PROMPT: To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.
Many people travel the major cities of the world in hopes that they will acquire knowledge about various countries and cultures. There is often more to a society than the major cities can provide. Therefore, in order to fully understand a society, men and women must travel to rural areas where characteristics and traits are preserved.
To truly understand the culture and society requires one to value the indigenous populations. Based on traditions and customs passed down from generation to generation, indigenous peoples carry the oldest principles of their society. Populations of indigenous people very often live in rural areas that were once thriving cities within a country. While the rest of the world is busy evolving, these rural populations are continuing to demonstrate true character through their resiliency and trust in aged practices.
Every population has basic needs to be met in order to thrive. In the most fundamental sense, human populations need food and water for life. Because of the need for physical nourishment, one cannot overlook the agrarian aspect of any society. Today, one must look at rural areas of countries to find the populations who tend the land and provide the agricultural necessities rather than the major cities where imported goods are widespread.
Additionally, tourism negatively affects the major cities of societies. As seen throughout history, tourism and exploitation brought disease and famine to many cities. Not only did cities perish because of these difficulties, there were changes in practices and traditions brought by the tourists. Many of the changes in practices caused natives and their characteristics to be eradicated.
While much of the society is preserved in smaller, rural cities, it is true that there must be something of value in the major cities to attract swarms of visitors and scholars who desire to learn about the society. However, this may not necessarily be true in the modern world where the characteristics of a society are probably limited to its rural areas.
