People in the Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 484

Himalaya and Andes, physiological density may be high while arithmetic density in the
region is low. In the Alps, with an area of 190,568 km 2 , the population is about 14 mil-
lion people, giving an arithmetic density of 73 inhabitants/km 2 . However, as only 17.3
percent of the Alpine area is suitable for permanent settlement, the physiological dens-
ity is 414 inhabitants/km 2 , comparable to other densely populated regions in Europe
(Tappeiner et al. 2008). In a growing number of regions throughout the mountain world,
both physiological and arithmetic densities are high as a result of urbanization and life-
styles that place demands on resources that far exceed the available resources of the
region, creating large ecological footprints (Cole and Sinclair 2002).
The geography of mountain people may be described on the basis of their numbers
and period of habitation. In mountain areas in the tropics and subtropics, such as the
Andes, East African highlands, and South and Southeast Asian highlands, there are
some relatively large, agriculturally based populations that have been in place for long
periods of time (Fig. 10.2). In contrast, in the North American Cordillera, for example,
large areas have been inhabited more sparsely by mobile people engaged in hunting,
gathering, and fishing. These differences are important, but are insufficient for of a full
understanding of mountain people today. As knowledge has advanced, we have come
to know that, at one time, North American mountain areas supported relatively dense
populations and that the region has been inhabited for over 30,000 years. In the Andes,
large and dense populations with complex socioeconomic systems once inhabited areas
which now support only small, mobile populations (Funnell and Parish 2001; Mann
2006). Populations have waxed and waned in response to global forces such as the in-
troduction of new and highly productive crops, such as maize and the potato, and the
arrival of devastating infectious diseases, like smallpox and measles. Even with spa-
tial and temporal variability and diversity among mountain populations and cultures, a
close relationship with the environment and resulting livelihood opportunities and lim-
itations have been important to mountain people (Rhoades 1979). By adapting to and
altering environmental conditions, distinctive populations, cultures, languages, forms of
governance, and economies have developed in the mountains. Today, many other global
forces are impacting mountain people and, while distinctions and artifacts of the past
are important and valuable, a more dynamic or process-oriented approach is needed for
a full understanding of people in the mountains.