The Geography of Mountain Civilizations

Human development tends to cluster on low plains and gently rolling hills, weaving around mountains and high elevations. But in many parts of our world, this pattern is reversed. There are many places where dense human populations, cities, and roads cluster along mountains and high plateaus. Where are these mountain civilizations, and why do they exist?
Video sources: Daniel Davis (creator)
Image Sources:
Wikipedia commons: Adriana Berenice Avila Caballero, JP Bennett, Keith Gandy, Katja Schulz, EEJCC, Omar Monroy, Raul Ignacio, Geoff, Jamain, Pavljenko.
Flickr Creative Commons: Rod Waddington, Luc Legay, Jason Hickey.
NASA Earth Observatory
Information Sources:
Global and country-level estimates of human population at high altitude. Journal of Anthropology. Joshua C. Tremblay, Philip A. Ainslie. April 26th, 2021.
Hypsographic demography: The distribution of human population by altitude. APPLIED PHYSICAL SCIENCES. Joel E. Cohen and Christopher. November 24, 1998
Continental Physiography, Climate, and the Global Distribution of Human Population. Christopher Small and Joel E. Cohen. Current Anthropology. Vol. 45, No. 2 (April 2004), pp. 269-277 (9 pages). The University of Chicago Press.
Huddleston, Barbara; Ataman, Ergin; Fè d’Ostiani, Luca (2003), Towards a GIS-based analysis of mountain environments and populations, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, retrieved 2019-05-28
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (sedac), NASA, Columbia University.
NOAA
Servicio Meteorológico Nacional
World Meteorological Organization
Rebecca L. Green (1997). Merina (Madagascar). The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 20.
Gwyn Campbell (2005). An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120-124.
Smith, C. E.; Stephens, S. G. (1971). "Critical identification of Mexican archaeological cotton remains". Economic Botany.
Evolution of milk production systems in tropical latin America and its interrelationship with markets: An analysis of the Colombian case. Livestock Research for Rural Development. September 2003. F. Holmann, Lili Rivas, Juan Evangelista, Carulla, B. Rivera.
Clutton-Brock, J. (1999) [1987]. "Asiatic cattle". A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals (Second ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 85
Optimal temperature for malaria transmission is dramatically lower than previously predicted. NIH National Library of Medicine. Erin A Mordecai 1, Krijn P Paaijmans, Leah R Johnson, Christian Balzer, Tal Ben-Horin, Emily de Moor, Amy McNally, Samraat Pawar, Sadie J Ryan, Thomas C Smith, Kevin D Lafferty
IPCC (1998). Modeling the Impact of Climate Change on Dengue. Reports--Assesment Reports. Retrieved 2022, from ipcc.ch
USA.gov. (2022, June 8). Malaria. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/index.html
Johansson MA, Arana-Vizcarrondo N, Biggerstaff BJ, Staples JE. Incubation periods of Yellow fever virus. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Jul;83(1):183-8. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0782. PMID: 20595499; PMCID: PMC2912597.
Alto BW, Bettinardi D. Temperature and dengue virus infection in mosquitoes: independent effects on the immature and adult stages. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Mar;88(3):497-505. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.12-0421. Epub 2013 Feb 4. PMID: 23382163; PMCID: PMC3592531.
Campbell KM, Lin CD, Iamsirithaworn S, Scott TW. The complex relationship between weather and dengue virus transmission in Thailand. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Dec;89(6):1066-1080. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0321. Epub 2013 Aug 19. PMID: 23958906; PMCID: PMC3854883.
IUSS Working Group WRB: World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, Update 2015. World Soil Resources Reports 106, FAO, Rome 2015.
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Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World. Laurence C. Smith PhD, 2020.

[@Honeybadger_525]

Great video! You do an excellent job summarizing all of the ecological benefits of building a civilization at higher elevations (at least in the tropics). One thing I would add though is that civilizations that develop at higher elevations often seem to have military advantages over lowland civilizations such as the Inca. The former is often able to conquer the lowlands but lowland civilizations often struggle to conquer the highlands. I suspect the rugged terrain proves strategic for defending armies compared to flat plains. Any other thoughts on that idea?

