Prisoners of Geography – by Tim Marshall
Date read: 6/3/20. Recommendation: 8/10.
To understand the world—our past, present, and future—we must understand the role that location plays in shaping the strengths and vulnerabilities of different countries. Each chapter tracks a different region, as indicated by the subtitle Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World. Fascinating read for those who enjoy geography and maps. Marshall gives a compelling introduction to the world of geopolitics and how people, power, ideas, and movements are shaped by their surrounding geography.
See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.
My Notes:
To understand the world and our future, we must understand the role of geography:
“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.” TM
Russia:
Lack of a warm-water port which allows direct access to the ocean has always placed Russian at a significant disadvantage. Largest Russian port on the Pacific is ice-locked for one third of the year. Only reason they aren’t much weaker is because of natural resources (oil and gas).
China:
To understand China, you must take into account massive cultural differences that value the collective above the individual (what we’re familiar with in the West).
Unity and economic progress are the top priority, not democratic principles.
Reason that the massive powers that are China and India haven’t clashed in the past is because the highest mountain range in the world separates the two.
United States:
“For thirty years it has been fashionable to predict the imminent or ongoing decline of the United States. This is as wrong now as it was in the past. The planet’s most successful country is about to become self-sufficient in energy, it remains the preeminent economic power, and it spends more on research and development for its military than the overall military budget of all other NATO countries combined.” TM
Expanding territory in key regions during early development allowed US to achieve status as two-ocean superpower.
Africa:
Limiting factor is the lack of navigable rivers to connect regions and easily transport goods and ideas over greater distances (unlike the geography of Europe or North America which facilitated this). Rivers in Africa with their rapids and waterfalls make them impossible to use as trade routes. This stunted economic development and hindered large coordinated trade across regions.
In the modern world, many Africans are still navigating the disaster of the political geography that Europeans made.
Egypt might have become a greater power, as it’s protected by deserts on three sides. But their major flaw was a lack of trees. And without trees you can’t build a strong navy—the key to projecting and sustaining power time and time again on the world stage.