Geographical theories such as environmental determinism also suggested that tropical environments created uncivilized people in need of European guidance. For instance, American geographer Ellen Churchill Semple argued that even though human beings originated in the tropics they were only able to become fully human in the temperate zone. Tropicality can be paralleled with Edward Said’s Orientalism as the west’s construction of the east as the “other”. According to Siad, orientalism allowed Europe to establish itself as the superior and the norm, which justified its dominance over the essentialized Orient.
Which theory suggested people in the tropics were uncivilized?
environmental determinism environmental determinism environmental determinism environmental determinism environmental determinism