How Geography DOOMED Africa

Africa has hosted many great empires over the ages, but despite having contact with both Europe and Asia, did not keep up technologically (except Wakanda). Here is one possible theory to explain why.
"Tikopia" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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[@hareecionelson5875]

Also, a lot of Africa is landlocked, and the rivers are not very good for transporting goods. Also, Africa is bloody huge.

[@michaelmccabe3079]

True, but the Mongols were in a very similar condition- landlocked within the vast steppes of Asia with navigable rivers only on the periphery. Yet they succeeded in unifying while the Africans did not. The possession of horses was also a huge advantage, although Africans were exposed to them after the Arab invasions.

[@dragenmaster5385]

@@michaelmccabe3079 nope not after the arab invasions, way before that

[@michaelmccabe3079]

@@dragenmaster5385 Can you name a year? The Arab invasions of Sub-Saharan Africa came in the 9th century. Obviously the North Africans had horses, but they didn't cross the Sahara.

[@StarSage66]

Yeah, the best part is the atlas projection we use makes africa look a good 30% smaller than it actually is, if not moreso. I only recently figured out just how insanely large Africa actually is. Kind of like how if you look at that atlas you also get this weird idea of Canada, Greenland, and Scandinavia being miniature continents in their own right. I've seen some *ahem* "woke" individuals even saying that atlas exists due to the race card. I wouldn't go that far, but I would argue we need a better 2d map of the world or just give our kids a digital globe program for schools.

[@hareecionelson5875]

@@StarSage66 Google realised people were taking the piss out of them for using the Mercator Projection and it's distortion of size, now google maps uses a globe.

[@russellcannon9194]

You missed two key geographical characteristics of Africa that impacted the peoples there. The lack of navigable rivers deep into the heartland, and the lack of deepwater sea ports. Cheers, Russ

[@wasabista1613]

Another one is the lack of high protein grains. The grains of the Near East -- wheat, rye, millet, einkorn -- are high in protein. Rice, the staple of East Asia, is not far behind. Cassava, the staple in sub-Saharan Africa, is starchy and less nutritious. An army marches on its stomach.

[@sran438]

Uh... cheers? 🥂 *nervous laughter translation into crying*

[@LiliaLemoine]

What about Eurasia?

[@BigJbaz2]

@@wasabista1613 This is not correct. 1) Millet and rice are native to Africa and were both domesticated before the introduction of Cassava. 2) Cassava is not native to Africa. It's from Brazil and was introduced by Europeans.

[@wasabista1613]

@@BigJbaz2 , thanks for the correction. Today I believe cassava is the most widely used staple in sub-Saharan Africa. Is this not correct?

[@IN-tm8mw]

I though i would find more "triggered" comments here but i'm actually surprised at the level of intelligent debate going on in the comments. And for that, i will give it a "Like". Very interesting video.

[@petrus9067]

Good for you, found at least 2 racists in one thread trying to backup their logic with "science"

[@yangkong7935]

Hitori Bocchi the video attracts the “better” (however you judge goodness of a comment by) comments. If the comments suit you, the video should, in theory, suit you. If the comments contain angry people debating the video, the in theory, probably isn’t the best explainer of whatever subject. I think its an okay system to judge videos on, but watch the video and just see if it suits you is probably the better way

[@egoxagony4623]

Help I'm A Rock it is a great Excuse. It’s even backed up. Civilization land that flourish have better geography simple. Learn new things every day

[@egoxagony4623]

Help I'm A Rock IQ has nothing to do with ethnicity, just circumstances. If the circumstances are right a black kid will do better than a white kid that doesn’t have the same circumstances

[@egoxagony4623]

K A why should I. Was it not them that were over policed, that’s were given less education, that was red lined, that was treated badly by the government, yet they still flourish(respectively)

[@thomasaquinas5262]

Some scholars say the crushing heat, imposing desertification, lack of tractable animals, and difficulty in water control led to Africa's problems, not to mention colonialism. Other scholars point to other nations that have dealt with any or all of these challenges. What's sad is that the ravages of colonialism, poor local governance, and local warfare are evident everywhere...

[@HapPawhere]

Most of it is people in there need to be good at thing like study. If you are smart, you "can" change it. Imagine 1 milion smart people or at least educated people. Education is a key to make big changing

[@HapPawhere]

Most of rich people are smart on something & educated people from young age

[@mand5422]

Hey genius...practically every place on earth was colonized at some point, and all of those other places moved on. The colonization idea is bs...in fact, Africa would be far worse off if not for "colonialism".

[@ydid687]

heat and humidity and pollution and noise and crowdedness more brutal than central America and west Africa and west Australia never impeded ancient india heat is definitely a non factor since the most populated region in the world since recorded history and likely before has always been the subcontinent

[@somerandomguy7458]

@@ydid687 India was not mostly a desert, and was much smaller, so more cooperation. Africa basically forced people to stay tribal

[@chalkomaniac4000]

So being *THICC* is more useful than being tall is the thing I learned from this video

[@gavinhanson9213]

VectorImage I would rather have a thick bitch then a tall one any day of the week.

[@vitorleite3095]

@infernovoid Playing tall and having alot of vassals for me is more fun than being a big blob like the Roman Empire or Rússia.

[@raymac4306]

😂😂😂

[@marcomartini9239]

That's it...

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

Pro tip

[@lastrebel666ify]

There is a book called: " the accidental super power ". It says most of the success of United states is due to its geographic location and river systems. Similar to the theory in here. It's a good read....

[@jyde50]

its nonsense absolute bullcrap

[@marvalice3455]

@@jyde50 so what you are saying is either A. super powers are 100% random there is no way to possibly predict them, or B. some ethnicities or cultures are inherently better than others. because you just said that the third option is bullshit. maybe you should think through the implications of what you say? my personal take is that it the ability of a group to become great is a mix of culture(but explicitly not ethnicity) and resources that group has available to them and opportunity to use both. so Means(resources) motive(culture) and opportunity if you will.

[@lastrebel666ify]

@@jyde50 You obviously never read that book..... it figures!

[@jyde50]

@@marvalice3455 actually there is no such thing as super power, it goes like this, countries with huge population will eventually have the largest economy, 100 years from now 200 years from now, whatever, but eventually it will happen, countries that can produces weapons will be stronger, its not rocket science, usa only thinks its controls the world because everyone agreed to use the dollar to trade , it everyone come today and decide to drop the dollars in the next 5 years, usa wont have sanctions powers, if usa was such a super power why cant it fight tiny north korea? superpower is just what countries say to boost their egos it really doesn't exist. also taking about geography its a lie, as long as your country produces food and water, that that all you need. he his just overanalyzing it.

[@marvalice3455]

@@jyde50 "no such thing as a super power" persia: am I a joke to you?

[@L3FT2BURN]

I think it's really important to note that there is no easy answer to why Africa wasn't home to more empires. So many reasons including geography could have or could not have, contributed to this.

[@howitstartsmm]

In my 60 years on this planet problems are never solved by elaborate schemes and complicated plans. Simple, basic, easily understood solutions usually solve problems. An example is writing in zero gravity. Scientists engineered a pressurized pen that ruins clothes to this day. Engineers drew plans for the pen with a pencil. The solution to the problem was simply in front of them, a pencil. Geography, why deal with people that can't help you survive. No grocery stores back then. Less energy to kill them and take what they want. Imagine intelligent policies using this theory as a consideration.

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

​@@andrewkaukeseems like dustless pencil is still simplerr than pen.

[@josephpenarrieta9619]

It helps to think of this place, not as a single continent, but a collection of regions: the Sahara, Guinea (West Africa where Nigeria & Ghana are), Congo, Riftland (Africa east of the Great Rift valley), & Agulhas (the southern region of Africa splitting the Atlantic & Indian ocean). This approach allows you to tackle things more realistically, more in depth, & less generalized. That being said, the climate did hinder Africa, as Atlas said in another video, the heat did disable many nations, but not to the point of hopelessness. Guinea & Congo are still very fertile lands & many peoples thrived in these places & Riftland as well. But another factor that hit these regions hard was the fact that they were so geographically split apart & separated from Eurasian & Saharan civilizations. In Eurasia, wealth was able to freely travel along all the trade routes, & make all of Europe & Asia very wealthy (except for the rural parts), but these regions were split from Eurasia so extremely less trade happened in these regions with Eurasia. A lot less wealth flowed & climate encouraged traders to skip the Sub Sahara & stick to Eurasia because of the East to West constant climates. Guinea (West Africa) was the wealthiest civilization here because of its relative proximity to the Mediterranean. In conclusion, the Sub Sahara thrived in many respects, but because East-West trade routes in Eurasia didn't link up as much with Guinea, Congo, Riftland, & Agulhas these regions suffered

[@user-uu5xf5xc2b]

modern definitions of continents is so problematic i don't know why they still insist on keeping it.

