CHAPTER V 



CLIMATE AND THE EVOLUTION OF 

 CIVILIZATION 



ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON 



RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN GEOGRAPHY IN YALE UNIVERSITY 



FACTORS IN HUMAN PROGRESS 



HUMAN progress depends upon three great factors. The 

 first is inherent mental capacity, the second material resources, 

 and the third energy. If any of these is lacking, civilization 

 stagnates or even retrogrades. Where all are present civiliza- 

 tion moves onward. How far do these three depend upon 

 physical environment? How far does man's higher evolution 

 agree with the evolution of plants and animals discussed in 

 previous lectures? At first sight it appears as if there were 

 a great gap between the evolution of man's body which this 

 course of lectures has thus far considered, and of the mind 

 which is the subject now before us. In one sense there is 

 undoubtedly such a gap. Yet the more we study the matter, 

 the more we see that from the lowest protozoan to the highest 

 philosopher a marvelous unity pervades all nature. 



All progress in civilization, whether material or moral, 

 arises from ideas in the minds of individuals. Therefore the 

 first requisite of any advance is men with unusually gifted 

 minds. Some races seem to be capable of producing such men 

 in far greater numbers than do others. We rightly think of 

 ancient Greece as preeminent in this respect. Galton, the 

 founder of modern eugenics, has said that the average Athe- 



