Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ellsworth Huntington’s Victorian Climatic Writings

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Life History Evolution

  • 1025 Accesses

Abstract

In the late Victorian era, one could find Ellsworth Huntington caravanning through Eurasia, counting tree rings in northern California, or subsisting on stipends on the fringes of Yale’s geology department. Writing on demography as much as geography, Huntington described non-random change through founding effects and migration, as much as natural and sexual selection. Importantly, he distinguished between physical and community ecology, applying these concepts to human biogeography. Though not available to Huntington who wrote most prolifically in the earliest part of the twentieth century, life history evolution is indispensable to understanding the dynamics of climatically induced evolution across populations treated, for instance, in The Principles of Human Geography and The Human Habitat. Through Huntington’s writings, cross-continental variation in life histories is introduced and explained.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Almond, D., & Edlund, L. (2007). Trivers-Willard at birth and one year: Evidence from US natality data 1983–2001. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 274(1624), 2491–2496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, E. L., Fernandes, H. B., & Woodley, M. A. (2014). SD–IE and other differentiation effects in Italy and Spain. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 189–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braendle, C., Heyland, A., & Flatt, T. (2011). Integrating mechanistic and evolutionary analysis of life history variation. In T. Flatt & A. Heyland (Eds.), Mechanisms of life history evolution: The genetics and physiology of life history traits and trade-offs (pp. 3–10). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Cabeza de Baca, T., Hertler, S. C., & Dunkel, C. S. (2017). Reply to van Lange et al.: Proximate and ultimate distinctions must be made to the CLASH model. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calder, W. A. (1984). Size, function and life history. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, E. Z. (2004). Facultative adjustment of mammalian sex ratios in support of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis: Evidence for a mechanism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271(1549), 1723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnov, E. L. (1993). Life history invariants: Some explorations of symmetry in evolutionary ecology (Vol. 6). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, G., & Harpending, H. (2009). The 10,000 year explosion: How civilization accelerated human evolution. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixson, A. F. (2009). Sexual selection and the origins of human mating systems. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, D. K., & Simmons, L. W. (2009). Reactive oxygen species as universal constraints in life-history evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, rspb-2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figueredo, A. J., Vásquez, G., Brumbach, B. H., & Schneider, S. M. R. (2004). The heritability of life history strategy: The K-factor, covitality, and personality. Biodemography and Social Biology, 51(3–4), 121–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figueredo, A. J., Woodley, M. A., Brown, S. D., & Ross, K. C. (2013). Multiple successful tests of the strategic differentiation-integration effort (SD-IE) hypothesis. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 7(4), 361–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figueredo, A. J., Wolf, P. S. A., Olderbak, S. G., Gladden, P. R., Fernandes, H. B. F., Wenner, C., et al. (2014). The psychometric assessment of human life history strategy: A meta-analytic construct validation. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8(3), 148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, C. E., & Rose, M. R. (1995). Hormones and the physiological architecture of life history evolution. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 70(1), 1–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flatt, T., & Heyland, A. (Eds.). (2011). Mechanisms of life history evolution: The genetics and physiology of life history traits and trade-offs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flatt, T., Tu, M. P., & Tatar, M. (2005). Hormonal pleiotropy and the juvenile hormone regulation of Drosophila development and life history. BioEssays, 27(10), 999–1010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, T., & Rose, M. R. (2009). Experimental evolution: Concepts, methods, and applications of selection experiments. Berkeley and Los Angeles: California University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greaves, M. (2001). Cancer: The evolutionary legacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K. (2006). Life history theory and human evolution: A chronicle of ideas and findings. In K. Hawkes & R. R. Paine (Eds.), The evolution of human life history (pp. 45–93). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertler, S. C. (2015). Crossing the paradigmatic divide in personality: Coming to an evolutionary understanding of personality variation. Journal for Philosophy and Psychiatry. http://www.jfpp.org/116.html?&no_cache=1&sword_list%5B%5D=hertler.