[@casualearth9076]

Yep, this is a great point and one that was on my list. I found this specific point difficult to summarize, so I left that for another time. But I’m glad the commenters have highlighted it. As you've mentioned, this factor was critical in the early formation of the most famous mountain civilization, the Inca empire.

[@swayback7375]

I’d guess it lead to more hardy people and eliminated weaker early in life. Lowland stronghold isn’t really a thing, highlands naturally well defended in a way that give defense advantages and disadvantages to advancing

[@namm0x326]

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[@trevorbacon1280]

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[@Transilvanian90]

​@@TheJoker-dj4yq His comment was relevant, well thought-out and brought an important point to the discussion. Unlike yours, which is just negative whining. Who asked YOU to comment this useless attack?

[@asormadeira]

Your channel is criminally underrated

[@casualearth9076]

Thanks, that means a lot!

[@NickC-Ohio]

I totally agree! I love your matter-of-fact style of content and method of summary. Please keep it going the people will flock to your channel once the algorithm, in her infinite wisdom, blesses you with more traction.

[@jimmytheradical]

He must be re-educated through violence, compassionate and reassuring violence

[@viper_fan]

There is no law in the world about videos being underrated. So you basically told a lie.

[@bgoggin88]

CRIMINAL

[@smae433]

I also appreciate you don't have insidious music in the background. Your sound is clear and clean.

[@diegoreckholder945]

As a Guatemalan myself, it struck me hard the intro of the video. I really, really, don't asociate civilization with lowlands. All the contrary, it's in the mountains. It was the weirdest feeling I had today, while watching a KZbin video 😅🤣

[@TheSpecialJ11]

I recently took a bus ride from Morelia to Mexico City, and I could have sworn I was in the countryside of southern Poland with the rolling green hills. I was above 6,000 feet ASL but barely experienced elevation change from Morelia to Mexico City. A verdant highland plateau indeed.

[@An-kw3ec]

In mexico, the half outside the tropics and subtropical highlands are all part of the neoartic realm, so most animals and plants there descent from northern latitudes. Actually, it's the country with most Pine and Oak species. You will only find native tropical plants in the lowlands of the south

[@nicholasfairhurst356]

I'm from Guatemala, and I wanted to thank you so much for including so much footage from my country! Your videos are incredible!!

[@michaelroark2019]

A different dimension in examining highlands is their configuration. Most mountains are produced by plate tectonics which creates ranges or a linearity of the mountains. This enhances interaction with surrounding lowlands because of a narrower pattern resulting in a proximity to the lowlands. This would be the case in Guatemala or much of Latin America. The most difficult highland environment is a massif which is a block of mountains. The most famous being the Massif Central of France which funnels transportation to its sides. I live on the edge of a massif, the Olympic peninsula of Washington state. There are no interior transportation passages through the mountain block except for a few foot trails. The difficulty of travel was so great that parts of the interior were unexplored until the latter part of the 1800's. All transport routes are along the edges. A great video and thought provoking ideas. I was a Professor of Geography for 32 years so my compliment would be more meaningful than some. I hope that you can pursue more geography studies. It is a neglected subject, sadly today.

[@BN.ja05]

Colombia is such a good example of everything said on the video, the 3 main cities are all located atop the branches of the Andes mountains or on nearby valleys, despite Colombia being the only country on South America with coasts (and importantly islands) on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A pretty similar situation occured before the arrival of europeans since the most advanced civilizations were also found high on the mountains, whether over the Andes (Muisca confederation, and other chibcha ethnic groups) or the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a coastal massif system where the Lost city of the Tayronas and settlements from other indigenous peoples are still located on.

[@victoralvesdearaujo6242]

maybe because de people that come to America comes from the Bering Strait, a pretty cold region. so people here tends to live in more temperate climates, In Brazil for example, the biggest city by far in the country, São Paulo, is also elevated from the sea and is the 3th cooler capital city of the country

[@Kiefsti]

KZbin just recommended you on my front page, I've now power watched all your videos and am hungry for more!

