Started reading Guns, Germ, and Steel, and debated about this with my friend. I do understand that Africa’s North/South orientation adds a lot of climate diversity, which makes it difficult for people to collaborate. To what extent did this actually affect Africa’s economic development? Like for example, are there other countries that may have pulled off thriving under this orientation, or is this a red herring to distract away from the serious impact of European colonization? I do understand this is not a simple question, but let’s try!
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its pretty incomplete cause the islamic world was the dominant civilization alongside china throughout the middle ages. africas economic development was not hampered by geological diversity but for the same reason siberia is not an economic powerhouse: many biomes where simply inhospitable for large groups but there were rich societies whereever it wasn’t.
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