Geography as key to world power

[Swammerdami]

Some countries enjoy huge military and/or economic success while others stagnate. It's interesting to relate the success to simple geography. Egypt was the most enduring of the early civilizations because the Nile River is surrounded by desert. Jared Diamond writes on this topic. Are some of the conclusions too "reductionist"? Maybe, but reductionism is good if not carried too far.

I found this video on the Maxinomics channel to be interesting, and definitely worth a watch. It's titled "The Myth of American Decline" but -- although he may be right that geography will ensure continued American dominance despite present stupidities -- the video also looks at other countries and continents. Africa is hampered by lack of sea transport: Unlike in Europe and America, glaciers didn't etch deep channels out of the sea coast. And, while the Mississippi Basin allegedly has "more miles of navigable river than the rest of the world put together", the Inga Falls prevent boats in the vast Congo River Basin from reaching the sea.

I'm sure there are interesting facets to the relationship between geography and a country's trajectory that Phil Andrews doesn't touch on.

 

[steve_bank]

What made America in part is an abundance of natural harbors on East, Gulf, and West coasts. Plus navigable rivers into the interior.

No, Africa does not lack natural harbors or navigable rivers; however, a relatively "smooth" coastline with few indentations and a higher continental elevation, resulting in rapids and waterfalls at many river mouths, make access to its inland waterways challenging for deep-sea vessels. Despite these challenges, the continent possesses numerous natural harbors, such as Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria, and navigable rivers like the Niger and Nile, which have supported sophisticated waterborne trade and travel systems historically

That being said I don't think sub Saharan Africa had easy access to the coast from the interior. From a documentary railroads were not easy.

The PNW used to be crisscrossed with railroads. You can see the old right of ways on forest service maps, and they are derivable.

 

[Elixir]

That being said I don't think sub Saharan Africa had easy access to the coast from the interior.

Prob’ly why there are still animals there.

 

[Swammerdami]

One historical tendency possibly explained by geography is the huge number of invasions or migrations from the steppes of Central Eurasia into Central Europe, particularly into the Pannonian Basin (aka the Hungarian Plain). Among such invasions are

• The Aurignacians (Cro-Magnon man) who entered Europe and conquered that Neanderthal domain.
• Kurgan Wave 1, poss. assoc with the Globular Amphora culture
• The Italo-Celtic people and Hellenic people
• Kurgan Wave 3: Phrygians, Dacians, Thracians, etc.
• the Scythians
• the Slavs
• the Ostrogoths qualify, if they descended from the Greuthungi people of the Pontic
• the Huns
• the Avars (along with Alans, Sarmatians etc.)
• the Magyars
• the Mongols
• the Turks

Twelve distinct migrations or conquests (have I overlooked any?), all of which came from the East and attacked or passed through the Hungarian Plain.

How many counter-invasions, west to east, have there been? Zero? With a Z. Napoleon and Hitler each tried to invade Central Eurasia following a more northerly route, but each failed.

Why? The Hungarian plain is similar in many ways to the steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia to its East, but the latter is much larger and thus supports a larger population and offers freedom to hide or retreat. To attack in that direction is like pouring water through the wrong end of a funnel.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

Apart from the practical difficulties you surmise, the Europeans were also too busy invading and intriguing against each other. They didn't have the unity that many of these Eastern invaders had. For instance, the Mongols only invaded after Temujin unified them.

 

[steve_bank]

There are only a limited set of paths to move large scale armies in Europe.

If the Soviets had attacked there are only one or two ways to get into Europe.

In watched a shown Egypt versus Assyria. There was only one main route.

 

[Elixir]

The geographic key to ruling the world is the North Pole. If you can capture that, you hold the high ground.

 

[bilby]

The geographic key to ruling the world is the North Pole. If you can capture that, you hold the high ground.

Shit.