__NOTOC__
Ellsworth Huntington (September 16, 1876 – October 17, 1947) was a professor of
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
during the early 20th century, known for his studies on
environmental determinism
Environmental determinism (also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism) is the study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular development trajectories. Jared Diamond, Jeffrey Herbst ...
/climatic determinism,
economic growth
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate o ...
,
economic geography
Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics.
There are four branches of economic geography.
There is,
primary sect ...
, and
scientific racism. 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.
He taught at
Euphrates College,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
(1897–1901); accompanied the
Pumpelly (1903) and Barrett (1905–1906) expeditions to
central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
; and wrote of his Asian experiences in ''Explorations in Turkestan'' (1905) and ''The Pulse of Asia'' (1907). He taught geography at Yale (1907–1915) and from 1917 was a research associate there, devoting his time chiefly to
climatic and
anthropogeographic studies. He was the 1916 recipient of the Elisha Kent Kane Gold Medal from the
Geographical Society of Philadelphia
The Geographical Society of Philadelphia was founded by Angelo Heilprin in 1891 "to promote the discovery and appreciation of the many wonders of our world." Through grants, it has supported major explorations. It also sponsors educational program ...
.
In 1909, Huntington led the Yale Expedition to
Palestine. It was his mission to determine "step by step the process by which geologic structure, topographic form, and the present and past nature of the climate have shaped man's progress, moulded his history; and thus played an incalculable part in the development of a system of thought which could scarcely have arisen under any other physical circumstances."
He was on the original standing committee of the
Foundation for the Study of Cycles
The Foundation for the Study of Cycles (FSC) is an international nonprofit organization that fosters, promotes, and conducts scientific research in respect to rhythmic and periodic fluctuations in any branch of science. It was incorporated on Ja ...
from 1941.
Bibliography
*
Explorations in Turkestan: With an Account of the Basin of Eastern Persia and Sistan, Expedition of 1903, under the Direction of Raphael Pumpelly' (1905)
*
The Pulse of Asia: A Journey in Central Asia Illustrating the Geographic Basis of History' (1907)
*
Palestine and Its Transformation' (1911)
"Changes of Climate and History,"''American Historical Review'' Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jan., 1913), pp. 213–23
in JSTOR''The Climatic Factor As Illustrated in Arid America''(1914)
*
Civilization and Climate' (1915, rev. ed. 1924)
* "Climatic Change and Agricultural Exhaustion as Elements in the Fall of Rome," ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' Vol. 31, No. 2 (Feb., 1917), pp. 173–20
in JSTOR*
The Red Man's Continent: A Chronicle of Aboriginal America' (1919)
*
World-power and Evolution' (1919)
*
The Secret of the Big Trees: Yosemite Sequoia and General Grant National Parks' (1921)
*
Climatic Changes' with Stephen Sargent Visher (1922)
* ''The Character Of Races'' (1924)
* ''West of the Pacific'' (1925)
*
Human Habitat' (1927)
* "Agricultural Productivity and Pressure of Population," ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' Vol. 198, Present International Tensions (Jul., 1938), pp. 73–9
in JSTOR*
Principles of Human Geography' (with S. W. Cushing, 5th ed. 1940)
* "The Geography of Human Productivity," ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar., 1943), pp. 1–3
in JSTOR* ''Mainsprings of Civilization'' (1945)
See also
*
Huntington family
References
Further reading
* Fonaroff, L. Schuyler. "Was Huntington Right about Human Nutrition?" ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' Vol. 55, No. 3 (Sep., 1965), pp. 365–37
in JSTOR* Martin, Geoffrey J. ''Ellsworth Huntington: His Life and Thought'' (1973)
* Spate, O. H. K. "Ellsworth Huntington: A Geographical Giant: Review," ''Geographical Journal'' Vol. 140, No. 1 (Feb., 1974), pp. 117–11
in JSTOR
External links
*
*
*
Articles authored in Harper's Magazine*
Ellsworth Huntington Papers (MS 1). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntington, Ellsworth
1876 births
1947 deaths
Economic geography
American geographers
Geopoliticians
Presidents of the American Association of Geographers
Harvard University alumni
Yale University alumni