Showing papers in "Geographical Review in 1940"

The Southern Margin of the Sahara: Comments on Some Recent Studies on the Question of Desiccation in West Africa

Abstract: W 5 jrITH these words Professor E. P. Stebbing introduces the important problem that he has recently discussed in several papers and a book.2 Professor Stebbing is head of the Department of Forestry in the University of Edinburgh and was formerly on the Indian Forest Service. In 1934 he paid an extended visit to West Africa, in the course of which he made a comparative study of forestry work in the British and French areas. He was particularly interested in the savana or bush forests of the lower rainfall areas and soon formed the opinion that increasing desiccation was causing a rapid southward movement of the Saharan margin, a movement that threatens to spread even to the coast and thus to destroy completely the prosperity of West Africa. Certain remedial measures-the establishment, or preservation, of two parallel forest belts-were proposed; but Professor Stebbing was wise enough to say3 that "the true facts on the subject of the present advance southwards and threat of the Sahara can be substantiated in one way onlyby the appointment of a small Commission of officers carefully selected for their knowledge of the local conditions on both sides of the frontier." Such a commission, consisting of one senior British administrator and one French, two British Nigerian foresters and one geologist, and two Inspectors of Forests and Water Supply of French West Africa, was appointed in 1936 and published its report in 1937. The Report itself is a slight document,4 but fortunately the observations and views of four of. the technical members have been published elsewhere, in readily accessible journals. In particular the scholarly and well documented paper of the geologist, Brynmor Jones,5 is far more informative than the Report itself. The Report was unanimous, and in general the Commission failed to find evidence in support of Stebbing's gloomy predictions. In his later papers6 Stebbing has had these contrary views to consider and, although refusing to accept the Commission's findings, seems to have shifted his viewpoint, arguing that agricultural and pastoral developments and population increase in West Africa are causing a greater pressure on the land and inducing land spoliation and soil erosion. What he now calls "intermittent rainfall" is regarded as the cause of the supposed desiccation.

Stockholm: Its Structure and Development

Abstract: Schliter was the first to urge a geographical study of the townscape.2 He spoke of the town as part of the landscape and drew up outlines that have since been followed by almost all German urban geographers. Their primary object has been as complete a description as possible of all the aspects of the townscape as such-topographical situation, geology, climate, vegetation, general plan, structural elevation, types of houses and roofs, etc. The work of most of the French geographers, headed by Blanchard,3 is similar; and the same may be said of English and American authors. They study the town from without. The external picture of the town, the townscape, is not what is essential, however. To explain my meaning, I will give an illustration. If we say that a town is "beautiful" (or "ugly"), we refer to its material aspect, to its appearance as determined by layout, buildings, and natural situation; the expression a "wealthy " or "progressive" (or "poor" or "retrogressive") town refers to something different, its business or cultural life; and the expression a "pleasant" (or "dull") town refers mainly to the inhabitants. These aspects of an urban organism plan, buildings, and topography; business and cultural life; and inhabitants-are intimately dependent on one another; but it is man and the manifestations of his life that are primary, not the buildings constructed by men for human requirements. The moment we regard the town as the implement of certain

A New Method for the Representation of Dispersed Rural Population

Abstract: T HE adequate representation cartographically of population statistics has long been a problem.' As there has been practically no fundamental advance in the techniques for many years, geographers have come to rely on the stereotyped methods, though for many purposes they are clearly inadequate. Only two primary means of depiction are in wide use: the dot method, which shows intrinsic values by the use of dots or variations of dots, such as spheres; and the density method, which places population in a coequal relationship with some other unit, such as the number of persons to a square mile. The first, the dot showing pure distribution, is unexcelled for the indication of numbers and patterns of population spread but fails to give a clear objective picture of an area unless it is refined to the point where each dot represents a house, which is out of the question in most cases. The density type of map, utilizing, usually, isarithms with or without shading, gives an even poorer landscape impression, since it is necessary to think in terms of two factors in reading such a map.2 One cannot possibly picture 40 or 6o persons equidistant from one another spread out over a square mile. Instead the map reader must conjure up his own mental "yardstick" and compare such figures with known areas of the same density, a procedure that is often very misleading and inaccurate.