[@casualearth9076]

Thanks! Great to hear.

[@ResearchNational]

Uhhh where has this channel been all my life. The KZbin algorithm is clearly broken for taking a year to suggest this channel.

[@niels.online]

bc materialist historical explanations have been p disavowed in almost all discourse over the last decade these videos are truly so nice to watch

[@---iv5gj]

Here is a viewpoint from mainland asia: The area that is Southwest China, NorthEast India, Northern thailand, Northwest Vietnam etc. Is a very rugged and mountainous region of asia (just look at a relief map). There exist a dozens upon dozens of unique cultures all with rich history. The case here is that most of these cultures migrated upwards from lower lying regions from the neighbouring countries. Often fleeing from massive wars, natural disasters and the likes. In fact the Thai peoples were one such famous group that made all the way from central china and eventually formed their own kingdom in modern thailand. Alot of mountain cultures also found their mountainous homeland easy to defend and resist outside influences, such as the Qiang, Tibetan, Miao, Wa etc.

[@marcelogouveia9614]

I'm truly grateful and amazed with the outrageous depth of knowledge and experience that you instill in your videos. As an airline pilot, I've had a basic knowledge about weather and geography. More recently, I started researching about ocean currents and their effects upon several small-scale and large-scale weather patterns. Thank you so much for your passion and dedication to such wonderful subjects!

[@smae433]

Thank you, Daniel, for an excellent presentation. I love your channel and learn so much, often diving deeper using your footnotes. Thank you for everything.

[@o_o8203]

Monte Alban, one of the oldest cities in Mesoamerica (which is now an archeological site), was built on a leveled mountaintop 👍🏽

[@shvydryhailo646]

how do you level a mountaintop?

[@canofsouls282]

@@shvydryhailo646effort

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

​@@shvydryhailo646wind erotion.

[@gabrielstanford5370]

When Casual Earth said "downstream consequences" while showing a vid of a stream going down... I felt that.

[@menmenm]

Just what I needed on a hot record heat day :)

[@andybandyb]

GREAT WORK! I’m a disease ecologist and you really explain these patterns nicely. On top of the human parasite issues, the European cattle breeds do poorly in the face of tropical diseases too, compared to the hearty-in-lowlands Zebu origin stock. It’s disease all the way down 👍

[@zacthebold5136]

I really hope this channel takes off 🙏 it's really great content dude. You're telling me about things I have wondered about for years but never could get any satisfying answers to.

[@nickmwihia441]

Love that I learnt something new about my home country (Kenya) here

[@trustnugget280]

Does the ability to defend oneself in more diffult to traverse landscapes high up in the mountains play a role?

[@casualearth9076]

That was also an interesting idea I considered exploring. It's definitely a very relevant factor in defense.

[@nunyabiznes33]

Possibly. The peoples the Spanish failed to assimilate here in the Philippines live up the mountains.

[@mushroomsteve]

@@nunyabiznes33 Same with the Inca Empire in Macchu Pichu, which was not even known to the Europeans until the 20th century.

[@skyleonidas9270]

No, because when the plains have a more hospitable climate civilization chooses the planes every time, the only reason to live in the mountains is to escape the tropical climate which brings disease to humans, crops and animals

[@joeykitty8678]

Hey. Just wanted to say I'm a huge geography nerd, and you make some of the best videos on the topic I've ever seen, covering topics I even haven't seen on some other channels (and I watch many geography channels) And you deserve more subscribers! I actually subscribed a while ago. Like... last year? Or whenever you made the video about Siberian trees, I think it was? I actually kinda forgot about this channel for a bit, but I remembered that I was subscribed thank God, and I checked. I'll keep being here, and keep up the good work! Cheers!! :)

[@noahrich5305]

Phenomenal video as always!

[@hectorcardenas2171]

Beautiful highlands of central Mexico. I tell to people of the midwest US that in summer, it is quite cool in the Mexican highlands.

