If you'd like to watch my documentary covering the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide, you can do so next on Nebula here: nebula.tv/videos/reallifelore-modern-conflicts-the-rwandan-genocide Thank you
Challenge: What is the most self-sufficient country in the world? Context: If every country in the world closed all there borders which country could survive the longest before there was complete chaos.
As a Nigerian, I think it’s time we stopped looking towards the past and blaming outside powers for what they did to us. The only countries that can kind-of still use that excuse are the ex-French/Belgian colonies, as they’re still notoriously bad here. Our geography might be terrible, but we are blessed with resources and a young diverse population. We really should be wealthier, but it’s our governments holding us back.
France still controls all of its former colonies by forcing them to use the same currency that they also control. So France is still a colonizer, just economically. What a pathetic and shitty country. And the African leaders of those countries r just as shit for letting France bribe the. All they care about is money, not helping their people.
You say that but the countries made are just lines on maps with loads of diverse groups together under the flag of one nation. Its like getting Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese people then putting them into one country and expecting them to flourish. Different groups of people habe different interests so that alone would be caos. Caused by colonial times. Im not saying complain and do nothing about it but not understanding the reasons for your current position is also asinine...
Africa's poverty is not a result of geography, but rather of politicians. In Nigeria, a local politician owns more SUVs than the whole European Toyota factory.
Politicians enrich themselves in USA and Europe as well. The difference is in Nigeria there's a lot less money left over to power an effective government
What a stupid comment. You think Africa is the only region with corruption?? Without modern medicine and sanitation nearly 100% of the people living outside tropical Africa would not survive there longer than 5 years. Africa is and has always been the harshest place to live.
"Politicians" is just as self evidently asinine an explanation as "geography." For the REAL answer, look to the island of Hispaniola as a microcosm of the eurasian and African continents. Split down the middle by the two nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Haiti is FAR poorer than the DR, and it has nothing to do with geography. ...everything to do with Darwinian evolution
There will always be an angry Nigerian with so much hate and disdain for their country making silly comments. Politicians are only 0.005% of Nigeria. The rest are you, myself, and the generations before that criticize and do NOTHING!
17 Spains can easily fit inside of Africa, making it the largest Spain in the entire WORLD. If you compare Spain to Spain, the results are even MORE shocking…
1. Have Nebula and see that RLL released a video about the Rwandan Genocide. 2. Deduce that the TH-cam video is going to be released shortly, and is going to be about Africa. 3.
_"How geography keeps Africa poor"_ My government 🇲🇼 after purchasing the 50th land cruiser this month to drive on dirt roads: *"Yes, geography is very bad"* 👀😂
Aise you're sharing misinformation!!! We now proudly buy 70 per month😤💪🏾. One for each of ministers' children, even the ones that can't drive And don't ask about fuel, it will deal with itself somehow, ayi zikomo😂💔
yes greed and corruption are rampant, but the only reason their greed is being fed by our taxes is because their corruptors already paid to rob us of our resources. No mark up in mos products that leave africa and the little there is to pay those bribes
@@feloniousmonk1973 You don't see how big the red arrows are ? RLL should have put even more of them to convince you there is something to watch in his one hour long retranscription of barely sourced Wikipedia articles.
Geography is not keeping Africa poor it is the Politicians that is keeping them poor… a local politician in Nigeria has more SUVs than Toyotas factory in whole of Europe
By the logic of this video, switzerland should be one of the poorest countries in europe. It is landlocked, has little valuable resources, its terrain makes infrastructure extremely expensive, it has no naturally navigable river (the rhine was made navigable, it is not naturally in the state it is in.) and it is a multiethnic state. And yet...
It was part of the Roman Empire and then the Holy Roman Empire, so it inherited those countries' transport and trade networks. And it's surrounded by friendly nations with ocean access and navigable rivers.
@@andyjay729 It is surrounded by nations that fought eachother in countless wars for centuries. Ethnically the same people that live in switzerland. Yet there was not swiss genocide. And it seceded from the HRE in 1648, before the invention of the steam engine and therefore, the train.
Actually, Switzerland is very blessed to have secure lands, good climate for like dairy, surrounded everywhere by rich nations, great military ethics as a result of constant threat, ... @@lars3509
@@lars3509 Switzerland is actually very lucky. They had rich and developed neighbours, they had defensive terrain, they had navigable river to amesterdam, well prepared army, good climate for dairy maybe, among others.
south africa is a prime example of this. in the 90s it ranked among Japan + Austria on the Corruption Index. today it ranks closer to Brazil + Argentina. This correlates closely to its economic stagnation, deindustrialisation + infrastructure decline
@@arcanehornet He might have an completely fine mic, but there's more to good sound than just the mic. The room, background noise, echoes, etc. and the processing of the audio matter a lot too
The legendary Tomas Sowell wrote about this topic in detail. > Nature and man have combined to make Africa the most tragic of the continents - and the men who did this have been both black and white. > The great French historian Fernand Braudel said, "In understanding black Africa, geography is more important than history." Much of Africa's history was in fact shaped by its geography. > Almost every great city in the world has risen on navigable waterways - and such waterways are more scarce in Africa than in any other continent. An aircraft carrier can dock on the Hudson River in midtown Manhattan, but there is not a single river where that is possible on the vast continent of Africa, which is larger than Europe or North America. --> Thomas Sowell: Geography and man have all but killed Africa
Africa is a huge continent with lots of resources with diverse terrains and geography, has over a billion people. I don't think its the geography, it's the corrupt politicians that keep the countries poor.