[@SoulfulVeg]

From my limited experience, living in N Nigeria, I see some validity in your theory. Nigeria is so rich in resources, including oil, gas, agriculture and minerals. But, there are really 2 Nigerias. First, there is the north, which is arid, Muslim and home to several tribes, but mostly the Hausa and Fulani. The south is more lush, humid, partially coastal, Christian and dominated by Igbos and Yorubas. They have a general distrust of each other, which stems from the Biafra civil war. From my understanding, the boarders were decided by the British.

[@jyde50]

weren't europeans killing each other long before africa and starting world wars??? am also nigerian and this is completely utter nonsense, it as dumb as saying: "in the morning, i took my bath so now i am angry" , then in the afternoon i said : "there is sun outside so i am sad", and at night said: " everywhere is dark so now i will kill people on the street" people just make dumb assumptions and always talk about how bad africa is but if you go to usa califonia you will see homeless people everywhere on the street, maybe i should make a video that it is because of the winter weather and that everybody feel cold and that is why homeless people cant pay rent and don't have a job

[@Frankondor]

@@jyde50 The thing is those were conflicts between *countries*, not civil wars. And the civil wars there were happened because of idelogy, and other factors. The thing is they had an opportunity for way more stability within their nations because their borders weren't determined by outsiders.

[@jyde50]

@@Frankondor and how may civil wars had africa had? nigeria only had one that was only with one tribe( igbos, biafra war) and it wasn't really a war did not last long at all, your logic is flawless, countries are alway devided, usa, had the north and the south , and still today the south still has a different accent from the north, german had the belin wall that was within germany borders.

[@Frankondor]

@@jyde50 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic_Civil_War_(2012%E2%80%93present) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudanese_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Civil_War ://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_conflict_in_South_Kordofan_and_Blue_Nile en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_nomadic_conflicts en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Sudanese_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_violence_in_South_Sudan en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2011) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Libyan_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djiboutian_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Civil_War en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_Congo_Civil_War_(1997%E2%80%931999) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian_Civil_War_(1965%E2%80%931979) And I could do this all day. Pretty much all of these were caused, either fully or in large part because of ethnic tensions inside the country. There are other ways division can prop up, but having ethnic tensions leading to civil wars or unrest doesn't set a good base for development at all.

[@cantfindawayout]

@@jyde50 Africa is literally synonymous to civil war/ethnic tensions. Point at pretty much any african country and you have (or had in the last 50 years) either ethnic tensions (at best) or a full blown civil war. Europe doesn't have those since the late XVI century (the last big civil war period being caused by the Reformation, Luther and HRE shattering) with one exception: Balkans. Countries there seem to be in a permanent state of trying to destroy each other for...at least 10 centuries now? USA wasn't divided by ethnicity. It was divided by economic lines. South was dependant on one economic structure, north on the other. They literally had a war over economic differences (of course, the winners, as they always do in history, created a narrative where they also had a noble cause for the war, in this case being abolition of slavery). Germany wasn't divided because of ethnicity either. While every region of modern day Germany is somewhat different from the other (and that's exactly why like 100 states existed there before unified Germany was formed), they're all Germans. And Austrians are pretty much Germans too (or at least they used to be before the XX century), that's why the unification wars (of the late 1850s-1870s) were fought between Prussia (with minor allies) and Austria (with Saxony and some other minor allies). As for the divide you're talking about, the one with the wall in Berlin, well... That divide happened because Germany after WW II was divided into occupation zones of USSR (East Germany) and Soon-to-be-created-NATO (West Germany). It had nothing to do with ethnicity.

[@Ruizy026]

I’ll have a little talk with the CEO of Geography then

[@timomastosalo]

Praying is always beneficial. God does want to talk with you, he¨s missing you.

[@Ruizy026]

timomastosalo that could work

[@meffed]

Yo this timo guy just straight up told you to pray to god in response to ur comment. The fuck

[@Prebearr]

Idk I like the way my country is we have a lot of life in Africa.

[@ptsful]

is your name Karen?

[@SocialStudiess]

I've shared this video with every person I've ever met, as a precursor to why I am studying to become a high school geography teacher (in America). 🇪🇷🇺🇸🇪🇷🇺🇸

[@kanaana]

And I can see you not good at it

[@SocialStudiess]

@@kanaana okay

[@kanaana]

@@SocialStudiess ok fark that was not even me

[@kanaana]

@@SocialStudiess I don't put me on the channel fark

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

Good for you. Owning a Globe brings some understanding. I hear theydon't teach Geography any more, though .

[@leonardoleo5740]

This theory is right. If african geography were different(lets say), then great civilizations would develop there And, thinking about this, this happened in the Americas too. We see, the inca empire develop in the same climate(andes mountain), the same goes to the aztecs(mexican highlands). In other places in this continent, the climate were more diverse, and so was the tribes. Makes sense, doesnt it?

[@j.s.7335]

I'd sort of been thinking recently about how in Eurasia you have "Western" (Europe and Middle East) and "Eastern" (India and China, primarily) cultures. And then you have Africa and the Americas with nothing similar. Eurasia is special not just because of being wide, but also being so huge. Even with all the empty space, the vast majority of humanity lives in Eurasia.

[@Jack-sq6xb]

They did have Great civilizations like Mali and Ghana and the Swahili, they were all in the same climate zone as well

[@leonardoleo5740]

@@Jack-sq6xb Yes, he said in the video

[@gardener68]

@@Jack-sq6xb This makes sense, too, because the Sahel is roughly a single climate region, sort of the Eurasian model on a smaller scale. Likewise, there are civilizations not unlike the Incas in Africa, especially along the huge lakes in the Great Rift Valley, which were largely cut off from points north and south because of climate geography and a lack of easily navigable rivers. The Incas, too, were mostly isolated, hemmed in by the Andes, the Atacama, and the Amazon rainforest.

[@j-short5431]

@@j.s.7335And also it’s willingness to colonize.

[@TheArtofCodeIsCool]

Interesting observation. Some other reasons: The lack of fast growing straight trees that can be used to build ships with. The lack of a cold sterilizing winter that kills off many disease carrying insects.

[@theophrastusbombastus8019]

Also the deserts limit the number and lenght of rivers, where water was the primary source of ancient cheap transport while the coast, the best place where metropolis grew in africa faces mostly ocean while early Europe had the much calmer Mediterraneum to trade from.

[@chingizzhylkybayev8575]

You know who were the first people to sail the sea? Egyptians. You don't need pines to build ships, you only need them for specific kinds of big masts.

[@chingizzhylkybayev8575]

And winter doesn't kill of insects lol. Do we not have insects in temperate climates?

[@dakotahodgkins4642]

I'd also add the lack of area that can be used for year sustainable farming also impeded a lot of development.

[@Perfectly_Cromulent351]

The Art of Code the clay soil is also terrible for large-scale agriculture

[@susannemuris2088]

This theory is called geographical determinism. It was described in detail in the 1997 book "Guns, germs and steel" by Jared Diamond.

[@Armoguy89]

Ah, I see you're a (wo)man of intelligence as well!

[@pagnepapi6410]

I watched a video about this in my Human Geography class :D

[@sophiaperennis2360]

And it was false then as it is now.

[@AlucardNoir]

@@sophiaperennis2360 Just because you don't want something to be true doesn't make it false.

[@pagnepapi6410]

Sophia Perennis how so?

[@rodrigofloyd890]

I would not say it is DOOMED. It is one of the last places in the world that maintains ecological balance.

[@NoiseThatLaughs]

African here. China is working on correcting that.

[@joedatius]

that's a complete lie in every sense of the word. africa is being turned into a massive desert because of climate change and every country is coming over to practically pillage the land dry.

[@rodrigofloyd890]

@@joedatius well you are just basically describing the whole fucking wolrd, sadly. Still, África has one of the most diverse ecological regiones and it still holds some balance, unlike other places.

[@rodrigofloyd890]

@@NoiseThatLaughs sadly, major powers over the World love to do that kind of shit.

[@brother1ray]

Africa doesn't feed itself, and most African countries are dependant on Foreign Aid for survival! How on Earth is that 'balanced' ??

[@Paradox_Incognito]

6:05 (Bill Wurtz History of the entire world I guess flashback) _They never got Ethiopia-_

[@shauncameron8390]

Communism destroyed Ethiopia.

[@adiabd1]

And also, _They never got Thailand_

[@potatoeskimos]

*Mamma Mia-Italiano* enters the chat

[@johnmcfly-zf2xh]

69th like

[@SpitfireMLG]

*Laughs in Mussolini*

[@richardpayne6981]

I once read that Africa is also limited by rivers that are not practical for commercial shipping and thick jungles that limit trading on border regions.

[@mrsuper7484]

It would be possible with ports connecting to massive train networks to have a modern stable trading economy. Unfortunately the infrastructure and investment required to start it in the first place just isn't there, let alone the politics involved in having international train routes through so many countries.

