Cultural regions of the world and their territorial characteristics. Historical and cultural regions of the world Large countries of cultural and historical regions
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. Division the globe into separate regions, possibly on different grounds. Write in a notebook the classifications of the division of the world into regions known to you. What classifications can you suggest? 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).
Starting from the earliest historical stages, in different parts of the 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. The appearance of large cities is 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 in the formation of the region is the strong influence of the highly developed Chinese civilization on the surrounding countries. 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
Due to the geographical position, 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 the majority of the population. Some small tribes of indigenous Australians have retained their culture and way of life, adapted to a nomadic lifestyle and traditional activities. 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 cultural monuments of Oceania is the mysterious stone sculptures of Easter Island up to 8 meters high.
I was sitting in an armchair and lazily watching TV, when all of a sudden I heard three words that I didn’t even know existed: "cultural-historical regions". "What is it?" I thought. It was time to get down to business and find out this issue.
Cultural-historical regions
Since the early stages of history, in different places on the Earth, human development has occurred in different ways. This was reflected in originality of the culture of peoples. On this basis, historical and cultural regions can be distinguished in the world.
Historical and cultural regions are called regions, each of which has a different place way of development. Differences can manifest themselves in the peculiarity of historical cultural monuments nationalities living here, the features of their customs, religions, national character, traditional farm types. The boundaries of these areas were natural and their development has changed little.
What features characterize cultural and historical regions
Here it is best to start by listing the most iconic regions, and at the same time briefly consider their features:
- Western Europe. It was there that civilization was born. Every European country has its own European flavor.
- Russian-Eurasian region. The complex attitude of countries contributed to the fact that there was a mutual enrichment of different cultures.
- North Africa and the Middle East. It was the Arab culture that brought its flavor to this region. In addition, it is located at the junction of trade routes.
- South Asia. Despite its separation of the mainland by the Himalayas, merchants still penetrated here. Modern South Asia is the largest kaleidoscope of peoples, languages and races.
- East Asia. Chinese philosophy was the foundation that shaped character traits the peoples living there. This is a high discipline and the desire to preserve their traditions.
- North America. Canada and the US are the two largest and most highly developed countries in the region. In the process of colonization, the original Indian culture was completely destroyed.
- Australia. It is based on European culture. It is the people of England who make up the largest part of the population. A small number of natives managed to preserve their culture and way of life.
This concludes my story. You can see that there are a lot of cultural and historical regions in the world, each of them has its own characteristics.
"Matryoshka" principle of the structure of cultural and historicalgyons. Most of the major cultural and historical regions of the world are distinguished by a complex multi-stage (or "matryoshka") structure, which is clearly seen in the example of "classical" Western Europe. It traditionally distinguishes between Southern, Central, Northern Europe and the British Isles. Within some of them, regions of lower rank are distinguished, such as the Scandinavian countries or the Benelux countries. In turn, many states have their own local "cultural-historical centers". So, in the UK, they should include, first of all, Scotland and Wales; in France - Lorraine, Alsace, Brittany, Corsica, Burgundy, Provence, Languedoc, etc.; in Germany - Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, etc.; in Spain - the Basque Country, Andalusia, Castile, Catalonia, etc.
Foreign Asia is most often studied through the prism of its constituent regions, such as Southwest Asia, South, East,Southeast Asia. Decay Soviet Union led to the "appearance" (in textbooks) Central Asia as part of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. As a rule, within each of these regions, regions of a lower rank are distinguished, which have enduring cultural specifics. The states of America are usually studied taking into account the existence here of such more or less integral regions as English-speaking America(USA and Canada) and Latin America(as part of regions of lower rank: Mexico, Central America And WestIndia, the Andean countries and the states of the Amazon basin And Laplat lowland). As for Africa, its composition clearly distinguishes North African region(gravitating towards Islamic Southwest Asia rather than the rest of the continent) and Africa south of the Sahara(as part of Western, Eastern, CentralNoah And South Africa).
It happens that some countries simultaneously belong to two or more cultural and historical regions. So, Egypt is a North African, Middle Eastern, Middle Eastern and Arab country. (Near East form countries at the junction of Southwest Asia, North Africa and Europe, and together with Iran and Afghanistan they constitute Middle East).
Region boundaries. One of the least studied areas in science remains the area of boundaries (or frontiers) between different types of regions in geographical, historical, socio-cultural, economic, information and other spaces. Raised in last years attention of regionalists to comprehension boundary communication brought good results, showed great promise of this scientific direction. These results could be even more significant if developers more often and more thoroughly turned to interdisciplinary studies.
research at the intersection of humanitarian geography and philosophy, cultural morphology, ethnology, economics, etc.