[@avrivah1101]

Another excellent video. You're killing it, kid. Keep up the good work.

[@Ridcally]

I think I might like tropical mountain climate, thanks

[@introtwerp]

Yes it's perfect

[@camilogonz9062]

Yes, you can choose which altitudinal belt suits best your desires, and have this mild climate year round

[@hectorcardenas2171]

Life is beautiful there, indeed.

[@nolankelley7349]

This channel is my new obsession, please keeping pumping out incredible content!!

[@LukeFromLasVegas]

Another great video. ⛰

[@steinwellsmitters9291]

I’ve already recommended Vollmann on this channel but I’m gonna hammer it in once more. In his Seven Dreams series, a now unfinished septology about the collision and interaction between Europeans and native Americans, one of the major things that consumes his writing is how the land that we originate from defines us as individuals and cultures. I’d definitely recommend his series to anyone watching this channel religiously. The novels are long and dense yet unmatched in its niche of historical literature only by James A. Michener.

[@MikeS29]

I just found your channel and subscribed. Excellent no-hype presentation style with informative graphics and photos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@anubissnewbus9944]

love your videos !!!!

[@TimRobertsen]

Your videos are phenomenal!

[@knightsebas]

Quito mentioned. Enjoy spring every morning and night the whole year 🥶

[@TheDkMovie]

I find myself constantly losing fovus to stop and think about what you're saying or google more info. This channel could not be more interesting. Keep it up!

[@anonymousOrangutan]

i learned so much thru your video! thanks for awakening an interest i didnt know i had (:

[@Androbott]

"Qué sabes de cordilleras Si tú naciste tan lejos? Hay que conocer la piedra Que corona al ventisquero Hay que recorrer callado Los atajos del silencio Y cortar por las orillas De los lagos cumbrereños Mi padre anduvo su vida Por entre piedras y cerros...." song arriba en la cordillera

[@Androbott]

What do you know about cordillera? If you were born so far? You have to know the stone that crowns the snowdrift You have to walk quietly The shortcuts of silence And cut along the edges of the cumbrero lakes My father walked his life Through stones and hills....

[@hectorcardenas2171]

Beautiful.

[@fudgemonkeys5896]

I love the video topics you choose and presentation style. Keep it up dude

[@edwardkuenzi5751]

Its almost like people preffer the same sort of climate regardless of where they were born.

[@Luckie_7]

I forgot the password on my old account and now I’m like old and am into way different shit and finally the algorithm is showing me things adult me likes

[@beefybuttery8381]

The greatest youtuber of all time

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Great content! Subbing right away

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

Thank you so much ! ! ! 🙂😎👍

[@hassanminbaghdad]

I could listen to your voice for hours

[@H0mework]

Found through KZbin suggestions, subscribed!

[@verysmallcats1374]

Looks like the algorithm finally found your videos; congratulations 🎉🎉🎉

[@koseku3]

basicly whole turkey and iran is above 1000m

[@mushroomsteve]

Lesotho is the only country in the world that has all of its territory above 1000 m.

[@jamesbohlman4297]

Excellent work.

[@Charlesbabbage2209]

Commenting for the algorithm. First class content!

[@henrycarpenter5733]

Nice video. Subscribed. I wish there were more mountain civilizations in fantasy and sci fi novels. In LOTR and the Price of Nothing sagas, the mountains just seem to be barriers between countries, not actual countries in their own rights.

[@jimjimgar1783]

Lovely. Lovely

[@HaloGrndr]

Omg that photo of old madagascar is so beautiful

[@HomoSapiensMember]

really good content!

[@darrelllancaster9554]

Interesting topics, amd very well presented. 🌎

[@Mai-Gninwod]

Hey, this type of video perfectly encapsulates what I am fascinated by. Can you please recommend a good book(s) to get a start on studying this type of geography? Also a video on the iranian plateau??!

[@danwylie-sears1134]

I'm pretty sure that leaching of key elements from soil happens quite a bit faster than "millions of years".