[@aggabus]

11m 7m vid

[@aggabus]

@Kizz moron is the name of a pepper in spanish..however seem not reference here

[@thewisemanperspective3014]

Kizz I agree

[@5674inCincy]

I also was told Africa has limited potential for ports bc either the coastline is deserts or mountainous. Which may be true since white peoples will hit the beach no matter what the country is

[@londynharris-elzein]

This theory actually makes a ton of sense. A lot of my family is from Sudan (mostly Muslim, Arab, and fairer skinned than Southern Sudanese people) and there's definitely a lot of distrust between the two groups. A lot of this conflict could be due to the fact that Sudan falls in the desert part of Africa while South Sudan is located in the Sahel region. Thanks for the video!

[@Y.E.S.249]

It's less a consequence of the geography, and more a consequence of the borders that were superimposed by the British, which didn't take into account the different ethnic groups (cultures) living in Sudan. and once vastly different cultures are exposed to land disputes over capitalistic purposes (oil and other natural resources) it led to an ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the dominant (arab in this case) faction. This happens all over the world in areas such as the Middle East and Central/South America, and it's mostly due to colonial interferrence (from Europe, and more recently the US) of the same kind.

[@elperrodelautumo7511]

Truly the borders should’ve been redrawn by their native African locals rather than the Europeans.

[@GM-xo7yy]

@@Y.E.S.249 but, Africa had the lack of unity which enabled Europe to come in and impose these borders in the first place. Hence, the gist of this video.

[@Drgguv]

@@GM-xo7yy africa didn't even exist, they were states before Europeans arrived

[@KrolKaz]

Most of africa before colonization was constant wars and bickering between the rival tribes.

[@PlainsPup]

“Geography is destiny.” - Abraham Verghese

[@riodasperolas]

Congratulations. Your post is on target and beautifully narrated. I would add still another geographic constraint : native animal domesticated species available in a shorter variety than in Euroasia

[@aff77141]

Truuuuuee; everything about Africa makes farming a lot more difficult and there was less need with the lack of seasons so it was better just to stay in hunter gatherer phase to find food, and make different progress elsewhere like with music. Being exposed to either people like yourself or people different but directly near you probably also hindered the need for making more technically advanced weapons

[@blacocloc2201]

I'm African and I've had this belief since 2005 when I visited Europe. I thought it was just me. It's common sense to deduce when you study the climate and location of the continents

[@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse]

isnt that the issue of seeing things on one perspective scale? you have a geographical perspective while a sociologist would see a political socio-economical perspective, a general wold see a military perspective, a theist would see a religious perspective. the art is combining everything into a comprehensive understanding of what causes or hinders the flourishing of civilization.

[@leaf3889]

The Gulf stream is part of the too. The north of Canada and north of Asia is Colder than the north of Europe despite being in the same latitude

[@egoxagony4623]

Help I'm A Rock what do you mean. Haven’t you seen the guy that created the traffic light or peanut butter or new ideas. Secondly, I already saw a comment of yours. Don’t generalize black people

[@egoxagony4623]

Help I'm A Rock I’m not trying to play the victim card, but I’ll have too. YOU are acting live we weren’t deprived of our human rights force to work under white people and were segregated, this infact already caused many damages. Not allowed to learn how to read because the whites feared we would be smarter than them. Honestly it’s like you can’t understand that “circumstances” make us who we are

[@blacocloc2201]

@@egoxagony4623 Get over it. Africans aren't the only ones who suffered slavery. Go study your history. Even the people who colonized you were once victims too. Don't blame race for human nature.

[@OHYS]

Historians: Empires are limited to their own climate zones. Britain: Hold my tea.

[@eclipsenow5431]

Ha ha, nice. But I guess the video above didn't say "Empires are limited to their own climate zones" but that "Common cultures develop in their own climate zones." Yes, the Roman Empire invaded northern European climates all the way up to Hadrian's wall, were apparently civilisation ended. But then why did Rome fall? (Huge question worth a Phd.) Many factors, including internal political division, the fact that most of Rome's good farming soil had eroded to the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, and that it's administration had become too hop heavy for the units of energy coming into the empire to sustain the workers at the bottom. (Joseph Tainter). Add in this geographical / cultural equation, and it's game over for Rome!

[@warriorsrule9350]

This hold my tea, hold my beer comment is getting so old. Time to move on to something else.

[@ToneyCrimson]

@@warriorsrule9350 No

[@sgill4833]

They didn't have tea until they colonised Asia.

[@natbrownizzle3815]

@@warriorsrule9350 Hold my fish and chips

[@murimingari1709]

Very interesting hypothesis. My country Kenya has very variable climate ranging from deserts to green highlands. We also have over 50 tribes. I have observed that different tribes inhabit different climatic zones and tribal boundaries neatly match the climatic boundaries in many cases.

[@ishmaelkamau24]

Habari, I'm kenyan (kalenjin) too and this is quite accurate

[@bnsbsnry]

The quieter backround music made your vocal presentation more enjoyable. A fantastic series you are producing. Thanks.

[@side-fish]

They didn't have access to Vibranium.

[@whytheracecardisplayed8261]

No. Its longer than wide.

[@patricklove4895]

Those selfish Wakandans are hoarding it for themselves

[@capitancuba8962]

Exactly

[@zaho87]

Having access to resources is different from having the capacity to develop those resources. Africa has all the resources, but the people had no clue on how to use them. Even if they had discovered Vibranium, at best they most probably would have made trinkets out of the raw ore, to worship some mythical deity, because there was nobody to show them that metal can be melted.

[@rakeshpatil475]

@@patricklove4895 😁

[@finaoo1167]

Interesting theory. Climate would seem to be contributing factor, but I think the relatively slow development of Africa has more to do with the lack of navigable waterways than climate diversity. Ancient civilizations needed water for efficient transportation of people, goods, and (most importantly) ideas. Europe is 1/3 the size of Africa, and its entire eastern side is land locked. Africa is 3x the size of Europe and is completely surrounded by water. And yet, Europe has more coastline than Africa because of it's relatively jagged outline. There are many, many natural harbors along Europe's coast, and relatively few along Africa's coast. The continental shelf along Africa's entire west coast is relatively shallow, so large ships can not approach it. People and goods have to be transferred to smaller boats to approach land, whereas Europe's harbors can accommodate docking for direct transfer of both. Europe also has many more navigable rivers in its interior. It's not a surprise that the only navigable river in Africa (the Nile) happens to be the only place that ancient civilization flourished on the continent.

[@seanmolloy2172]

Still related to geography though.

[@t.ra-larchangelofthugnezz9010]

Also, shouldnt you have had thriving and trading cultures along the coastlines then? Which i wouldnt say is really the case, only after colonialists landed. Except for the mediterranean coastlines ofc

[@Tacsponge]

@@t.ra-larchangelofthugnezz9010 there were thriving trading cultures in the west cost. Some of those used shells that came from the other side of the continent as currency. Edit : in fact these traders were a big part in sourcing slaves for the slave trade in many cases.

[@Tacsponge]

@@jacquesmichaud6877 sadly the Congo is not navigable all the way to the ocean due to falls near the mouth. Unlike the Rhine/Nile/danube that connected inland areas to the sea in premodern times

[@nikibronson133]

Hmm

[@jayf8871]

This is a really good theory and you explained it nicely. The graphics helped to

[@brucelesourd3074]

That's a fascinating and potentially useful theory, and one I haven't heard before! Thanks for presenting it.

[@penitent2401]

so the new empire of Antarctica shall soon rule the world?

[@khalidsalah7485]

i always knew the penguins were plotting. those fuckers are up to something.

[@lalolanda8413]

khalid salah lol bro you made my day haha 😂

[@antolak1590]

Nah russia and united states are gonna war over it. The the Victor will claim all the oil for themselves.

[@shawndickson5809]

@@antolak1590 I wonder if Australia will support America for a quick buck

[@bluerisk]

@@antolak1590 Ever heard of the Emu war? The US and Russia will have next to no chance against the Penguin Covenant.

[@Akhibrass]

The success of the Silk Road as mode for the exchange of people, goods, technology and ideas is a clear example of the benefits of a long horizontal geography.

[@fernly2]

Akhibrass good comment as the new Silk Road is liable to have a strong uniting influence along with the www. Have you ever heard that civilization building the pyramids were responsible for cutting down trees which led to a desert condition? Now I’ve heard that the global elite prize the African blood for its high adrenochrome levels. I hope that’s not true but I’ve observed a high excitability (emotional, is that the proper word?) quotient for years in both young and old. Is it at all true that northern people are more cold blooded? I guess it takes all kinds. Anyway, back on track....those trees need to be replaced which , of course, requires water projects. In California during drought periods which have been intermittent for 17,000 years at least, we have to irrigate even huge walnut trees for agricultural productivity. I look forward to the OBOR Initiative beginning the TRANSAQUA project so Africa will be a beautiful garden again. Xi's great leadership in China is mitigated somewhat by a shadow government just like in the US, I'm guessing, so it looks like there will be some obstacles to establishing a global maritime and land Silk Road community of sovereign nation states. An underwater tunnel connecting Asia and North America with high speed rail will indeed make the Silk Road perfect. We are happy to be able to watch these developments❣️

[@fernly2]

CNN is Fake News today I’ve suddenly become aware from watching Jennifer Hammond that 15 new cases of Ebola are found every week in the DR! I spoke just this week with a Congolese immigrant in my little town of Roanoke, VA CDC hasn’t a clue what to do for an outbreak not since they handled the TB outbreak. Obviously with USA dope 72,000 fatalities last year they are useless anymore. I keep up with the news the best I can staying close to the internet.

