Culture Hearths and Diffusion Around the World

The word culture generally refers to a specific groups particular way of life. Culture includes the social meanings of various aspects of life, such as race, ethnicity, values, languages, religions, and clothing styles. Though many distinct cultures are prevalent around the world today, those that are the most dominant have origins in one of a few areas called culture hearths. These are the heartlands of various cultures and, historically, there are seven main locations from which the most dominant cultural ideas have spread. Early Culture Hearth Locations The seven original culture hearths are: The Nile River ValleyThe Indus River ValleyThe Wei-Huang ValleyThe Ganges River ValleyMesopotamiaMesoamericaWest Africa These regions are considered culture hearths because such key cultural practices as religion, the use of iron tools and weapons, highly organized social structures, and the development of agriculture started and spread from these areas. In terms of religion, for example, the area around Mecca is considered the culture hearth for the Islamic religion and the area from which Muslims initially traveled to convert people to Islam. The spread of tools, social structures, and agriculture spread in a similar manner from each of the culture hearths. Culture Regions Also important to the development of early culture centers are culture regions. These are areas that contain dominant cultural elements. Though not everyone in the culture region has the same cultural traits, they are often influenced by the centers traits in some way. Within this system, there are four components of influence: The Core: the heart of the area that shows the most strongly expressed culture traits. It is usually the most heavily populated and, in the case of religion, features the most famous religious landmarks.The Domain: surrounds the Core. Though it has its own cultural values, it is still strongly influenced by the Core.The Sphere: surrounds the Domain.The Outlier: surrounds the Sphere. Cultural Diffusion Cultural diffusion is the term used to describe the spread of cultural ideas from the Core (in the case of culture regions) and the culture hearth. There are three methods of cultural diffusion. The first is called direct diffusion and occurs when two distinct cultures are very close together. Over time, direct contact between the two leads to an intermingling of the cultures. Historically this occurred through trade, intermarriage, and sometimes warfare because members of the various cultures interacted with each other for long periods. An example today would be the similar interest in soccer in some areas of the United States and Mexico. Forced diffusion or expansion diffusion is the second method of cultural diffusion and takes place when one culture defeats another and forces its beliefs and customs onto the conquered people. An example of this would be when the Spanish took over lands in the Americas and later forced the original inhabitants to convert to Roman Catholicism in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The term ethnocentrism is often related to forced diffusion. Ethnocentrism refers to the idea of looking at the world only from ones own cultural vantage point. As a result, people participating in this form of diffusion often believe that their cultural beliefs are superior to those of other groups and, in turn, force their ideas upon those they conquer. In addition, cultural imperialism is usually placed into the category of forced diffusion as it is the practice of actively promoting cultural characteristics such as language, food, religion, etc., of one nation in another. Cultural imperialism normally occurs within forced diffusion because it frequently happens through military or economic force. The final form of cultural diffusion is indirect diffusion. This type of diffusion happens when cultural ideas are spread through a middleman or even another culture. An example here would be the popularity of Italian food throughout North America. Technology, mass media, and the internet are all playing a huge role in promoting this type of cultural diffusion around the world today. Modern Culture Hearths and Cultural Diffusion Because cultures develop over time, new dominant areas of dominant culture have done so as well. Todays modern culture hearths are places such as the United States and world cities like London and Tokyo. Areas such as these are considered modern culture hearths because of the prevalence of their cultural aspects now present throughout much of the world. Examples of modern cultural diffusion include the popularity of sushi in Los Angeles, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia and the presence of Starbucks in places like France, Germany, Moscow, and even in Chinas Forbidden City. Direct diffusion has certainly played a role in this new spread of cultural values and products, and people are now moving around frequently because of todays ease of travel. Physical barriers such as mountain ranges and oceans no longer hinder peoples movement, and there is a resultant spread of cultural ideas. It is indirect diffusion, though, which has had the largest impact on the spread of ideas from places like the United States to the rest of the world. The internet and advertising through the many forms of mass media have allowed people worldwide to see what is popular in the U.S. As a result, blue jeans and Coca-Cola products can be found even in remote Himalayan villages. In whatever ways cultural diffusion occurs now or in the future, it has happened many times throughout history and will continue to do so as new areas grow in power and pass on their cultural traits to the world. The ease of travel and modern technology will only aid in speeding up the process of modern cultural diffusion.

Essay about The Influence of Religion on Scientific...

