From time to time someone resurrects the faint talk that the inhabitants of hot nations (like the one we are in here) are poorer / more backward / lazy, etc. than in temperate countries because of the climate. You know tropical heat hurts you right?
Tomorrow. Sit down, Claudia.
After hearing this conversation a few times, it was a pleasant surprise to see that a Muslim writer in the 11th century of the Christian era used this exact argument from climate determinism in an inverted form. After all, Europe was cold in its time, in the temperate latitudes of England, Germany, etc. is that close to the Islamic world it was socially, culturally and technologically backward. Check out what he says:
“The other people in this group [o dos bárbaros]who have not cultivated the sciences are more like animals than humans. For those living further north between the last of the seven climates and the limits of the inhabited world, the excessive distance from the sun in relation to the zenith line causes the air to become cold and the sky to become cloudy. Their temperaments are therefore cold, their moods are bloody, their bellies are full, their color is pale, their hair is long and flowing. Hence, they lack the sharpness of understanding and the clarity of intelligence, and they are overcome by ignorance and apathy, poor judgment and stupidity. “
Here the softies are the ones who live in the cold, not the ones who live in hot places. The above words were written by Said ibn Ahmada in the Spanish city of Toledo in 1068.
The world is not turning, dear reader – it is turning over.
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