[@MartinsGarage97]

@CNN is Fake News oh, come on it's always the United States that started slavery. I am kidding, but it does amaze me how it's always focused on us. America didn't start it and it still goes on. Oh, Brazil had over 5 million slaves brought in.

[@fernly2]

Boa Gaming “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” was a welcome book for me although Ramsey Clark, Esq. had hinted in the ‘50’s that US aid was a 2 sided sword. The rule of gold has made slaves of all of us but now the ‘natives seem to be getting restless’😳. I do feel a sea change coming-protests in so many countries and many not controlled by the usual covert operations of USA🙀all I can say is 👀&🙏🏽. Stick with Truth the best we can. I think everyone of our species that chooses to stick with Truth and Beauty does magnify the Creator in some small way. At least we’re not still sacrificing virgins much😏. I like the way Vernadsky looks at our progress....increasing complexity as our noösphere expands.

[@mustafasaral54]

@CNN is Fake News islam and mohammed (a.s) always encourages to give freedom to the slaves....since the beginning of islam....search and you can easily find that...ypu are a liar busterred

[@atkvin]

I recently had the idea of trying to write a story with the setting of a country comprising both land and sea (split into the north and south) so this video is really interesting in that sense to me! As a sidenote there's *tons* I don't understand about global geography or history, so as an amateur writer I think I'll just try have fun writing this little story about stormchasing, sharks, etc. rather than try take on anything like capturing proper realistic historical events and geographical facts or writing social commentary lmao

[@owenbeharry8478]

A lot of Africans pre colonialism were hunter gatherers, especially in central and souther Africa. With the creation of borders this stop people from moving when areas were faced with drought etc. So the inability to move to fertile lands in dire circumstances were also problematic. Then dealing with continent mostly being landlocked.

[@BasicNoobs]

Correct and incorrect. Most of Africa pre colonialism was ruled by organized and advanced cultures like the Bantu. kingdoms did pop up in regions but the composition of Africans in the land limit those who don't live in a kingdom to have any sense of civilization. Essentially a hunter gatherer. Is like the Saami people north of Sweden in the 15th century. They didn't had a sense of civilization but they did have a sense of organization.

[@kortess7900]

Actually, this theory should be expanded by the fact that most of Africa has basically no climate variations throughout the year, so the tribes there weren't forced to develop technology to maintain a certain diet all year round. So for example, in the Congo Rainforest, fruit grow without any stop for winter, autumn or spring. It's eternal summer there. Unlike Europe or China, which had some harsh winters that forced those civilisations to develop technology for storing crops harvested in the summer

[@jack2719]

Kortess its why Europeans and East Asians have such high IQs, only the smart ones could figure out how to survive the changing climate extremes

[@kortess7900]

@@jack2719 In fact, it's the other way around. Only the ones who were forced to invent such technologies, were able to develop such high IQs evolutionarily.

[@TheAltieresdelsent]

What a bunch of bullshit

[@samuelsavary4895]

Why though?@@TheAltieresdelsent

[@idklike3210]

Altieres Del-Sent I guess basic thinking is too much for you.

[@justins7796]

Seems like a-frican nightmare

[@TheEderSaul]

Justin S good one!!!

[@mayflower-emjay]

I see the pun there

[@justicevanpool9025]

agggggh, it burns.

[@JohnSmith-rk6jy]

Gold.

[@TheFattestLInHistory]

you sly dog

[@rinavisagie5384]

I found this a very good explanation. As Geography teacher I concur with what is said in the video.

[@apricotbranding]

Very interesting, Another issue was the tse-tse fly in sub-saharan africa which made large scale horse breeding impossible. So people couldn't travel far fast to trade and spread ideas and build empires as fast and far as they were supposed to. Horses make things go a lot faster. But places like the sahel which didn't have that problem saw vast empires like Mali, Ghana and Songhai. They were supercharged by both the horse and camel.

[@billjames4771]

sub-saharan africa never domesticated animals

[@apricotbranding]

@@billjames4771 well any well-educated person on this topic knows that sub-Saharan Africans domesticated everything from cattle to horses. Even hyenas. I dont know where you get your lies from

[@billjames4771]

no domesticating of animals by sub-Saharans, flies or no flies. That they later copied Mediterranean muslins or Europeans....sure. They also were later taught to read and write, but they NEVER developed reading and writing on their own. Maybe the flies had something to do with it? Or maybe crocodiles. Or hippos, or elephants. But whatever excuses you come up with does not change the facts.

[@apricotbranding]

@@billjames4771 the only fact is that what you are saying is complete garbage. No one is making any excuses or copying anyone. There were different writing systems developed in sub-saharan africa without Europeans or muslims. Scholars have also written about it. You are clearly not very bright.

[@billjames4771]

@@apricotbranding what different writing systems did the sub-Saharans develop? When. What is your source? You seem to be the only one aware of them.

[@itzrally7]

Earth is now on my list of bullies

[@incendiarybullet3516]

Tom Stamos - Everyone who says liberalism is a mental disorder is either 12 years old or knee deep into Republican propaganda. Liberalism is as valid of an ideology as conservatism, and its followers are certainly less racist. So yeah, fuck off back to James Allsup or one of the 20+ propaganda channels you’re probably subscribed to.

[@gentlemanvontweed7147]

@@incendiarybullet3516 Where I come from, liberals are the conservatives.

[@cecilycook5592]

Offended much .... its not a bully 🤣🤣🤣 thats like saying mother nature is a bully 🤔🤔

[@e-memes808]

200th like.

[@itzrally7]

Bantz I didn’t even realise I had more than 5 likes until u just told me I had 200 oof

[@mbear1639]

Dear Internet, Finally some ORIGINAL content and some things you can learn in digestible 5-7 minute videos. We need to support a channel like this with subscriptions. (Just saying....and no, i dont know content creator).

[@AtlasPro1]

Let's hope the internet hears you ;)

[@mbear1639]

Atlas Pro They will. Your content is that interesting. And not all of us are care about dumb celebrities. You'll be at 500,000 by end of the year. At least

[@AtlasPro1]

I'd be happy to just get to 1000 by the end of the year :P

[@mbear1639]

Atlas Pro You're sweet. Shoot higher!

[@AtlasPro1]

I'll take what I can get honestly :)

[@emekaosisi1288]

Doomed is a strong word. Africa is not doomed, it is finding itself in this new age.

[@TreDogOfficial]

I found that theory to be pretty intriguing. There are subtle forces around us that shape our lives which we aren't even aware of. It isn't until we challenge our preconceived notions that we enter a deeper realm of understanding.

[@kiboinderitu8431]

Thank you so much, A Kenyan here, Kikuyu tribe. this is good. Don't worry the social dynamics will evolve and grow ,maybe not in our time but sure enough they will. The end of ethnic conflict will come.

[@MAKAVELLI207]

@Adam Defibaugh true that. But the European borders made things worse in some cases because it grouped different people together. Its was made even worse by the divide and rule methods

[@adrianpatociego7373]

Every thing was peaceful until the different climate zone attacked.

[@skinnylegend-7330]

the arid invasion

[@ipaja5515]

@@skinnylegend-7330 no. The white man invasion

[@nomad8166]

@@ipaja5515 White man is not responsible for Africans poor development, sure they did influenced it in the latest centuries but who influenced it before the white man to stay underdeveloped?

[@yaboobayyaboobay8191]

@@ipaja5515 whipepo

[@ipaja5515]

@@nomad8166 do some research. Yes, parts of Africa were underdeveloped before the european invasion but other parts were very developed. U heard of Great Zimbabwe that the european tried to lie was a semetic peoples construction in Zimbabwe because it was a highly developed community. The european didn't want to attribute this great African construction to Africans. That many artefacts in european museums were stolen from Africa, e.g. Benin bronze age artefacts. And u have to remember the romans considered the anglo-saxon a barbarian before they arrived there.

[@AhmetwithaT]

Africa is a giant continent. It had and has rich regions and poor regions, just like every other continent.

[@cavaugnsharkey2699]

Thing is one poor region in Africa = all of Africa is poor. That's the whole world's mindset.

[@Jack-496]

1:03 *Putin has joined the conversation*

[@NotVeryRandomDude]

Imagine being Africa _This comment was made by Eurasia gang_

[@stefanpopescu5372]

A TROLL!!!

[@pedromeneses9617]

@@vlc-cosplayer Isn't the world a large rock floating in space? Waiting to be melted via the Sun?

[@pedromeneses9617]

@@vlc-cosplayer We will be dead long before that, at temperatures above 100 Celsius we'd already be dead.