@@SamS-uv2ql they expect the Chinese and Europeans to build some infrastructure for them, but those superpowers obviously do not care about the African people, they just want to do business... so they end up falling into debt traps
Geography and its impact on history and modern society cannot be underestimated. While we humans are inventive and adaptable, we can only do so much to reshape nature to suit our needs. Geopolitics should be an essential component of the sociopolitical disciplines such as economics, historical analysis and political science. Understanding geopolitics puts so much about human history and development into context.
I love how the video literally OPENS with a lengthy explanation of how it's an oversimplification focusing on but a single factor out of hundreds that keep Africa poor, and the comments are still like "well geography isn't all that keeps Africa poor >:c". Like Jesus Christ guys it's not like it's at the end of the video, it's literally the first thing he says???
As a would-be author, I find this very instructive in world-building. What really stood out to me was the smooth coasts that lack natural harbors-without any good trade nodes linking Africa with the rest of the world, trade in the continent is hampered, preventing development. This does a lot to inform how fictional societies would develop in similar conditions. While unfortunate for Africa itself, it offers us a glimpse of how human-like societies are impacted by their geography. Great video!
@@25SoupyAustralia has some of the world's largest natural harbour's where it founded it's cities. Sydney has the largest in the world. It doesn't need to use rivers. Though those natural harbours all connect to large river systems anyway.
@@25Soupy Switzerland largely sidesteps the issue of river/water access by focusing largely on the financial sector. They don't need to physically move products the same way other resources are moved. And it happens to be in the middle of the second most developed continent.
When I saw the title in the thumbnail I was sceptical. But I have to admit, you made a very compelling case. This completely changed my perspective on Africa. Thank you.
Not to mention the mega fauna of africa evolved alongside humans and were never able to go extinct unlike the mega fauna outside the continent like the wooly mammoth
@@mysampson284 transportation and communication has developed so much that you can't compare today by yesterday. It's ALL about transportation and communication. The reason why Europe developed was mainly navigable rivers for transportation and communication, now we don't need navigable rivers, so we should develop.
A lot of commenters didn't watch the whole video and started judging. The impact of geography is greater than colonialism or corruption. If the african geography was so good, colonialism or corruption wouldn't have happened. People underestimate the importance of TRADE in development, trade of goods, services, communications, ideas and everything
It’s not corruption, all government are corrupt. The real reason is because all other super bower countries have agreed to team up with each other to continually rob Africa and have been doing so notably since the late 1800’s. Look up the Berlin Conference. And then look up France vs Niger. Those are the two clearest examples of the common occurrences that hold the continent of Africa back.
While I commend the progress Rwanda has made, I cannot support a government that enables the suffering of other fellow Africans. *They must leave the Congo!!*
Rivers Basins in Africa can be managed differently with respect to other Rivers Basins.We can introduce canals,tunnels to overcome the current situation to harness the huge opportunity presented by the Rivers in the continent of Africa.
@@toebeans3985You're either trolling or really clueless Jamaica has its own unique and beautiful identity very different from ours, loved heavy still ❤️🇯🇲
@tauceti8060 I doubt it. Hatred is not the same as lack of interest. After a quick look at his catalog said interest seems to be primarily Northern Africa, Europe, and the US with other regions being poked every once in a while. Try shooting some more specific ideas for videos.
Surely the geographical factor has significantly affected Africa's development in the past. But what keeps Africa poor today are its tribalism, the lack of a culture that encourages the common good and governments that are inviting colonialism in, no longer from England and France, but from China Russia and US
The geography hasn't changed. It still costs more to build roads, railroads, and everything else in mountainous or heavily wooded and swampy regions than on flat plains. Tribalism has nothing to do with that.
@@perfectallycromulent there have been many nations that were geographically penalized (perhaps not as much as Africa) but which, having a clear national project inspired by a strong ideal and a population not divided into hundreds of different ethnic groups but united under one ideal, have bonified swamps, created artificial canals, deforested thousands of hectares to make them suitable for agriculture etc. In many African countries the idea of a nation is a pure abstraction created more by colonialism then the will of the people. This is the main problem
The geography is the source of the tribalism. Many peoples, speaking different languages, with different histories, lifestyles, and interests, coming together for the first time and having to negotiate a common path forward without any of them feeling left behind, taken advantage of, or wronged. Building a common identity takes a lot of time, and the path there is often messy.
