
Sunnism (countries of Asia, North Africa, etc.)
c) Buddhism (Southeast, East Asia)
National religions:
Shinto (Japan);
Confucianism (China);
Hinduism (India);
Judaism (Israel);
Local Religions:
Fetishism
shamanism
Fetishism
(mainly countries in Africa, Oceania, tribes of Asia)
3. Show on the map the largest countries in the world, single-national and multinational countries.
Mononational (i.e., the main nationality is over 90%). There are most of them in Europe (Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Italy, Portugal), Asia (Saudi Arabia, Japan, Bangladesh, Korea, some small countries), in Latin America (since Indians, mulattos, mestizos are considered parts of a single nation), in Africa (Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Madagascar);
With a sharp predominance of one nation, but with more or less significant minorities (Great Britain, France, Spain, Finland, Romania, China, Mongolia, USA, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, etc.);
Multinational countries with a complex and ethnically diverse composition (India, Russia, Switzerland, Indonesia, the Philippines, many countries of West and South Africa).
The most multiethnic area is South Asia and the most multiethnic country is India.
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL AREAS (historical and ethnographic regions) - territories whose population, due to the common historical destinies, socio-economic development and mutual influence, have similar cultural and everyday (ethnographic) features. They are manifested in material culture - types of traditional dwellings, means of transportation, food and utensils, clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc., as well as in traditional spiritual culture (calendar rituals and customs, beliefs, folklore, etc.).
Unlike ethnic groups with ethnic self-consciousness, historical and cultural areas may not be perceived by people and are distinguished in the course of special ethnographic studies. Economic and cultural types and historical and cultural areas are two typologically different systems that are closely intertwined, but, as a rule, do not coincide with each other. Historical and cultural areas as economic and cultural types are historical categories that arise, develop and disappear in the process of development of competitive ethnic groups and their groupings in a certain territory. For historical and cultural zoning, it is important to characterize not only the way of life and material culture, but also specific forms of spiritual culture associated with stereotypes of thinking, religious ideas and folk art. The areas of individual elements of culture and their complexes often do not coincide with the ethnic and linguistic areas; the types of culture formed in one territory develop and change from epoch to epoch.
Historical and cultural areas always include peoples settled in adjacent territories and really connected with each other, although they often differ in the level and direction of socio-economic development, in language and race. It is necessary to distinguish between historical and cultural areas different peoples- the largest "provinces", which cover entire parts of the world or large groups of neighboring countries, and smaller areas, which in turn are divided into sub-regions and local historical and cultural regions.
One of the largest historical and cultural "provinces" is Western Europe, within which such historical and cultural regions as Central European, South European (Mediterranean), Western European (Atlantic), North European can be distinguished.
In foreign Asia, Western (Southwestern) Asia, including Turkey, Israel, all the Arab countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan, can be considered independent historical and cultural provinces; Central Asia (Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet); South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka); South- East Asia with division into mainland (Indochinese) and insular (Indonesian-Filipino) parts, and finally, East Asia (most of China, Korea and Japan). In Africa, the countries of the Maghreb (Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), located north of the Sahara, constitute one historical and cultural province; all other countries can be considered as another province, including such areas as East, Central, West and South Africa, as well as the island of Madagascar, whose ethnic history is connected with Indonesia. In America, the North American, Central American and South American provinces are distinguished; the latter two are often combined under the name of Latin America. The historical and cultural province of the first order is Australia and Oceania (with further division into the Australian, Tasmanian, Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian regions proper).
Within former USSR four main historical and cultural provinces of the first order are clearly distinguished: the European part, the Caucasus (subdivided into the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia), middle Asia and Kazakhstan, Siberia (with the allocation of a separate large region of the Far East).
In turn, these large provinces are divided into sub-regions and local historical and cultural regions. In Siberia, for example, such characteristic areas as the Yamalo-Taimyr, West Siberian, Altai-Sayan, East Siberian, Kamchatka-Chukotka and Amur-Sakhalin regions are distinguished.
The Yamalo-Taimyr region includes almost all the Nenets from the lower reaches of the Yenisei in the east to the Timan tundra in the west, the Nganasans and the northern groups of the Khanty and Mansi, who borrowed reindeer breeding from the Nenets. All these peoples belong to the tundra reindeer herders. This type of economy is associated with such features as a reindeer sled, a portable tent covered with skins, deaf fur clothing, etc. The similarity is also manifested in many cultural and everyday details. So, for example, everywhere, within the Yamalo-Taimyr region, a special type of draft reindeer husbandry is widespread, which is characterized by massive sledges with obliquely located hooves, a fan-shaped reindeer team, reindeer control with the help of reins, the presence of a shepherd dog, etc. All peoples have many peculiar details. This area can also be traced in the design of the chum, in the features of the cut and ornamentation of clothing.
