Centers of Innovation. Cultural Diffusion

By no means do innovations originate randomly; rather, they tend to originate in clusters. At frequent intervals throughout history, large numbers of innovations have arisen simultaneously at a single location. Such a location can be termed a center of innovation, or culture hearth (Figure 2-6).

Figure 2-6. Culture Hearths. The culture hearths of about five thousand years ago are the very earliest centers of innovation for which we have evidence. Their defining innovations include such things as agriculture, animal domestication, written record keeping, governing systems, trade, metal-working technology, and some beginning science and mathematics

At any given time, certain places are recognized as centers of innovation with respect to different spheres of life. Today, for example, many innovations in fashion, entertainment, and recreation originate in southern California. Advertisers promote the southern California life-style in selling clothing, sporting equipment, and other products. The dominant role of southern California in fashion and recreational innovation stems from the great popularity of the motion picture and television industries, which have been based in the Los Angeles area for many years. Likewise, the San Francisco to San Jose area is a recognized center of innovation for computers and electronics technology.

This region developed into an innovation center for several reasons. First, many computer-related innovations originated with faculty members of the major universities in the area. Second, the area's physical and cultural environment attracted scientists and engineers. Third, and perhaps most importantly, capital was attracted to the "Silicon Valley," where prospects for further innovation increased already high levels of profit. Today, many other places throughout the United States have attempted to copy Silicon Valley by establishing high-technology industrial centers.

Some cultural traits originate in a single center of innovation and diffuse elsewhere. Others originate independently in two or more places. Writing is an innovation that likely arose at two or more centers of innovation. English and other European languages are written with alphabets in which each symbol stands for a single letter. By contrast, Chinese and many other Asian languages are written with ideographs. Each symbol in Chinese represents a complete word. Because Chinese and Western writing differ so dramatically, it is probable that writing was invented at more than one location.

Whether innovations originated at a single location or whether they originated independently at several places is not always known. Agriculture is a case in point. We do know that the plants and animals that we cultivate commercially today have many different origins. We do not know, however, whether agriculture was invented at each of these locations independently, or if it was invented at one location and subsequently diffused to the others.

Cultural Diffusion. In Chapter 1, we discussed diffusion as the process by which new innovations, technologies, and products spread to new areas. Diffusion is critical to the process of cultural change. New practices diffuse from their areas of origin, generating cultural changes as they are adopted in more and more places.

Geographers ask many questions about the diffusion of cultural innovations. In what ways did innovators promote the use of their innovations'? To what extent were the innovations originally resisted or accepted by different cultural groups? What was the pattern of adoption? How long did the diffusion process take? What cultural changes resulted from the diffusion process?

Both expansion and relocation diffusion can generate cultural change. As we have learned, expansion diffusion results from the adoption of a new innovation by other cultures. Its adoption may in turn cause profound changes in the adopting culture. As indicated in Chapter 1. expansion diffusion depends on the communications of information. Positive information promotes diffusion, whereas negative information retards it.

The settlement of Iceland and Greenland by Viking mariners more than a thousand years ago illustrates the role of information in cultural diffusion. Viking sailors from Norway soon recognized Iceland's agricultural potential. Despite its high latitude. Iceland has a mild climate similar to that of coastal Scandinavia from which its settlers originated. Fearful that too many people would cut into their profits, early explorers named the island Iceland in order to convey a negative image to others who might be thinking of moving there.

On the other hand, the barren and forbidding island of Greenland received its name from Icelandic mariners who wished to promote rather than discourage settlement of that island. Today Iceland is a prosperous, independent country, while the Norwegian settlements in Greenland died out hundreds of years ago.

In contemporary society, cultural diffusion occurs rapidly through modern telecommunications. Moreover, since the spread of cultural innovations to distant areas via expansion diffusion is often highly profitable, we see considerable capital being invested in advertising toward that end. In many cases, expansion diffusion is reinforced by relocation diffusion. The movement of the plains culture from the Indian subcontinent to the Karakorams resulted in the diffusion of several distinctive cultural traits. Relocation diffusion can also trigger expansion diffusion. Exposure to new ideas often encourages people within a given culture to consider new innovations.