Biased and inaccurate geography textbooks

Geography textbooks, through which school children obtain an image of the world, may be distorted in different ways. Atlases may minimize the quantitative importance of some regions. Some textbooks emphasize the picturesque, historical features of a country or a culture rather than those of current significance. Others emphasize the importance of the topography or climate of a country as determining its evolution. Textbooks are frequently based on out-of-date material. They may imply that because wooden houses are built, or because the population belongs to a particular culture, that the country is naturally backward.