How did the geographical environment affect the communication and trade between ancient China and other parts of the world?
It was not easy for people to travel in ancient times. People living in various areas, although they have lived all their lives, have limited areas to reach, and if they are settled farmers, their living areas are even more limited. Zhuangzi has a good description of this: "Those who are suitable for the wild and pale, change three meals, and their stomachs are as expected; The fittest keeps food for a hundred miles; The fittest travels a thousand miles, and food gathers in March. "
Early civilization, especially settled civilization, was greatly influenced by its geographical environment, climate and other factors, which is the geographical environment determinism of culture. Many people hold similar views, such as Herodotus in ancient times and Dragon Square in modern times.
Furthermore, the determinism of geographical environment is also the inevitable result of natural selection. Geographical environmental determinism also has an important influence on social form (regional politics).
1) Ancient Greece's influence on navigation, trade, migration and geographical environment
This is the settlement map of Greece and its immigrants in 550 BC, and the following conclusions can be drawn:
The Greek peninsula is located in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean. By sailing, the Greeks can easily reach Egypt, Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, Jerusalem, Syria, Italy, North Africa, southern Spain and other Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal areas. The carrying capacity of navigation is higher than that of land transportation, especially in ancient times, people can only rely on manpower or pack animals on land, and the cost is extremely high; Relatively speaking, shipping is larger in scale and lower in cost. Through the sea, ancient Greece can contact with many developed areas of ancient civilization, and many cultures can form new cultures through exchanges. Egypt, Babylon, Persia and India are all important ancient civilizations, and the ancient Greeks could reach these areas by means of transportation at that time. From this point of view, the whole western history has been a unified whole since very early. If we consider the land transportation centered on Greece, such as from Athens to the Indus Valley, we will encounter some geographical obstacles, such as plateaus, mountains and deserts. But these geographical obstacles could be overcome at that time. We know that the expedition of Alexander the Great of Macedonia (356 BC-323 BC) took place in ancient Greece. He set out from Greece and fought the Persians all the way. Finally, he destroyed the remnants of the Persian king in the northern part of the Persian Plateau, that is, near Afghanistan and Pakistan today, and crossed the mountains in northern India and entered India.
Therefore, the characteristics of ancient Greek economy are navigation, trade, immigration and slavery, which is determined by its special geographical environment; Why there was no oriental agricultural civilization in ancient Greece can also be explained by geographical environment. Attica, where Athens is located, is called "Greece of Greece", which can best reflect the spiritual temperament of ancient Greece. But the natural conditions here are harsh, because the soil layer is shallow and stony, which is not suitable for developing agriculture.
According to Plato, all the fertile and soft soil in a country has been lost, leaving only skin and bones. The Athenians planted olive trees, put olive oil into clay pots and transported it to West Xu Ya as food. The demand of navigation and trade promoted the development of Attica ceramics industry and shipbuilding industry. The demand for trade prompted the Athenians to start mining the silver mine in Attica, and slaves imported from overseas engaged in mining. All these prompted Athens to gradually gain the maritime hegemony of the whole Aegean Sea and beyond.
As a whole, Greece is a mountainous, hilly, narrow terrain, complex coastline, numerous bays, straits and islands. With diverse geographical conditions and narrow land, even if some areas are suitable for agriculture, they cannot develop on a large scale. This is almost a natural choice for people to emigrate overseas and do business by sea. The complex and sinister geographical environment is also more suitable for small countries with few people.
If navigation, immigration and trade become the most important things in the city-state, it is difficult to maintain the hereditary monarchy. There were so-called hereditary kings in early ancient Greece, but with the development of time, they gradually transitioned to tyrant politics and democratic politics. And the so-called politics means the city-state affairs.
2) China's ancient economy and agriculture were also seriously affected by the geographical environment.
As can be seen from the map, China has formed a natural and closed geographical environment, and there are geographical obstacles in the east, south, west and north that the ancients can't overcome.
