Ellsworth Huntington and his perspective on Central Asia. Great game experiences and their influence on development thought

摘要

"Geography has fallen on hard times...(l)n the United Slates, Ellsworth Huntington and his disciples were studying the ways that geography, especially climate, influenced human development. Yet in spite of much useful and revealing research, Huntington gave geography a had name. He went too far" (Landes, 1999, p. 3). David Landes begins his latest and controversially discussed work about the 'wealth and poverty of nations* with this reference to geography and the writings of Ellsworth Huntington (cf. Kreutzmann, 2002). Why go back to the work of the well-known geographer of a geodeteministic phase to explain present-day developments in a globalized world? For David Landes the Ellsworth Huntinglon approach points towards the right direction, he only 'went too far' in his linkage of climate and human behaviour or, to put it in modern terms, in the juxtaposition of ecology, economy and culture.