THE 



National Geographic Magazine 



Vol. VIII JUNE, 1897 N,,. (i 



THE EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT IN 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION 



IN PRIMITIVE MAN* 



By Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, LL. D., 

 President of the National Geographic Socidij 



I have selected as the subject for my annual aildress *' The 

 Effect of Geographic Environment on the Development of Civili- 

 zation in Primitive Man." 



The interest of this subject is not confined to tlie history of the 

 various stages of life through which man lias passed, for his past 

 modifies our views of the present and is a prophecy of the future. 



It is my province to treat of the effects of different environ- 

 ments on the development of primitive man. This development, 

 though on the whole beneficial, has ever been a mingling of good 

 and evil. Its progress has been hitherto intermittent — originally 

 very slow, requiring thousands of years, possibly tens of thou- 

 sands, to gain slight results; advancing sometimes with quicker 

 pace, often retrograding, sometimes ai)parently dying out, pr()l)a- 

 bly because its progress is often invisible. It has never been uni- 

 form in any race, nation, or country, though progressing more 

 rapidly in higher stages and in modern times. 



That civilization has been and must be beneficial to mankind 

 we cannot doubt, though every upward step has been the cause 

 of suffering, loss, and death in many ways before unknown. The 

 discovery of America was followed by the death of tens of thou- 

 sands of negroes in Africa and of Indians in America. Theciv- 



* Annual presidential address, delivered before the National Geographic Society, 

 March 1, 1897. 



