Rivers: A Very Short Introduction
Nick Middleton
Language: English
Pages: 152
ISBN: 0199588678
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Rivers have acted as cradles for civilization and agents of disaster; a river may be a barrier or a highway, it can support trade and sediment, culture and conflict. This Very Short Introduction is a celebration of rivers in all their diversity. Geographer Nick Middleton covers a wide and eclectic range of river-based themes, from physical geography to mythology, to industrial history and literary criticism. Offering a truly global look at rivers, with examples from all continents, including Egypt, India, and Bangladesh, Middleton considers the role that rivers have played in human history from settlements and trade to warfare, and also looks at the human impact upon rivers by the construction of dams and cutting of channels.
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measure by which the Amazon is not generally regarded as the greatest of all rivers is length. It is comfortably the longest in the Americas, but most authorities place the Nile at the top of the world list. However, the difficulties in measuring the length of a river mean that debate on the matter will undoubtedly continue (see above). The Onyx: an unusual river The longest river in Antarctica, the River Onyx is just 32 kilometres in length and is in many respects quite different from
is incorporated into often elaborate memorial rituals. ‘Freeing the water’ of the deceased is a rite that provides water to the dead person for use in the afterlife. The ritual, which varies in detail from village to village, usually involves a child bringing river water to certain houses. In the Bulgarian village of Leskovec, the child is a girl who then returns to the Danube with several women where they lay down a tablecloth on the riverbank and set out a meal consisting of boiled wheat and
to lure people, horses, or cattle into a river to drown. There are numerous regional variations to the kappa and its behaviour, but one of its most common traits is an affinity for cucumbers (frequently thought of as a symbol of fertility). In some parts of Japan, it is believed that anyone eating a cucumber before swimming will certainly be attacked by a kappa, although in other areas it is a way to ensure protection against kappa attack. Either way, many festivals associated with kappa include
important role in the industrialization of Sweden thanks to the rapid development of an export-oriented forest industry, based on sawmills and later pulp mills. Sweden was able to supply a growing demand for sawn wood and square timber in the industrially developing economies of Western Europe from her forests in the remote northern parts of the country. Timber felling was possible over large areas of northern Sweden thanks to the country’s dense network of tributaries and main rivers which
profound spiritual change in the voyager, a mission to the very centre of things that cannot find simple answers to the questions of human existence. Kurtz’s character remains as enigmatic as the darkness in which he has taken up residence. In each case, the river plays a pivotal role, in Conrad’s words, as a conduit for the ‘dreams of men’ and the ‘germs of empires’. Chapter 5 Tamed rivers The servitude of rivers is the noblest and most important victory which man has obtained over the
