As a child when I first looked at the world map I was terrified, it was grotesque, and looked like a leftover of a map.The entire Indonesia, Oceania part was as if someone had a diarrhoea and Africa looked like a skull.But what I overlooked for years were the most symmetric part of the map, the grid system superimposed on the globe. A set of lines running vertically and another set of lines running horizontally and creating a mesh which encapsulates the planet.These were the latitude and longitudes, the co-ordinate system of geography.
Latitudes are lines run parallel to each other on the globe, they help in finding the north south position of a place. The east west position of a place is given by the lines that run vertical on the globe called the longitude. The latitude with the longitude we help one locate a unique point on a map. The most important latitudes are namely
1) Equator: a circle of latitude equidistant from the north and south poles and divides the world into two equal halves. By definition the latitude of equator is 0 degree
2) Tropic of Cancer: a circle of latitude 23 and a half degree above the equator which the is most northerly circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead
3) Tropic of Capricorn: a circle of latitude 23 and a half degree below the equator which the is most southerly circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead
From these definitions one can understand that the apparent movement of the sun is between these latitudes and hence the land located between these latitudes receives the maximum insolation and life thrives in these
regions. This area between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn is called the Tropics. This is the most bio-diverse region of the world and the most densely populated.
The region constitutes South East Asia, India, Africa, Central and South America. The most important characteristic of this region is it undifferentiated nature. We can realize this if we put some thought into two
main dimensions of the region
- Seasons: The annual variation of insolation in this region is minimal and hence the concept of seasons is not entirely developed. On the equator it is very hot in the afternoon and heavy rains in the night and this is put on an infinite loop. There is no spring winter autumn and summer and even if there is, it is all experienced within the limit of a day.
- Flora: The tropical forests are bio-diverse, different species of trees exist together coupled with epiphytes. These trees are so dense and rebellious that they contain the sunlight from reaching the surface. Here also we see no differentiation, all trees exist together sharing the same space
- Fauna: If one casts a net into the tropical waters all kinds of fish appear. The fishermen have a tedious job in separating the fishes and then selling it in the market. This undifferentiated nature of the tropics also influences the culture in the region. In places like Indo-China and India people of different races, religion, value systems and ideologies live together an in this communal life their value systems and beliefs have merged wherein one cannot easily differentiate a person from one region from another or a person from one race from another. All skin tone is getting mediated to a colour of dark and mild shades of brown.
In contrast to this is the temperate region, this region falls between the latitudes of Tropic of Cancer and Arctic Circle (66-and- a-half- degree N) in the Northern Hemisphere and Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic circle (66-
and-a- half-degree S) in the southern hemisphere. The insolation from Sun in these regions is minimal.
The region broadly encompasses Western Europe, North America, Russia and Japan. The insignia of this region is its differentiated nature. Here all seasons are differentiated,
Defined seasons one experiences summer winter autumn and spring
The forest is categorized by similar trees, coniferous forest. Hence lumbering industry could develop.
Marine life also shares similar features, same species of fish travel in shoals. Commercial fishing hence could develop much more in Japan and Newfoundland than in other tropical areas.
The modern idea of civilization finds its origin in Western Europe which entirely falls in the temperate region. The phenomenon has to do a lot with the scientific thinking that originated in Europe during the 14 th -16 th
centuries. There was an increasing thrust to understand the physical world though empirical methods. Once they started investigating the natural world in the temperate region they understood that it was characterized by differentiation. They understood that nature means differentiation. These ideas further percolated into the social world, thinkers stared analyzing and understanding the society by functionally differentiating each of its elements. This is evident in the functionalist approaches of Durkheim where individual is separated from society, the Social contract theory of John Locke, where citizen is differentiated from the state or Adam Smith’s division of labour where man is alienated from his work. In a gradual and progressive manner, the idea of civilization had been equated to differentiation and it was concluded that differentiation was natural and
hence legitimate. Like nature has evolved through differentiation in temperate regions human society would also do the same and reach the zenith of evolution. The entire scientific revolution in Europe was in a way differentiating science which was entwined in religion and the political revolution the differentiation of state from religion, the birth of the nation state with language as the differentiator. Polity was secularized and sanitized from religion, religion retreated to the private spheres and the modern secular ideas of equality freedom and democracy enshrined. Western Europe had declared itself modern and decided to export the ideas to other regions in the world.
Life in tropics had been starkly different, no scientific or political revolution. Science was still under the auspices of religion, when astronomy developed in Europe, Astrology was in vogue in India. Religion played a very important role in all private and public spheres. This was seen as natural and legitimate since the tropics has always thrived in an undifferentiated communal manner. With the increased contact with the west and emergence of the colonial state the western ideas of civilization were imposed on the tropical region. The British reformed the entire administrative system and stared engineering the society toward the Western idea of civilization. They separated Hindus from Muslims, Hindi from Urdu in India and ended up producing irreparable harm and distorting the political geography of the region. None of the tropical regions were able to develop on the western temperate ideals of civilization. These ideas remained perennially alien to the tropics.
In the post-colonial world few nations such as India stared developing the tropical idea of civilization. This exemplified in the Article 25–28 of the Indian constitution. This provided for a state that is equidistant from all religions. It sponsored Amarnath Yatra (Hindu pilgrimage) and Hajj (muslim pilgrimage) and yet remained secular. This was radically in contrast with the secularism we see in Western Europe where state is an anti-thesis to religion. In India state exists with religion. India has produced its own localized meaning for civilization and shall civilize itself with ideas that are indigenous in its socio-cultural history.
If one looks at Asia and Europe the only nation that has been successful in modernizing in a European way and a European pace has been Japan, they found it easier to imbibe these ideas and leverage them. This can be attributed to the fact that Japan fell in the temperate region and differentiation in all aspects of life may have looked natural to them.
This brings us to the idea that maybe we are looking at the world in the wrong manner. The comparison of Asia vs Europe was never the case. Instead of this vertical division we need to look at the horizontal division produced by parallels. The tropics and temperate and how different notions of ideas of civilizations have thrived in these regions and any idea of progress and development has to be localized and customized for the region.
An imposition of one parallel on the other will not work because of the very fact that they are parallels progressing in their own manner carrying their own ideals of civilization and never intersecting.
“Do not try the parallels in that way: I know that way all along. I have measured that bottomless night, and all the light and all the joy of my life went out there.
[Having himself spent a lifetime unsuccessfully trying to prove Euclid’s postulate that parallel lines do not meet,
Farkas discouraged his son János from any further attempt.]” ― Farkas Bolyai