The Cays and the Palisadoes, Port Royal, Jamaica

Abstract: IN July, 1939, an expedition organized by Dr. V. J. Chapman left Cambridge, England, to study certain aspects of the flora and fauna of Jamaica and also to make a physiographic investigation of the cays.1 I undertook the present study, and I was fortunate to have Mr. J. A. Lofthouse of St. Catharine's College as surveyor. The expedition spent four weeks in Jamaican waters, during which time surveys were made of the cays in Portland Bight and, off Port Royal, of three of the Morant Cays, and also of the two largest of the Bogue Islands, in Montego Bay. Before leaving Kingston, and also after returning, a detailed study was made of the Palisadoes, the strip of sand enclosing Kingston Harbour. How this feature relates to the general problem will appear below.

Meteorological Records from the Divination Inscriptions of Shang

Abstract: FIG. I According to traditional chronology, which has been broadly confirmed by modern research, China's early historical dynasty Shang (or Yin) ruled for a period that ended in about I 100 B.c. and began 500-600 years before.1 Excavations, undertaken partly for practical purposes, partly with an archeological aim, led to a series of thrilling scientific findings, including Peking Man and China's Red and Black Pottery culture.2 The discoveries also included the now famous oracle inscriptions of Shang from the site of Yin Hsui, the late Shang capital, near Anyang in northern Honan (Fig. 1).3 Besides bronze vessels of great perfection and other objects of bronze, stone, or bone, the site yielded fossil bones of various kinds. Many of the bones were obviously nothing but the remains of hunted or domesticated animals; but a large fraction of them, and some tortoise shells also, bore curious markings, which careful investigation revealed to be a very early form of Chinese script. A group of brilliant Chinese experts and a few equally brilliant Western scholars began to decipher the queer texts. Today, forty years after the discovery of the oracle bones and about thirty-five years after the first attempts to read them, more than two dozen collections have been made4 and a large part of the inscriptions deciphered. The civilization of Shang as revealed by the inscriptions and other archeological findings in Anyang represented a relatively advanced type. A complicated script was used to communicate with the magic world. In most cases the text was intended directly or indirectly

Landslides and Earthflows near Ventura, Southern California

Abstract: UNOFF and other phenomena associated with heavy rains during the winter of I937-I938 produced many significant changes in the landscape of southern California. The rainfall was especially heavy in the period February 28-March 3, I938, when 712 inches of rain fell; at Ventura 4 inches fell in 24 hours on March 2 and 3. Landslides were set in motion, and great quantities of material in areas of weathered bedrock were moved by earthflows. The Ventura slides are unusually interesting for their effect on human activities and are especially important in the oil field, where they have destroyed wells, buckled pipe lines, and shifted roads.

The Rice Country of Southwestern Louisiana

Abstract: T HERE is a unique story to be told about rice growing in southwestern Louisiana. It is a story of the revolution of an industry by mechanization and large-scale production, mostly by the application of techniques in use in other areas and other industries. This revolution took the rice industry out of the ponds and coulees and put it on the open prairie, where thousands of acres of land were for the first time made available for cultivation. Although rice has been raised in South Carolina for about two centuries and in parts of Louisiana for more than a century, it was only after I 88o that these fundamental changes permitted rice farming on a large scale. And although southeastern Texas, the Grand Prairie in Arkansas, and the Sacramento Valley in California now raise rice on a large scale, it was the Louisiana Prairies that led the way. Rice is not the only commercial crop grown on the Prairies, but it is the most important. Sugar cane and cotton, each of which is raised in rotation with corn, occupy two distinct land-use areas in the eastern part of the Prairies. The land not occupied by these two crop combinations was open grazing land until the present rice-cattle economy developed. The new industry partook of the techniques of the wheat country of the Middle West. It has nothing in comrnon with the old practices of the lowlands of South Carolina; in fact, it is an outlier of the grain industry rather than of Oriental and quasiOriental methods of growing rice in paddies. Experimentation and progressiveness on the part of the rice farmers and the experimental stations have brought their economy down to a simple stable plan of annually alternating land use between rice growing and cattle grazing. Thus at the present time about 300,000 acres of the Prairies are planted in rice annually; but a map showing the distribution of the crop gives a much larger acreage.