[@pedromeneses9617]

@@vlc-cosplayer Yes, it is enough, where I live in Southern Europe, it can go to 45 º in the summer and it is already unbearable. I cannot imagine 60º

[@srokasodo6953]

We were *always* at war with Eurasia

[@MrMiguelForster]

the climate breakdown of eurasia is much more complex than you make it out to be

[@palebluedot7435]

Ya but so is africa He generalized an idea

[@elias_xp95]

A detailed explanation would require a 50 page or more research paper lol. There are so many factors. He did a great job of condensing an idea into a bite size digestible.

[@Giganfan2k1]

I don't think he did though. Actually knowing the history of Rome and China it was kind of cringy. Also religion had more to do with Ethiopa's Independence than its climate or culture. I think there is something to the argument in general. Especially when you start talking about how the ecology shifts all the time in Africa. Therefore if your arid for a few generations then you become more tropical for a generation or two. Then the next 100 or so years you slip into slahiel climate.

[@randomuser5443]

It isn’t the topic

[@goodman6127]

Sum Arbor no the Italian tried to take all of Ethiopia but the Ethiopians got guns knew the climate and kicked Mussolini's ass

[@notrockstaralp8039]

I saw this a when it came out and now convinced my teacher to let me do a research paper on this topic.

[@wildec2]

Good video. I think it provides a useful scaffold on which to build better understanding. One important addition, using the scaffold, is the problem that is created by African geography as it relates to tropical diseases, particularly malaria. This made it difficult for people to cross the congo part of africa. The other problem that africa had until quite recently was the presence of a cattle plague called rinderpest. This prevented cattle from just being mustered slowly south to open up the continent with beef and dairies. Once european settlement arrived, they were able to simply bypass congo with transport by ship.

[@solascripturaPR1517]

Literally 15 seconds before you touched on it, I immediately realized that those 1000+ different tribes made the slave trade easy pickings: Nobody in Africa had another tribes back (as they were more than likely warring with them just prior to the Slave Trade).

[@JoseJBronze]

@Lumiel Utter non-sense of you both. There are no traces of it. But the conflicts nowadays all are connected to foreighn religions and borders drawn by creatures not familiar to this planet till this day. You creatures would blame cow farts for the damage done by you.

[@solascripturaPR1517]

@Mø Nälayé The people who get "offended" by people like us calling what happened in Africa Pre- Slave Trade, are the same people enslaved, themselves: Mental slavery: living under labels of "Black", "White", and "Brown"... and "African- American", "Caucasian", and "Latin- American", etc. That dude^^ proved his own ignorance; especially with the ridiculous "cow farts" comment.

[@barryholt9564]

@Mø Nälayé I really love this comment. It's so rare to read commentary on this topic that isn't coloured by S-J-W or Alt-Right Dogma. You don't let the white man off the hook, or the Africans either (like you say, if you've got a load of P.O.W's on your hand and some bunch of outsiders fortuitously show up willing to take them off your hands in exchange for guns, trade goods or whatever why the hell wouldn't you ?) You don't forget the Arab slave trade either. The Arabs didn't limit themselves to black slaves, they raided as far as Iceland and Ireland and one of the reasons for the founding of the US Marine Corps was to combat Arab slavers. However they probably took more Black slaves then the transatlantic slave trade did and while it's not easy to compare monsters, it may be that some of their practices were even crueler than that of the European slave Traders. Also there's a good deal of evidence that the transatlantic slave trade was mostly funded by Jewish bankers, although that's not a can of worms that I particularly want to open the lid on. Your analysis of the role of African history, colonial and pre-colonial and in particular the role of Africa's geography was both concise and persuasive. People ARE the same wherever you go- by which I mean people everywhere are creeps and if people can use some accident of history, geography or biology i.e. disease to dominate another people they won't hesitate to do so. Of course such conquering peoples rarely acknowledge the advantage fate has dealt them preferring to credit intelligence, industriousness, etc, etc, while of course similarly running down those who find themselves subservient. Yes of course culture , national character and so on is important in the way these things play out but for example if you conquer a land where 90% of the inhabitants are wiped out by germs that YOU brought, albeit inadvertently, such as was the case in Central America with the conquistadors (not even minding the fact that they were mounted on horseback and carried firearms) it makes your achievements looks somewhat less impressive ...

[@solascripturaPR1517]

@CNN is Fake News My use of the words "Pre Slave Trade" is alluding to the ignorance of the majority: Most people only recall that between West Africa & the Europeans to the 13 Colonies. Hence, Why I wrote "Pre Slave Trade" (for the people in the back who aren't paying attention).

[@Appelouz]

@CNN is Fake News Bit ironic coming from someone promoting the 'fake news' movement.

[@billstrowder]

The frozen winter put cultures in the Northern Hemisphere into a project management cycle of continuous improvement.

[@dcanaday]

I agree. This forced people to develop calendars so they would know when to plant. They also needed to have a longer time horizon and be able to defer gratification. They had to plant in the spring so they could harvest in the fall, and then store enough food, and chop enough wood, so they could survive the long winter. They had to learn about crop rotation, plant breeding, animal husbandry, etc. These intellectual challenges weeded out those with the lowest IQ. Meanwhile in Africa, hunter-gatherers would wake up every morning and go hunting. They only had to be smarter than the animals they wanted to eat. They didn't have to think long term. Just survive the day. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

[@ziovanni77]

@@dcanaday That is reasonable!It does implicate a higher intelligence level for the non Africans though

[@dernwine]

@@ziovanni77 No it doesn't. It means that to live in Europe you need a management cycle but to live in africa investing in a mangment cycle is a waste of reasources. It's a cultural neccesity, not a genetic predisposition.

[@ziovanni77]

@@dernwine sure,in the short term.But isn't cultural/environmental pressures under a long period of time an agent for evolutionary variation?To be clear I am not taking a clear stance regarding intelligence levels of different peoples.Just arguing the op's point.

[@dernwine]

@@ziovanni77 Not really. For starters you're taking the assumption that a colder climate is the only evolutionary pressure people are facing, as if disease, more dangerous fauna, and Africas own climactic variation (yes Africa also has seasons, it's just that the temperature tends to stay "warm") don't force constraints and planning on humans living there. Secondly can you actually prove a correlation between living in Europe prior to civilisation and being more intelligent? I doubt it. While you might be able to argue that living in Europe = more difficult than living in africa (see point one why I disagree) you then have to extablish that increased expenditure of energy on an already highly energy intesive brain is an evolutionary advantage in a part of the world where energy shortages are common.... lets face it squirrels plan for the winter, that stuff doesn't necessarily require high brain power, and if you can't produce food for 4 months of the year evolution can select for lower intelligence.

[@nicolasxenios1365]

Excellent theory and splendidly presented! Congrats!

[@SocialStudiess]

My ancestors and nationality is on the very east coast of Africa. We've always been able to use the spice route trade from the top of the Red Sea to the bottom to our advantage. Those chaps on the opposite side of the continent of us. West Africa. They have not had the same ability as we have had. West Africa and East Africa alike have the Sahara desert above us making it nearly impossible to trek to the top. The primary difference with EAST Africa where I come from and WEST Africa where the blacks of America come from is neighbors. In East Africa even though we're cut off from the world by the Sahara desert the same as West Africa. The key differnce is, all we have separating us from the next continent and people over is the Red Sea. That's roughly 20 miles from the African east coast tip to the next continent over in Asia where the nations Yemen and Saudi Arabia lie. Every people, kingdom and power could not have been without the incorporation of its neighbors. West Africa and literally all of Africa central Africa and below has been disabled from doing that because of Geography. The Congo is what really made it impossible for the Africans below the Congo to migrate out. The Congo and everything in it might as well be a continent all its own. #FACTS. Africa is the best continent in human existence in terms of life sustainment and existing. The geography for half of its (West and south of central Africa) inhabitants is the worst thing to happen to any of the continents ever though. It's pure logic and history that proves my theory right. My area of Africa only ended up the way it did because we were not isolated by desert, water and distance as West and southern Africa was and is. I'm really happy this video exists. I've known this about Africa since I was a kid. I grew up in America but American history taught me things about my color (black people) that I knew didn't happen to my culture. That's because I'm from Eritrea/Ethiopia. The geography and the history we've had with people of the other continents would not allow such an atrocity as the Atlantic slave trade to happen. And I'm proud to say I'm very close to becoming an American high school geography teacher. Knowing what I know, being of the ancestory I am. Being a teacher is my best tool to be able to educate and improve the mindset of the young black child in America. Black doesnt mean slavery. Black history doesn't mean shackles, Jim Crow, civil rights ect. There's so much more. I'm a living breathing example of that. And the best gift I think I can give the world is properly educating and enlightening our future generations 🌍🌎🌏

[@sunako85]

Back in college when we studied history our professor mentioned something similar to what you discussed.. like how geography influences unity and cohesion of a culture. In the Philippines (my country) we have this problem of "slow development" as well, we have many provinces/tribes/"subcultures(?)" which makes it difficult for us to make decisions as one and to understand each other's values, therefore to grow as one country ideally united with just one mindset. We have 7,000++ islands, so many varied dialects, tribes, habits, religion... People from Luzon have different values most have "colonial mentality", those in Visayas are more aggressive, Mindanao have Muslims which the government have to take into account when making decisions. Point is, geography cannot be disregarded when it comes to the behavior(?) of a nation/culture.. it definitely has influence. I also think weather is a big factor. Those who live in tropical islands I see as friendlier and cheerful as the sun is a major influence when it comes to mood. In fact in psychology depression is related to cold weather like in areas with long winters people literally get "winter blues" and part of treatment is exposure to UV/light to uplift the mood.

