Cultural Geography and the Studies of the Americas

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Other Title
  • 南北アメリカ研究と文化地理学
  • 南北アメリカ研究と文化地理学--3つの経済文化地域の設定と地域変化に関する試論
  • ナンボク アメリカ ケンキュウ ト ブンカ チリガク ミッツ ノ ケイザイ ブンカ チイキ ノ セッテイ ト チイキ ヘンカ ニ カンスル シロン
  • 3つの経済文化地域の設定と地域変化に関する試論
  • Proposal of Three Economic-Cultural Regions and the Interpretation of Regional Changes

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Abstract

The Americas have changed since the arrival of Columbus, and interpreting these changes is a challenging task for geographers. This paper attempts to propose the framework for investigating the overall development and the regional characteristics of the Americas from the cultural-geographic viewpoint. An examination of geographers’ published works reveals that four approaches are important in scrutinizing the Americas as a whole: “man and nature,” which emphasizes the human impact on the environment; “origin and dispersal,” which examines transcontinental exchange and its impact; “region and landscape,” which identifies culture regions and cultural landscapes; and “time and change,” which depicts the process of regional changes. Three economic-cultural regions are then identified; these regions emerged with the introduction of different systems of development from Europe. The three regions are the northwestern European peasant economic-cultural region, plantation economic-cultural region, and Iberian cattle ranching economic-cultural region. The development of the United States is interpreted in the context of the three economic-cultural regions as a process in which the northwestern European peasant economic-cultural region expanded to the south, west, and southwest, eventually expanding across the entire territory. In order to substantiate this thesis, the cases of the Great Plains, southern California, and California’s Central Valley are presented with reference to the regional changes that took place in the late nineteenth century. The proposed economic-cultural regions also provide the basis for comparative studies of immigrant communities in the Americas, as the differences in the Japanese immigrant communities are successfully interpreted in the context of the host society inherent in the economic-cultural regions.

Journal

  • Geographical Space

    Geographical Space 1 (1), 1-31, 2008

    Japan Association on Geographical Space

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