Grassland, "Treeless," and "Subhumid

GEEOGRAPHERS and historians seem to be unaware of the extent to which they are committed to subjective rather than quantitative terminology. One region is described in terms of another, the one with which the writer of the description happens to be familiar. Because the civilization of western Europe and eastern America developed in a predominantly forest environment, the prevailing geographical terminology is that of the forest or high-rainfall climate. As forest man moved into the prairie of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and the country farther west, he called it treeless and subhumid. These negative terms measured the new region by the characteristics of the accustomed forest environment and found it deficient. If a grassland man had been entering a forest region, by the same principle he would have been justified in calling the forest grassless and superhumid. The point to be emphasized is that a geographical area should be described in positive terms that delineate its characteristics in quantitative language, and by independent standards or units of measuremen1

Biology · Geography · Grassland · Linguistics · Physical geography · Terminology · Botany and Plant Ecology Studies · Ecology · Philosophy

• The High Plains and Their Utilization by the Indian

  Open Access•Waldo R Wedel•American Antiquity•1963

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