[@Deri_Seh]

You are right. I would say also the cultures are product of the geography and climate

[@echidnatsukiremuru7217]

We need a binding force that will unite us... I wonder what could it be? Now I understand BBM.... he wants to create a solid foundation that is necessary for building a prosperous nation.

[@oscarruiz502]

And geography and climate are related aswell

[@Ace-zw1db]

Do you guys support Federalism?

[@bluemountain4181]

I don't think that you have properly taken into account the size of Africa. While the different climates would prevent a giant empire from dominating the whole continent the individual climate zones in Africa are still very big, big enough for powerful states to exist (as you mentioned Egypt, Ethiopia and Mali). For example South Africa (approximately corresponding to the Mediterranean climate zone of the south) is as large are modern day France, Germany and Poland combined but until the 19th did not develop any powerful centralized states. Japan deserves a mention since it is tall rather than wide and so has different climates as well as being relatively isolated but still developed a centralized political system and industry/technology.

[@NoName-ze4qn]

But Japan is so small that it fits entirely in temperate climate

[@Scott89878]

Japan's climate variance is akin to like comparing Florida to Maine. Most of the island is temperate deciduous forest, but leading into sub tropical forest in the south.

[@chandy3859]

Japan become advanced when they actively learn the knowledge, technology, and culture of the western world after breaking out of their isolationist state. It mean that the empire is actively modernize

[@chandy3859]

When Ethiopia go to war with Italy during their first war. They actually win because they have more firearms and their firearms are more modern then the Italian after they bought it from the german. It was cause by their king when the king actively modernize the nation

[@Okuni_]

On those 3 countries there's a major river flowing through

[@brianfoster3615]

A very apt summation of why geography and climates have driven issues with African unity! I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia and saw firsthand the tribal divisions. Though they were loosely united against South Africa during the Namibian War for Independence (1966-1989), the various tribes and groups of Namibian fighters still separated along tribal and ethnic lines. It will take greater education efforts and unity through technology and economic need to eventually unite parts of Africa (e.g. ECOWAS and SADC)

[@V4zz33]

This is brilliant info! Good eye opener!

[@lukeland6741]

"Being Taller Is Bad" South America: **Intense Sweating**

[@deinemam7115]

well and most civs there were restrained to mountain regions

[@Leerill]

Would be interesting to see the climate regions of South America overlapped with thier national boundaries. Could help to see if the videos thesis works out there too

[@jakubiszon6495]

@@deinemam7115 This idea is being questioned recently. There were some cities found that used to exist in the jungle.The reason why they were not discovered before - the main building materials for these people was wood and it all rotten away by now in the rain and warmth.

[@kingdomofbird8174]

@@Leerill South America has very few seas Europe by other side has too much seas

[@HBGamingTD]

The Inca Empire was based off of the Mountainous regions of South America.

[@rogerpropes7129]

Regardless of the accuracy of this, he has a hypothesis, not a theory.

[@jakecrandall6111]

Roger Propes in social hypothesis like this and the stoned ape theory are still called theory in title only. Its not for scientific theory but it is true for social

[@rogerpropes7129]

Isn't it true that today we have the 'law of gravity', i.e. everybody agrees on it, the 'theory of evolution', i.e. not everybody is willing to believe in the evidence yet, and the 'hypothesis' that there may be life on another planet, i.e. we just don't have enough evidence to know yet? And 500 years ago we just had the 'hypothesis' of heliocentricity and gravity? My hypothesis is that given enough people on our planet finite recombinant DNA will start producing identical but unrelated twins, but I can't prove it.

[@heatheraldazabal358]

Roger Propes evolution is a scientific fact, but it is still studied in many ways

[@ShamGam3]

A theory is not an idea. A hypothesis has to be testable. A theory is an explanation of a naturally occuring phenomenon

[@rogerpropes7129]

Racists focus on exclusively on skin color as a differentiating trait. Black Africans , White Europeans, and 'yellow' Orientals are different in many other significant ways--body hair, epicanthic folds, height, lactose tolerance etc., why not the way our brains work? This is not to imply superiority of any trait, just marked observable distinctions.

[@ronaldgilmore999]

You should do a video explaining how the (Reserve Currency Privilege) that America and Europe have made them rich while keeping other countries poor. Thanks to the Reserve Currency Privilege America and Europe have, they can print money or borrow money from local banks and use it to finance their own development. African countries don't have Reserve Currency Privilege, they cannot print money or borrow money from local banks to finance their development. If they don't earn enough USD or EUR from exporting, their countries are not able to develop. No country should need the currency of another country to develop; this is colonization and slavery in another form.

[@robleahmed2558]

Amazing you did very excellent thank you,I liked your video and subscribed.

[@HarukiYamamoto]

Oi, that first location is in my country, Uganda. It's called Sipi falls. A very nice place.

[@firethylacine1976]

I think part of it also has to do with the fact that Africans just didn't need to innovate as much. Africa was the place were we evolved as a species, so Africans were naturally well suited to many areas of the continent. Europe and Asia, on the other hand, demanded human innovation for our prolonged survival. Aided by geography, all of these innovations spread throughout Eurasia while Africans managed to live almost as they had since the origin of our species.

[@palebluedot7435]

No actually africa is the only place on earth that naturally keeps us in check viruses evolved to kill us parisites to inhabite us The harshness of africa forced our intellegence

[@SwedishAlicorn]

@@palebluedot7435 And yet somehow, the people who live here show very little of it.

[@palebluedot7435]

@@SwedishAlicorn intellegence and knowledge are seperate

[@palebluedot7435]

@philip trevor no it really hasnt

[@samoanbiscuit]

This is not true. Africa is one of the harshest places for humans to live. Which makes sense as it was the catalyst for our ancestors to start developing bigger and bigger brains. It had an abundance of dangerous megafauna, diseases jumping from closely related species (like HIV in modern times), and incredibly harsh biomes like the Savanahh filled with tsetse flies. The bantu farmers, a group which colonised much of Sub-Saharan Africa, were a relatively new group with technological innovations that allowed them to do so. The geography of Africa slowed this down though, and when Europeans came they were barely finished spreading and had done so so slowly it was barely remembered by those at the starting point (i.e no cohesive identity/culture among Bantu farmer groups).

[@metalltitan]

The same can be said about Japan in some ways. Rough, inhospitable and leads to scattered tribes that wage war on each other for centuries. Unlike Africans however, the Japanese were smart enough to pick up on new trends when they came around. When Africa came into contact with the Roman Empire they could have through traders adopted some of the traits and technologies that were clearly better than their own. But yeah, that place has the same problem today that it had 3000 years ago, just with better weapons and slightly improved technology.

[@Kaiserboo1871]

Some tribes did. Ethiopia adopted Christianity and Mali adopted Islam.

[@tochukwuifeanacho3843]

The African Kingdoms of Nubia,Meroe Axum, Blemmyes did. They just limited contact.

[@nkohu]

i think hes referign to technology. not religion@@Kaiserboo1871

[@TheLoosenit2]

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond, you basically just restated parts of his book

[@GM-xo7yy]

I'm glad he did because I'd have never heard it otherwise. Too many books in the world can't read them all.

[@arthas640]

Academia is 99% just copying statements, facts, theories, and opinions of other academics to fellow academics in the Hope's that you can convince some academics to let you put those quotes in a journal so other academics can read those restated theories in the Hope's that if enough academics read the same restated theories that it will become the coveted "generally accepted" theory and you become elevated to being the Chad Academic

[@jacques8823]

Climate theories of population groups is a very old theory, it’s how the Greeks theorized the origin of different skin colors. most of Jared diamonds book isn’t even his own original thoughts, but that’s just how academia works, building and connecting pre established ideas.

[@Gallowglass7]

@@arthas640 Facts

[@steventhompson399]

I got that book as a present one Christmas and it had a lot of good points which I had thought about, geography is the physical context upon which animals peoples cultures etc exist, I don't think geography alone determines everything but it sets parameters of what's possible, but I think the influence of culture is also a big factor if secondary to physical geography

[@nikosaarinen3258]

No, the word is hypothesis, it's not a theory.

[@RAP023]

I was about to say the same. I swear people need to go back to school or read a dictionary once or twice.

[@jean-philippelefebvre1000]

whatever name you use it, it makes sense anyway

[@jean-philippelefebvre1000]

@@zijkhal8356 thanks for clarifying

[@malcolmt7883]

Although a hypothesis has to be testable. Maybe we'll just call it a politically correct idea.