The Economic Development of the Outer Provinces of the Netherlands Indies

Abstract: O F all the islands of the Malay Archipelago, Java has received most attention, and rightly so, since it is doubtless the most significant part of the East Indies.' The special position of Java is also recognized in the official statistics, which always differentiate "Java and Madura" (the small island off the east coast of Java) and the "Outer Provinces." The terminology suggests a principal contrast between the core and the periphery and carries a connotation that the latter is inferior to the former. No doubt contrasts exist; however, the last thirty or forty years have witnessed a remarkable development of parts of the Outer Provinces, which has erased the once sharp distinction between central and marginal regions.

The Geography of the Monroe Doctrine and the Limits of the Western Hemisphere

Abstract: The definition of the Western Hemisphere is a matter of engrossing interest at the present time. For the casually used phrase a precise meaning must be found. For instance, President Roosevelt's Executive Order dated June 5, 1940, has to do in part with documents required of aliens entering the United States of America who are domiciled in "a country, island, or territory of the Western Hemisphere." Most important of all, House Joint Resolution 556, introduced June 3, 1940, as amended in committee two days later, specifies that "the United States would not recognize any transfer and would not acquiesce in any attempt to transfer any geographic region of this hemisphere from one non-American power to another non-American power." Hence it seemed desirable for the American Geographical Society to present a geographer's view of the problem. Colontel Martin, who is versed in political geography, was asked to help by defining the Western Hemisphere on a map and by outlining the geography of the Monroe Doctrine and its genesis. It is emphasized that Colonel Martin has done this in his private capacity as geographer and as contributing editor of the " Geographical Review" and not as a federal employee.-EDITORIAL NOTE.

A Great Lakes-to-Gulf Profile of Dispersed Dwelling Types

Abstract: EGIONAL variations in dwelling types in the United States as a whole have not been determined quantitatively, though intensive work has been done in certain states.' The immediate purpose of this study was to determine the variations in house types along a north-to-south traverse in the mid-section of the United States. The route was selected to pass through as many diverse physical regions as was conveniently possible. It extended from Madison, Wis., to Beaumont, Tex., across the states of Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, over a distance of I650 miles (Fig. I). On the traverse, made by automobile, the details of the 3464 houses that could adequately be seen from the highway were recorded. One of us observed while the other drove, the driver accommodating the speed of the car to the frequency and complexity of the houses. A speed of about thirty miles an hour was maintained most of the time. Stops were made when necessary. As this was a study of rural dwellings, some difficulty arose as to just where to stop recording in the transition zones near uirban communities. In most cases the presence or absence of utilized farm outbuildings was the criterion used. The notations were made on mimeographed sheets. Analysis of the collected data showed that the most significant criteria on which to base a classification were ground plan, number of stories, and form of the roof. Subtypes were distinguished by the orientation of the ground plan with respect to the front of the house.

Finland in the Sixteenth Century

Abstract: IN the history of Finland the sixteenth century stands out as a great formative period in which the frontiers of the country began to assume their approximate outlines and the seeds that were to determine future cultural orientations were being sown. Russia was a vast, incoherent power remotely slung about the center of the mezhdu,rechie ("between two rivers") and challenged by Tartar incursions from the south. Sweden and Denmark were contestants for an empire in Northern Europe. The centralized power of the Sweden of the Vasas enabled progressive expansion to the east, which reached a maximum with the Treaty of Stolbova in I617. Simultaneously Denmark extended its influence around the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, where the heterogeneous principalities of Germany were unable to resist the superior force of a maritime power. In the ensuing conflict between Denmark and Sweden for the proud right of dominium Maris Baltici Sweden emerged victorious. As the oldest Swedish colony and an integral part of the Swedish Empire, Finland shared in the prosperity and reverses experienced by Sweden in the sixteenth century. It was elevated to the rank of grand duchy, and Abo (Turku), its political focus, became a satellite of the Swedish metropolis. Finland, impregnated with the ideas of the west, added to its function as a buffer of the Swedish Empire that of a bastion of Western European civilization.