See: Classification of ethnic groups, Ethnic territory, Ethnic factors of geopolitics.
Tavadov G.T. Ethnology. Modern dictionary-reference book. M., 2011, p. 138-140.
§ 2. Ethno-cultural regions modern world
The geographical approach in zoning was used to the greatest extent by those authors who tried to find a territorial reference for all the world's cultural spaces and pick up toponyms that determine their location. In the modern zoning proposed by UNESCO, it is customary to distinguish 7 large cultural and historical regions: European, Arabic-Muslim, Indian, Far Eastern, Tropical-African, North American and Latin American.
What areas are distinguished on the cultural map of the world?
Identifying the centers of civilizations and cultures on the world map is an extremely difficult task. You can, following A. Toynbee, divide the entire history of mankind into 21 major civilizations, or, as S. Huntington did, offer only 9 modern civilizations (Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Slavic Orthodox, Latin American and emerging African).
Map 1. Civilizations of the world according to S. Huntington
Historical and cultural areas- parts of the ecumene, the population of which, due to the commonality of socio-economic development, long-term ties and mutual influence, has similar cultural and everyday (ethnographic) features. Most clearly, these features are usually manifested in material culture - housing, utensils, clothing. But in some cases they are also reflected in spiritual culture, primarily in areas related to the economy and everyday life (customs, rituals, oral folk art).
Russian sociologist and economist N.Ya. Danilevsky singled out 12 cultural and historical types, some of which have already gone down in history. The regions had a fairly clear territorial connection: Egyptian, Chinese, Assyro-Babylonian-Phoenician, Indian, Iranian, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Iovosemitic (or Arabian), Germano-Romance (or European), Mexican, Peruvian. His scheme, therefore, was dynamic, it implied the constant "mobility" of the cultural map of the world, the disappearance and emergence of various cultural and historical types.
In many ways similar and even simpler was the scheme of O. Spengler, who singled out 8 great cultures, some of which have also sunk into the past. These are Egyptian, Indian, Babylonian, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Mayan culture, magical (Byzantine-Arabic) and Faustian (Western European) cultures. Moreover, like N. Danilevsky, the famous German scientist considered the Russian lands to be the new center of cultural genesis, suggesting the emergence of Russian-Siberian culture.
Natural-cultural-geographical complexes
As one of the approaches to zoning, L.N. Gumilyov proposed to single out natural-cultural-geographical complexes. The boundaries of the cultural regions of the world were formed at the early stages of the formation of civilizations and, in fact, are physical and geographical boundaries within which the formation of cultures of superethnoi took place (Byzantine, Muslim, Mongolian, Russian, etc.), which are passing or have already completed their life cycle. The distribution areas of superethnoi remain stable, despite their resettlement, the spread of religions, and the economic development of territories. This, in the author's opinion, is primarily due to the fact that by the time the physical and geographical boundaries were overcome, formidable barriers had already formed between the ethnic groups: cultural differences, language and way of life.
What is the role of the territory in the development of culture?
There are still disputes about whether the culture of this or that ethnic group is determined by the territory or, conversely, the territory is determined by the economic culture of those ethnic groups that transform it. Extreme interpretations are geographical determinism (“everything that exists in culture is determined by nature”) and geographical nihilism (“man is a social being, the influence of natural factors on him is insignificant”). According to the geographer Ya.G. Mashbitsa, in history community development An outstanding role was played by the properties of those civilizations, under the influence of which the processes of development of human cultures took place. At the same time, nature has been and remains a decisive factor in the formation of man and mankind.
So far, it remains unclear how to correlate the “territorial” experience of culture and the “ethnic” experience of the people: do they have intersections or exist in isolation. Probably, one should not think that space predetermines the ways of development of culture, it implies multivariance, otherwise the territorial differentiation of culture would not be needed. In addition, culture is still the main guarantor of the multivariate development of mankind.
How do geographers divide geocultural space?
Currently, geographers are making attempts at cultural and geographical zoning at various levels, from global to local, and on the basis of various approaches (economic and cultural, historical and cultural, landscape and cultural, etc.). However, the greatest difficulty for geographers is the selection of ethno-cultural regions.
