World geography chapter 6 – Flashcards

Geographers are concerned with the regional distribution of different religions and the resulting potential for conflict. Geographers also observe that religions are derived in part from elements of the physical environment, and that religions, in turn, modify the landscape. They are also concerned with where they are and why their there.

To understand why some religions occupy more space than other, geographers must look at differences among practices of various faiths. They study spatial connections.

- People care deeply about their religions and draw from religion their core values and beliefs, an essential element of the definition of culture. - Some religions are actually designed to appeal to people throughout the world, whereas other religions are designed to appeal primarily to people in geographically limited areas. -Religious values are important in understanding not only how people identify themselves, as was the cause with language, but also the meaningful ways that they organize the landscape -Most (though not all) religions require exclusive adherence, so adopting a global religion. In contrast, people can learn a globally important language such as English and at the sane time still speak the language of their culture. - Like language, migrants take their religion with them to new locations, but although migrants typically learn language of the new location, hey retain their religion.

A universalizing religion attempts to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or location and an ethnic religion appeals primarily to one group of people.

About 58% of the world's population practice a universalizing religion, 26% an ethnic religion, and 16% no religion.

Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Each of the three is divided into branches, denominations, and sets. A branch is a large and fundamental division within a religion. A denomination is a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body. A set is a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination. Islam has two branches: Sunni and Shia. Christianity has three branches: Roman Catholic (no denomination under this branch), Protestant (denominations are: Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian), and Orthodox (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox). Buddhism has three branches: Mahinai, vaerbeta, and hariana.

Statistics can be controversial because people can change their religion if they want to. We are a democracy so what religion you are should not be apart of our government.

Approximately 100 million Africans, 12% of the continent's people, follow traditional ethnic religions, sometimes called animism. Animism is the belief that storms, plants, or natural events, like thunderstorms, have a spirit of life.

The basic beliefs of animism are that inanimate objects have a soul and a conscious life. We don't know a lot about this religion and it's origin because it doesn't have any written documents. We don't know why the religion was started or where it was started. Traditions were passed down orally.

Universalizing religions have a hearth, you can pinpoint where it started. Universalizing religions are tied to a single person, ex: Jesus and his teachings. Ethnic religions don't have a hearth, you cannot pinpoint where it started.

The three main universalizing religions began in a hearth and were diffused by relocation diffusion.

Christianity first diffused from its heart in Palestine through relocation diffusion. Missionaries carried the teachings of Jesus along the Roman Empire. From there, Christianity widely spread through contagious diffusion. It then continued to diffuse through hierarchal diffusion. The Roman Emperor contributed to the diffusion of Christianity. It then continued to diffuse throughout Europe, then Africa, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. In present day, Roman Catholic is the predominant religion in South America because the Spanish conquered it. Protestant is the majority religion in North America because the Europeans conquered.

Muhammad's successors got together and formed an army and conquered many places within a hundred years of Muhammad's death. They conquered Palestine, The Persian Empire, and much of India. Then while they occupied the area, they converted a lot of Arabs to Islam. Essentially, the Roman Empire was taken over and was then a part of many Islam empires. It later diffused to Western Europe, and most of present day Spain.

Originated in northwest India. The emperor of the Magadhan Empire diffused the religion. Asarco was the Empire of the Magadhan Empire and he put in place Buddhist ways in his Empire. He then sent out missionaries to convert people to Buddhism (relocation diffusion). It diffused around this area, including Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the country that claims the longest continuous tradition of practicing Buddhism. Merchants along the trading routes introduced Buddhism to China. After it was accepted, it later diffused to Korea, and from Korea to Japan.

The Baha'i religion diffused to other regions under the leadership of "Abdu'l-Bahá. Baha'i was also spread rapidly during the late twentieth century, when a temple was constructed on every continent.

Sikhism remained clustered in the Punjab, where the religion originated. Sikhs fought with the Muslims to gain control of the Punjab region. The British later took over the Punjab as a part of its India colony but granted the Sikhs a privileged position and let fight in the British army. Once the British government created the independent states of India and Pakistan, the Punjab was divided. 2.5 million Sikhs moved from Pakistan West Punjab region to East Punjab in India. Sikhism has not diffused around the world, but is located all throughout India. Although, there are Sikhs around the world there aren't many outside India. It is still considered a universalizing religion because it can be practiced anywhere around the world and is not limited to it's place of origin.

In some African countries, Christian practices are similar to those of their former European colonial masters. Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, is mostly Roman Catholic; Namibia, a former German colony is heavily Lutheran. Elsewhere African religious ideas and practices have been merged with Christianity.

Ethnic religions do not diffuse rapidly. It diffuses through relocation diffusion. Ethnic religions are highly clustered because they are closely tied to the physical geography of a particular place.

