CHAPTER VII 



THE GEOGRAPHIC BASIS OF REVOLUTIONS AND OF HUMAN 

 CHARACTER IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES 



Human character as a spontaneous development has always 

 been a great factor in shaping historical events, but it is a strik- 

 ing fact that in the world of our day its influence is exerted chiefly 

 in the lowest and highest types of humanity. The savage with 

 his fetishes, his taboos, and his inherent childlikeness and suspi- 

 cion needs only whim or a slight religious pretext to change his 

 conduct. Likewise the really educated and the thoughtful act from 

 motives often wholly unrelated to economic conditions or results. 

 But the masses are deeply influenced by whatever affects their 

 material welfare. A purely idealistic impulse may influence a 

 people, but in time its effects are always displayed against an eco- 

 nomic background. 



There is a way whereby we may test this theory. In most 

 places in the world we have history in the making, and through 

 field studies we can get an intimate view of it. It is peculiarly 

 the province of geography to study the present distribution 

 and character of men in relation to their surroundings and 

 these are the facts of mankind that must forever be the chief 

 data of economic history. It is not vain repetition to say that this 

 means, first of all, the study of the character of men in the fullest 

 sense. It means, in the second place, that a large part of the char- 

 acter must be really understood. Whenever this is done there is 

 found a geographic basis of human character that is capable of the 

 clearest demonstration. It is in the geographic environment that 

 the material motives of humanity have struck their deepest roots. 



These conclusions might be illustrated from a hundred places 

 in the field of study covered in this book. Almost every chapter 

 of Part I contains facts of this character. I wish, however, to dis- 



