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Introduction to Contemporary Geography © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Lectures Chapter 7 Languages and Religions Amy D'Angelo SUNY Oswego
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 7.1 Classifying Languages The world’s 6,000+ languages can be classified into families, branches, and groups. Only around 100 of these languages are used by more than 5 million people.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Language Families
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Language Family Tree
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Distribution of Language Families
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Indo-European Branches The most widely spoken branches of Indo- European are Indo-Iranian in Asia and Germanic, Romance, and Balto-Slavic in Europe.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 7.3 Origins and Diffusion of Languages Languages diffuse from their place of origin through migration. Dialects within languages also emerge through migration and isolation.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Origin and Diffusion of English English is the language of England because of migration to England from various parts of Europe. Invasions of England
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Soft-Drink Dialects
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 7.4 Dominant and Endangered Languages English is the world’s leading lingua franca. Languages used by only a few people may become extinct unless preserved.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Global Distribution of English English is an official language in 54 countries, more than any other language, and is the predominant language in Australia, United Kingdom, and United States. The contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world exists because the people of England migrated with their language when they established colonies during the past four centuries.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. English-Speaking Countries
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Languages of Online Users
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Isolated Languages An isolated language is a language unrelated to any other and therefore not attached to any language family. The best example in Europe is Basque, apparently the only language currently spoken in Europe that survives from the period before the arrival of Indo-European speakers.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Creolized Languages A creole or creolized language is defined as a language that results from the mixing of the colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated. A creolized language forms when the colonized group adopts the language of the dominant group but makes some changes, such as simplifying the grammar and adding words from their former language.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Languages in Belgium
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Languages of Switzerland
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Languages of Nigeria
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Distribution of Religions
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Christian Places of Worship
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Branches of Islam The word Islam in Arabic means submission to the will of God and it has a similar root to the Arabic word for peace. An adherent of the religion of Islam is known as a Muslim, which in Arabic means one who surrenders to God. Islam is divided into two important branches. – Sunni – Shiite
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Muslim Places of Worship
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Branches of Buddhism The two largest branches of Buddhism are Theravada and Mahayana.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Deities in Hinduism Hinduism does not have a central authority or a single holy book, so each individual selects suitable rituals. The average Hindu has allegiance to a particular god or concept within a broad range of possibilities.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Hinduism
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 7.9 Origins of Religions Universalizing and ethnic religions typically have different geographic origins. – An ethnic religion such as Hinduism, has unknown or unclear origins, not tied to single historical individuals. – A universalizing religion, such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, has a precise hearth, or place of origin, based on events in the life of a man.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Hinduism Hinduism existed prior to recorded history. The earliest surviving Hindu documents were written around 1500 B.C.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Christianity Christianity was founded on the teachings of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem between 8 and 4 B.C. and died on a cross in Jerusalem about A.D. 30. Raised as a Jew, Jesus gathered a small band of disciples and preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. He was referred to as Christ, from the Greek word for the Hebrew word messiah, which means “anointed.”
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Buddhism The founder of Buddhism, Siddharta Gautama, was born about 563 B.C. in Nepal. According to Buddhist legend, Gautama’s life changed after a series of four trips. He emerged as the Buddha, the “awakened or enlightened one.”
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. The Origin of Buddhism
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Islam The Prophet of Islam Muhammad was born in Makkah about 570. Muhammad was a descendent of Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and Hagar. Sarah prevailed on Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael, who wandered through the Arabian desert, eventually reaching Makkah. At age 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. The Quran, the holiest book in Islam, is a record of God’s words, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through Gabriel. As he began to preach the truth that God had revealed to him, Muhammad suffered persecution. When he died in 632, Muhammad was buried in Madinah.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Origin of Islam: Al-MasjidAl Nabawi
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Diffusion of Islam Muhammad’s successors organized followers into armies that extended the region of Muslim control over an extensive area of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Within a century of Muhammad’s death, Muslim armies conquered Palestine, the Persian Empire, and much of India, resulting in the conversion of many non-Arabs to Islam, often through intermarriage.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Muslim Holy Cities The holiest places in Islam are in cities associated with the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The holiest city for Muslims is Makkah, the birthplace of Muhammad. Every healthy Muslim who has adequate financial resources is expected to undertake a pilgrimage to Makkah.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Holy Places in Islam Al-Masjid al-Harām (Sacred Mosque), Makkah, Saudi Arabia
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. The Calendar in Judaism Judaism is classified as an ethnic, rather than a universalizing, religion in part because its major holidays are based on events in the agricultural calendar of the religion’s homeland in present day Israel. The name Judaism derives from Judah, one of the patriarch Jacob’s 12 sons; Israel is another biblical name for Jacob.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Jewish Holiday of Sukkoth
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Cosmogony in Chinese Ethnic Religions Cosmogony is a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe. The cosmogony underlying Chinese ethnic religions, such as Confucianism and Daoism, is that the universe is made up of two forces, yin and yang, which exist in everything.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Spirits in Inanimate Objects To animists, God’s powers are mystical, and only a few people on Earth can harness these powers for medical or other purposes. God can be placated, however, through prayer and sacrifice. Rather than attempting to transform the environment, animists accept environmental hazards as normal and unavoidable.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Sacred Space in Hinduism
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. 7.13 Religious Conflicts in the Middle East Jews, Christians, and Muslims have fought for 2,000 years to control a small strip of land in the Middle East. – Jews consider the territory their Promised Land. – Christians consider Palestine the Holy Land and Jerusalem the Holy City because the major events in Jesus’s life, death, and Resurrection were concentrated there. – Muslims regard Jerusalem as their third holy city because it is the place from which Muhammad is thought to have ascended to heaven.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Jewish Perspectives Israel was created by the United Nations in 1947 as the only country in the world with a majority Jewish population. Opposed to having a predominantly Jewish country in their midst, neighboring Arab Muslim countries attacked Israel four times, in 1947, 1956, 1967, and 1973, without success.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Boundary Changes in Palestine/Israel
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Palestinian Perspectives Palestinians emerged as Israel’s principal opponent after the 1973 war. Egypt and Jordan renounced their claims to Gaza and the West Bank, respectively, and recognized the Palestinians as the legitimate rulers of these territories.
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© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Jerusalem Palestinians emerged as Israel’s principal opponent after the 1973 war. Egypt and Jordan renounced their claims to Gaza and the West Bank, respectively, and recognized the Palestinians as the legitimate rulers of these territories.
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