Religion is an intricate part of society. It has existed since the beginning of civilization and continues expanding today. This physical organization of personal beliefs has created wars and revolutions; nations and constitutions. In a subject as controversial as that of faith, it is often difficult to discern if it has benefitted humanity. One especially relevant issue today is religion’s influence on science. Throughout history, it is evident that religious movements have occasionally impeded scientific discovery; however, there is also evidence that scientific progression has been aided by religious ideology. By examining both the negative and positive roles religion has played in history, modern times, and the overall area of†¦show more content†¦Science cannot advance if people cannot discover. Conversely, one can infer from the perspective of Galileo that religion encourages science. Although it was a religious faction that prevented him from sharing his discoveries, it was curiosity driven from his own personal faith that encouraged him to study the cosmos. He is not the only scientist with this reasoning. Scientists like Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler and Max Planck all used religion as a basis to study the natural world. The â€Å"Father of Chemistry† Robert Boyle even wrote a book titled The Christian Virtuoso, advocating his belief that the universe was designed by a supreme creator. His thoughts can be summarized in this quote from his book: â€Å"And the more wonderful things he discovers in the Works of Nature, the more auxiliary Proofs he meets with to establish and enforce the Argument, drawn from the Universe and its Parts, to evince That there is a God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This type of ideology indicates that religion as a whole does not discourage discovery, but actually encourages it. It could also be concluded that it was narrow-mindedness of the Catholic Church toward one ideal that hurt scientific advancement. Religion still influences science in modern times. For example, the subject of creation versus evolution has become a point of controversy in the area of education (which is the foundation of science). To give someShow MoreRelatedThe Scientific Revolution and Its Impact1291 Words   |  5 Pages Throughout the Scientific Revolution, scientists and natural philosophers created a new scientific world by questioning popular ideas and constructing original models. During the 1500s and 1600s, the concept of individualism, the principle of being independent and self-reliant, began to be applied to one’s life. People began to have individual thoughts and started to disagree with commonly believed ideas promoted by the Church. 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Causes Of The Revolutionary War Essay Example For Students

Causes Of The Revolutionary War Essay The haphazard and disorganized British rule of the American colonies in the decade prior to the outbreak led to the Revolutionary War. The mismanagement of the colonies, the taxation policies that violated the colonist rights, the distractions of foreign wars and politics in England and mercantilist policies that benefited the English to a much greater degree then the colonists all show the British incompetence in their rule over the colonies. The policies and distractions were some of the Causes Of The Revolutionary War Essay. The interests of England within the colonies were self-centered. The English were trying to govern the colonies by using the mercantilist system. Mercantilism is when the state directs all the economic activities within its borders (Blum). England was not attempting to make any changes that would help the colonists. They limited the colonies commerce to internal trade only (Miller 9). The English were exploiting the colonies by demanding that the colonies import more from England then they exported to the colonies. They were importing raw materials from the colonies and making them into exportable goods in England. They would then ship these goods to foreign market all around the world including the colonists (America Online). Throughout the seventeenth century the English saw America as a place to get materials they didnt have at home and a market to sell finished products after the goods had been manufactured. This was detrimental to the colonies because it prevented them from manufacturing any of the raw materials they produced, and made them more dependent upon England. In addition to the unrest caused by their mercantilist policies, domestic political issues distracted them from the activities of the colonies. Throughout the sixteen hundreds, Great Britain was more involved in solving the Constitutional issue of who was to have more power in English government, the king or parliament. When this complex issue was finally resolved in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, England turned its attention back to the colonies and found that colonists had developed their own identity as Americans. There was no central office in England to control what was happening in the colonies. The executive authority in England was divided among several ministers and commissioners that did not act quickly or in unison. Also, the Board of Trade, the body in England, did not have the power to make decisions or to enforce decrees. Due to the distractions from the complex constitutional issues and ineffective governmental organization, the colonists felt further separated from England (Blum 51). The political scene in England was laced with corruption. Officers of the government sent to the colonies were often bribe-taking politicians that were not smart enough to hold government positions in England. After Grenville and Townshend, the most incompetent was Lord North, who became Prime Minister in 1770 after the death of Charles Townshend. North was the kind of politician George had been looking for, a plodding, dogged, industrious man, neither a fool nor a genius, much like the king himself. For the next twelve years, despite the opposition of abler men, he remained at the head of the government (Blum 104). Corruption and incompetence among governing politicians often made their rule over the colonies ineffective. In the years leading up to the final decade before the American Revolution, the relationship between Great Britain and her colonies in North America continued to deteriorate. Relations began to worsen with the great victory over the French and Indians in the Seven Years War. Unwelcome British troops had remained in the colonies. Debts from this war caused the Prime Minister at the time, Lord Grenville, to debt that had doubled since 1754 (Blum 95). Homelessness EssaySince the colonists could not represent themselves inParliament then they had to form all taxes with a locallegislature. This is the basis for the entire Revolutionary War. The British believed that Parliament was supreme over all ofthe English lands and had the divine right to rule over themwithout conflict. Although Parliament did have arepresentative for the Colonies the colonists did not believein virtual representation. The problem was that the virtualrepresentatives