Discovering shapes through my travels
We've known for a while that nature can have a big impact on writers and artists, it's like a muse that never leaves their side. Very often it is the landscape of their childhood that leaves a lasting impression on their creative imagination, although there are exceptions.
But a newer question is whether nature shapes whole cultures, their languages, their religion, and their mythology. It's like asking if the environment is the parent and culture is the child. Is it just a coincidence that the great monotheisms emerged from the desert?
Or that the most pessimistic theology I know of, that of the Norse gods, developed in the place of the longest darkest winters? It's like asking if nature is the ultimate influencer in shaping a culture's identity.