Human Culture vs The Environment

For this assignment, our task was to study and compare two separate cultures with regards to how their environment has shaped their development. The two cultures that were studied for this assignment were the Zulu of South Africa and the Andean Indians of South America.

Population A: the Zulu of South Africa
          1.The Zulu people live in the country of South Africa, at the southern tip of the African continent. The latest census count shows that there is around 11 million Zulu people in South Africa. Due to the geographical location of South Africa, the weather tends to be somewhat bipolar year round. In this part of the world, the seasonal changes are very obvious. The summers in South Africa tend to be hot and wet while the winters are cold and dry. Such conditions have probably led the Zulu people to adapt to the constant change in temperatures. The homeland of the Zulu, called the KwaZulu-Natal is a region with very little vegetation (covered with small bushes and grasslands). This subtropical region receives a lot of sunlight year round and the UV rays also add on stress on the Zulu people.

          2. The high amount of UV rays and lack of shade, due to low vegetation, have made the Zulu people adapt via dark pigmentation. The dark pigmentation is created by having higher amounts of melanin, which helps protect the human body from UV rays and prevents radiation damage. Also, most of the Zulu people tend to be tall and slim. This physical characteristic helps their bodies keep cooler temperatures and protect them from the hot temperatures of the African continent. Like the majority of people of African descent, the Zulu people have hair which allows them to keep cooler body temperatures.

         3. As seen through many pictures, it is evident that the Zulu people wear the most minimal amount of clothing possible. Some women in the Zulu culture don't conceal their breasts. All this is probably due to the high heat in the region. Therefore, as a culture, they have adapted to allow more nudity in order to adapt to the high temperatures of their homeland.

           4. To society in general, the Zulu people would be considered an Sub-Saharan African race. One usually determines someone's race solely based on their physical appearance. However, we must take into consideration cultural aspects as well. In this case, the Zulu people have many characteristics, both physically and culturally, that most people would consider African.

Population B: The Andean Indians
         1. The Andean Indians live in the Andean region of the South American continent. The Andes are a "mountainous chain" that ranges from Colombia to the Southern tip of Argentina. Due to the extensive range of land this region covers, the weather changes with respect to the geographical location. The majority of the Andean Indians tend to live in the higher altitudes of the Andes.

       2. Due to the high altitude of their homeland, the Andean indians have built the lung capacity to survive in such altitudes, up to 9,000 feet above sea level. Most people would not be able to live in such high altitudes. Also, the Andean people have had to adapt to the extremely cold temperatures in the Andes during the winter season.

       3. In order to keep warm, the Andean clothing tends to be made of wool and other thick/warm substances.Because of this, people in the Andean region breed llamas and other animals that can provide warm clothing. As mentioned before, the Andean Indians live on the Andes Mountain Range, which reaches high altitudes. In order to harvest food, the Andean people have had to learn to farm on mountains and tight spaces.

       4. Personally I would consider the Andean Indians as an indigenous, or Native American, of Latin America. The Andean Indian people have customs similar to those that were observed in ancient "Latin-American" civilizations, such as the Aztecs, Mayans, Wayuu, and more closely to the Incas of Peru.

Summary:
         As an anthropologist, I think it is important to study both physical and cultural aspects of people. In order to understand a culture more, we should study all aspects of it and what contributed to its development. In my opinion, the environment plays a big role in how a peoples' culture develops. Therefore, I think environment provides an explanation as to why people in the same region have similar customs and physical appearances. However, one should not assume that because two different people look like each other are also exactly the same culturally.

Sources:
http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/climate.htm
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Zulu.html
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/aflang/zulu/culture.html
http://www.zulu-culture-history.com/
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0028672.html
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Andean+Indian
http://www.native-languages.org/andean-culture.htm