Historical Causes of Diffusion (College Board AP® Human Geography): Study Guide

New forms of cultural expression

• Interactions between cultural traits, such as language and religion, can lead to new forms of cultural expression

Creolization

• Creolization is the process of mixing cultural traits between groups, primarily languages, resulting in new cultural forms

  • Haitian Creole combines French and African languages to create a new, distinct language

  • Creole food in New Orleans is a mixture of European and African cuisines that created a unique culinary tradition

Pidgin languages

• A pidgin language is a mixture of two languages that does not function as the native language of any group. Pidgin languages develop when two groups are in close contact but there is no common lingua franca between them

  • Pidgin English exists in multiple contexts, including in India, where multiple languages exist. The simplified pidgin language is used as a shorthand form of communication

Creole

• A creole or creolized language is a language that began as a combination of two other languages and is spoken as the primary language of a group of people

  • Haitian Creole, a combination of French and several West African languages, is an example of a creolized language

  • Creolization is closely linked to acculturation, when one group adopts traits from another, such as in Tex-Mex food (covered in Effects of Diffusion)

Lingua franca

• A lingua franca is a common language used for communication between people whose native languages are different

• A lingua franca develops when cultures interact through trade, empire, or religion, so it is a new form of cultural expression

• Unlike a pidgin, a lingua franca is usually an existing, fully developed language

• Historical examples include:

  • Latin in the Roman Empire and, later, in the Catholic Church and European scholarship

  • Arabic across North Africa and the Middle East, spread by conquest, trade, and Islam

  • Swahili in East Africa, a Bantu language shaped by trade with Arab merchants

• English is today’s global lingua franca. Its characteristics include:

  • far more people speak it as a second language than as a first language

  • it is the main language of international business, diplomacy, science, air travel, and the internet

  • its spread began with British colonialism and continued through US economic and cultural influence

  • it has developed local varieties, such as Indian English

• The spread of English through globalization is covered in detail in Globalization and Diffusion

Colonialism, imperialism, & trade

• Colonialism, imperialism, and trade have all contributed to the diffusion of cultural traits, especially language and religion

• Colonialism is a specific form of imperialism in which one country establishes a settlement in land already developed by another group to impose its own political, economic, and cultural principles on that land

  • Historically, colonization has led to cultural diffusion

• Colonizing powers brought their languages, religions, customs, and cultures with them, and often imposed them on the Indigenous population. 

  • European colonization of the Americas led to the diffusion of Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism)

  • European languages (English, Spanish, and French) diffused to the Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia as a result of colonialism

• However, Indigenous cultures also influenced the colonizing power

• Most often, this led to a blending of cultures and the development of syncretic religions, languages, architecture, and foods

  • Examples of these syncretic traditions are Haitian Creole, Vodou, and blending of architectural traditions

• Colonization has also resulted in the creation of unstable borders, which artificially separated traditional ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious groups

• These borders continue to cause tension into the present day

  • The Berlin Conference of 1884 divided the African continent into colonial territories for European states, imposing artificial borders

• Trade networks such as the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean trade routes spread goods, religions, and technology (e.g. paper and gunpowder)

• Additionally, many countries maintain strong trade relationships with their former colonies

  • France and Algeria, the Netherlands and Indonesia, and Britain and India are all strong trading pairs

  • This is a result of their former colonial relationship.

    • The continued economic dominance of one country over another, especially of a former colonial country over a former colony, is known as neo-colonialism