Geographic Travels with Catholicgauze!

World's Ten Oldest Inhabited Cities

2009-07-18T00:03:00.002-05:00

Web Urbanist has a list with brief information on the world's ten oldest inhabited cities. Ranging from the Holy Land to India to North America, some of these cities may surprise you.

Stick Maps/Charts of Micronesia

2009-07-17T00:08:00.002-05:00

Coming Anarchy had a great blurb about Micronesian stick maps. The Micronesians colonized the vast South Pacific in the era of sea fairing canoes. How they did it was geography. But not geography as Westerners, or even most Easterners, would understand it. They made stick maps that included spatial data as well as currents and waves. The system is so foreign (and very complex) that it is beyond Catholicgauze's understanding.

A map well beyond me.

More information is available here, here and here. This article explains how the maps can be read. If you can understand it congradulations!

Remote Sensing Finds Possible Sign of Former Ocean and Plate Tectonics on Venus

2009-07-16T00:09:00.002-05:00

This physical/temperature map of Venus possibly tells the sad story of our twin sister planet; one once rich with water that died.

Venus is too often overlooked by Earthlings who instead gaze upon Mars with their dreams of space fairing and colonization. Venus is closer to the Earth and about the same size. The reason for Venus' non-presence in human minds is two fold, 1) astronomers could gaze upon Mars and see the canali while Venus was covered by clouds and 2) Venus has a combination of Hell-like heat, crushing atmospheric pressure, and the air is a combination of poisons and raining acids. So one will hear news stories about signs of water once being on the surface of Mars but never about the same for Venus.

Until now. Satellites measuring heat and the atmosphere has produced some surprising results. Scientists reading the results have interpreted the readings to suggest that granite is on Venus' surface. On Earth granite is formed by plate tectonics crushing volcanic rock and subsequent interaction with large bodies of water. So if there is granite then it is probable Venus did have oceans and plate tectonics. The oceans bit is fascinating because the atmospherics on Venus make water oceans impossible. Something had to go horrible wrong (at least different) in Venus evolution compared to Earth's.

Studying why Venus died could reveal new insights into the planetary systems and Earth's own creation process. Whether or not there is granite on Earth, just reading about Venus makes own grateful to be a native of Sol III.

Israel Place Names May Be Hewbrewized

2009-07-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

A place name is a very political thing. The name can imply ownership, historical legacy, or challenge current leadership. One of the key battlegrounds over place names is Israel. Palestinians and some others continue to deny Israel's very existence by excluding it from maps and by using Arab place names rather than the now used Hebrew names. Meanwhile some Israelis feel the English-language place names are a legacy of the British mandate and a form of colonial oppression of Judaism.

The Israeli transportation minister is recommending road signs be in Hebrew and transliterated into Arabic and English rather than using Arabic and English place names. For example, a road sign for יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (Jerusalem) would have the Hebrew but instead of "Jerusalem" the English-language part would show "Yerushalayim" and the Arabic language sign would be whatever Arabic transliteration of יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ is, instead of القُدس (al Quds). The minister has stated Israeli nationalism is a big reason why he wants the change. Arabs feel discriminated against and English speakers would have to learn a whole new set of place names.

However, it could make things easier for English speakers. Many places have multiple English-language spellings so the translation process would give each place an official Latin-alphabet spelling standardizing everything.

Tons of Outline, Printable Maps of the World

2009-07-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Geography@About.com, I can recommend the great site D-Maps. D-Maps has over three thousand free maps of the world, continents, countries, and even historical maps in easy to print or color outline form. Whether you need a water map of South America or if you desperately need to have print outs of the Islamic Umayyad Empire in the 8th century this is your one stop shop.

European Union Expanding "Western Europe" Like Never Before

2009-07-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

A Catholicgauze Map Based on a D-Map

The map above depicts the various ways Europe has been divided.

Historically, the great divide between Eastern and Western Europe has been the Catholic/Orthodox line (Gold Line). Those to the west of the line kept religious allegiance to Rome and generally politically-separate from the Constantinople-based Roman (Byzantine) Empire. People east of line stayed loyal to the combined religious and temporal leadership in Constantiople by being Eastern Orthodox.

The red line is many Cold War-babies dividing line between the two Europes. The Iron Curtain shaped many people's perceptions of a free, liberal west and a Communist, dictatorship east. The west began forming a common European community while the east were satellites of Moscow.