The philosophical foundations of borderline states were first expounded by I. Kant, who thus united the philosopher and the geographer*. “Only a great scientist, ... who studied the spiritual and earthly horizons, could formulate ideas about the immanent and transcendent world, in which geographical concepts organically merge with philosophical ones” (V.A. Dergachev, 1999).
When applied to geographical map any different parts of the earth's surface (i.e. regions), it becomes necessary to separate them with the help of certain restrictive signs. This is not always easy to do, especially when regions combine phenomena of discontinuous or "heapy" propagation. IN this case Difficulties arise in determining the peripheral areas, which are of a transitional nature. Conversely, if regions reflect differences in the intensity of continuous distribution, then it is not difficult to delineate their boundaries.
The nature of the border lines depends on what kind of territories we are talking about - isolated or territories of continuous or discontinuous distribution. The boundaries of regions that owe their origin to human activities are usually clearer in comparison with natural ones. Political and administrative borders that have linear character More or less clear boundaries of cultural landscapes, while the boundaries, for example, of natural geobotanical regions are by no means clear. Thus, the taiga passes into the tundra so smoothly that it becomes necessary to distinguish the forest-tundra. forest through the forest-steppe, etc.
However, there may be exceptions. For example, the edge of an ore body, when it is exposed by a fault, appears sharply and is easily observed in the field, although we are talking about a natural boundary and a person has nothing to do with it. On the other hand, the boundaries of socio-cultural regions also in many cases are of a transitional, pronounced “marginal” nature. This phenomenon can be illustrated not only by the zones of influence of polyclinics, secondary schools, kindergartens, etc., but also by the boundaries of cultural and historical regions. Thus, the Languedoc in France or the Piedmont in Italy seem to be clearly defined only at a distance, but on closer examination they break up into a series of more
* “The Kantian problem is the problem of boundary states, which, in principle, exist only at the boundaries. The problem of fields, tensions created by the existence of these borders themselves” (M. Mamardashvili, 1992).
smaller "typical areas". There are countless examples of disputes around the concepts of "Central Europe", "Eastern Europe", "Middle East", "Central Asia", etc. It is necessary to clearly distinguish for oneself two circumstances related to the borders of regions: one thing is the nature of the borders, which are a clear line or a “vague transitional strip”, the other is the way they are delimited, the images on the map. With a small scale, the thickness of the line drawn by the cartographer may turn out to be wider than the real border-zone, which will distort reality. At the same time, it is clear that the border of a region identified by a single feature most closely matches the image on the map (provided that the line thickness on the map matches the width of the transition zone), in contrast to the border of a region identified by a combination of features. In the latter case, the boundary of the region will be accurate only if the "private" lines forming it
match.
The concept of frontier communication and frontier energytick. Latin term "communication" (sottitsaio) means a form of communication, a way of communication, a process of information transfer, etc. This concept “has a universal meaning, which is revealed in a specific geographical, historical, socio-cultural, economic, informational and other spaces. ... In the socio-cultural space, communication is usually defined as the "transfer of information" from person to person in the course of any activity. Tradition as communication in time carries out transmission from generation to generation of socio-cultural values and writing. Varieties of cross-border communication in the socio-cultural space are complementary ethnic relations, and in the economic space - communication corridors for accelerating the turnover of commercial, industrial and financial capital (free economic zones, etc.) ”(V.A. Dergachev, 1999).
There is an opinion that at the turn of II and III millennium as the former opportunities for territorial colonization and spiritual expansion disappeared, the era of borderline, marginal states came, promising to significantly expand the horizons of human knowledge. We are talking about marginal (lat. TagMaI$ - located on the edge) states not only of matter, but also of people (marginal territories, estates, societies; contact zones between the ocean and continents, the biosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere; boundary binary relations in the systems west - east, north - south, atlantism - eurasism, Islam - Christianity, Western and Eastern civilizations, city and village, etc.).
The concept of “frontier energy” is closely associated with frontier communication. It is generally accepted that it is the marginal zones of mismatched natural, economic, ethno-cultural, informational and other fields that serve as a source of energy impulses. It is easy to see that frontier energy is directly related to the emotional and sensory sphere and, thus, can be not only a strategic resource for material development, but also a resource for the spiritual revival of society, ethnicity, and the state.
