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Chapter 6: Religion
(Part 1: Universalizing Religions)
The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human Geography
Terms
• branch: a large and fundamental division within
a religion
• denomination: is a division of a branch that
unites a number of local congregations in a
single legal and administrative body
• sect: a relative small group that has broken
away from an established branch/denomination
– heretic: one who disagrees with church doctrine
• sectarianism: conflict arising from perceived
differences between subdivisions of a group
• adherents: a believer or supporter
Universalizing
• In general
vs.
• Seeks to appeal to all
• proselytic = to attempt
to convert, recruit
Ethnic Religions
• Appeals to a single group
living in one place
• tied to phys. environment
• Holy Places • tied to life of founder
• Both involve pilgrimages = religious journeys to
sacred places
• Celebration of the
• Celebration of the
• Calendar
founder’s life
seasons
• Cosmogony
Beliefs about• God creates
nature/physical
origin of the
environment
universe
• Diffusion
• God = nature
• incorporates events from
phys. environment
• precise origins/hearth, •
tied to a specific founder
•
• usually widespread
unclear or unknown origins,
not tied to a specific founder,
Ltd. diffusion, usually tied to
geography of a location. Can
diffuse thru relocation
World Religions
Universalizing
• Major
– Christianity (1)
– Islam (2)
– Buddhism
• Minor
– Sikhism
– Bahá’í
Ethnic
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hinduism (3)
Chinese “folk” religions
Confucianism
Daoism
Shinto
Judaism
Ethnic African religions
– Animism
Christianity
• largest world religion
– about 2 billion adherents
– Many adherents in Europe, the Americas
• Three major branches
– Roman Catholicism (51% of all Christians)
– Protestant Christianity (24%)
• Denominations include Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist,
Anglican, Presbyterian, Episcopal etc.
– Eastern Orthodox (11%)
– Other (14%)
• Coptic (Egypt), Ethiopians, Mormons (Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Jehovah’s
Witnesses
Christianity
• largest world religion
– about 2 billion adherents
– Many adherents in Europe, the Americas
• Three major branches
– Roman Catholicism (51% of all Christians)
– Protestant Christianity (24%)
• Denominations include Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist,
Anglican, Presbyterian, Episcopal etc.
– Eastern Orthodox (11%)
– Other (14%)
• Coptic (Egypt), Ethiopians, Mormons (Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Jehovah’s
Witnesses
• Distribution of branches matches colonial patterns
World Distribution of Religions
Figure 6-3
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
American Religious Concentrations. Why?
• Baptist → Southeastern U.S.
– Largely indigenous religion = “American Calvinism”
– At first, welcomed African-Americans who were rejected
by mainline Protestantism
– Later during Civil War Era
• Appeals to southern whites as manifestation of regional pride
(supports slavery, white supremacism, etc.)
• Blacks leave to form breakaway churches but still self-identify
as “baptist”
– Therefore,
• Strong regional clustering of black and white southerners
• Lack of in-migration (due to little industrialization) maintains
homogeneity of “baptists”
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
American Religious Concentrations. Why?
• Catholics
– Northeast, Rust Belt
• Germans (some Southern Catholic) & Irish Catholics (mid-1800s)
– Pushed by industrialization, stage 2 → overpop., lack of econ. opp.
– Potato famine, British abuse/eviction from land
• Early 1900s immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe
– Poles, Italians, other Catholics (+ Russian Jews)
– Pushed by industrialization, stage 2 → overpop., lack of econ. opp.
– Other cultural factors (see migration notes)
• Why Northern cities = Industrial jobs
– Southwestern US/US-Mexican border
• Proximity to Latin American source area of origin since WWII
– Latin America in stage 2
• Farm laborers, illegal immigration
• How does this reflect Gravity model and Ravenstein’s laws?
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
American Religious Concentrations. Why?
• Lutherans → Upper Midwest/Northern Great Plains
– Northern Germans and Scandinavians bring Lutheranism
• Cultural preadaptation attracted Northern Europeans to a climate and
farmland similar to their homeland.
– RRs and state govts. recruited farmers (mid-to-late 1800s)
• Chain migration occurred as relatives continued to arrive.
– Remained dominant because of a lack of in-migration
• During the next great wave of European immigration (early 1900s),
few new immigrants with different religions came to Northern Great
Plains
– lack of industrialization, urbanization and/or economic opportunity.
– Physical environment is arid (lack of water) discouraged the in-migration of other
religions (non-Lutherans)
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
American Religious Concentrations. Why?
• Mormons → Great Basin, Desert West, Utah
– Internal migration for religious freedom, avoid
persecution
– Remained dominant because of a lack of in-migration
• Not industrialized/urbanized
• Inhospitable climate = very dry/arid desert.
