“Prisoners of Geography” is brief (too brief in my opinion) but yet the book is a delightful and informative read. The intertwined story of human development, war and geography is coherently arranged and very interesting. It has a lot of maps - hooray!



These pages reveal the occasional underlying rationality behind why governments sometimes behave the way they do, as well as maybe some reasons why some countries are so impoverished while others have done very well financially. Politics and histor

“Prisoners of Geography” is brief (too brief in my opinion) but yet the book is a delightful and informative read. The intertwined story of human development, war and geography is coherently arranged and very interesting. It has a lot of maps - hooray!



These pages reveal the occasional underlying rationality behind why governments sometimes behave the way they do, as well as maybe some reasons why some countries are so impoverished while others have done very well financially. Politics and history are necessarily brought into each chapter because tribalism, colonialism, Manly-pride and war have had often more to do with a country’s development than rational or ‘best practices’ decision-making which took into account an area’s geography and resources. Tribal affiliations, culture and technology still deeply affect how nations evolve, as well as accidents of history and growth patterns. The author does not do any judgmental analysis of any governments’ follies or weaknesses to predation by jealous or greedy neighboring countries, but gentle reader, you certainly will.



The author includes general details which are enough to connect the dots of history and politics, but his primary focus is on how the presence of mountain ranges, rivers, plains, climate, technology, flora, fauna and natural resources either nurtured or damaged the economic development of countries and/or its vulnerability to war. Mountains, swamps and deserts might cut off communities from each other, creating maybe a hundred local religions, languages and tribes living in disconnected small villages - or maybe the presence of navigable rivers or plains might have facilitated a common language, customs, trading, and later, national ambitions. Climate, of course, is HUGE.



Lots of rivers without waterfalls, that are also easily connected to other rivers, provide communities with low-cost connected shipping. Plains in temperate climate zones permit farming, and easy access of business travel and delivery of goods (and invading military troops), promoting the building of cities and industry (and envious neighbors who may have too many mountains, swamps, or deserts - a good case for using a mountain range as a protection barrier and border, although that can be a deterrent to good relationships, too). Lovely ocean beaches are certainly places where one can relax, and if the underlying geology is amiable to the building of ports for deep-water shipping, a country has a major leg up for production and prosperity.



Ports cannot be built very cheaply or easily in Africa, for example, despite its long ocean borders. Africa’s underlying beach geology does not support the building of ports, apparently. Africa also has a myriad of other geological and geographical features which prohibit easy development of its resources, particularly in building infrastructure. Most of Africa’s rivers have too many waterfalls and many of them do not connect easily to other rivers. The Nile River drains through too many different countries who do not trust each other - with reason - which is a problem of politics and tribalism - not entirely a problem of geography and climate alone, obviously. In any case, tribalism, a past of colonialism, and poor leadership are huge deterrents to building up modern production methods and safe communities in Africa. It is not only about its geology and its climate. Africa’s climate, btw, is wonderful for the development of one thing - malaria, one of the most long-term debilitating illnesses on earth.



Frankly, I do not know if I should feel hopeful or despairing about Humanity’s ability to persevere in eking out meaning and a life with few comforts in an impoverished country due to resource mismanagement, geographical location, and/or the greed of its elite class or its covetous warmongering neighboring nations. I do most certainly feel damn lucky I live in a country naturally endowed with many resources and thousands of miles of land, a comparatively small but not too small generally homogeneous population, a mostly temperate climate, with two oceans protecting two of the borders and friendly countries on the other two borders.



Most of us complain daily about what is wrong here in the United States, but we ignore the many things that are right. We are at peace here in the ‘homeland’ which actually contributes a great deal to our prosperity - more than most of us know. The shelves of our groceries and stores bend down under the weight of goods and food from all over the world (as well as what is manufactured here and distributed on our connected river-ways and road/train/airplane infrastructure) thanks to our high-tech deep-water ports and shipping technology. We have about 5% unemployment year after year, generally, and minimal economic ‘safety nets’ (arguably insufficient and mismanaged as the ‘nets’ may be, especially in the area of supporting mental disabilities). An education is almost available to everyone (some preexisting and historically dramatic exceptions prevail in some neighborhoods because of racism). For most of us, we eat everyday under roofs protecting us from the worst of the mostly temperate climate, with clean drinking water readily available, and most of us are inoculated (by antibiotics which require refrigeration, available everywhere here) from the many diseases which debilitate other nations. Most of us can read and write in the one mainstream language necessary for commerce and comfort here; we do not have to navigate the dozens, and even hundreds, of languages other countries do. Tribalism/religious-class stratification is not based on ethnicity or place of birth as much or as powerfully as in other countries (imho, wealth is FAR-and-away a predictor in how respectfully or ‘fairly’ one is treated - of course, access to the organs of ‘wealth creation’ is another story in our recent history). Despite our complaints about access to the offices of officials and (mis)management of government agencies, in comparison to other countries, we are a paradise of function and process. We rank low on most corruption indexes. We are technologically well-endowed, and tech is available and widespread throughout the country. Most of us flip switches every night to turn on heat and light, without worrying if the electrical company is enforcing a brownout, and our refrigerators keep our perishable food cold - no daily shopping at a live-animal/produce market required. I literally have not heard of anyone in the States who has to walk one or two, or even three, hours one way to a waterhole daily to scoop up two pails of water for the necessities of cooking, bathing and drinking, as I have read what happens in many communities in Africa. And despite the ‘bad apples’ among them, most police officers and definitely most of our military service members, do not see us (ok, most of us, less true for minority communities) as prey, in comparison to Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Russia. We are more able to move up and down in social class because class is based mostly on wealth, not so much on tribal or religious affiliation; and we have considerably less corruption and more accountability of officials and legal organizations, comparably speaking.



I have read elsewhere our type of government impedes any single political group from gaining monolithic authority while starving the creation of too many interest groups which might fragment the ability of government to govern. Of course, strengthening elements of identity politics as well as economic disparities are currently stressing the governance of America. Time will tell.



Given some of the outcomes of politics, history and geography described in this book, though, I am a little scared. Climate change could upend the uneasy balance of the political and economic divisions we have managed to power through in bad times historically. Having oceans on two borders and friendly neighboring countries acting as a buffer to hostile nations (having buffer nations surrounding it is Russia’s goto strategy - See Ukraine - as well as China) won’t be enough. Our primarily temperate climate, navigable rivers, technologically-tamed mountains, and developed infrastructure and technological advances may be why the United States is still standing no matter what our internal and external political and social difficulties, but what if the deserts grow bigger, more dry and hotter? What if the water tables fall to nothing, and the rains fail to come? What if the fertile soils blow away, the friendly insects and local wildlife and flora die, and new disease-carrying flora and fauna invade a country, this country, much more hospitable to them? ‘Prisoners of Geography’ has made me ever so much more aware of how much of what part of the Earth’s surface we are fortunate or unfortunate to be born on matters.



I guess we will find out in fifty years or so how much a formerly favorable climate and geography helped our luck as a successful country.



Governments often try to manipulate the perceptions and appearances of their actions and ambitions - but geography and resources are the hard bedrock of all surface Realpolitik Truths which no government or military force can afford to ignore. Those governments who ignore geography and climate do so at risk of losing everything.



The ten maps author Tim Marshall has included in this book:



Russia

China

United States

Western Europe

The Middle East

India and Pakistan

Korea and Japan

Latin America

The Arctic



There also is a Bibliography and an Index, as well as many gorgeous maps.