The United States Census of 1940

Abstract: THE Sixteenth Decennial Census of the United States, to be taken during April of I940, will offer a comprehensive base for geographic research. New field inquiries, techniques of enumeration and tabulation, and cartographic materials will be used for the traditional subjects of population and agriculture, and for housing, which is to be covered for the first time by a separate schedule.' Preliminary population releases will be made in the field at the close of the enumeration. Official returns will be transmitted to the President for the January, I94I, session of Congress. Published reports will be available during I94I and I942.

Early Maps of the United States: The Ebeling-Sotzmann Maps of the Northern Seaboard States

Abstract: OWARD the close of the eighteenth century the task of summarizing the geography of the United States was independently assumed by two men far removed in place and intellectual background: Jedidiah Morse, the pastor of a church in Charlestown, Mass., and Christoph Ebeling, professor of Greek, history, and geography in the "Great College" of Hamburg. Both began their preparatory work at nearly the same time and continued at their labors for about the same period-roughly, forty years. Neither derived significant aid from the other's productions; for Morse was unable to read German, and Ebeling found little in the American's work that could not be obtained from original sources. In their attempts to keep pace with a rapidly changing scene and with new sources of information the two geographers' works grew ever larger. Morse's "American Geography" of 1789 soon overflowed into two weighty tomes and was later entitled the "American Universal Geography"; in i8i6, a year before his death, Ebeling completed the seventhand last-volume of his " Erdbeschreibung und Geschichte von Amerika: Die vereinten Staaten von Nordamerika," which by that time totaled nearly 6500 pages but still left untouched the far Southern and Western states. The expanding texts inevitably became burdened with a multitude of details that readers could scarcely follow without supporting maps; but how was the deficiency to be supplied at a reasonable cost? Moreover, neither Ebeling nor Morse was talented in cartography; and their book formats were unsuited to the inclusion of maps large enough to be significant as textual aids. Both authors were aware that maps were essential, however difficult to provide, and early in their geographical careers employed others as cartographers. Morse consigned the work to different individuals through the years, among whom were Joseph Purcell, Abraham Bradley, and Harding Harris; Ebeling obtained the services of a fellow countryman, Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann. Beyond this point the cartographic procedures of the two writers diverged. Morse chose to have maps that could be folded into his books and gave his cartographers broad discretionary powers regard-

The Australian Iron and Steel Industry as a Functional Unit

Abstract: ALTHOUGH the nations of Western Europe and the United States manufacture the bulk of the world's iron and steel, the appearance of other important producers is one of the notable recent developments in the industry. Before the World War of I9I4-I9I8 about nine-tenths of the world's crude steel was produced in Western Europe and the United States; by 1937 this had been reduced to about three-quarters. During the war supplies of iron and steel from the older centers proved inadequate. Many governments have since fostered steel industries by subsidies of various kinds, trade restrictions on imports and exports, financial participation, and other means. The war also caused significant changes in productive capacity and in control of iron ore and coal and thus gave impetus to iron and steel manufacture in countries that had not produced large amounts in earlier years. Great distances from competitors have tended to ensure home markets for newly created steel industries in countries remote from the primary manufacturing centers of the world. Before 1915 the iron and steel industry of Australia was wholly inadequate to supply the needs of that continent, which were chiefly met by import of the relatively cheap products of British steel plants. In that year a large modern steel plant was put into operation at Newcastle. The plant expanded rapidly until 1921, when it was threatened with the competition of imported products. The growing feeling of nationalism led to the passage of the Tariff Act of 1921 in order to ensure the continuance of many secondary industries that had arisen during the war years. In 1928 a modern steel plant began operating at Port Kembla, with an annual capacity of 150,000 tons of steel, or about half the capacity of the plant at Newcastle. In 1935 control of the Newcastle and Port Kembla steel industries was merged, and by 1937 the combined output of steel ingots was more than a million tons. Although the Australian iron and steel industry is concerned primarily with supplying Australian needs, increasing amounts of its products are being exported, especially to New Zealand. Since 1939 contracts have been made for the delivery of large quantities of materials to Great Britain, an illustration of the manner in which the productive facilities of the outermost parts of the Empire may be placed at the disposal of Britain in times of emergency. It is the purpose of this account to discuss briefly the rise of the 649