The late twentieth and early twenty-first century is one of Western European ideals, and maybe therefore Western Europe itself, expanding into the east. The light green countries are members of the European Union which itself is the descendant of the European community started by the Western European states during the Cold War. Pink countries are official candidate states up for a vote to be allowed into the European Union while peach countries are states with either significant government or popular support to join the union.

While new European Union members and those countries that wish to join the union have distinct cultural traits that set them apart from traditionally-thought Western European countries, western ideals are beginning have taken hold in these countries because of the desire to join the union. Open markets, liberal election laws, and better minority rights and recognition are just some things thought impossible in "Eastern Europe" just twenty-five years ago. Even countries not thought of as European at all, like Turkey and Georgia, have begun adopting Western European thoughts and policies to join the union.

People's Republic of China versus the Republic of China over the Olympics

2009-07-12T00:08:00.000-05:00

The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) (incorrectly called Taiwan by some) have long been in conflict, both militarily and diplomatically. One of the many battle grounds is membership in international organizations. Since each side claims to be the only China neither the PRC or ROC is usually willing to share the spotlight with the other (though the PRC is willing to through ROC a bone once in a great while).

TDAXP, fresh from the PRC, has been reading up on the PRC/ROC battle over the Olympic Games. He has documented the Olympic fight between the two Chinas over membership and competing privileges. His list, edited version below, documents the formerly strong position of ROC, the rise of the PRC with the One China Policy, and the international non-recognition of ROC.

1936: Berlin Games: ROC participates
1945-1946: Olympics receives Chinese IOC Committee headquartered in Nationalist Shanghai
1946-1949: Olympics receives Chinese IOC Committee headquartered in Nationalist Nanking
1949-1951: Olympics receives Chinese IOC Committee headquartered in Communist Nanking
1952: Oslo Session: No ROC or PRC participation
1952: Helsinki Session: Olympics refer to “Chinese People’s Republic” and “State of Taiwan”
1952: Games: PRC participates
1953: PRC establishes a National Olympic Committee
1954: Olympics recognizes PRC “Olympic Committee of the Chinese Republic”, alongside PRC “Chinese Olympic Committee”
1956: Melbourne Games: PRC boycotts
1957: Olympics renames “Olympic Committee of the Chinese Republic” to to “Olympic Committee of the People’s Democratic Republic of China”
1958: PRC begins boycotting Olympics
1959: Olympics expels ROC “Chinese Olympic Committee”
1960 Rome Games: ROC “Olympic Committee of the Republic of China,” under the banner “Formsa”
1964: Tokyo Games: ROC “Olympic Committee of the Republic of China,” under the banner “ROC”
1968 Olympic Games: ROC “Olympic Committee of the Republic of China,” under the banner “The Team of the Republic of China”
1979: Olympics recognizes ROC “National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei” under the banner “Chinese Tapei”and PRC “Chinese Olympic Committee.” ROC sues Olympics
1980: ROC loses court case in Switzerland. Moscow Games: ROC boycotts
1989: ROC “”National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei”" and PRC “Chinese Olympic Committee” both agree to translate “Chinese Taipei” as “中华台北,” meaning “(Culturally) Chinese Taipei”

The World Bank's Atlas of Global Development

2009-07-11T00:01:00.002-05:00

Now embeded thanks to La Cartoteca!

The World Bank has released the second edition of their Atlas of Global Development. The atlas is available online and is embeded below (text further below).

Open publication - Free publishing

The atlas is basically the state of the world's countries. Global patterns and trends are mapped throughout the book with commentary. The overall trend is up but some countries are still lagging and the full effects of the global economic downturn have not been measured yet.

The atlas is a great addition to any geographer's online library and really complements the CIA World Factbook. For easy to comprehend information with plenty of maps, the Atlas of Global Development is a must.

Map of Unemployment in the United States

2009-07-10T00:10:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has updated their "Geography of a Recession" map with June 2009 data. Unemployment data is shown. By looking at the map there are two cores in America that have felt layoffs more than other regions. A bloc from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio extends down through Kentucky and spreads into the Deep South. The second core is the West Coast plus Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Government Accountability Improvements and Declines

2009-07-09T00:02:00.000-05:00

The above is a chart by The Economist showing improvements and declines in government accountability in the last ten years. Accountability is measured with civil rights (including freedom of speech, assembly and religion), freedom of participation in elections and press freedom.

