Plants, Man and the Land in the Vilcanota Valley of Peru

Plants, Man and the Land in the Vilcanota Valley of Peru PDF

Author: D.W. Gade

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9401019614

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Man's symbiosis with plants is the most fundamental material fact of human life on the earth. Geographers, as well as botanists, anthropologists and other scientists, have long been interested in this aspect of the man-nature theme. In American geography, CARL O. SAUER emphasized a temporal as well as spatial perspective in the cultural understanding of man's relationship to biological phe nomena. His researches and those of his associates in the 'Berkeley school' showed that the most fruitful possibilities for implementing this approach are in non industrial societies which have direct and pervasive links between plants and man (GADE, 1975). The study that follows is a geography of plant resources in an important Andean valley having great environmental diversity and a cultural con stant, in so far as a non-literate, Quechua-speaking peasantry dominates through out the zone. My basic objective has been to understand the present use of plants, cultivated and wild, as they have varied from place to place and through time. Primary and secondary documents and local informants were important sources of historical information. Most of the contemporary data in this study were derived from over 20 months of empirical observations of the day-to-day existence of farming folk in their fields, homes and markets. The great natural beauty of the Vilcanota depression is matched only by the stark poverty which has been the lot of the majority of people who live there.

Spell of the Urubamba

Spell of the Urubamba PDF

Author: Daniel W. Gade

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-10-05

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 3319208497

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This work examines the valley of the Urubamba River in terms of vertical zonation, Incan impact on the environment, plant use, the history of exploration and the notion of discovery, the idea of land reform, and cultural contact with the European world. Winding its path northward from the Andean Highlands to the Amazon, the valley has served as the stage of pre-Columbian civilizations and focal point of Spanish conquest in Peru. "Gade left behind not only a superb body of scholarly work, but a network of colleagues and students who remain indebted to his example. This book should serve as an inspiration for all scholars who wish to pursue the Sauerian, counter enlightenment or post development agendas of understanding and respecting particular places in all their historical and cultural complexity, including ambiguities and contradictions." -- The Geographical Review, American Geographical Society

Andean Ecology

Andean Ecology PDF

Author: Gregory Knapp

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-07

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0429714947

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This book describes and analyzes the adaptive strategies of traditional and prehistoric farmers in one part of the Andes, in an effort to understand the varying interactions between people and their habitat over the last five hundred years.

Forest, Field, and Fallow

Forest, Field, and Fallow PDF

Author: Antoinette M.G.A. WinklerPrins

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-01-12

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 3030424804

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This volume aims to present the essential work of geographer and historical ecologist William M. Denevan to explain the impact and influence his thinking had on the conceptual advancement not only in his own discipline, but in a range of related disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, and environmental history. The book is organized around eight themes, demonstrating Denevan’s early and profound insights on topics that remain of current relevance today, and the scholarly impact his writing had on subsequent scholarship. The book is unique because it offers commentary from active scholars who address the impacts of Prof. Denevan's thinking and work on contemporary environmental and ecological issues, with a focus on several groundbreaking themes (e.g. historical demography, agricultural landforms, cultural plant geography, human environmental impacts, indigenous agro-ecology, tropical agriculture, livestock and landscape, and synthetic contributions). This book will be of interest to a range of scholars in geography, anthropology, archaeology, history, and ecology, as well as to environmental managers and practitioners, especially those working for non-profit organizations and government organizations tasked with finding ways to adapt to global environmental change.

The Geography of South America

The Geography of South America PDF

Author: Thomas A. Rumney

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2013-04-18

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0810886359

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South America is an area of fascination and study for geographers and other scholars from around the world, and its land and people have played important roles in the discovery and distribution of civilizations, resources, and nations for millennia. The region has long stimulated a large amount of research across the many subdisciplines of geography, and Thomas A. Rumney collects, organizes, and presents as many scholarly publications as possible in The Geography of South America: A Scholarly Guide and Bibliography. Every South American nation is included: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Beginning with an overview of the region as a whole, successive chapters, one per nation, are divided by specific subdisciplines of geography: cultural, social, economic, historical, physical and environmental, political, and urban. Each section is then divided by document type: atlases, books, book chapters, articles from scholarly journals, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations. Although the majority of entries focus on English-language works, selected entries written in Spanish, French, German, and other languages are also included (with the entry titles translated into English and noted accordingly).

The Impact of Climatic Variations on Agriculture

The Impact of Climatic Variations on Agriculture PDF

Author: M.L. Parry

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 742

ISBN-13: 940092965X

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Three important studies were initiated in the 19708 to investigate the relation ship between climatic variations and agriculture: by the National Defense University (1980) on Crop Yields and Climate Change to the Year eooo, by the U.s. Department of Transportation (1975) on Impacts 0/ Climatic Change on the Biosphere and by the U.s. Department of Energy (1980) on Environmental and Societal Consequences 0/ a Possible CO -Induced Climatic Change (the ClAP 2 study). These were pioneering projects in a young field. Their emphasis was on measuring likely impacts of climatic variations rather than on evaluating possible responses, and they focused on first-order impacts (e.g., on crop yields) rather than on higher-order effects on society. A logical next step was to look at higher-order effects and potential responses, as part of a more integrated approach to impact assessment. This was undertaken by the World Climate Impact Program (WCIF), which is directed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The WCIF is one of four aspects of the World Ciimate Program, which was initiated in 1979.

The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires

The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires PDF

Author: Tamara L. Bray

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-05-28

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 0306482460

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This volume examines the commensal politics of early states and empires and offers a comparative perspective on how food and feasting have figured in the political calculus of archaic states in both the Old and New Worlds. It provides a cross-cultural and comparative analysis for scholars and graduate students concerned with the archaeology of complex societies, the anthropology of food and feasting, ancient statecraft, archaeological approaches to micro-political processes, and the social interpretation of prehistoric pottery.