[@wobblyjupiter]

early mountaintop cities were the ancient equivalent of ring door cameras

[@schmechel6888]

20° days and 1° nights is insane!!! I feel for the good people of Toluca 😅

[@elibullockpapa9012]

So many Nashville clips at the beginning. Are you from there?

[@adamgross8554]

Where can I download the awesome image of Mexico at 3:41?

[@xibalbalon8668]

Grear video, should've had more pictures of ruins

[@Ivan_spanish]

in Colombia it is definitly because of weather, living outside of the mountains is horrible.

[@SteppesoftheLevant]

I akwats wondered how some important civilizations came from mountain areas. Ie aztecs, incas, persians, romans, greeks, etc

[@l-nolazck-rn24]

Is actually worth mentioning how the Spanish mainly developed coastal towns into cities or made them. Most of the biggest lowland cities were Spanish, Lima, Buenos Aires, Guayaquil, Cartagena and so on were entirely made by the Spanish. And where the ones they grew the most but in Colombia where they did built and colonized heavily in the andeans. Moreover, the Spanish since the beginning took full control of the most important mountain cities such as Cuzco for example. And even then, they chose to develop their coastal cities more and be them (but in Colombia and partially Venezuela and Mexico) the areas they would colonize the most.

[@piotrberman6363]

Ultimately, with enough food, civilization could occupy either lowlands or highlands, bulk of people lived where the food was grown, and long distance trade involved critical or prestigious products that could be transported by porters (or lamas and mules). Thus mountain trails were sufficient. So the question should be: when it is easier to produce food on higher altitude? It could be the question of crops, weeds, swamps in the lowlands and so on. Also, labor productivity could be higher without scorching heat, in hot humid lowlands one could work hard close to sunrise and sunset. In Maya regions there were both lowland cities and highland cities, and in both cases, creating productive fields required a lot of work, either for terracing or for creating good combination of water access and water drainage (quite intricate), so agriculture was expanding gradually over many centuries. And at some point, intricate lowland society collapsed.

[@Jaggerbush]

I think of the PNW - and I think thats similar. 😊

[@pierre-alexandreclement7831]

❤❤❤❤

[@BracaPhoto]

Soooo it's mainly about the plants and animals - that makes sense 🎉🎉🎉

[@MABfan11]

disappointed you didn't touch on the Sherpa living in the Himalayas, Namche Bazaar and Khumjung have relatively large permanent populations despite their height

[@fergimasta]

Cities in the mountains are more defensible and difficult to conquer.

[@kettelbe]

Dwarf civilization rules!

[@skyleonidas9270]

Yea but the gap between tansport cost on land and water is still huuge, the reason aincient civilizations didnt have a big problem with this is that they barely traded at all, other than luxury goods or in very special circumnstances like when the romans controlled the mediterranean or the egyptians who used the nile

[@baneofbanes]

No ancient civilizations traded quite a bit .

[@skyleonidas9270]

@@baneofbanes Well, what i mean is that they didnt trade comodities that weigh a lot and are very cheap like we do today except in very priviliged conditions of calm and patroled waterways, and you dont have to go to aincient times where the evidence is scarce, as recently as the 16th century heavy stuff like grains, wine, beer, rock, bricks, wood etc was not moved typically very far unless absolutely necessary or because a rich dude wanted to brag

[@kirikanjau5065]

have you visited Kenya

[@RAWBACON99]

you shouldve rhymed in the intro that woulda been sick

[@humbledb4jesus]

nice places...the commute to work is going to take a pack of donkeys with 3 days of supplies and a guide...

[@wbbartlett]

The Geography of Plateau Civilisations. Fixed.

[@1N73RC3P7OR]

You didn't mention something very important: bridges. While terrain is difficult to navigate in the mointains, the ability to build a bridge, which almost all ancient civilization with the exception of Rome lacked, it is even harder to traverse the lowlands. The Thracians were bad at buolding bridges, which is why their civilization evolved on the mountains, as the mountainous path, where rivers were small, offered navigable trading routes. This, combined with the ancient instincti e knowledge, that higher elevation is associated with better health, is one of, of not the main reason for people preffering to live in the mountains.