Serbia leads the way with its efforts to become European Union-suitable while Niger, Sierra Leone, and Ghana show great improvement in west Africa. Sadly, terrorist-sponsoring dictatorship Eritrea is has the greatest fall from grace. Thailand comes in number two due to the King's and military's meddling in the parliament.

Nation versus State versus Nation-state

2009-07-08T00:04:00.001-05:00

Previously: Netherlands (Holland) versus the Kingdom of the Netherlands and England versus Great Britain versus the United Kingdom

The term "nation-state" is frequently misused while the words "nation" and "state" are commonly confused in geographic context. So here is a handy guide to understanding the terms "nation," "state," and "nation-state."

Nation

A nation is a group of people who share some, if not all, common traits like religion, ethnicity, language, culture, and history. Nations start out in one geographical area but can move, expand, or shrink in zone. Most nations have a strong ethnic component (Hungarian, Japanese) while a few exceptions are based on things like religion and history (Arab) or ideals like liberal freedom (American).

State

A state is an independent country. "State of Israel" means the country of Israel. Many Americans are confused by "state means country" because of the official name of their country, the United States of America. The reason for the official name is that the founding fathers envisioned the United States as a league of independent states united for commerce and defense. It was not until the end of the American Civil War that the dominance federal union was proven above the state.

Nation-State

A nation-state is a country established for the dominant nation within its border. For a true nation-state the primary nation needs to be the overwhelming majority group in the country.

Examples

Stateless Nations: Roma and Samaritians

Multinational State: Spain, Switzerland, Bolivia

Nation with more than one state: The German nation with Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland (65% ethnic German but with never interested in union with other Germans)

Single-nation politically dominant over other nations in one state: Russians in Russia compose eighty percent of the population (formerly 50% of the Soviet Union) yet have always been above other ethnic groups for centuries. Han Chinese have also dominated multi-national China.

True Nation-State: Over ninety-percent Hungarian with laws that enshrine Hungarian culture.

Five Crazy, Wacky, Bad, and Evil Geographic Ideas (Part 2)

2009-07-07T00:02:00.000-05:00

Part 1 here

Isolationism

Trade, immigration, and political cooperation all have benefits that, when properly applied, greatly outweigh any associated negatives. Goods are exchanged for rare or previously enviable resources, bright minds and manual labor allow for increased productivity, and protection and joint-development flourish. However, sometimes an advanced culture (or a culture that thinks itself advanced) decides that foreigners are a disease and need to be kept away. So the advanced culture cuts itself off from the world. The culture begins a slow decay while neighbors continue to improve. Eventually foreign states look at the once-great backwater and decide the area is ripe for invasion, colonization, or dominance. Imperial China languished because of isolation. North Korea once was industrial while South Korea only had farms. It is possible for countries to recover from isolation, like Japan after the United States opened it up, but it can come at a cost (Japan's rapid rise caused social chaos that allowed for a technocratic military to seize power).

Spaceship Earth-like thinking in geographers

I will scream if I here the term "spaceship earth" uttered by a geographer again if it does not immediately relate to the ecosystem. The theory of spaceship earth states Earth is an enclosed system with a finite amount of resources available to its inhabitants. Further, spaceship earth constricts geographers to studying things from the planet's core to edge of the atmosphere.

The theory ignores outside influence on the planet from the mundane (Sun heats the Earth, Moon's relationship to tides), to worthy of study (Sun's cycles effects on climate), to God-level impacts (Tunguska). It also voids the truth of resources off Earth that can be exploited for future use. Finally, it ties geographers down and closes our minds to geographical studies of the Moon, Mars, and other planets. This is a bold frontier that geologists are exploring without us. We must not be left behind.

Dishonorable mentions

Lebensraum-like theories: Homelands are all well and good. But when a culture decides that lesser races are an impediment to progress and must be removed for future growth, bad things happen.

Cultural relativism: "No right, no wrong." Sounds all well and good when studying others but it ignores fundamental values and evolution of one's culture. Is killing homosexuals, anti-female practices, or slavery right? What good is studying the world's problems if one does nothing about them?

Reposting: Catholicgauze is on Twitter

2009-07-06T17:54:00.001-05:00

For even more Catholicgauze! and geography be sure to check me out on Twitter! Twitter feed also added to sidebar.