[@jean-philippelefebvre1000]

@@malcolmt7883 you can't test climate and geography under real scale lol. you can juste look at what happened and try to understand why. i think this climate and geography theory makes a lot of sense and can be apply to much more place on earth

[@hajlevy6732]

As myself being a north African, i can affirm the validity of this theory. here for example in southern Algeria alone, we witness various incidents of ethnic nature which ARE very much driven by climactic and regional conflicts.

[@TheMediocreDev]

Holocaust happened, American/French revolution happened, WWI/II happened, Balkan wars happened, Bloody Sunday happened

[@somerandomguy7458]

@@TheMediocreDev there are differences in intelligence, but among healthy individuals it is negiligible. Humans are vastly intelligent and capable of a lot of things. The differences are due to geography, and climate. Equatorial nations are poor, not because of intelligence difference, but GEOGRAPHY. Jated Diamond argues in his book Guns, Germs and Steel that Europeans and Asians got an enormous head start because of geography: some plants lend themselves to agriculture by producing energy-dense seeds which are easily harvested and which have a long shelf life after drying the Mediterranean climate was ideal for growing these plants Europe/Asia has a long east/west strip which allowed agriculture to propagate the Americas have regions with the same climate, but the dominant axis is north/south so those areas are separated and constrained; agriculture wasn't able to propagate the same way the Indigenous Australians could never have invented agriculture because the domesticatable plants simply weren't present, likewise with many other places agriculture meant that an individual could generate more food than they required, which enabled specialisation and a division of labour, which in turn enabled innovation certain types of animals lend themselves to domestication (especially important is a herding instinct); almost all these animals were present in Europe/Asia, and absent elsewhere domesticated livestock added to the food surplus, and added mobility living at close quarters with the domesticated livestock led to disease transmission, and after some time a "herd immunity" within the human population; the indigenous peoples who were later invaded had not acquired such immunity and were heavily impacted by diseases brought by colonists/conquerors On top of that, the alphabet was invented in the Mediterranean region whixh enabled transmission of knowledge, which enabled growth of knowledge, which imparted military abd commercial advantage With these advantages, the rest of the world didn't have a chance. At least, not for the first 10,000 years. But oil became incredibly important a bit over a century ago, and the existing empires were absolutely smashed by WWI. We're at the beginning of a new chapter. A Chinese diplomat was asked what he thought of the French Revolution and he replied, "It's too early to tell". That's probably pretty true.

[@ursamajor6347]

If you are north African I feel sorry for your country I hope the rest of you don't share your mentality. For you are clearly a victim of white supremacist brainwashing lol

[@ROG518ZA]

I enjoyed this. Made sense, though just hypothetical. Thanks

[@notrockstaralp8039]

I’m doing an essay on this theory is there anyway you could reach out to me and tell me who your professor was?

[@MAKAVELLI207]

As an African, I find this very interesting and somehow true. Couldn't nail it further. Good job man

[@zaujimaveinformacie4008]

From what country?

[@zaujimaveinformacie4008]

@Pneumonocolvocanomicroscopicsilicolvocano-coniosis africa is not a country dude

[@wibbliams]

@Pneumonocolvocanomicroscopicsilicolvocano-coniosis how the hell do you pronounce ur name

[@amoun5062]

@@wibbliams uvuvwevwevwe onyetenyevwe ugwemubwem ossas

[@josephfish3353]

@Pneumonocolvocanomicroscopicsilicolvocano-coniosis It happened to me again this morning 😂

[@dr.rajshekhar4738]

You are a brave man trying to encourage healthy debate in a sea of trolls. I wish you strength. Look forward to more content 👍

[@thatguynoonelikes4865]

This was very interesting and makes a lot of sense Although I feel like there are many things that are bit inaccurate about it though or at least seemed kind of off or unlikely from the way you described it

[@VeritasOmniaVincit176]

If anyone watching this video wants to really learn something about Africa’s economical development, search for any Thomas Sowell video on the topic.

[@voltagedrop5899]

doesn't seem very plausible. the african grasslands alone are larger than the entire continent of europe, and that is when you include eastern europe, which remained relatively undeveloped over the centuries when compared to the west. the areas of both the roman empire and the european union were approximately 4.4 million square kilometers, while the african grasslands, on their own, cover approximately 10 million square kilometers, which is plenty of space for 2 roman empires or 28 germanies.

[@Lyle-xc9pg]

love your political compass. this is mainly a misinformation channel

[@voltagedrop5899]

@Jonathan Williams of course they do; you just need people intelligent enough to figure agriculture out and you are all set.

[@levonleban6252]

@Tally H. It has less to do with Timber and more to do with water. Without consistent rain or irrigation infrastructure its hard to get consistent crop growth in the same locale from year to year. After a certian point animal husbandry becomes more efficient.

[@hiddenhist]

Well the entire concept of this video is wrong given that the sahel region was dominated by states, empire and kingdom alike, from the 1000s onwards, and had complex states far before that.

[@Wustenfuchs109]

So, basically, because you don't think that the idea is correct, you must have some other explanation as to why African countries/tribes were never as united and prosperous as Europe before the colonization period. But given the things said here, it really smells of racism and the politely veiled argument of "They're just more stupid than us". I hope that I am wrong.

[@WynandLens]

I have wondered about this my whole life and you just summerised it in one short video. I have no idea how you researched this, but man what a good job. Thank you

[@lialivia6810]

Thank you 🙏🏾 sooo much for this vid bro if only my ancestors could’ve united😔 they would have saved our resources, our history, and their lives 😒 but nahhh

[@abygorsonabor7982]

Switzerland, Canada, the gulf states etc.: Am I a joke to you?

[@Danpungip]

Wdym Switzerland

[@Danpungip]

Switzerland is all mountains

[@snatermans]

Please don't say 'only a theory' when you mean hypothesis.

[@straightasarainbow5344]

I mean.....he said theory, not Theory........but yeah....

[@marvingroves8456]

It is a theory tho

[@straightasarainbow5344]

@@marvingroves8456 In the scientific world a Theory is something recognized as most likely true. It's an idea that's supported by a lot of evidence and hasn't been proven wrong.

[@Doctor_Subtilis]

Nobody above has learned anything from the philosophy of science. Sad!

[@factsauce]

It just a theory a gameeee theory

[@gavin9051]

What about South America though? It is much taller than it is wide, yet it was unifies by the Incan Empire, and then again by the Spanish Empire. Also, Chile today is a very wealthy country despite being like 100 miles wide and stretching through many different climate zones

[@AlonssoV]

The Incan Empire expanded mostly through the Andes, which due to the altitude shares a climate. And the Spanish Empire broke apart, so it was not a success.

[@Munchausenification]

@@AlonssoV every empire in history has broken apart so on basis of that because the Spanish Empire broke apart, no empire has been a success. Yet we probably consider the Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire, the Persian Empire, the Alexandrian? Empire, Empire of China, etc. quite succesful. I agree on the Inca though. Due to the Andes similar climate and their way of connecting the empire by roads and overall government administration kept it together for a long time.

[@claymusicoff5663]

Munchausenification yeah but the Spanish didn’t even hold it for that long

[@Munchausenification]

@@claymusicoff5663 Obviously depends on when you consider the Spanish Empire started and ended. I would say that from around 1520 - Charles V of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor to around 1808 with the Spanish American Wars of Independence. I would say 288 years is still a long time

[@claymusicoff5663]

Munchausenification not really. Especially when it comes to empires

[@kungpaochicken-gu9jy]

'Empires in Africa and the Americas couldn't expand far from their own climate' The Inca empire, who had literally vertical borders: Am I a joke to you?

[@danmac9423]

This is completely new to me, but actually makes a lot of sense. Like ya said, colonialism has played a role in modern times. Thinking of a series of lectures i listened to years ago, Empires have had success in the past, but it just dawned on me (regarding the specific lectures) that those empires were in the north of Africa, never really ventured south, only west.... Thanks for the video. If you are able to expand on this topic, that would be awesome.

[@FaaduProductions]

India DOESN'T have a unified climate. We've got a hodge podge of Tundra, Alpine, Desert, Wetlands and Tropical.

[@joemontana8290]

yeah india is like a mini Africa almost

[@nikibronson133]

Hmm

[@primaldialga4764]

No big country has a unified climate* perhaps except Canada or Siberia

[@finlayhumberstone8137]

@@user-go8fs2vq9z settle down

[@mylordandsaviour4786]

That is not relevant. It is about the important regions and those must be similar and connected enough. Indian deserts are small. The mountains are far in the north and were not a part of the core.

[@yffips]

The words “just” and “theory” do not belong together. This should be called a hypothesis.

[@aaroncatoe1531]

Matpat has to host Game Hypothesis now

[@dave1805]

actually it is a theory. a hypothesis is a theory that can be PROVED through future experimentation. Until we invent time travel this a theory. I do agree though he made a lot a very good points throughout the video

[@7Ghos]

Depends on the definition being used

[@wet_pasta5314]

@@aaroncatoe1531 😂😂😂

[@nakkadu]

@@dave1805 I think you've got that wrong and the original comment is correct. A theory can be tested and proved;...The theory of gravity, the theory that earth revolves around the sun, theory of evolution. A hypothesis can become a theory.