Among the objects of study of boundary communication most frequently mentioned in the literature are political(buffer, transit state), economic(free economic zone, marginal economy), sociocultural(marginal culture, biculture, diaspora), natural(atmospheric fronts, land-ocean contact zones). Even special terms have appeared to identify the relevant phenomena and structures: geostrats- i.e. stratified, heterogeneous spaces superimposed on each other; geomars - energy-excessive boundary fields, etc. (V.A. Dergachev, 1999).
It is the dividing lines between civilizations as centers of frontier energy, according to the prominent American political scientist S. Huntington, that will replace in the 21st century. the political and ideological frontiers of the Cold War era will become the source of crises and even wars. The author made the assertion that in the "new world" the root sources of conflicts will lie in the sphere of cultural differences. “Major conflicts... will take place between nations and groups belonging to different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate world politics” (S.Huntington, 1993).
The confrontation of civilizations, according to Huntington, takes place at two levels: local And global. At the micro level, the population of neighboring inter-civilizational regions, "charged with frontier energy", disputes the territories and demonstrates the superiority of their cultural traditions. At the global level, countries belonging to different civilizations compete in the military and economic spheres, assert their spiritual and religious values with all their might. The greatest energy potential is allegedly concentrated on the border between the Western (Christian-Jewish) and Islamic civilizations, the struggle of which, according to the author, has been going on for about 1300 years and does not show any signs of extinction.
At the same time, S. Huntington's scheme seems too simple to many. An opinion is expressed that so far the most terrible and bloody dramas have taken place within the same civilizations. The Nazis exterminated European Christians and Jews, the Bolsheviks, Maoists and Pol Potites carried out genocide in their own 24
countries. The confessional and cultural kinship of Japan with China and Korea did not prevent her from repeatedly fighting with these countries, etc. In addition, it is known that it is civil wars that are usually distinguished by the greatest cruelty.
How to be in this case with the concept of frontier energy? Does not its truth fluctuate because of the denial of the conflict of civilizations?
The differences between civilizations are indeed real and significant, and many people are ready to fight and die for their beliefs, their kind, identity, their land, the sacred land of their ancestors. But in global terms, the Huntington model is unlikely to “work”: first, a global conflict is tantamount to human suicide; secondly, states belonging to different civilizations and interested in successful socio-economic development will increasingly integrate into the world market, especially since the law of value is the same for all formations and civilizations; thirdly, doubts are expressed about the identification of the world with civilizations - the latter is too heterogeneous. That is, the idea of civilizations as "units" is not always fruitful from the point of view of world integrity.
So, as the core of the most promising division (or regionalization) of the world are cultural Characteristics, which are less mobile and changeable than ideological, political or economic ones. (“Communists can become democrats, the rich can become poor and vice versa, but Russians cannot become Estonians, and Azerbaijanis cannot become Armenians,” S. Huntington wrote.) many other criteria. In turn, within large cultural-historical regions, as a rule, there are regions of a lower rank.
Control questions and tasks
1. What are the advantages of the cultural-historical regionalization of the world in comparison, for example, with economic or political? 2. How is it customary to distinguish between the concepts of "culture" and "civilization"? 3. How can one evaluate the contribution of empires to the integration of world cultures? Illustrate your thoughts with specific examples. 4. Expand the meaning of the expression "culture is"; solid sediment "; territorial socio-political formations”. 5. Most of the borders separating regions do not reflect sudden transitions. Why is this happening? 6. What is the meaning of the concept of "frontier communication"? 7. What does the theory of the conflict of civilizations by S. Huntington have to do with the phenomenon of frontier energy?
Chapter 2
Western Europe: "cradle"industrial revolution at the beginning
XXIin.
2.1. Western Europe as a culturalhistorical region
Europe is a part of the world, relatively small in area (7% of the earth's land area) and population (11.5% of the world level), where more than 50 countries and state entities are now located. Meanwhile, Europe is not just a territory from Cape Nordkin in the north to Cape Marroki in the south and from the Ural Mountains in the east to Cape Roca in the west. Europe is a civilization, a treasure trove of unique achievements of the human mind.
European culture (understood broadly, with the inclusion of Orthodox civilization in its composition) has played and continues to play an outstanding role in world development. For many centuries the European region has been at the center of world development. Since the Renaissance, since the time of the Great geographical discoveries, Europe acted as the most dynamic region. The productive forces, science and culture developed rapidly. Mankind does not know a single culture whose influence would be so massive, transforming the entire world order. At the same time, Europe has developed unique structural features that determined its resilience, easy survival in sociocultural niches and reliable survival in a foreign cultural environment.