Revised Christianity Map for
North America
Origin of Christianity
• Hearth
– “Holy Land”,
Israel/Palestine,
Jerusalem
– Founder: Jesus
– Jewish sect
• Diaspora spreads Jews
• Roman Empire
– Eventually transforms
into separate religion
• St. Paul → “Gentiles”
– sect of Ethnic Judaism →
Universalizing
• To Europe
Diffusion of
Christianity
– Roman Empire
– relocation
• missionaries
– contagious to “pagans”
– Hierarchical
• Conversion of those in
authority
• Global
– Secondary hearths
• Roman Catholicism =
Rome/Vatican City
• Orthodox =
Constantinople/Istanbul
• Protestantism = Germany
– Relocation
• Imperialism/migration
• Relate to life of Christ
– Jerusalem
•
•
•
•
Golgotha (Calvary)
Holy Sepulchre
Via Dolorosa
Gethsemane
– Bethlehem (birth)
– Nazareth (childhood)
• Later sites associated
with saints and “miracles”
– Examples
• Lourdes, France
• Fatima, Portugal
Christian Holy
Places
Christian
Churches
• more critical than in other religions
• affects landscape
– Tall, centrally located
– Style reflects
• cultural influences
– Orthodox = pointed domes
• Beliefs
– Protestant = simple
• Availability of building materials
Christianity
Disposal of the Dead
Calendar
• Relate to life of Jesus
• Burial
– Easter
– Christmas
– Church yard
– Feet toward Jerusalem
• Connected to Jewish/pagan • Cemeteries reflect religion on
the cultural landscape
seasonal holidays
• Serve as green space in
– Jesus was a Jew
– Syncretic appeal to win pagan newly industrializing cities
converts
• Differences between branches
– Catholic use “Gregorian”
– Orthodox use “Julian”
Administration of space
Other effects on landscape
toponyms
• 2nd largest world religion
– about 1.3 billion adherents
– Fastest growing
Islam
• Two significant branches
– Sunnis (83%)
• Widely dispersed across the Middle East, North Africa,
South and Southeast Asia
– Shias or Shiites (16%)
• Primarily clustered in Iran and southern Iraq,
Azerbaijan and others
– Split based on who should succeed Muhammad
• Later has ethnic dimensions
• Core of Islamic belief = the five pillars
Good map for overall spread, read worksheet
post on website to fully understand methods of
diffusion and explain on guided reading
Origin and Diffusion of Islam
• Muhammad
– b. 570 AD in Mecca/Makkah
– ministry 610 AD
– hijra 622 AD
• to Yathrib/Medina
– 632 AD Reconquered Mecca (dies shortly afterward)
• Muhammad and early successors (caliphs) diffuse
Islam through conquest
• Later spread through trade and other cultural
interactions (see reading posted on website)
– Example: diffused to Indonesia in 1200s through trade
• Physically separated from Islamic core area
• Today has the world’s largest Muslim population (know this fact)
Muslim Holy Places
• life of Muhammad
– Kaaba in Mecca
• 5th pillar = hajj
– Pilgrimage to Mecca
– What type of affects does
the hajj have on the
environment?
– Medina
• Muhammad’s tomb
– Dome of the Rock
• Muhammad’s night journey
• on Temple Mount
Islam
Calendar
• Strict lunar calendar
• 30 year cycle
– 19 years = 354 days
– 11 years = 355 days
• Holidays shift annually
Places of Worship
• Mosque
– Community centers
– Courtyard surrounded
by buildings for
different functions
– Pulpit faces Mecca
– Minarets
• muezzin calls to
prayer
• Other distinctive traits
– Calligraphy
– arabesques
Buddhism
• About 400 million adherents
– difficult to quantify due to syncretism
• the combination of different beliefs
• Three branches
– Mahayana (56%) (China, Japan, Korea)
– Theravada/Hinayana (38%) (Southeast Asia)
– Tantrayana/Vajrayana (6%) (Tibet, Mongolia)
• The Four Noble Truths
– “karmic/dharmic” religion
– Goal is “nirvana” = release from cycle of rebirth
Origin and Diffusion of Buddhism
• Founder:
–
–
–
–
Siddhartha Gautama
NE India/Nepal
500s BCE
Becomes the Buddha
• The “awakened one”
• Emperor Asoka
– converts to Buddhism
– sends missionaries (mid 200s BCE)
– Traveled along silk road to China
• Becomes “Chinese”
• Diffuses further (bodhisattvas)
– Disappears from India
• Absorbed by Hinduism (syncretism)
Holy Places of Buddhism
• Buddha’s life
– b. Lumbini
– Bodh Gaya
• reaches perfect wisdom
– “nirvana”
– Deer Park
• 1st sermon
– d. Kusinagara
– 4 other miracle sites
Buddhist Places of Worship
pagodas and stupas
• stupas
– Mark location of relics
collected by Buddha’s
followers in South Asia
• pagodas
– Evolved from concept of
stupa
– Mostly found in China
and Japan
Other Universalizing Religions
Adherents
Origin
Distribution
/Diffusion
Calendar
Holy
Places/
Houses of
Worship
Main idea
(incl.
prophet/fou
nder etc.)
Sikhism
Bahá’í
23 million
7 million
Lahore, Pakistan
Shiraz, Iran
Clustered in the Punjab, India
Spread to every continent
Holidays are births and deaths
of the ten gurus (historical)
19 months of 19 days
Golden Temple at Amritsar
On all continents to show
universalizing nature. Open
to adherents of all religions
with scriptural recitals from
various faiths
Guru Nanak (ca. 1500 AD)
Monotheistic, mixes Islamic
egalitarianism with Hindu
karmic traditions
The Bab (1844 AD)
Establish a universal faith
Gods of other faiths =
different manifestations of
one true God