  • Hill, K., & Hurtado, M. (1996/2011). Ache life history: The ecology and demography of a foraging people. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1907). Climate and the historic fluctuations of the Caspian Sea. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 39, 577–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1912a). The Arabian Desert and human character. The Journal of Geography, 10, 169–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1912b). Asia, a geography reader. Skokie, IL: Rand McNally & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1913a). Changes of climate and history. American Historical Review, 18, 213–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1913b). The secret of the big trees. Washington, DC: Department of the Interior.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1914a). The adaptability of the white man to tropical America. Reprinted from the Journal of Race and Development, 5(2).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1914b). The handicap of the tropics. Yale Review, 3, 507–519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1915). A neglected factor in race development. Journal of Race Development, 6, 167–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1916). Climatic variations and economic cycles. The Geographical Review, 1, 192–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1919a). The pulse of Asia. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1919b). World power and evolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1919c). The red man’s continent: A chronicle of aboriginal America. New York: United States Publishers Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1920a). Quantitative mapping by natural regions. The Geographical Review, 10, 47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1920b). Human efficiency in Korea. The Geographical Review, 10, 45–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1920c). The factor of health in Mexican character. In G. H. Blakeslee (Ed.), Mexico and the Caribbean (pp. 44–53). New York: Stechert and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1922a). The evolution of climate in north Western Europe: A review. The Geographical Review, 12, 126–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1922b). Peat deposits as evidence of climatic change. The Geographical Review, 12, 142–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1923a). Earth and Sun; an hypothesis of weather and sunspots. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1923b). Influenza and the weather in the United States in 1918. The Scientific Monthly, 17, 462–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1924a). The character of races, as influenced by physical environment, natural selection and historical development. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1924b). Civilization and climate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1925a). The Chinese renaissance. Scribner’s Magazine, 78, 253–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1925b). The suicide of Russia. Scribner’s Magazine, 77, 156–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1925c). Tree growth and climatic interpretations. Quaternary Climates, 352, 155–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1927). The character of races as influenced by physical environment, natural selection and historical development. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1929). Climate and the evolution of civilization. In G. A. Baitsell (Ed.), The evolution of Earth and man (pp. 330–383). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1932). The origin of racial differences. The University of Pennsylvania Bulletin, 19, 482–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1935). Tomorrow’s children: The goal of eugenics. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1938). Season of birth: Its relation to human abilities. New York: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1943). A thousand years of eugenics in Iceland. Eugenical News, 28, 8–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1944). The influence of geography and climate upon history. In H. W. Weigert & V. Stefansson (Eds.), Compass of the world (pp. 174–180). New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E. (1945). Mainsprings of civilization. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., & Cushing, S. W. (1919). The nature and possibilities of tropical agriculture. Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 17, 83–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., & Cushing, S. W. (1920). Principles of human geography. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., & Cushing, S. W. (1922). Principles of human geography (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., & Whitney, L. F. (1927). The descendants of who’s who. What do they tell of the future of the race? The Outlook, 146, 538–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., & Williams, F. E. (1922). Business geography. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, E., Williams, F. E., & van Valkenburg, S. (1933). Economic and social geography. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto, T., Nozawa, S., & Yoshiike, M. (2007). Semen quality of Asian men. Reproductive Medicine and Biology, 6, 185–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jablonski, N. G., & Chaplin, G. (2000). The evolution of human skin coloration. Journal of Human Evolution, 39(1), 57–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lande, R. (1982). A quantitative genetic theory of life history evolution. Ecology, 63(3), 607–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. W. (2011). Environmental determinism, Ellsworth Huntington, and the decline of geography. Geocurrents. http://www.geocurrents.info/geographical-thought/environmental-determinism-ellsworth-huntington-and-the-decline-of-geography#ixzz4wIMKkGUg.

