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National Geographic : 1897 Jun
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THE EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT 165 in his service, and thus from the environment came the domesti cation of animals in the Arctic regions. The denizen of the far north cannot cultivate the ground, for the frozen earth refuses to yield any return for his labor. All the energies of the Arctic man are expended in contending with the elements and striving to secure from sea, snow, and ice the oil, skins, food, and habita tion necessary for the support of life. His body is enervated by the intense cold, and his mental, physical, and moral growth is dwarfed and stunted. Thus we see that the geographical environments of intense heat and intense cold develop different faculties, but in neither does man progress toward civilization. Let us turn to a temperate climate, to the vast steppes and plateaus of Asia, which extend from southeastern Russia, past the Caspian and Ural seas, northeastward and eastward through upper Turkestan and Siberia to Mongolia; from the Black sea to Bering sea and the Pacific ocean-the greater part, indeed, of Asia. Here we have a different geographic environment-a temperate but arid climate, vast steppes, where, on account of the drought, agriculture has always been impossible. Over these steppes immense flocks and herds of wild goats, camels, wild horses, and buffalo roam now as thousands of years ago. Here, in ages past, man, following where they led, gradually gathered them into herds and tamed and domesticated them. The herds must be cared for, be kept together, and guarded; goats and cows must be daily milked; must be pastured in summer, and the wild grass gathered for their winter use. Man learned to breed cattle, to increase his flocks and herds, for on them he depended for food, for clothing, for covering for his tents, and for all the other necessaries of life. His environment forced him into habits of foresight, of thrift, of thoughtfulness ; and thus man took the first step in civilization. He ceased to be a savage and became a nomad; he acquired property, and for thousands of years lived, as now, the shepherd's life. Flocks and herds belonged to the family or tribe, and the land where they grazed was regarded as the property of the tribe, from which the flocks and shepherds of other tribes were driven away. Gradually the family relation was established. The father or his eldest or strongest son became the patriarch, and the families of a common ancestor were united into a tribe with the patriarch as its chief. Gradually the idea of social life and patriarchal government was developed, but there was neither city nor state,
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