This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The land on which we live has always shaped us. It has shaped the wars, the power, politics, and social development of the peoples that now inhabit nearly every part of the earth. Technology may seem to overcome the distances between us in both mental and physical space, but it is easy to forget that the land where we live, work, and raise our children is hugely important and that the choices of those who lead the seven billion inhabitants of this planet will to some degree always be shaped by the rivers, mountains, deserts, lakes, and seas that contain us all – as they always have.” – Tim Marshall, Introduction, Pages 1-2
“The price was right.
In the autumn of 1940, the British desperately needed more
warships. The Americans had fifty to
spare and so, with what was called the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, the
British swapped their ability to be a global power for help in remaining in the
war. Almost every British naval base in
the Western Hemisphere was handed over.” – Tim Marshall, Chapter 3: United
States, Page 79
“If we take Europe as a whole, we see the
mountains, rivers, and valleys that explain why there are so many nation
states. Unlike the United States, in
which one dominant language and culture pressed rapidly and violently ever
westward, creating a giant country, Europe grew organically over millennia and
remains divided between its geographical and linguistic regions.” – Tim
Marshall, Chapter 4: Western Europe, Page 93
Is This An Overview?
Geography can provide a bounty of nutrition and abundant resources, or have them in scarcity if at all. Abundance can enable people to flourish, or create a source of conflict for control. Scarcity limits people’s ability to expand, or can incentive development of methods to overcome geographic limitations. If people are able to inhabit a territory, they respond to what their geography provides. Developing behaviors to compensate for what they lack, and use effectively what they have.
Geography can bring people together, or can divide
people. Geography that connects
different people together can bring in wealth through trade, but also can be a
source of invasion. To limit the threat
of invasion, some peoples have become conquerors as a form of defensive
strategy. Geography that separates
people can prevent conflicts, or can be a form of intensive conflict as no
people may be able to seize control of the territories.
Caveats?
Many sovereign states are represented along with their complex political situation. But information on each state is limited. To understand each sovereign state would require more research. The diversity of sovereign states shows the diversity of geographic features and how the geography effects the political situation.
The problem is that similar geographic features, are given a
different outcome while claims that the geography has caused the generalized
behavior. The explanations take a
situation and reason backward to how the situation came to be, but different
political situations existed with similar or the same geography. Geography is a factor of what people have to
respond to, but the way people choose to respond to geography shapes the
outcomes.
