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Ellsworth Huntington

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Ellsworth Huntington in 1920
Ellsworth Huntington at the Mill Spring, California, tree ring study, 1911

Ellsworth Huntington (September 16, 1876 – October 17, 1947) was a professor of geography at Yale University during the early 20th century, known for his studies on environmental determinism/climatic determinism, economic growth, and economic geography. He served as president of the Ecological Society of America in 1917, the Association of American Geographers in 1923 and president of the board of directors of the American Eugenics Society from 1934 to 1938.

Quotes

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The Pulse of Asia (1907)

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  • In recent years there has arisen the so-called "bread and butter school" of historians, who hold that the deepest cause of historical events is the necessity of mankind to subsist. The ambition of kings, the hatred of race for race, the antagonisms of religion, may agitate the surface and cause the waves which seem to us so portentous; but far down below all these there is the unending struggle for bread. It is this primarily which makes men work. It manifests itself in the discontent of the poor peasants of Russia, in the disputes between labor and capital in America, and in the bitter cry of the famine-stricken millions of India and China against the foreigners who seem to rob them of bread. ... According to this view, geography is clearly the basis of history, for the productivity of a country depends upon geographic facts, especially upon climate.
    • Introduction, p. 1
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