Five Crazy, Wacky, Bad, and Evil Geographic Ideas (Part 1)

2009-07-06T00:08:00.003-05:00

Distance decay, domino theory, shelter belts, and many more ideas have their roots in geography. These theories have done great things to improve the lives of many and predict future outcomes. There are ideas; however, that have been too crazy, wacky, bad, or even evil to have any good come from them. These ideas either flopped, had alternative effects, or were canned early because of people realizing inherit errors.

The Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail is today known as an escape for many who wish to do exercise and withdraw, if only briefly, from the daily world. What many do not know was that the trail was first dreamed up as an attempt to complete remake American culture. The plan was made by Harvard-educated forester and self-described philosopher Benton MacKaye in An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning (PDF). MacKaye proposed a trail which people would hike, towns would be founded along the trail to support hikers, farms would then be created near the towns to support the towns. MacKaye then predicted the whole east coast would get in on the act with cities depopulating as hikers choose to remain near the trail in little trail-cities. American culture was to be remade as the urbanization was reversed.

The Appalachian Trail continues to be a fun diversion for some but MacKaye's dream of remaking America failed miserably.

Buffalo Commons

Husband and wife-team, geographers with urban planning backgrounds Dr. Frank Popper and Deborah Popper had an idea to deal with the depopulation in the interior center of the United States. In The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust the Poppers state that the Great Plains should be depopulated in a massive government spending and reeducation program so the area could become a safari-playground for those who live on the east and west coast.

Needless to say this made "the natives restless" while others pointed out the massive loss of farm and ranching land. While some have taken elements of the Buffalo Commons-idea like increasing tourism appeal this is one geographic theory that managed to cause great outrage and not much else.

Total Wildfire Suppression

When one thinks of forest fires the image of Smokey the Bear comes to mind. While Smokey is still used to educate the public about the risks of wildfires, thankfully his original message does not remain. In the early days of United States forestry the main way to fight fires was total wildfire suppression. No fires were allowed to break out. This was unnatural though. Underbrush was allowed to overgrow and the forest floor was littered with natural debris like fallen trees. When massive fires like Yellowstone's and others broke out many people realized this artificial solution to fire control was no good. Now, control burns and allowing wildfires some freedoms keeps such events small, manageable, and less deadly.

Coming Tuesday: The second and final part of crazy, wacky, bad, and evil geographic ideas.

Happy Fourth of July

2009-07-04T00:00:00.004-05:00

America has committed sins in the past. However, it shines bright when it fights both with arms and diplomacy for liberty and justice for itself and for others. Thank you to all those who have fought through various means for freedom.

Catholicgauze Celebrating Fourth of July

2009-07-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

I will be far away from technology for the Independence Day weekend. There will be a post on the fourth but then nothing until Monday, July 6. Take care, be safe, and enjoy your freedoms.

In the meantime enjoy this Catholicgauze Classic

The Least Inhabited Place on Earth

2009-07-02T00:06:00.001-05:00

A recent scientific expedition has discovered the least (known) inhabited place on earth: the bottom of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists "found about 1,000 living cells in each cubic centimeter of sediment — a tally that is roughly 1,000 times less than in other seafloor sediments."

The life on the ocean's bottom are merely living cells, nothing even close to anything in the Animal Kingdom. This life survives on radioactive decay of hydrogen and marine snow.

Just reading about this makes one truly understand the feelings the ancients had towards The Abyss - a dark otherplace empty of light, life, everything.

New Study Predicts Doom for Louisiana Coastline

2009-07-01T00:07:00.002-05:00

Louisiana today (top) and the worst case scenario for 2100 (bottom). From National Geographic.

A new study out predicts that the Louisiana could lose 6,000 to 9,000 miles (10,000 to 15,000 kilometers) coastline. Catholicgauze has been following this issue for a while. The numbers in this study are probably too high (it factors in catastrophic climate change) but its main point is accurate: the loss of the Mississippi Delta and the swampy coast is bad news for wildlife and humans. Little towns of rich, Arcadian culture will be lost. As will the swamps that do much to absorb storms and protect oil industry and New Orleans from storms.

The coast line's biggest threat has been eating away at the swamps for decades. Dams on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other rivers have prevented coastal regenerating sediment from counteracting erosion. The results have been devastating.

The coastline of Louisiana needs to be saved for wildlife, culture, industry, and above all people.