The northeast is Daxing 'anling and Xiaoxing 'anling, Waixing 'anling and cold Siberia. Due north is the Mongolian plateau and cold Siberia; Northwest, through the Hexi Corridor, you can enter Xinjiang, through deserts and mountains, you can enter Central Asia. This route is what we often call the Silk Road. On the one hand, the Silk Road is difficult to walk, on the other hand, it is land, and its scale and efficiency can't be compared with navigation. The Silk Road can establish the connection between ancient China, India and Persia, but it was opened relatively late, at least after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (BC 156-87). The great war that took place in Central Asia, comparable to Alexander's expedition, was the Battle of Nero, which took place in Tianbao Decade of Tang Dynasty (75 1). To the southwest is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, which is difficult for us to climb even today. The east and south are the sea. With the technical conditions of the ancients, they did not have the ability to sail on the stormy sea. Of course, after the Song Dynasty, there was the so-called Maritime Silk Road, which replaced the land Silk Road and became the main channel for East-West trade.
According to Huang Renyu's account in The Great History of China, there is the concept of so-called 15 inch isohyet. In the southeast of the isorainfall line, the average annual rainfall is at least 65,438+05 inches, which is suitable for developing agriculture and has a prosperous population. The northwest of isohyet has a dry climate, which is suitable for nomadic people to live on aquatic plants. The problem of peace and war between the settled unified autocratic empire and nomadic people can be said to be the main line of China's nearly 2,000-year history.
According to American scholar Rhodes Murphy's History of Asia, there is the concept of monsoon Asia, and there are many mountains between this area and other parts of Asia. In summer, the central region of Asia and Europe, far away from the ocean, will rapidly heat up to form a hot air mass, and the hot air mass will rise, and the cold air filled with water vapor in the surrounding ocean will flood into and reach the land, especially in hilly or mountainous areas, and the forced water vapor mass will quickly cool and condense to form rainfall.
China's ancient economy was based on agriculture. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the vassal states generally attached importance to the agricultural war, and finally Qin, which was located in the northwest and could best solve the problem of agricultural war, was unified. Since then, China has basically been in a unified situation. Even after several wars, the whole trend is still to form a unified autocratic empire. So its politics is very different from that of the west, which emphasizes secular order (family and country) and various moral ethics. It is typical of China's values to pursue moral improvement in order to achieve the goal of "being a saint inside and being a king outside".
15 inch isohyet
Therefore, the economic basic agriculture in ancient China was greatly influenced by the geographical environment.
Due to the long-term autocratic unified political system, China's unique concept of nation-state has also been formed. The concept of modern state is based on nationality and the awakening of national consciousness, and the state administrative power is sacred (so-called nation state). The history of China is more utilitarian to the state administrative power, such as "competing for the Central Plains", "the emperor will come to my house in rotation next year" and "fighting for the country and sitting on the ground for the country". All these reflect the utilitarianism and materialization of the state administrative power (the so-called dynasty state). The ethnic groups in China are mainly the Han nationality, which is the product of long-term ethnic integration in the history of China, and can be understood as a nation after sinicization or a nation that has lost its nationality. Because in ancient China, other ethnic groups were all corresponding to the Han nationality, with a lower level of civilization than the Han nationality, and the historical development trend was gradually sinicization.
Geographical environment still has a great influence on modern economy and regional imbalance.
The economic differences caused by modern geographical environment still exist, that is, the so-called "one side of mountains and rivers supports one side of people". A lot of practical experience tells us that the economic development circle of most countries is based on coastal and riverside lakes.
During the economic reform and opening-up from 65438 to 0984, China's northeast, east and southeast coasts were in a favorable position in geomantic omen. Therefore, at the beginning of reform and opening up, the economy developed rapidly by vigorously opening up coastal port cities. When the economy develops to a certain stage, the demand for forming an economic circle will be even greater. The economic circles around Bohai Sea, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta have developed in an all-round way.
However, in the strategy of developing the northwest in the later period, the western economy is far less developed than the eastern economy, and the effect is not so obvious. Why? Because there are no seas, rivers and lakes as big as those in coastal areas in the west. There are obvious differences in geographical factors.
Around the world, the economic circles or economic patterns of the United States, Japan, Australia, Brazil and other countries are developed by relying on coastal areas and lakes.