Natural and economic resources are distributed differently in different societies, depending upon several different factors, including the culture of the society, location of its resources, type of government, and the population density and distribution. Some cultures are nomadic in nature, moving around the countryside as resources become depleted, whereas others are more stable and cultivate the land to provide for the continuation of resource availability in one location. Some cultures are primarily agrarian, whereas others are primarily urban. Cultures may be isolated and relatively self-sufficient, and others may depend on trade to buy scarce resources and disperse resources which they have in abundance. The amount of control the government exerts over a region affects the distribution of resources and wealth.
Natural resources are needed to provide food, water, and shelter in primitive cultures, whereas most of these elements are provided, or at least administered by the government in more urban environments. A culture exists where societies following similar lifestyles inhabit a region (Haviland 34). There is division of labor between men and women in all cultures, and there are customs and rules as to who does what type of work, and how (Haviland 184). There may be geographical and climatic variations in the region which will cause differences in the use and distribution of resources in different areas within the cultural region. Technological developments will vary in different areas because the conditions existing in different areas favor the use of different technologies, e.g. slash and burn farming, and raising cattle.
The oldest form of human adaptation to the resources available is food foraging, where people tend to live in small groups and move as resources are depleted (Haviland 159). In such cultures, there is usually a division of labor between the scavengers and the hunters. Life revolves around...