Honduras' Coup and the Great South American Game

2009-06-30T00:02:00.002-05:00

Map of the various countries' positions on Chavez. A Catholicgauze Map.

This past weekend the military of Honduras responded to requests by the Supreme Court and congress and removed President Manuel Zelaya from power. The military has stepped aside and let the congress vote Roberto Micheletti, member of Zelaya's party, as interm president. This affair has made Honduras the latest pawn in the great game of pro and anti-Hugo Chavez powers in Latin America.

The coup is more of a Turkish-style, military act to preserve democracy than the historical Latin American banana republic-style coup. Zelaya was the leader of Honduras' Liberal Party, a center-left political party that was more moderate left than social democrat. However, Zelaya was overtly a fan of Chavez's leftism and anti-democratic policies. Zelaya declared that there would be a referendum to allow him to stay on as president despite the constitutionally mandated term limits. Congress, the Supreme Court, and even the Liberal Party stated that this was illegal since only the congress could call for a referendum. When the military refused to set up the voting booths, Zelaya had ballots flown in via Venezuela and foreign "volunteers" began the process of setting up the voting infrastructure. The military leaders then met with the other branches of government and the coup was plotted.

The change of government has been denounced world wide including both American President Obama and Chavez, who threatened violence against the new government. This is Chavez's first real international setback since the earlier 2009 presidential elections in Panama.

Hugo Chavez has been supporting much of the "pink wave" that has flooded across the Latin American political scene. Chavez first attempted to overthrow the Republic of Venezuela in 1992 but had to wait until 1998 to gain control of Venezuela legitimately. It was not until the rise in oil prices in the early 2000s that Chavez could afford to export his ideals. Since then he has funded leftist elections in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Minorly supporting/tolerating/ignoring Chavez are democratic, center-left governments like Brazil and Chile. These countries' governments are dedicated to social-economic planning yet still allow for liberal democracy. The only countries in Latin America actively opposing Chavezism are Mexico, the current president defeated the Chavez-funded candidate; Colombia, the government is fighting FARC rebels who are funded by Chavez; and the center-left government of Peru, the formerly left president is now more reformed and opposes Chavez's "social projects" in Peru.

It was hoped by some center-rightist, classical liberals, and democrats that the fall in oil prices would cripple Chavez's ability to interfere in democracies. However, the recent bounce in prices has replenished Chavez's treasury. Until then Latin America will play a great game rememnecent of the Cold War and the first Great Game.

Kodak Discontinuing Kodachrome

2009-06-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

Truly a work of art. Click to enlarge. From PDN Photo of the Day

Kodak Film has announced that it will stop producing and processing Kodachrome film. To those who may wonder why this is geographic news the answer is a painful one. Kodachrome film is the color film that made National Geographic famous. The color images from 1937 up until the digital age were all done with Kodachrome.

The baroque era of National Geographic Magazine began with their color photographs. Before, in the classical era, the magazine has superb articles with black and white images. But Kodachrome gave the magazine color and an extra enriching feeling. The famous images of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s had a slightly off-feeling that made the photographs works of art. I always felt this "offness" was a plus. Editor Melville Grosvenor felt the same way; he order photographs to include red objects like shirts to add a sharp color contrast to images.

National Geographic magazine is marking the end of Kodachrome with a short news story and a new exhibit at the museum in Washington, D.C. in the United States. I plan to visit and remember the feeling the first time I explored the world through old National Geographic photos.

Gapminder: Geography Explored Through Statistics

2009-06-28T00:02:00.000-05:00

Gapminder is a website museum lead by Hans Rosling. The site is full of videos and graphs dedicated to exploring and explaining demographics, climate, and health issues from a global perspective.

Gapminder makes excellent use of flash and allows for easy customization of their graphics. One can compare everything from life expectancy in Chinese province against the rest of the world or discover who has the best teeth. Meanwhile, the videos are about ten minutes each and give a good, quick overview of statistical geography debunking myths many people have on various issues.

Try out Gapminder today!

Mexico Thinks They Lost an Island

2009-06-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Maps from the early Age of Exploration are fascinating things. Cartographers combined ship charts, captains' logs, and their own imagination to create maps of the New World. Later on more cartographers would use better information to make maps but sometimes still use old maps as "reference" to ensure they included everything. Sometimes mistakes manage to transfer from map to map because of cartographers' methods.

