Give details of human adaptation in tropical monsoon climate.
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LIFE IN SUBTROPICAL AND MONSOON REGIONS How East Coasts Differ from West Coasts in Latitudes to half the people of the earth live between latitudes and In these latitudes each continent shows a strong contrast between a sparse population on the west side and a dense popula tion on the east. This is because the west has its rainy season in winter, and is driest in summer, while the east receives its rains in summer. In each case the dry season is due chiefly to the subtropical belt of high pressure. The winter rains of the west coast regions are due to the invasion of cyclonic storms. The relatively dry and sparsely populated west coasts are called subtropical. The summer• rains of the east coast regions, on the other hand, are caused by a similar invasion of the subtropical belt by the monsoons which aid the trade winds in bringing moisture from the ocean. Hence the relatively moist and populous east coasts may all be called monsoon regions. In general the corresponding parts of the various continents in similar latitudes have the same kind of climate except where this is modified by the size, shape, and relief of the lands and by ocean cur rents.
Where Subtropical and Monsoon Regions are Located.—In Eu rasia the comparatively dry subtropical regions comprise southern Spain and Portugal, southern Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Persia, to which should be added the neighboring parts of North Africa border ing the Mediterranean Sea. These, it will be seen, include practically all the most famous empires of antiquity, such as Rome, Greece, Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, and Carthage. The corresponding populous !monsoon regions on the east side of Eurasia are the great Indo-Gan getic plains of India, and most of China Proper. These, too were the seats of ancient civilizations.
In South Africa the tapering of the continent brings the subtrop ical and monsoon regions so close together that both are included in the Union of South Africa. Yet the contrast between the dry sub tropical region of the west coast around Cape Town and the wet mon soon region of the east coast around Durban in Natal is scarcely less than between Greece and China, for example. In Australia the two
regions are much farther apart, but the contrast is much the same as in South Africa. Western Australia is so dry that its population is only one in three square miles, while in Queensland and New South Wales on the east the rains are so favorable that the population is twenty times more dense.
In the western hemisphere the dry subtropical regions of northern Chile contrast strongly with the wet monsoon or trade wind region of southern Brazil and Uraguay. In our own country California and Utah share many of the qualities of the Mediterranean subtropical regions, while Georgia and the neighboring States have the monsoon qualities of abundant summer rain and a fairly dense population.
A Subtropical Region Contrasted with a Monsoon Region.—Let us compare a typical subtropical and a typical monsoon region and see how they differ. Suppose a friend should ask you about the famous Turkish province of Aleppo and the equally famous Chinese province of Shantung on opposite sides of Asia in latitude to N. Could you tell which has the greater population; which would be a better field for a big irrigation project; or which would offer a better market for reaping-machines, leather, hoes, or cotton cloth? Could you tell in which place one could buy horses, camels, or sheep, or in which new varieties of pigs or watermelons might be found? When you understand the difference between subtropical and mon soon climates, you will easily answer these questions and many others with no help beyond a good map.
A Visit to a Typical Subtropical Region.—Suppose you were to land at Alexandretta in August and proceed inland to Aleppo, the capital of the province of the same name. You could easily hire a carriage for the dusty drive of 60 or 70 miles, but it would be more interesting to travel on horseback along one of the many trails. The mountains, which must first be crossed, are covered with typical subtropical vegetation. Sometimes it is scrubby dry forest. Else where it is grass so dry and barren that you wonder what supports the flocks of sheep that follow the ragged shepherd boys as they pipe on shrill, wooden flutes.