Ethnocultural region is a part of the ethno-cultural space filled with a certain ethno-cultural content. This is a system of cultural phenomena (processes) and objects that have developed as a result of their spatial interconnection, interaction and mutual influence of various ethno-cultural groups. An ethno-cultural region often has at its core the core of an ancient civilization, formed in the course of intensive communication between various ethnic groups. One of the tasks of zoning is to identify such cores - the centers for the formation of civilizations of world significance.
Map 2. Ethnocultural regions of the world.
Map 3. The most important objects of cultural heritage by ethno-cultural regions of the world
Table 1
Ethnocultural regions of the world
There is a widespread opinion that the spiritual component of culture is determined primarily by the religion practiced. Therefore, ethno-cultural regions are often distinguished according to confessional. This approach is also used by the famous American political scientist S. Huntington and UNESCO in their regionalization. Civilizations can be relatively compact (Hindu, Orthodox) or scattered (Protestant in Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand). The compactness of the territory strengthens the ties of subcultures within the ethno-cultural region.
Thus, the boundaries of large geocultural regions of the world are the result of the interaction of natural, economic and historical-cultural (civilizational) components. Prominent Russian geographer V.V. Volsky defined the concept civilizational macro-region": "a historically formed complex of neighboring peoples belonging to the same regional civilization and developing interdependently in certain geographical conditions", while highlighting 11 civilizational regions: Western and Central-Eastern Europe, Russian-Eurasian region, North Africa and Middle East, South, East and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Latin America, Australia and Oceania.
Within the framework of large historical and geographical regions, there are historical and cultural regions of a lower rank, up to local cultural regions. For example, within the Western European region, the following historical and cultural areas can be distinguished: Northern, Central, Western (Atlantic), Southern (Mediterranean). However, as some authors believe, under conditions of mixing of cultures, the division of geospace into historical and cultural worlds has lost all meaning.
Where are the UNESCO World Heritage Sites located?
More than half of all World Cultural Heritage sites are represented in Europe, which clearly reflects the contribution of Western civilization, as well as Christianity as a world religion, to the treasury of mankind. The top three in terms of the number of objects are Italy, Spain and China. About a quarter of all heritage sites are located in Asia, where the ancient and medieval civilizations of the East were formed, the cultural basis of which was such religions as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, as well as traditional religions. It is obvious that each ethnic group represents a certain cultural value, as it has contributed to the global "piggy bank" of civilizations. The achievements of non-European cultures are no less significant for world progress than "civilized Europeans".
Information sources
1. Gladkiy Yu.N., Chistobaev A.I. Fundamentals of regional policy. SPb., 1998.
2. Gladkiy Yu.N., Chistobaev A.I. Regional studies. M., 2000.
3. Dugin A.G. Fundamentals of geopolitics. M., 1997.
4. Mashbits Ya.G. Fundamentals of regional studies. M., 1995.
5. Peoples of the world. Historical and ethnographic reference book / ch. ed. Yu.V. Bromley. M., 1988.
6. Toynbee A.J. Understanding history. M., 1991.
7. Toynbee A.J. Civilization before the court of history. M., 1996.
8. Cheboksarov N.N., Cheboksarova I.A. Peoples, races, cultures. M., 1985.
9. Spengler O. Decline of Europe: Essays on the morphology of world history. M., 1993.
10. Yakovets Yu.V. History of civilizations. M., 1997.
Questions and tasks
1. What are the reasons for the differences in approaches to the regionalization of the cultural map of the world by different authors?
2. What civilizations include several ethnic groups within their borders? The core of what civilizations is one ethnic community?
3. Give examples when religion united various ethnic groups into a single civilization.
4. Using additional literature, on the example of your region (region, republic, territory), highlight the historical and cultural regions, tell us about their cultural identity.
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From the earliest historical stages, in different parts On Earth, the development of mankind took place in different ways, which was reflected in the originality of the cultural traditions of the peoples. Based on this, historical and cultural regions are distinguished in the world.
What are historical and cultural regions of the world?
Historical and cultural districts are called, each of which has its own, unlike the others, the path of development. Differences are manifested in the originality of cultural monuments of the peoples who inhabited these areas, the features of their religions, customs, national character, traditional types of economy. The original boundaries of the historical and cultural regions were natural and little changed as they developed.
Africa and sub-Saharan Africa
As in other regions of the planet, in ancient times there were several large states here. But with the advent of Europeans, natural historical development was interrupted. The slave trade caused enormous damage to the population and culture. That is why the formation of peoples did not end here. Traditional arts and crafts have been preserved: wooden sculpture, masks, ritual dances. appearance major cities predominantly European.