Specifically, Western Europe is dozens of states that differ in historical, ethnic, natural, economic, social, cultural and spiritual originality. Many consider this cultural and historical region as a kind of unified whole, a community of peoples inhabiting it that has been formed for centuries. In addition to the expressions "Western civilization" and "Western European civilization", there are also concepts "Europeanism" - a trend advocating the full integration of Western European states and motivating this by the presence of the aforementioned community of local peoples; "Eurocentrism" -
trend in public thought, according to which Europe is praised and idealized as a model of socio-economic structure and spiritual development. (Expression "at-lanticism" has a more blurred contours and is associated with a geopolitical concept, which is based on the geostrategic and military goals of the Atlantic countries, including the United States and
The unity and integrity of the Western European region - in the general cultural and civilizational idea, in the principles that were laid down in ancient Greece. They formed the basis of political, work and everyday ethics not only in Europe, but also in English-speaking America, Australia, New Zealand, etc. These principles are "conscientious work as the path to prosperity" and "fair competition as the path to self-affirmation." In Europe, they are most pronounced, as they have deep roots. Therefore, the most striking feature of Western Europe is identity. Despite the obvious differences between the parts, Europe retains common origins and heritage. It is this circumstance that makes it possible to consider Europe as a civilizational space with a single ethno-cultural code that determines the self-awareness and self-knowledge of Europeans.
The cultural and historical originality of Europe is also manifested in the fact that with exceptional force and clarity, which is not found anywhere else, it embodied in the public consciousness and empirical reality rationalism. Even Greek rationalism differs from Eastern thinking in a certain sequence, which made it possible to lay the foundations of mathematics and complete the creation of formal logic. In a fundamental way, European rationalism began to differ from a different worldview from the end of the Middle Ages. Rationalism has become the fate of Europe and a sign of a new technogenic civilization. Europe has long known the idea of political freedom. As an idea and as a reality, freedom in Europe withstood the onslaught of universal despotism and totalitarianism and laid the foundation for the consciousness of a legal civil society. Freedom always brings with it novelty, generates an atmosphere of competition and the desire for glory and fame in any area of life. The freedom of people and their thinking illuminated the whole of European history, constructed the European spirit and created great opportunities, but at the same time dangers for man.
Europeans are characterized by decisiveness, by virtue of which undertakings are brought to their logical conclusion, to the identification of alternatives, to the awareness of the principles of internal struggle. It was traditionally felt in the tension of the main aspects of European life - in the tension between the Romanesque, Germanic and Slavic peoples, between empires and individual nations, between the state and the church, between Christianity.
and culture, between Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. Any claim in European life is immediately called into question. As a result, European civilization is not a monotonous cultural landscape, but a multidimensional and dynamic one.
Decisiveness is manifested, first of all, in the revolutions committed by Europeans: geographical, spiritual, scientific and technical, embodied in European politics, economics, social ethics and psychology. The decisiveness of the European character manifested itself first of all in the religious sphere, but most clearly in the policy of colonial conquest*.
Therefore, it can be argued that Europe is not the sum of countries and peoples, but their unity, characterized by constant internal dialogue and intensive contacts with other cultural worlds. As part of European civilization Russia plays an important role. Being a part of Europe, it promotes its elements and style to Asia, but Asia also influences Europe through Russia. Thus, Europe and Russia define each other. Russia has long been a full member of the system of European powers. Without it, it is impossible to talk about a modern common European home.
Historical and geographical review. The origin of the word "Europe" is often associated with a city called Europa, located in the region of Kariya in the southwestern part of Asia Minor. Very common in ancient times was also the legend of Europe - the daughter of King Agenor from Tyre, abducted by the Cretans **. According to some versions, the name of Europe comes from the word "Erebus" (dark) and means the country of the setting sun (west), in contrast to Asia ("Asi") - the country of sunrise (east).
Hesiod and Hecateus of Miletus, Herodotus and Thucydides, Aristotle and Isocrates, Strabo and Pliny the Elder, Polybius and Ptolemy wrote about Europe as a geographical area. Many Greek and Roman authors were unanimous in defining the geographic boundaries of Europe. It seemed to them the territory between the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and the Don River (or Caucasus) in the east and Iberia with the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Britain was seen as an island in Europe. The southern border was drawn along Asia Minor, the Black and Mediterranean Seas, and the northern - along the Danube.
