The Link between Geography and Economic Wealth and Progress

Jan 2, 2011 Arash Farzaneh

World Map - US Federal Government / Beltz

Throughout world history, geography and location has had a strong influence on prosperity and economic progress in the development of any given country. Although various factors, such as culture, religion, war and political structure among others, influence the rise and decline of a country in terms of economic wealth, there is one historical and unchangeable fact that has shaped the economy, namely geography. Geography includes the location with its specific and characteristic climate, the quantity of natural resources, and the propensity toward having natural disasters, such as floods or earthquakes.

Greek Philosophy, Economic Wealth and a Beneficial Geography

In world history, the Greeks, for example, benefited from a geography that included a mild to moderate climate, gave them enough food and natural resources to dedicate time to thinking and the development of philosophy and other arts and sciences. The nobles who had free time to reflect on vital matters was brought about by a lack of worry about subsistence and work, as they had slaves working for them. Furthermore, their strategic location close to open water had facilitated the import of export of various goods, including ideas.

The Lack of Historical Economic Development and Geography in Asia

On the other hand, Asia had had more difficulty to prosper economically, to a large part due to their geography. While Russia to a large part consists of steppes, China was located in the plains where little could be grown in its habitat. It also did not have natural barrier to protect themselves from enemies due its flatland. As a result, the Chinese had to build the Great Wall to protect themselves from intruders, which represented an additional economic cost and limited the free movement of their own armies and more importantly, hampered the free exchange of ideas.

Europe and how Geography Created Economic Wealth and Progress for the Nation-States
Yet Europe had a more profitable and more geographically diverse environment. As mentioned previously with the Greeks, the rest of Europe had rivers and waterways that facilitated economic trade.

In addition, the topography in Europe had created many natural borders that led people to congregate in a small area with their own culture and political structure and they defended themselves and resisted against foreign influences and armies. As such, their economy had to be competitive to survive against all the other neighboring states and economies. Some states who failed to keep up would die out and be assimilated by stronger and more prosperous states and all of this helped Europe to become stronger both in creating wealth and waging war.

Africa`s Economy with its Difficult and Extreme Geographical Location in World History
In the case of Africa, there is the problem of a harsh climate that made it difficult to prosper economically. Africa, compared to the other continents, has a much shorter coastline making it more difficult to have major ports for trade of goods and ideas. The tropical heat also increased the dangers of having disease and food spoilage and along with other factors, geography must have had a negative influence on the historical development of a stable African economy. As can be seen, geography is a significant reason for development or stagnation of a nation`s economy. In reality, it goes hand in hand with other factors, yet economic wealth and progress has been influenced and determined to a significant degree by the location of a particular country. Sources Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World. W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2008.