Then according to your theory Emperor Penguins must be the most civilised beings on Earth.

Far out theory, bro I'm not a big fan of hot weather either. Hot weather seems to make people more hostile and agressive. And cold weather seems to make people calmer and more creative.

Egypt and South America have pretty warm climates, and they brought forth two of the most advanced civilizations recorded in the ancient world. The Kingdom of Kongo is another well documented civilization that existed in central Africa. This territory lies close to the equator, making it an extremely hot climate. The ancient Congolese civilization had inherited nobility, their citizens paid taxes, they boasted an army of sword-bearers and archers, sat at the center of a wide trade network, wore woven textiles, traded metals and cloth... and all this was developed before their first contact with the Portuguese in the 1400's. All development seems comparable to Europe and Asia of the same time period. The idea of these people being "jungle savages" probably arose gradually after they were converted to Christianity and Europeans began using the population for a source of slaves to trade. A constant barrage of European exploitation, especially by the Belgians, eventually caused a cultural and economic collapse in the area, leading to the impoverished countries of the region today.
I don't think that climate has any bearing on "civilization".. if such a qualifier really needs to matter in the world. My studies in world history have lead me to believe that the phenomenon of the "third world" actually has less to do with the natural tendencies of the people in those countries, and more to do with corruption and exploitation. If you do a little research, you'll find that all of those people were perfectly productive and self-sufficient before they were "civilized".
Also, Finland is a chilly Scandinavian country, and has a really high suicide rate (I think it is declining though). My point is, maybe all that hard work and civilization really gets them down.

Heh, I'd also like to argue that most modern conflicts, including the ones I see on those quoted wikipedia pages, seem to me to be brought about by just a few causes:

1) Border conflicts and civil wars due to the impositions of colonialism.

2) Countries trying to gain independence from said colonial powers.

3) Countries having revolutions against the criminal governments installed by said colonial powers.

4) Colonial powers going back out to reconquer independent nations when they want control of resources.

Did I miss anything? What do you think causes these wars? People felt their hair frizzing up in the heat and just got mad?

Okay, one more thing.. the antebellum South, despite the deplorable institution of slavery, was well known for being gentile.

*takes a breath to go on*

Oh, I think I've made my point. I could write a thesis with my evidence against this hypothesis. I think I'd better stop before I get mad. (It's this heat.. makes me cranky)

Originally posted by Shar_Chi
My own pet theory is that colder climates put man in a separated and adversarial position to nature, which has resulted in our technocratic culture. Warmer climate peoples tend to work with nature where Caucasians develop technology to work against it.

edit: Another related factor to consider in the development of the northern psyche is the impact of scarcity in colder climates as opposed to nature's relative abundance in warmer ones.

[edit on 24-6-2008 by Shar_Chi]

That's a very interesting point. Thanks for your contribution to the discussion. It makes a lot of sense that civilizations that live in very cold climates would have to rely on human intuition and hard work moreso than people who live in a lush, tropical climate where it's easy to let nature provide them with the food they need to sustain themselves and simply spend their days leisurely.

To the Australian who seemed to be upset by my theory, I'd like to assure you that no offense was intended and if you re-read my original post, you'll see that I even acknowledged how Australia and New Zealand are the only countries in the Southern Hemisphere that do not follow this trend. At the time of my writing that, I didn't bother to explore why that is the case, but I've since concluded that Australia and New Zealand don't suffer so harshly from the consequences of a warm climate because their inhabitants are recent descendents from a cold, wet climate - Britain. Natives to that region, however, are known as some of the most savage and primitive people on the planet. Until just a few decades ago, cannibalism and headhunting were exceedingly common and modernization and civilization was still quite foreign.

LovelyDoom's posts were also quite well-thought out and I enjoyed your contribution even though I still do not agree with you. First of all, you bring up the ancient civilizations in Egypt and South America. Personally, I don't believe that these civilizations were indeed much like the way academics claim they were. They did not build their pyramids and other megalithic structures, for example, and the most likely scenario is that advanced beings from another planet provided these civilizations with their astrological knowledge. If the ancient South Americans were so advanced, why did they practice mass human sacrifice to appease their gods whenever the crops were bad? Why were the Spaniards able to defeat them so easily, even with such smaller numbers? If the Egyptians were so great, why did they stay in such a miserable, harsh piece of land? Surely they could have found better territories.

Your post about how most modern conflicts have ties to colonialism doesn't do much to change my opinion either. You have to ask yourself why these people were colonized in the first place - because they were more primitive and unable to defend themselves from superior people who came from COLDER climates. It's human nature to conquer your neighbors and steal their resources if you need them, but the warm climate people never have the will or ability to do so to anyone but each other.

And how can you use the Antebellum South to refute my arguments? Those people were notoriously lazy and unproductive. If they didn't have slaves, nothing would ever get done there and it finally took Northerners carpetbagging and moving down there to set the South on its slow, slow path toward modernity (which is finally nearing its completion now). Just about the only thing they could get fired up about was violence. They fought duels and engaged in passion murders and even worked themselves up into enough of a fury to start a civil war.

[edit on 27-6-2008 by EverythingYouDespise]

I don't have a lot of time but I just want to bring up a question.. you say extraterrestrials introduced the sciences to primitive man, so exactly what did the humans in colder climates come up with on their own that makes them superior?

And I'm not sure how human sacrifice to appease the gods is any worse than hunting for "witches" and "devils" to end bad luck or ensure a place in Heaven, which is what your "advanced civilizations" were doing at the same time.

Thanks for such a prompt reply!

Anyway, I think it's pretty clear that the primitive people visited by ancient astronauts did not fully understand them. After all, they misinterpreted their technology as divinity and while they would imitate their "gods", they didn't really know what they were doing. Therefore, things like the Mayan calendar simply give the appearance of an understanding of astrology - just as the pyramids provide the appearance of Egyptians' technical and mathematical knowledge. The problem is, you assume that these primitives actually created the artifacts left behind.

I'm glad you brought up the foolishness of the Europeans during the Dark Ages because it can actually help to illustrate my point while reminding us of the danger posed by exposure to warm climatic culture.

What was responsible for the Dark Ages? Christianity! But where did that come from?....

The hot Middle East!

send 'em off to Siberia !

teach 'em civilisation already !

Well Greece, Italy and Turkey are considered hot climes, so bang goes your theory.

Hey, I didn't post that stuff about Australia, Australia is awesome.
In fact I love everyone on this Earth, I didn't mean to offend any nationality.. I am American myself, so you see I don't have a leg to stand on if we want to play "Who's the Monster?" but we need to be honest about our problems, where they came from, and how to fix them. What's done is done, I'm working to try to heal the wounds. The sort of speculations like the one from the OP here can only lead to more blame and division, you know?
To me it sort of smacks of "Hey, let's blame the Jews"... a dangerous trend.

o.k nice theroy.

just to add to this, and i guess some will find this strange but..

when ever i holiday nearer to the equator i find the days feel shorter than in little old england, thinking about it as your closer to the equator you would be travelling miles more in the day giving the impresion of doing more so days go quicker. at the poles your days our longer giving more (aparent) time in a slower moving enviroment to conemplate yor decions and be more rational.

Ok its wierd, time is time and maybe i have lost the plot, but its the truth i swear, lmao

That's a really interesting point, Anonymous. I'm not sure what effect the length of the day would have on a culture, but now that you mention it I definitely think it would cause differences. Personally, during the summertime when it seems like it's bright for almost all the time I'm awake (the sun's up by four and doesn't go all the way down until well into the night), I find myself a little less motivated to get anything done. Maybe it's because subconsciously it feels like I've got all the time in the world to do so.