[1252] E.A.  Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, Vol.  I, pp. 286-287.  London, 1882.

CHAPTER XVI

INFLUENCES OF A MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT

[Sidenote:  Zones of altitude.]

There are zones of latitude and zones of altitude.  To every mountain region both these pertain, resulting in a nice interplay of geographic factors.  Every mountain slope from summit to piedmont is, from the anthropo-geographical standpoint, a complex phenomenon.  When high enough, it may show a graded series of contrasted complementary locations, closely interdependent grouping of populations and employments, every degree of density from congestion to vacancy, every range of cultural development from industrialism to nomadism.  The southern slope of the Monte Rosa Alps, from the glacier cap at 4500 meters to the banks of the Po River, yields within certain limits a zonal epitome of European life from Lapland to the Mediterranean.  The long incline from the summit of Mount Everest (8840 meters) in the eastern Himalayas, through Darjeeling down to sea level at Calcutta, comprises in a few miles the climatic and cultural range of Asia from Arctic to Tropic.

[Sidenote:  Politico-economic value of varied relief.]

For the state, a territory of varied relief is highly beneficial, because it combines manifold forms of economic activity, a wide range of crops, areas of specialized production mutually interdependent.  It induces a certain balance of urban and lief, rural life, which contributes greatly to the health of the state.[1253] The steep slopes of Dai Nippon, fertile only under spade tillage, will forever insure Japan the persistence of a numerous peasantry.  For geological and geographical reasons, as from national motives, therefore, Japan will probably never sacrifice its farmer to its industrial class, as England has done.  On the other hand, contrasted reliefs on a great territorial scale tend to invade political solidarity.  Tidewater and mountain Virginia were poor running-mates for a century before the Civil War, and then the mountain region broke out of harness.  Geographical contrasts made the unification of Germany difficult, and yet they have added to the economic and national strength of the Empire.  The history of Switzerland shows the high Alpine cantons always maintaining a political tug of war with the cantons of the marginal plain, and always suffering a defeat which was their salvation.

[Sidenote:  Relief and climate.]

The chief effect of a varied relief is a varied climate.  This changes with altitude in much the same way as with latitude.  Heat and absolute humidity diminish, generally speaking, as height increases, while rainfall becomes greater up to a certain level.  The effect of ascending and descending currents of air is to diminish the range of temperature on mountain slopes and produce rather an oceanic type of climate.