[@ekszentrik]

That UN definition of mountain people including those living above 300m but rugged terrain feels EXPLICITLY designed to include the Swiss, since most Swiss actually live above 300m but below 600m not at all in the mountains proper, but a rugged hilly plateau. It’s so rugged it still functionally contributes to the mountain civ status. Any definition that excludes iconic mountain people is a bit questionable. Europe is shockingly flat.

[@nycterent8223]

Uhhh maybe they too enjoy living in cooler climates

[@Hydrargyrum8]

Video about mountains, doesn't get mentioned. *Sad Himalayan noises*

[@Random_UserName4269]

Cotton is extremely poor at wicking moisture... this is why we invented Polyester and Nylon

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

@chrisfowler4269 Wow, not in my experience....on hot days, my cotton t-shirts get soaked while anything with even a polyester/cotton blend absorb _nothing_ and just basically act like lubricated plastic tubes (ie. They _reflect_ moisture...)

[@Random_UserName4269]

Cotton absorbs moisture. It does not wick moisture. That’s the worst thing you want. It won’t cool you down and eventually will irritate your skin. Try to run a marathon or hike a mountain in cotton- it’s a really bad idea. Synthetic materials wick moisture. That is they allow it to flow off your skin and evaporate. Once your cotton shirt is soaked- that’s it, no more cooling ability. Your sweat isn’t evaporating, it’s just being held against your skin by a sweaty towel.

[@Random_UserName4269]

Wool also works. Counter-intuitively. Cotton is a poor performing material.

[@radioanon4535]

​@@Random_UserName4269I live in Arizona and only wear cotton. Go on hikes once a weekend. It does just fine. Polyester and nylon are fucking awful to wear here.

[@HomoSapiensMember]

unless supporting CCP's Tibetan annexation, Lhasa is still the highest capital city in elevation

[@aidenstoat5745]

In fact, the Spanish found the high elevations of the Andes hard and moved their capital for the region from Cuzco (the incan capital) to the coast at Lima. So they were doing the opposite of moving people up into the mountains.

[@wintersnowowen2254]

People live at these elevations due to the high temps at sea level surely?

[@Zeyede_Seyum]

As an Ethiopian I love mountains, lowlands are ugly and hot.

[@andrewbrown6522]

Kinda touched on it but not exactly... Water quality.

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

Just FYI, Dengue Fever is pronounced, "DENG-gay"; otherwise, great stuff.

[@KAZVorpal]

Indicus and indica is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable, which is pronounced ee, not short i. So bos in-DEE-cus. Not IN-dih-cus.

[@meneither3834]

You only talked about tropical mountain civilisations. Suprised you didn't even mention Iran or the various Anatolian civilisations.

[@dologongpoloponobonotongpo235]

when you say all over the world you mean just latin america lol

[@casualearth9076]

This video discusses many areas outside Latin America, even if that is a focus.

[@seanthe100]

Latin America has a long history occupying high elevations.

[@levitatingoctahedron922]

>civilization >no written language what's the point of words if you don't use them properly

[@Munja03]

Only problem is you're naming third world countries with disastrous economies & GDP..

[@GemstoneActual]

Excellent presentation, man. I'll pay you money, if you never say blatantly unprovable stuff, like, "Millions of years ago...".

[@totalsoupsloud]

SPEAK UP BRO!!! I cant hear anything!!!

[@rileychu4489]

lol typography or colonialism defending? which one is it fedboy

[@erynn9968]

The beginning is shameful. If you ask a westerner what's the most famous mountain country, I guess the majority would say Switzerland. And the same typical westerner would more likely remember Norway than Bhutan. What economic stereotypes are you talking about?

[@casualearth9076]

The majority of Norway and Switzerland's population does not live at a high elevation.

[@Jaggerbush]

I think of the PNW - and I think thats similar. 😊