  • Livingstone, D. N. (2011). Environmental determinism. In J. A. Agnew & D. N. Livingstone (Eds.), Sage handbook of geographical knowledge (pp. 368–380). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lookingbill, D., Demers, L., Wang, C., Leung, A., Rittmaster, R., & Santen, R. (1991). Clinical and biochemical parameters of androgen action in normal healthy Caucasian versus Chinese subjects. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 72, 1242–1248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowie, R. H. (1917). Culture & ethnology. Washington, DC: McMurtrie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynn, R. (1991). The evolution of racial differences in intelligence. Mankind Quarterly, 32(1), 109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G. J. (1973). Ellsworth Huntington: His life and thought. Hamden, CT: Archon Books/Shoe String Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Bakker, M., Bakker, K. M., King, A. A., & Rohani, P. (2014, May). Human birth seasonality: Latitudinal gradient and interplay with childhood disease dynamics. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 281(1783), 20132438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muehlenbein, M. P., & Flinn, M. V. (2011). Patterns and processes of human life history evolution. In T. Flatt & A. Heyland (Eds.), Mechanisms of life history evolution: The genetics and physiology of life history traits and trade-offs (pp. 153–168). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Réale, D., Gallant, B. Y., Leblanc, M., & Festa-Bianchet, M. (2000). Consistency of temperament in bighorn ewes and correlates with behaviour and life history. Animal Behaviour, 60(5), 589–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (1985). Differential K theory: The sociobiology of individual and group differences. Personality and Individual Differences, 6(4), 441–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (1988). Race differences in behaviour: A review and evolutionary analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 9, 1009–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (1996). Race, genetics, and human reproductive strategies. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 122(1), 21–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (1999a). Darwin’s really dangerous idea—The primacy of variation. In M. G. Johan, D. van der Linden, D. Smillie, & D. R. Wilson (Eds.), The Darwinian heritage and sociobiology (pp. 209–229). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (1999b). Ethnic differences in temperament. In Y. Lee, C. R. McCauley, & J. G. Draguns (Eds.), Personality and person perception across cultures (pp. 45–63). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (2000). Race, evolution, and behavior: A life history perspective (3rd ed.). Port Huron, MI: Charles Darwin Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P. (2012). Life history theory and race differences: An appreciation of Richard Lynn’s contributions to science. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(2), 85–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santner, S., Albertson, B., Zhang, G., Zhang, G., Santulli, M., Wang, C., et al. (1998). Comparative rates of androgen production and metabolism in Caucasian and Chinese subjects. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 83, 2104–2109.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, G. R., & Turner, C. G. (2000). The anthropology of modern human teeth: Dental morphology and its variation in recent human populations (Vol. 20). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva, A. M., Shen, W., Heo, M., Gallagher, D., Wang, Z., Sardinha, L. B., et al. (2010). Ethnicity-related skeletal muscle differences across the lifespan. American Journal of Human Biology, 22, 76–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stearns, S. C. (1989). Trade-offs in life-history evolution. Functional Ecology, 3(3), 259–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Travisano, M. (2009). Long-term experimental evolution and adaptive radiation. In T. Garland & M. R. Rose (Eds.), Experimental evolution: Concepts, methods, and applications of selection experiments (pp. 111–133). Berkeley and Los Angeles: California University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Vliert, E. (2009). Climate, affluence, and culture. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Lange, P. A., Rinderu, M. I., & Bushman, B. J. (2017). Aggression and violence around the world: A model of climate, aggression, and self-control in humans (CLASH). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Eckardstein, S., Syska, A., Gromoll, J., Kamischke, A., Simoni, M., & Nieschlag, E. (2001). Inverse correlation between sperm concentration and number of androgen receptor cag repeats in normal men 1. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 86, 2585–2590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, C. (2011). Rapid recent human evolution and the accumulation of balanced genetic polymorphisms. High Altitude Medicine & Biology, 12(2), 149–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodley, M. A., & Fernandes, H. B. F. (2014). Strategic and cognitive differentiation–integration effort in a study of 76 countries. Personality and Individual Differences, 57, 3–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodley, M. A., Figueredo, A. J., Brown, S. D., & Ross, K. C. (2013). Four successful tests of the cognitive differentiation-integration effort hypothesis. Intelligence, 41(6), 832–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodley of Menie, M. A. & Sarraf, M. A. (2018). Controversies in evolutionary psychology. In Encyclopedia of evolutionary psychological science. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Y., Konduru, R., & Deng, D. (2012). Skin characteristics of Chinese men and their beard removal habits. The British Journal of Dermatology, 166, 17–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zera, A. J., & Harshman, L. G. (2001). The physiology of life history trade-offs in animals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 32(1), 95–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zera, A. J., & Harshman, L. G. (2009). Laboratory selection studies of life-history physiology in insects. In T. Garland & M. R. Rose (Eds.), Experimental evolution: Concepts, methods, and applications of selection experiments (pp. 217–262). Berkeley and Los Angeles: California University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zitzmann, M., & Nieschlag, E. (2001). Testosterone levels in healthy men and the relation to behavioural and physical characteristics: Facts and constructs. European Journal of Endocrinology, 144, 183–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ, USA

    Steven C. Hertler

  2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Aurelio José Figueredo

  3. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre

  4. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Heitor B. F. Fernandes

  5. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Michael A. Woodley of Menie

  6. Unz Foundation Junior Fellow, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Michael A. Woodley of Menie

Authors
  1. Steven C. Hertler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aurelio José Figueredo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Heitor B. F. Fernandes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael A. Woodley of Menie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven C. Hertler .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hertler, S.C., Figueredo, A.J., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., Fernandes, H.B.F., Woodley of Menie, M.A. (2018). Ellsworth Huntington’s Victorian Climatic Writings. In: Life History Evolution. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90125-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation