Plain (geography)
A plain, in geographical terms, is a broad, predominantly flat land area, and it represents one of the Earth's major landforms, covering over one-third of the planet's land area. Plains can be found on every continent and vary significantly in characteristics and ecosystems. They include temperate grasslands, known as prairies in North America and steppes in Eurasia, as well as tropical savannas like the Serengeti. Plains can also be categorized based on their formation processes, such as floodplains and alluvial plains, which are often rich in nutrients and suitable for agriculture due to sediments deposited by rivers.
Historically, plains have played a crucial role in human civilization, such as in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley, where fertile floodplains enabled the development of agriculture and urban societies. Additionally, vast open spaces on plains have facilitated trade routes, migrations, and cultural exchanges, exemplified by the Silk Road across Central Asia. In North America, the Great Plains were central to the cultures of Indigenous peoples, supporting nomadic lifestyles based on the hunting of large game like bison. Overall, the diverse types and features of plains significantly influence ecological systems, human activity, and cultural development globally.
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Plain (geography)
A plain is a broad, mostly flat land area. Plains constitute one of the world’s major landforms. Covering more than one-third of the land area on Earth, they are found on every continent. As such, they vary considerably. Like other geographic entities, they have shaped cultures throughout the ages.
Plains are not limited to Earth’s landmass but also exist deep beneath the oceans. Called abyssal plains, they are 16,000 to 23,000 feet (5,000 to 7,000 meters) below sea level. In addition, plains exist on other planets and moons in the solar system, Mercury and Mars being two notable examples.
Background
The Great Plains, located in the midwestern United States between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, are temperate grasslands, large expanses with very few or no trees where grasses are the dominant vegetation. These grasses are tall where there is at least some precipitation in the form of rain or snow and short in arid and semiarid regions. In North America, these dry plains are known as prairies; in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, they are known as steppes. The Eurasian steppe is the largest of these plains. Tropical plains (grasslands) are found in warmer climates; they are known as savannas, the most famous being the Serengeti. Some plains receive less than ten inches (twenty-five centimeters) of precipitation per year; such areas are known as deserts. A desert can be in a very warm area, such as parts of the Sahara, or a very cold region, such as the permanently frozen Arctic reaches of Eurasia known as tundra.
Plains can be formed in many different ways, including erosion by wind, water, or ice. Rivers erode the soil along their banks and deposit it downstream, forming floodplains and alluvial plains. Floodplains are formed when a river overflows; soil and other materials are carried away from the river and deposited, then left behind when the waters recede. This action is usually repeated over time. The soil of a floodplain is usually extremely fertile, supporting a highly diverse ecosystem in addition to agriculture. Because these areas are prone to repeated flooding, they are not suitable for large human settlements; in the past, towns and cities built on floodplains have had to be relocated.
An alluvial plain differs from a floodplain because the river carries and deposits sediment downstream. As with floodplains, alluvial soil is rich in nutrients, making it suitable for agriculture. Coastal plains are formed over long periods as rivers deposit soil in oceans; eventually, these deposits build up large, flat areas above sea level. A coastal plain can also form when large, flat sections are exposed by receding water or melting ice. Glaciers are also an eroding force, as the force of gravity moves the ice, which takes away the surrounding rock and soil and deposits them at lower altitudes when the ice melts.
Overview
The floodplains of the ancient Near East provide an example of the influence of plains on the growth of human civilization. Historians and archaeologists refer to Mesopotamia, an area bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq, as the “cradle of civilization” and the “Fertile Crescent.” People living in the southern Mesopotamian region of Sumer harnessed the rivers for agricultural purposes; eventually, their farming became sufficiently developed to support cities. The ancient Sumerians are credited with the invention of the wheel and the earliest examples of writing, which was used to facilitate agriculture and the running of cities such as Ur. The Nile Valley and Nile Delta are at the other end of the Fertile Crescent. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Egypt was “the gift of the Nile”; indeed, the floodplains along the Nile River enabled the agriculture that allowed large, complex settlements to flourish in Egypt.
Large, open areas encouraged overland trade and transport, and with them the spread of culture and technology. The Silk Road, started around 200 Before the Common Era (BCE), crosses the steppes of Central Asia. Travel on the Silk Road peaked between the seventh and ninth centuries before declining in the late fifteenth century. The region’s wide, open spaces also facilitated conquests such as those by the Mongols under Genghis Khan (1162–1227). Equestrian culture remains very important to the people in this area, especially among the nomadic peoples of Mongolia. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, these vast open spaces served as Soviet and Russian spaceports. Likewise, the level areas surrounding the Sahara Desert allowed for trade among the kingdoms of West, East, and North Africa; the flatness of the area also fostered the conquests of Sundiata Keita (1217–55) and the founding of the kingdom of Mali.
The Great Plains is the largest plain in North America. The flatness of this vast region gave rise to the nomadic lifestyles of the Plains Indigenous Americans, such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Mandan, Pawnee, and Sioux peoples. The area was too arid for farming, but it supported large herds of bison and other migrating large game hunted for food. In the nineteenth century, the artist George Catlin (1796–1872) documented the detrimental effects of European settlement on the Great Plains and its inhabitants.
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