About Human Habitats.

Abstract

Habitat is essentially a biological definition, “the natural environment characteristically occupied by a particular organism; an area distinguished by the set of organisms, which occupy it” and “one's dwelling place or usual surroundings” (1). In short, it is a synthesis of a place and its inhabitants. It follows that interaction between the inhabitants and their surroundings is a two-way process. Natural and/or architectural environments influence behaviors and create specific rituals, leading to the emergence of particular subcultures. Habitat is a major contributor to people's self-identities through geographical, linguistic, professional, or indeed national factors. Importantly, habitats also include history and tradition. Artists have shown different human habitats through portraits, architectural drawings, and landscapes. They created sophisticated depictions of habitats, not necessarily limited by geography. Take for instance, the 17th century genre paintings by the Le Nain brothers, Antoine (ca. 1599–1648), Louis (ca. 1593–1648), and Mathieu (1607–1677), that pictured the rural life of the period (2 …