The equator cuts the continent in half, and the rainforest is along the equator. Tropical climates occur around the equator because this area receives direct or relatively direct insolation (incoming solar radiation) for the entire year (Figure 4.4b&4.4c).

Some of us might see a downtrodden, impoverished woman forced simultaneously to care for her child and to farm with simple tools. Others might interpret the tree-filled field in the background as a sign of backwardness, of potential farmland unused, or the fallen wood behind her as evidence of deforestation.

In Africa South of the Sahara, women produce roughly 70 percent of the food. The woman photographed here is farming peanuts that she will use in her family's meals or sell at the market. Why the simple farming implement? She uses a short-handled hoe because these are heavy clay soils, making long-handled hoes less effective. A motorized plow would destroy the soils in this area after only a few years of use.

San had more time for leisure, slept more, ate a more balanced diet, and worked less than their “more developed” farming neighbors. The San and other hunter-gatherers around the world know where they can find different resources, including food, shelter, and water, during the course of the year, and they migrate seasonally and purposely to find resources necessary for survival

The San people of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa are one remaining such group. What thoughts come to mind when you see a picture of hunter-gatherers? Most Westerners see such groups as primitive, backward, or underdeveloped. We may think of hunter-gatherers as “less developed” than city dwellers in New York or London. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we likely place people on a continuum of development, a scale typically linked to indicators of material well-being. What criteria do we use to measure development in our mind, and why do we use these criteria? Development implies progress, but progress in what? Does development mean amassing wealth? Does development mean access to clean water and a steady food supply? Can people be poor and developed at the same time? While we may perceive hunter-gatherers as primitive or underdeveloped, hunter-gatherers necessarily worse off than we are? Studies suggest that one group of San spent 12 to 19 hours per week working to obtain food as compared to the 40-some-hour workweek of most people in the so-called developed world.