Geography is the study of the distribution of people and resources, along with the associated political and economic activities, as they relate to the physical characteristics and atmosphere of the Earth. Before the Civil War, it was a major factor in dividing many countries. The locations where individuals choose to make their homes profoundly impact the distribution of wealth and influence. It is because they shape the dominant cultural norms, religious beliefs, economic structures, and availability of natural resources in a given region. Colonialism and geography were significant factors in the division of countries, as people moved to areas more favorable to their language, culture, and economic pursuits.
Geography significantly shaped the economic activities the people conducted, determining the country they occupied. In Northwest America, for instance, indigenous communities historically relied on salmon-rich rivers for economic survival1. Communities of hunters used to migrate with the herds of bison throughout the grasslands and prairies with the changing seasons. People practiced agriculture in the fertile valleys between the Atlantic Ocean and Mississippi. Europeans introduced domesticated animals, and Americans rared pigs and horses across America2. The Indians’ use of horses revolutionized their way of life across the vast plains of North America. It is simpler for individuals who pursue similar activities to inhabit one country rather than migrate to multiple ones. Massive population expansion throughout the continent was spurred by these people’s rich and varied foods.
Geography played a significant role in determining the languages used, the people’s religion, and the areas they settled in. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, the Haidas, Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingits, and other people who spoke many languages liked the land because of the moderate climate and numerous trees and rivers3. The people of this region heavily depended on Salmon for their survival. In the end, religious revivals aided preachers in accomplishing their goals. As traveling preachers experimented more, they pulled many people whom they converted4. People who share a language and a common religion find settling down in a single nation simpler. Religion was the key to the formation of a lot of the colonies, which subsequently became countries.
The colonialists contributed to the separation of nations; geography was critical in colonization. The Portuguese built forts along Africa’s Atlantic coast in the fifteenth century out of commercial and religious motives, beginning centuries of European colonization there. Due to their ability to draw colonialists, missionaries eventually constituted the backbone of colonialism in North America. Private commercial firms contributed to the growth of French colonization. The proponents of English colonization always emphasized more on individual and financial advantages. Colonialists believed they were carrying out God’s will and that by converting the natives of the New World to Christianity, they would bring glory to God and their nations5. These colonialists settled in various countries worldwide, shaped the peoples’ cultures, and helped divide the nations to show the territories they ruled.
The people’s economic activities, and therefore the country they resided in, was heavily influenced by geography. It also had a huge role in shaping the development of linguistics, religion, and geographical settlement patterns. Colonists dispersed over the globe, influencing local cultures and creating artificial borders to highlight the areas under their control. People who share languages, cultures, and religions are likely to settle in one country. Religion, especially Christianity, was the key to the formation of a lot of the colonies, which subsequently became countries.
Bibliography
Dahl, Adam. Empire of the People: Settler Colonialism and the Foundations of Modern Democratic Thought. JSTOR. University Press of Kansas, 2018. Web.
Fields, Karen E. Christian Missionaries as Anticolonial Militants. Brill.com. Brill, 2021. Web.
Locke, Joseph L, and Ben Wright. The American Yawp : A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook. Vol. 1. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2019. Web.
Footnotes
- 1 Joseph L Locke and Ben Wright, The American Yawp : A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook, vol. 1 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2019), Web.
- 2 Locke and Wright, “The American Yawp,” 4.
- 3 Locke and Wright, “The American Yawp,” 12.
- 4 Karen E. Fields, Christian Missionaries as Anticolonial Militants, Brill.com (Brill, 2021), Web.
- 5 Adam Dahl, Empire of the People: Settler Colonialism and the Foundations of Modern Democratic Thought, JSTOR (University Press of Kansas, 2018), Web.