South Asia
This area is separated from the rest of the mainland by the Hindu Kush and. But through the narrow intermountain passages, numerous Asian peoples and tribes penetrated here, possessing a peculiar culture and traditions. Extended maritime borders contributed to maritime trade with, with countries and. From the 16th century Europeans began the colonial seizure of these territories. Now it is the world's largest kaleidoscope of races, peoples and languages. It is replete with creations of people of different cultures and eras.
East Asia
All countries of the region, except for, are located along the chain of seas - from Japan to South China. Navigation and maritime trade contributed to communication and mutual cultural enrichment of the peoples inhabiting this territory. Another important factor district formation - strong influence on the surrounding countries of highly developed Chinese civilization. The works of ancient Chinese philosophers played a big role in shaping many character traits of peoples. These include patriotism, high discipline, the ability to perceive the new, while maintaining their traditions.
Southeast Asia
Thanks to geographic location the history, religion, culture and economy of the countries of this region were formed under the influence of two great Asian civilizations - Indian and Chinese. With the development of navigation, Islam came here, and in - Christianity. Thus, the peculiar appearance of this region was formed, the main features of the culture of which are determined by the interweaving of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
North America
The historical and geographical region includes two countries - and. The original culture of the Indian tribes who lived here was almost completely destroyed during European colonization, and now its influence is on modern life people are small. In many art forms, the Negro and Hispanic influence is very tangible and continues to grow.
Latin America
This area includes everything south of the US and all of . The name of the region emphasizes the decisive role in the formation of its appearance, languages, customs and culture and - the Latin peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. They conquered this territory in the 15th-16th centuries, destroying the Indians, and laid the foundation for new peoples that formed here. The culture of the area intertwines the traditions of the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas who once lived here, blacks brought from Africa as slaves, and Europeans.
Australia
European culture dominates as Anglo-Australians make up most population. Some small tribes of indigenous Australians have retained their culture and way of life, adapted to a nomadic lifestyle and traditional occupations. In connection with the growth in the number of immigrants from Asia, the influence of Asian culture is increasing.
Oceania
Nature itself predetermined that contacts with other regions of the Earth and between separate parts of this island world separated by water were difficult. Therefore, the culture and traditions of the Oceanians are very original and diverse. One of the most famous monuments cultures of Oceania - mysterious stone sculptures of Easter Island up to 8 meters high.
1. Find and show on the map of the country:
a) the Mediterranean region,
b) the countries of the Balkan region;
c) countries of the Caribbean region;
d) countries of Latin America.
a) The Mediterranean region combines the countries of two continents - Eurasia and Africa, such as Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, etc.
b) Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, etc.
c) Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc. d) Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, etc.
2. What terms are used to characterize geographic space?
Region, District, Cultural-Historical Region
3. What does regional geography study?
"Regional geography" considers the diversity of the modern world from a regional point of view, i.e. taking into account the individuality of its constituent parts.
4. What are cultural-historical regions? What signs characterize them? Give examples.
Cultural and historical regions are territories whose population, due to the common historical destinies, socio-economic development and mutual influence, have similar cultural and everyday features. Cultural and historical areas are manifested in material culture - types of traditional dwellings, vehicles, food and utensils, clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc., as well as in traditional spiritual culture (calendar rites and customs, beliefs, folklore, etc.). .). Unlike ethnic groups with ethnic self-consciousness, cultural-historical regions may not be perceived by people and are distinguished in the course of special ethnographic studies. Examples of cultural and historical regions include Western Europe, Middle East, West Indies, Indochina, Tropical Africa.
5. What cultural and historical region can Russia be attributed to?
Russia can be attributed to the Post-Soviet cultural and historical region.
6. Give examples of countries belonging to two or more cultural and historical regions. What is the reason for this?
Egypt is a North African, Middle Eastern, Middle Eastern and Arab country. Mexico can be attributed both to the Caribbean region and to Latin America. This is due to the fact that most of the large cultural and historical regions have a complex multi-stage (“matryoshka”) structure. In turn, many states have their own cultural and historical centers.
7. The division of the globe into separate regions is possible according to various criteria. Write in a notebook the classifications of the division of the world into regions known to you. What classifications can you offer? What sign do you base them on?
Classifications of the division of the world into regions are possible according to physical-geographical, cultural-historical, economic, political, ideological features. I would propose a division of the world along linguistic lines, in which each region would be characterized by the dominant language on its territory (or language family or group).