As you can see, in the ancient view, Europe was limited mainly to the territory adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea,
* A peculiar manifestation of such activity is the German "onslaught on the East." It means not only a historical and geographical phenomenon, but also the political ideology of imperial Germany. The Baltic Slavs were the first to experience the onslaught of the Germans. The movement of the Germans to the east was suspended in the 15th century. In the future, the small number of German-Slavic clashes is covered by the horrific catastrophes of the two world wars in the 20th century.
** The mythological scene of the abduction of Europa by the bull Zeus was depicted in his painting by the remarkable Russian artist V.A. Serov.
which was considered as its core and spatial basis. Subsequently, as Central and Northern Europe became involved in political, economic, and spiritual contacts, the borders of the region increasingly took on modern outlines. However, only at the beginning XVIII in. the eastern borders of Europe, formerly designated by the Don, were determined. This was done by the outstanding Russian encyclopedic scientist, geographer, historian, ethnographer, philologist, mathematician, metallurgist, diplomat, founder of Yekaterinburg V.N. Tatishchev (1686-1750). In his article "Europe", included in the "Russian Lexicon", he indicated the Urals as the border of Europe.
The entire territory of Europe was inhabited by humans, probably already in the Stone Age. FROM III thousand BC the decomposition of the primitive communal system begins to be revealed, and the social life of people ends with the formation of states. The first of them arise in the southeast of Europe, in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and on the island of Crete. They were well developed social structures. Palace households played an important role in economic life. In the end II thousand BC the states of mainland Greece and Crete are perishing. However, already at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. the conditions for the formation of states on the territory of Greece again arise. The starting point of the entire social development of Greece is policy, which, changing over the centuries, remained state organization Ancient Europe. Later on the territory peninsula there is an Italian version of the policy - civitas. Rome was the most striking example.
As a result of the extensive military expansions of the policies, large powers were formed. The first of these were the Hellenistic kingdoms. Next - the empire created by Rome. This power, which grew out of a tiny town founded by a tribe of Latins eight centuries before our era, absorbed many peoples. By incorporating the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Mediterranean regions of Europe, Rome contributed to the spread of the urban system, the slave-owning mode of production, technology, and culture in them. The Greco-Roman heritage was the substance of European civilization. At this time, the foundations of European social thought, understanding of nature, personality and society are laid.
Geography of the world economy
Dissertation abstract53. Cultural (civilizational) regions of the world
"Culture" and "civilization" are concepts that are widely used both in scientific and journalistic literature and in everyday life. In the broadest sense, culture is understood as everything that is created by people in the process of physical and mental labor (subdivided into material and spiritual culture). The concept of "civilization" is sometimes considered synonymous with the concept of "culture", but, perhaps, more often it is given a somewhat broader meaning.
Such terminological incompleteness did not prevent the fact that geography began to take shape as a special direction. cultural geography, which studies the territorial differentiation of culture and its individual components - the way of life and traditions of the population, elements of material and spiritual culture, the cultural heritage of previous generations. Since culture reflects not only the connection of times, but also the huge modern national-ethnic diversity and originality of the world, then, quite naturally, the question of dividing the world into cultural regions also arises.
Table 59
Confessional Regions and Provinces of the World
Due to the mentioned terminological incompleteness, such cultural regions are often called differently. For example, in ethnology (academician Yu. V. Bromley), the concept of historical and cultural(historical and ethnographic) areas as parts of the oecumene, the population of which, thanks to the commonality of socio-economic development, long-term ties and mutual influence, has developed similar cultural and everyday features. In ethnology (N. N. Cheboksarov, B. V. Andrianov), the idea of economic and cultural types(HKT), which are understood as certain complexes of the economy and culture, historically formed among various peoples, located at close levels of socio-economic development and living in similar natural and geographical conditions. Typically, such economic and cultural types are divided into three main groups: 1) with a predominance of hunting, gathering and partly fishing; 2) with a predominance of hoe (manual) agriculture and animal husbandry; 3) with the predominance of plow (arable) farming with the use of draft power of domestic animals in agricultural work. In geography - both domestic and Western - they also usually use the concept of cultural(historical-cultural, civilizational) region, although these terms are not yet well established.
The study of cultural regions, actually begun by Herodotus, was continued by many scientists of antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern and modern times. At the same time, it was noted that in the early stages of the formation of local civilizations, the boundaries of such regions usually coincided with physical and geographical boundaries that limited the area of distribution of one or another ethnic community. With the development of civilizations, the beginning of great migrations of peoples, and then mass migrations of the population, the formation of regional and even more so global ties, physical and geographical boundaries have lost their former defining importance, although in many cases they still continue to retain the role of important ethnic boundaries.