The spatial distribution of Judaism differs from other ethnic religions because Judaism is practiced in many countries, not just it's place of origin. The Romans forced the Jews to disperse through out the world because the Jews tried to plan a rebellion against the Roman Empire in 70 A.D. They live among other nationalities but they still practice their own religion but they still adapted pieces of the other nationalities culture, mostly their language. This is why the language of Hebrew almost died out.

They were treated badly because they were blamed for killing Jesus. Stereotypes of Jews: good with money, wealthy, cheap. Christians weren't allowed to make money off of other people's misfortune so they weren't allowed to be "moneylenders" so the Jews stepped in and took over that job. Jews were treated very badly in their new homeland. Ex: they were forced to live in ghettos. A lot of times there were walls around their neighborhoods with gates. The gates were locked at night to prevent the Jews from being allowed to leave. The Holocaust killed a lot of Jews, the survivors moved to Israel. People pushed for the Jews to have their own homeland so that they weren't mistreated.

A Universalizing Religions endows with holiness cities and other places associated with the founder's life. Its holy places do not necessarily have to be near each other, and they do not need to be related to any particular physical environment. - An Ethnic Religion typically has a less widespread distribution than a universalizing one in part because its holy places derive from the distinctive physical environment of its hearth, such as mountains, rivers, or rock formations.

Cosmogony is a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe. A variety of events in the physical environment are more likely to be incorporated into the principles of an ethnic religion. These events range from the familiar and predictable to unexpected disasters. EX: YING & YANG: Balancing forces. Ex: If you are sick they think that your body isn't balanced so they will give you a treatment to try and balance your body so that you aren't sick anymore.

Cosmogony is a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe. A variety of events in physical environment are more likely to be incorporated into the principles of an ethnic religion unlike universalizing religion. These events range from the familiar and predictable to unexpected disasters.

Physical events in the environment are less likely to be incorporated into the principles of a universalizing religion. Many holy places are not related to any particular physical environment.

A variety of events in physical environment are more likely to be incorporated into the principles of an ethnic religion. It's holy places derive from the distinctive physical environment of its hearth, such as mountains, rivers, or rock formations.

Knowledge of the calendar is critical to successful agricultural. Ethnic religions base their calendar on the seasons. Universalizing religions use more standardized calendars based on religious holidays and calendars made thousands years ago. Ex: years; Year 0 is the year that Christ was born. The calendar is based off of this. Judaism bases their calendar on when they believe the Earth was created. They do not believe that Jesus was God's son. Muslims calendar is based is based of Muhammad.

The Solstices are when the sun is closest to the Earth's axis. The Solstices are December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 21 or 22 in the Southern Hemisphere. The December Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. The June Solstice is the longest day and shortest night. Today, the pagan structure is a prominent remnant.

The distribution of religious elements on the landscape reflects the importance of religion in people's values. The impact of religion on the landscape is particularly profound, for many religious people believe that their life on earth ought to be spent in service to God.

The functions of the building influence the arrangement of the structures across the landscape. They may house shrines or be places where people assemble for worship. Some religions require large elaborate structures but other religions have very modest needs. Ex: graveyards are placed on the outskirts of towns because people don't visit them frequently and the buildings that are visited frequently need to be placed in the center of town.

The distribution of religious elements depends on its beliefs. Where you put a graveyard or a religious building depends on the religions beliefs.

The important religions and uses are: Places of worship Burial of the dead Religious settlements Naming of the land

A utopian settlement is an ideal community built around a religious way of life. Buildings are cited and economic activities organized to integrate religious principles into all aspects of daily life. Ex: Salt Lake City, Utah. The layout is based on a plan of the city of zion given to the church elders in 1833 by the Mormon poppet Joseph Smith (Jesus visited Joseph Smith and told him to make a new religion and move to Utah where they can practice their religion and not be bothered) The city has a regular grid pattern, unusually broad boulevards, and church related buildings situated at strategic points.

Followers of a universalizing religion must be connected so as to ensure communication and consistency of doctrine. Ethnic religions tend to not have organized, central authorities.

Pope- The bishop of the diocese in Rome Archbishop- reports to the pope, each heads a province. The archbishop is also a bishop of one diocese within the province. Some archbishops have a special name "cardinal". This means that if the pope dies the archbishops that have this title travel to Rome to work on choosing the next pope. Bishops- Reports the the archbishop. Each administers a diocese, which is the basic unit of geographic organization in the Roman Catholic Church. Priests- Report to bishops. A diocese is spatially divided into parishes, each headed by a priest.

The territory occupied by Mormons, primarily Utah and portions of surrounding states, is organized into wards, with populations of approximately 750 each. Several wards are combined into a stake of approximately 5,000 people. The highest authority un the church, the board and resident, frequently redraws ward and stake boundaries in rapidly growing areas to reflect the ideal population standards.

In the absence of hierarchy, the only formal organization of territory is through the coincidence of religious territory with secular states. Mosques are places of worship for the Islam religion. The leader heads a Mosque and he calls people to prayer. Strong unity is maintained through communication and throughout Hague. Great variations of how Muslims practice they religion.