Jungle
Jungle refers usually to a dense
forest in a hot climate.
It originated from
Persian word
jangal, meaning wilderness. After the conquest of India by Persia, many languages of the
Indian subcontinent, including
Indian English began using 'jungle' to refer to any wild, untended or uncultivated land, including
forest,
scrub, or
desert landscapes.
Sometimes an urban environment can be called a jungle, as "concrete jungle".
The term may still be used in a technical context to describe the forest
biome rainforest, a forest characterised by extensive
biodiversity and densely tangled
plants such as
trees,
vines,
grasses, and also various
roses. As a forest biome, "jungles" are present in both
equatorial and
tropical climatic zones, and are associated with preclimax stages of the
rainforest.
Some consider the use of the term (which may sometimes be accompanied with
adjectives such as "dark" or "steamy", et cetera), to be not so much a neutral description of a natural habitat as an evocation of a
social construct which is part of the cultural imagination. Many examples of this concept can be found in art and literature: the fanciful jungle paintings of
Henri Rousseau,
Heart of Darkness by
Joseph Conrad,
The Jungle Book by
Rudyard Kipling, and
Tarzan by
Edgar Rice Burroughs.
*
Forest*
Indian Forest*
Rainforest*
Link illustrating Biomes