[@ZeroSouthBall]

The best introduction to geopolitics, insanely well done!

[@ZumaRoc]

You did great. My question is this, if the of the world was place upside down, or viewed from the side, will that change the perspective?

[@dirtyweapons3459]

So set Africa to wumbo?

[@jaredcoates3273]

😂😂😂

[@Idontuploadhereanymore]

UNDERRATED COMMENT

[@anthonyglennmollicasr.425]

lol!

[@Ascension1004]

Now I have to go watch that episode.

[@Malachowski96]

Well then it would be upside down

[@Azthioth]

South America disagrees strongly. The Incans basically did everything you said could not happen in Africa, but in SA. Peru itself has 95% of all climates in one country, yet they seems to get along just fine.

[@afterthedrjay]

They definitely produced great cities and long lasting buildings even in Jungles and on mountain tops..

[@TheBieberbe1iber]

Part of this was due to being able to demistice, something africa couldnt to the same extent. Also, most great native empires didnt really interact much.

[@TheMrgoodmanners]

Theres this country in africa called tanzania, ome of the.largest countries in the continent, 70% of it is uninhabitable due to one insect,the tsetse fly. It causes sleeping sickness or trypanasomiasis. Africas tough conditions are the only reasons why europeans werent able to replicate what they did to s.america in the continent. To.live in africa u have to be naturally designed to live there

[@emw1994]

@@TheMrgoodmanners explain the Dutch south Africans. They used innovation to make South Africa farmable.

[@monkgogimasedi5265]

@@emw1994 They did, honestly though, South Africa has enviable weather and climate and access to a well placed beach. None of which poor neighbors have. To the North East is a country very regularly hit with tropical storms of varying strengths. To the north, an Arid savanna with little rain and 75% Kalahari. To the north west, a country mostly dominated by desert, which is the reason for the Capivri strip

[@gavinrayne7922]

Why didn't people from each distinct region organize into a single nation? Doing so would have given them coast on both sides.

[@sharma1337]

they should have done this in south america and basically all over

[@dodo-ux4po]

I also believe the lack of bureaucracy also prevented big empires forming in Africa. The vastness of the Sahara desert, dense rainforests, lack of navigable rivers and the fact that most of the continent being landlocked really made it hard to travel between regions and reduced trade, which would have helped to share ideas and inventions from foreign lands. It was nearly impossible to control large territory because the hardship of traveling made it hard to create a centralized government. Look at the Mongolian Empire. They managed to control such vast territory through excellent bureaucracy, they had posts all throughout their empire for communication and had a marvelous infrastructure and logistics for both trade, travelling and communication, which made it easier for the ruler to control territory very far away.

[@maksymvaskin2891]

Nice hypothesis but Ethiopia is actually an counter-example for everything you explained before. It's the only African country that was never colonized by neither Europeans or Arabs and it has a "unifying" climate but it was never successful in modern times: it's one of the poorest countries, even for African standards (as of 2018, there were only 16 countries with lower HDI than Ethiopia). A far better example for me would be Botswana.

[@JC60143]

What about Italy? They conquered the area

[@maksymvaskin2891]

@@JC60143 They occupied Ethiopia for less than 8 years, can't compare it with full-on colonization...

[@Sammy-lz1vi]

It's prophesied to become an end time Superpower. It is a strong African Nation.

[@gas132]

ethiopia is in such a desolate state, for the same reason somalia is war somalia in the 80s was shaping up to be strongest country on the continent, boasting the largest military in africa and having a strong economy, built with soviet funding then they started a war with ethiopia, which they thought was going to be ez pz at first that was a fair assessment, as somalia occupied more than 3/4 of the country in less than a year the remaining 1/4 of ethiopia meanwhile, had a communist revolution which the soviet union immediately jumped in to fund withdrawing their funding for somalia in the process, and joining the ethiopian counter-offensive, by bombing somalia to dust which, for the detriment of both somalia and ethiopia, included their occupied territory and thanks to this war, the horn of africa is now dirt poor and has fallen victim to chinese colonization

[@detectivedaffodil437]

Exacty! Also Parts of asia such as south asia has a lot of poverty.

[@nashespiritu]

As an African I really appreciate and like this video. Thank you Shout out from South Africa 🇿🇦

[@your_mother_likes_geography]

Awesome video. Extremely precise.

[@dharanig6292]

Wow ! Even though it's a " theory" you say. You kinda answered couple of my Major questions regarding Africa because it does totally makes sense. Cool.!

[@Despotic_Waffle]

Eurasia basically easy mode, if you watch other videos about the domestication of animals in eurasia compared to the americas you'll see this added to supporting that eurasia is easymode zone.

[@diaperdude6163]

The ice age was easy.

[@natu19900]

@_ craig _ You got it, those are the only 2 factors when looking at civilization progress. Amazing

[@Etc2496]

@_ craig _ Nothing says good weather and fertile land like half of the continent being a desert.

[@revolverocelot8696]

@_ craig _ domesticated animals are the first step in a growing society. Eurasia had loads of them. Google it

[@revolverocelot8696]

@_ craig _ google river civilizations and fertile crescent

[@sheaballard3022]

This is the thesis of Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond.

[@bread1958]

It's very similar

[@Jay-fp8iy]

That book is trash. It's been refuted so many times it's not even funny anymore. Biology is a large component that he completely ignores due to ideological reasons.

[@radicalliberalist8310]

@@Jay-fp8iy Refuted by who?

[@rymdalkis]

@@Jay-fp8iy Oh the irony that you accuse him of relying on a refuted theory due to ideological reasons, whilst basing your own entire theory about biology on one single study which has been refuted even more times

[@93camping]

@@Jay-fp8iy Nice of you to tell that it was refuted while neglecting to back that claim up with anything, or eloberate further why it is so.

[@unclechoicemtshixa5883]

perfect can i download this nd share if i may

[@FelipeKana1]

REQUEST. Could you do a similar analysis of the remaining continents? (Americas and Oceania)

[@heyho69]

geography def has a significant impact and the theory has merits, but it's also very important to NOT be too deterministic - human societies and cultures are often motivated and influenced by factors beyond the climate and geography!

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

Have you watched the start of the video?

[@marlonyo]

@@agamemnonofmycenae5258 he did mention how the cultural diversity of africa like all diversities made it weak

[@General8675]

Like what? Other cultures who came from other climates and geography?

[@versari02]

i think he addressed most of these other factors in the video

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

Could you share some of these factors.

[@mogs7595]

Lack of access to the coast and navigable rivers are arguably more important geographic factors.

[@Cindy99765]

I'd say navigable rivers definitely, but many parts of Africa had access to coastal areas

[@fosterkmas]

@@Cindy99765 They do, but they have terrible bay areas for building great harbours. Nice beaches though.

[@phillycosidae756]

Some of the most impressive African archaeological sites were city states on the east coast.

[@Zarastro54]

Lol those ARE geographic factors!

[@fosterkmas]

@@Zarastro54 Read OPs post again carefully.

[@ShnoogleMan]

I'm not sure how much I agree with this. For one thing, a lot of these climate zones are quite large. Of course the Mediterranean and Sahara regions are continuous with their respective climate zones in Eurasia. The Savannah is also quite large and covers much of the continent. Plenty of these individual climate zones are larger than areas like the Chinese heartland and India. I think the primary historical barriers to building advanced civilizations in Africa were the presence of tropical diseases and geographic separation from the larger chain of civilizations in North Africa and Eurasia.

[@kmk1225]

Cool video! But isn't this hypothesis postulated by Jared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel?

[@ethangutterman1251]

yeah this is geographic luck

[@Elite-bh6pm]

That's right, it's the same theory.

[@joshuachristofferson9227]

...yup, Africa is like the Americas in this regard...

[@Boomer2332]

Ramsay Bolton To say Japan was isolated as heck is like saying the island of Great Britain was isolated as heck. Both were heavily influenced by the outside world and were thus able to at least keep up with the times. The main difference between the two is that Japan stuck with isolationism and rarely left their homeland until the modern era. And the only reason Japan is a powerhouse today is well frankly because of the US and the rise of globalization. I think the main reason you don’t see these great civilizations out of Africa is simply because they weren’t connected to the rest of the world. The North African civilizations and Ethiopia were exceptional because they were very keen on trading.

[@kmk1225]

@Ramsay Bolton i dunno, Prussia had a decent climate for agriculture man. Their core territories lay almost entirely on the European Plain, ripe for urban expansion and agriculture. The weather wasn't too bad, and they had historic access to the Baltic. What made Prussia a formidable military power was fueled moreso by individuals hoping to strengthen their empire militarily due to Prussia's geopolitical layout. Bordering Austria, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonweatlh (and later congress Poland, i.e Russia) and with thinly stretched borders, there was an inherent need to solidify their control over them, AND to outpace their enemies military speaking (and of course beating them into submission as Bismarck did with Austria in 1866).