Case in point is Isla Bermeja. The island was marked in a sixteenth century Spanish map and was included in maps at least until the 1800s. Everybody knew of its existence until Mexico had to prove it to ensure they had sole drilling rights to a very rich oil area off the Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, it turns out the island does not exist. Mexico is vowing to continue to look for the island but sadly for them anyone with Google Maps can quickly discover it is not there. The lack of an island opens much of the oil field near the doughnut holes to American drilling as well.

Bad cartography is hitting Mexicans hard. Some are in denial while others resort to conspiracies like CIA sinking the island or other American foul play (Spanish-language YouTube video).

Ethiopian Orthodox Church to Reveal the Ark of the Covenant

2009-06-26T00:10:00.005-05:00

UPDATE: What we have here is a failure to communicate. The patriarch now says the world cannot view his ark.

Patriarch Abune Paulos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church announced in Rome his plans to reveal the Ark of the Covenant to the world.

The holy ark is described in the Bible as holding the Ten Commandants and various other ancient Hebrew holy artifacts. A little after 600 BC the Ark disappeared when Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem and looted much of the city.

However, Ethiopians claim they are the keepers of the ark. Depending on the legend, either the Ethiopian son of King Solomon, Menelik I, took the ark with him around 950 BC or Jewish priests gave the ark to Beta Israel to prevent it from falling into Babylonian hands. Regardless if true or not many Ethiopians believe they are keepers of the ark.

The claimed ark is in the city of Axum, Ethiopia in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion which dates back to the AD 300s.

The city of Axum is also a holy city to Muslims. Muhammad sent Muslims there during the first persecution because of the kindness of the Christian king. These refugees were the first Muslims to live outside the immediate Mecca-Medina core of Saudi Arabia. It is Muhammad was so impressed by Axum that he ordered his followers to forever leave Ethiopia in peace. Muslims in the town are not allowed a mosque because of the old imperial edict stating there can be no mosque in Axum as long as Mecca is churchless.

The patriarchs plan to reveal the ark is a massive break in tradition. Only men are allowed on the grounds where the ark is claimed to be and only the patriarch and one specially trained monk is allowed to actually see the ark. There have been claims that monks lifespans are short due to the divine energy that overpowers mere mortal sinners Old Testament-style. Anyone else who tries to see it allegedly dies. Much like what happened in the fictional Indiana Jones movie to the Nazis when they attempted to obtain it (yes, this last bit was necessary)

Kid Friendly Version

Original Version

Top Five Cultural Colonizers (Part 2)

2009-06-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

Part One with Greco-Roman, English, and Arab culture

Chinese

The Chinese have one of the best cultures by almost any definition. Chinese culture has evolved yet retained much of its originality. The cultural system of the Han allowed for massive populations throughout history, generally strong government, and strong economy because of encouraging hard work and entrepreneurship (despite a brief historical oddity known as Maoism). Chinese culture was adopted and modified by Koreans, Japanese, and even the conquering Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty (when a political conqueror adopts the culture of the defeated like barbarians after the fall of Western Rome that says much about the strength of the culture).

The Chinese Empire and culture collapsed due to Ming and Qing dynasties fear of foreigners combined with a superiority complex. Outsiders were viewed like infectious disease to be avoided. Chinese culture finally regained a global outlook just in the past decade or two. In the meantime, Chinese emigrants brought a hard work ethic with them to southeast Asia and the United States. Chinese emigrants and their descendants in these new lands have been successful and members of the elite. Their culture has greatly aided these new homelands.

Uniqueness: The Chinese invited gunpowder and paper. They had a massive scientific edge on Europe. Finally, a navy that included an Atlantic fleet. All before Europeans managed to colonize the Western Hampshire. Chinese culture could have dominated the world. Instead they withdrew and became shadows of what they once were.

German

In many people's minds the stereotypical German is the ultimate antagonist: physically fit, hard working, never gives up, efficient, killing machine/evil. Obviously the last World War war much to do with this stereotype but so does the last two thousand years or so of Germanic culture. Fighting off the Romans, defeating Rome, conquering much of central Europe, successfully winning the Northern Crusades all by themselves, and then trying to take over the world. But the Germans were not always aggressive in their cultural efforts. Many countries like Romania and other Eastern European powers asked for German settlers to defend the frontier lands and run the markets. The Russians too desired German help in settling the Volga River valley. The hardworking, family-oriented Germans were successful in "holding down the fort" for many rulers.

