Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Welcome to the first part of my societies and culture worldbuilding guide series, which is a sort of season 2 of my worldbuilding guide series. These videos build off the physical world building we've already done. Part 1 will include talking about the history of geographic determinism, mapping physiographic regions and cultural-civilization divides, and creating the starting map of our cultural cluster!

NOTE this video was originally uploaded on my channel Madeline James Writes on January 25th, 2024.

Worldbuilding Guide Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn7WXgrNpwt8oacNNCASGpaQ0CMamePla&si=fAvNihY1YEAtmk7o

Worldbuilding Guide Blog: madelinejameswrites.com/worldbuilding-guide

Cultural Divides Blog: madelinejameswrites.com/blog/cultural-divides

Mentioned Links and Books:
Jared Diamond on geographic determinism: jareddiamond.org/Jared_Diamond/Geographic_determinism.html
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Invention of Yesterday by Tamim Ansary
Determinism and Possibilism: A Critical Epistemological Analysis by Jose Alexandre de Quadros

00:00 Intro
03:55 Brief Warning
10:16 Cultural and Civ Barriers
14:62 Technological Ages
17:15 Mapping Physiographic Regions
24:00 Mapping Clusters
25:02 Final Thoughts

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Website: madelinejameswrites.com
Instagram: instagram.com/author_mjames