Cultural Patterns and Diffusion

Lesson 3 Strategy 2
Cultural Hearths and Diffusion

Cultural Hearths

In the ancient past, major cultures began in an area called a cultural hearth. From these
areas, cultures spread (diffused) outward, carried by people involved in trade, travel,
conquest or immigration. Geographers and historians believe that there were several
cultural hearths in the ancient world.

In each of these cultural hearths, people developed a different way of doing things like
eating, building shelter, speaking, writing, and making a living, and living together. For
example, in the Chinese Wei-Huang Valley, people ate rice with chopsticks, spoke Chinese
language, wrote with pictographs, and developed a respect for ancestors.

On the map above, the orange area represents the core of the cultural region. In this area,
almost everyone followed all of the cultural ways of doing. The yellow area surrounding it is
called the periphery. In this area, most people followed the ways of the culture at least
most of the time, but other languages, belief systems, ways of eating, or making a living
might also be seen there occasionally. In the area outside the region (yellow on the map)
people would not follow the cultural pattern.

Cultural Hearths in History

In seven places known today, ancient people “invented” cultures, and these cultures still
influence the way people live today. The seven original cultural hearths are located in:
Mesopotamia, Nile Valley and the Indus Valley, Wei-Huang Valley, Ganges Valley,
Mesoamerica, West Africa, Andean America. Locate each cultural hearth on the map above.

Secondary Cultural Hearths

Later in history, some other cultural hearths developed. They were influential, but they
built on cultures that had developed before. The Greco-Roman cultural hearth is an
example of this. Beginning in Greece, this culture developed and spread around the
Mediterranean Sea and far beyond. The ideas of this cultural hearth got a start from the
Nile Valley and from Mesopotamia. The Greeks added their cultural ideas to the earlier
developments. The Romans borrowed Greek ideas and added their own cultural ideas.
Through trade, travel and conquest, the Romans spread the culture over a wide area.

Cultural Diffusion

Whenever people travel, they carry their culture with them. For this reason, culture spreads
fastest along travel routes. Places with many connections are likely to receive visitors from
many cultures, and their ideas (dress styles, language and religion, knowledge about
inventions) shape the place. On the other hand, places with few connections are less
affected by other cultures. They change very slowly.

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Cultural Patterns and Diffusion
Lesson 3 Strategy 2
Cultural Hearths and Diffusion

Pusat budaya merupakan kawasan di mana idea dan inovasi baru muncul dan menyebar ke bahagian lain
di dunia. Kebanyakan hearths budaya moden adalah kawasan bandar seperti New York City, Paris,
London dan Tokyo. Idea baru datang dari bandar-bandar ini dan tersebar ke bahagian lain di dunia. Timur
Tengah secara historis menjadi pusat budaya utama. Tiga agama utama dan senarai panjang ciptaan dan
perkembangan telah datang dari Timur Tengah. Roda, bajak, belayar, abjad dan kalendar kami semuanya
berasal dari sana.

Difusi budaya - proses di mana inovasi dan idea tersebar ke kawasan lain-melibatkan beberapa jenis
difusi. Difusi pengembangan mungkin berupa difusi berjangkit, di mana beberapa perkara budaya
tersebar melalui penduduk setempat melalui hubungan dari orang ke orang. Dalam kes penyebaran
hierarki, satu lagi penyebaran pengembangan, satu idea atau inovasi merebak dengan meneteskan turun
dari unit besar ke pengangkut yang lebih kecil. Inovasi sering melompat ke atas kawasan yang luas,
dengan jarak geografi yang kurang penting. Difudi awal mesin FAX adalah contoh yang baik dari jenis
penyebaran ini. Penyebaran pengembangan jenis ketiga adalah penyebaran rangsangan, suatu proses di
mana idea atau inovasi tidak mudah diterima pakai oleh populasi tetapi menyebabkan eksperimen
tempatan dan perubahan akhirnya dalam cara melakukan sesuatu. Sebagai contoh, Revolusi
Perindustrian tidak langsung merebak ke masyarakat pra-industri atau bukan perindustrian, tetapi telah
merangsang usaha untuk membuat mekanisasi pengeluaran kraftangan tempatan.

Cultural diffusion—the process by which innovations and ideas spread to other areas—involves several types of
diffusion. Expansion diffusion may take the form of contagious diffusion, where some item of culture is spread
through a local population by contact from person to person. In the case of hierarchical diffusion, another form of
expansion diffusion, an idea or innovation spreads by trickling down from larger to smaller adoption units.
Innovations often leapfrog over wide areas, with geographic distance a less important influence. The early spread
of the FAX machine is a good example of this type of diffusion. A third type of expansion diffusion is stimulus
diffusion, a process where an idea or innovation is not readily adopted by a population but results in local
experimentation and eventual changes in the way of doing things. The Industrial Revolution, for example, did not
immediately spread to pre- or non-industrial societies, but did stimulate attempts to mechanize local handicraft
production.

Difusi relokasi - penyebaran inovasi oleh penduduk yang berpindah-melibatkan pergerakan

sebenar individu yang telah mengadopsi idea atau inovasi, dan yang membawanya ke tempat
baru, mungkin jauh, di mana mereka menyebarkannya. Penyebaran pendatang Eropah di seluruh
dunia semasa tempoh Europeanisasi adalah contoh klasik.

Topik persepsi budaya-cara para ahli budaya melihat sendiri dan bagaimana mereka melihat
budaya lain-adalah gabungan unsur-unsur yang nyata dan tidak berwujud yang membantu
menentukan kepribadian rantau. Kita semua mempunyai tanggapan dan imej pelbagai wilayah
dan budaya, walaupun mereka tidak selalu tepat. Kawasan persepsi adalah pembinaan intelektual
yang direka untuk membantu kita memahami sifat dan pengedaran fenomena dalam geografi
manusia. Persepsi ini berdasarkan pengetahuan kami yang terkumpul mengenai kawasan dan
budaya seperti itu. Kawasan persepsi boleh berbeza-beza, bergantung kepada peta mental
individu dari pelbagai komuniti dan budaya.