Scientific honours and awards: Retzius Medal Royal Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, 1950
Mungo Park Medal Royal Scottish Society for Geography, 1951
Bonaparte-Wyse Gold Medal Société de Geographie de Paris, 1951
Kent Kane Gold Medal Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 1952
Honorary Member Geographical Society of Norway 1953, of Peru 1953, of Brazil 1954
Elected Member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, 1958
Fellow of the New York Academy of Science, 1960
Doctor Honoris Causa by Oslo University, 1961
Vega Gold Medal of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, 1962
Lomonosov Medal of Moscow University, 1962
Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal London, 1964
Distinguished Service Award, Pacific Lutheran University, 1966
Member of the American Anthropological Association, 1966
Kiril i Metodi Award of the Geographical Society of Bulgaria, 1972
Honorary Professor of the Instituto Politecnico de la Universidad Nacional, Mexico, 1972
International Pahlavi Environment Prize, United Nations, 1978
Doctor Honoris Causa USSR Academy of Science, 1980
Bradford Washburn Award, Boston Museum of Science, USA, 1982
Doctor Honoris Causa Universidad San Martin, Lima, 1991
Doctor Honoris Causa University of Havana, Cuba, 1992
Doctor Honoris Causa University of Kiev, Ukraine, 1993
President’s Medal, Pacific Lutheran University, USA, 1996
Doctor Honoris Causa Universidad Nacional Federico Villareal, Lima, Peru, 1997
Doctor Honoris Causa University of Maine, USA, 1998
Doctor Honoris Causa University of Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 1998
Doctor Honoris Causa Latvian Academy of Sciences, 1998
International Prize of the Spanish Geographical Society, 1998
Doctor Honoris Causa D.Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, 1999
Doctor Honoris Causa University of Rostov, Russia, 2000