The grids of the cultural zoning of the world differ greatly in the degree of differentiation and fragmentation. The most generalized of them comes down, perhaps, to the allocation of the western and eastern cultural (civilizational) regions. A somewhat more differentiated one is based on the identification of the Western (Christian), Chinese-Confucian, Indo-Buddhist and Arab-Muslim cultural (civilizational) regions. The American political scientist S. Huntington suggested distinguishing eight such regions: Western (Christian-Catholic), Slavic-Orthodox, Islamic, Confucian, Hindu, Japanese, Latin American and African - the first six are religious, and the last two are geographical. Cultural and historical zoning, officially applied by the UN (UNESCO), seven-term, in which the main regions are considered European, Arab-Muslim, Indian, Far Eastern, Tropical African, North American and Latin American.
A somewhat more fractional zoning was proposed by the prominent domestic economic geographer V.V. Volsky, who singled out in modern world 12 civilizational macro-regions (Fig. 45). These macro-regions, according to V.V. Volsky, have both similarities and differences.
Rice. 45. Civilizational regions of the world (according to V.V. Volsky)
For example, the regions of Western Europe, East Asia and the Russian-Eurasian region, in his opinion, were mainly "cooked" in their own regional "cauldrons". The North American and Australian regions are predominantly migrant regions, "spun off" from Western Europe and have become to a large extent (North America) or to a very large extent (Australia) varieties and products of British civilization. The region of Latin America was formed as a result of a complex and uneven fusion of several cultures - traditional Indian, European, African, modern North American. Two Asian regions - South and Southeast Asia - continue to develop their identity, stemming from powerful ancient centers. The Middle East and North Africa is a region of origin and absolute dominance of Islam, which was formed mainly due to intra-regional processes. And sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest and most backward region of the world, the most devastated by colonialism over the past five centuries. As a separate macro-region, V.V. Volsky singles out Central-Eastern Europe, which has recently formed in this capacity.
An example of even more fractional cultural-civilizational zoning is the zoning proposed by the English historian and sociologist Arnold Toynbee. He put forward the theory of successive local civilizations, passing successive stages of emergence, growth, breakdown and decay. In total, A. Toynbee singled out 21 developed civilizations, including Western, Byzantine, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Indian, Mexican and some others. In addition, he identified four more civilizations that, in his opinion, stopped in their development, and five "stillborn" civilizations.
But the most differentiated grid of cultural and civilizational zoning was proposed in the early 1990s. geographer V. R. L. Krishchyunas. He identified 13 so-called civilizational worlds, subdivided into 38 geohistoric regions. At the same time, he attributed to the category of civilizational worlds: 1) South Asia; 2) Indochina and insular Asia; 3) East Asia; 4) Central Asia; 5) Middle East and Caucasus; 6) Middle East and North Africa; 7) Western Asia and the Balkans; 8) Eastern Europe; 9) Western Europe; 10) Far East Eurasia; eleven) latin america; 12) Anglo-Saxon America; 13) Africa south of the Sahara.
In the domestic educational literature the allocation of cultural regions of the world is rarely resorted to, preferring its usual division into parts of the world, continents, natural and economic regions and subregions. But in Western educational literature, the allocation of cultural regions is generally recognized. In all regional geography textbooks, the world is subdivided precisely into such regions, although the authors themselves construct their grids in largely different ways. Nevertheless, in fact, Anglo-America, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa are almost always or almost always singled out, and North Africa is combined into one cultural region with Southwest Asia. But there are still many discrepancies in the zoning of Europe and the rest of Asia. As a specific example of the identification of cultural regions, one can cite a map published in one of the many country study textbooks in the United States under the heading "Geography of the World" (Fig. 46).
The question of the boundaries of the Russian cultural region and in domestic sources remains one of the most difficult. So, in the zoning of V.V. Volsky, the Russian-Eurasian macroregion was singled out within the boundaries former USSR. V.-R. L. Krischiunas subdivided the civilizational world of Russia into three geohistorical regions. R. F. Turovsky introduced the concept Russian cultural space, whose features are manifested from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Turkic and Mongolian steppes. According to R. F. Turovsky, transitional spaces are located on the border between Russian and European cultural spaces. It can be added that the cultural and historical regionalization of Russia largely depends on the adherence of this or that author to the Eurasian or "Western" geopolitical concept.