The German legacy from the Asian border and Eastern Europe was a victim though of Germany itself. After the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II a vast program of ethnic cleansing cleared most Germans not in Germany or the other Germanic states of Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.

While the German cultural influence is no more in much of the world outside Germany its impact is still strong in the United Kingdom in the United States. The United Kingdom is still ruled by the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The educational, collegiate, and bureaucratic systems of these two English countries is was made and formed by German culture. Today it is estimated that a quarter of all Americans have German heritage in them. The Germans failed to expand Germany but Germaness impacted two global players.

Honorable Mentions

Rus: Rus culture is the founding culture of both Russian and Ukrainian culture. Russian culture has impacted its neighbors and those Russia has conquered in its Eurasian land empire.

Ameroindian in Spanish colonized lands: American Indians lost to the Spanish where ever they fought. Spanish also Christianized most American Indians as well. However, mestizo culture is more Indian than Spanish and the national identity of many Hispano cultures in mainland America is more Indian than Spaniard as well.

Top Five Cultural Colonizers (Part 1)

2009-06-24T00:05:00.001-05:00

"Great" empires come and go but cultures remain. Some cultures have managed to thrive due to cultural exportation despite political change. War, demographic colonization, and peaceful adoption have made some cultures spread like wildfire. These five cultures below have not only managed to spread across the world but also change the course of human events.

This list is in no particular order. Feel free to comment!

Greco-Roman

The Ancient Greeks had sway via colonies and states from the Pillars of Heracles to India. The heart of Greece, though, provided the start of Greek greatness. Philosophers and their adoption of the scientific mindset allowed for rational thought and debate (though killing the philosopher was an all too common solution to science versus angry mob debates). Greek ideas of governance, culture, and religion were adopted and sometimes modified by the Romans who spread the culture throughout Europe, southwest Asia, and northern Africa.

Greek rationality was adopted by early Christians via Saint Paul and spread throughout the Roman Empire in a peaceful revolution based in part by Greco-Roman ideals. Greco-Roman culture was also adopted by barbarians like the Visgoths who continued Roman culture well after the Western Roman Empire's fall (a combination of good governance, religion, and the ability to make hot baths attracted many to Greco-Roman culture). The Eastern Roman Empire and its culture managed to keep its hold in eastern Europe until the fifteenth-century (if not longer because of the its partial adoption by the Russians). Even the conquering Ottoman Empire kept parts of the old culture including the title of Caesar.

Uniqueness: The Greeks gave the world philosophy, the modern understanding of science, and the ideal of democracy. The Romans gave the world the basis of civil law, which is the most popular form of law in the world.

English

The cultural hybrid of Norman French and Anglo-Saxon first took southeast Great Britain then the rest of the British isles. Being geographically isolated from continental Europe, a cultural theory of English uniqueness grew in many English minds. English looked at Troy for inspiration, civilized like the rest of Europe but separate and bordering on the wilderness.

The English and their subjects demographically colonize and dominate what would become the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Not only this but other English colonizes adopted the democratic system (some more than others) and to this day follow many tenants of English cultures including using English as the national unity language and common law.

Unique Trait: The idea a person has rights that the state cannot control. The Magna Carta forced the state to recognize its limits. English later on expressed more rights. The start of the American Revolution, and many other revolutions thereafter, was based on the people being denied their God given rights by the state.

Arab

"There is no god but God and Muhammad is his Messenger" has been used throughout history as a cry for both war and peace. It has also been used as the cry to spread Arabic culture beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Along with Islam the Muslim advocates bring with them calls for Arab ideals and cultural norms. As Jewish culture goes with Judaism so does Arab culture goes with Islam.

Even the ideal of being an "Arab" has spread beyond true ethnic Arabs. There is a wide genetic difference between dark skinned Iranian Gulf Arabs, white Lebanese Arabs, brown Moroccan Arabs, and black Arabs of Saharan Africa yet all consider themselves to be Arab. Yet even those who do not consider themselves Arab are still deeply impacted by Arab culture through Islam, the Arabic language, or languages partially made by Arabs like Swahili.

Uniqueness: Besides the obvious of Islam, Arabic culture has been the only culture to replace either Roman or Roman-based cultures. Every other place once ruled by Rome still has a culture heavily impacted by Roman ways.

Coming Thursday: The last two cultures and special mentions