I'm willing to bet all the money ever printed that if a population swap were to take place, for example all congolese people moved to Germany and all German people moved to the DR Congo, in 30 years, the DRC would be one of the richest countries in the world and Germany would be in civil war and extreme poverty! It's about the people and the system implemented, not so much about geography.
Few were willing to accept the sacrifices that needed to be made to keep those countries running. When those sacrifices stopped being made, both those nations rapidly degenerated. That’s how hard it is in Africa
Icelands gdp is due to industry, agriculture and tourism and for such a small place compared to the CONTINENT of Africa, money easily spreads back into its economy. Japan has a large fishing industry and arable land. Plenty of systems and modes of easy transportation and burden. They both are culturally homogenous with less language barriers than the same area they occupied the anywhere in Africa. These places also share something in common as well. Several coastal ports for shipping. Don't remind the Koreans how many times Japan came knocking.
@feloniousmonk1973 This argument is played out and overrated. Look at the corelation between class, financial stability and IQ. Stop parroting talking points. Think for yourself.
Finally a video explaining that Geography is a very important factor why Africa is so poor, because usually when I tell this people blame me as being racist
Geography is definitely a big factor but to act like economic, and social exploitation from the western powers (even to the present day in France’s case) didnt play a significant role in its hardship is disingenuous. Arbitrary lines were drawn to create nations that lumped in people of different groups close together against their will. It’s literally the same thing they did with the Middle East after ww1.
Great vid! Thank you for explaining this 'cause I have been wondering and thinking about this question myself for a very long time :)) (PS: 28:55 Could you make Belgium a little bit more blue/Germanic next time? As a Fleming I don't like seeing my city in the French speaking part lmao 😭)
Sub Saharan Africa wasn’t isolated from wider Eurasia though. There were trans Saharan trade routes for over a milenia. Meanwhile Eastern Africa was connected to the Indian Ocean trade network.
Seeing a lot of comments about corruption, and while I fully agree, I don’t think they should discount the geography either. I mean, it’s just literal facts about the area that are negatives. The US, for example, has a lot better geography that helps contribute to our economy. We’ve got a large section of our country that’s perfect for growing crops, a large section that’s perfect for mining, a large section that’s perfect for fishing, we’ve got access to tons of minerals, our coastline is easily accessible, contrast that to literally everything in this video. Again, I’m not discounting corruption, I fully believe that Africa as a whole would be a lot better off without the corrupt governments. I’m also not discounting the history of colonialism, again, it would probably be better off without that. I’m just pointing out that geography really does play a role.
In the book "why nations fail," you can clearly understand how colonial institutions set Africa to poverty for decades to come. And in the book "Looting Machine" by Tom Burgis, you can further understand how foreign governments are a fundamental reason why corrupt regimes keep on surviving in Africa. Colonialism did us too dirty. It's hard to make any change whatsoever, and if it's possible, I'm ready to spend my life to overthrow even one of these governments, even if it won't change anything. These leaders should be reminded that no one can hold on power forever at least.
THANK YOU. I hate how we just blame geography, because we cannot control it, so we can’t speak about solutions. The books you mentioned speak of the institutional reasons for these issues, which we do have control over
The institutions which are not run by colonial powers? Sure, um, I guess pieces of paper are far more responsible for what happens in reality than the people that work in those institutions?? Institutions are made up of two things, pieces of paper that tell people what to do, and people who perform actions. If the people choose not to follow the paper, then the institution becomes whatever the people running it desire it to become..... duh.
Out of Africa is starting to be contested as i understand. Im not seeing the logic of it myself as youve alluded to early in the video. I wish them all the very best though, just to be clear.
Today's Fact: In 2014, a man in Florida accidentally received a package from eBay containing a WWII-era bomb that was still live and had to be detonated by the bomb squad.
And follow that up with a video about how African countries, the OAU and AU have done nothing to change that, although it's totally in their power to do so.
Its really cuz theyre black, look at Haiti.. also a country rich with resources... but the people there are all black.. race definitely plays a role and it shouldnt be ignored.
A better quality of people makes all the difference Germany was invaded, partitioned and destroyed twice in the last century and they rebounded both times better than before. Inspite of war reparations and a completely broken national spirit Norway is one of the most equalitarian and prosperous nations on Earth despite the foundation of its economy being based on extractive industry (oil). Something that doomed literally every other nation to a legacy of corruption and greed Iceland has the worst geography in Europe. It’s completely isolated and was itself a colony for most of its history but they still managed to create a state that puts anything in Africa to shame
While geography undoubtedly has affected Africa's development in the past there is no reason for it to affect its future, we have the technology to overcome these obstacles. What's holding Africa back is now its own people.
No. It’s tribalism and nepotism that’s keeping Africa poor. So many countries throughout the world have terrible geography, but have still managed to be rich.
Did you watch the video yet? He mentions this part of the way through. It's not as if individual tribes are more hostile to one another, it's more so that the geography has prevented any empire from rising up and subsuming the cultures of all surrounding tribes, meaning that Africa just has more tribes. It all comes back to the geography my man
@@danielhoover5169 Empires can rise regardless of geography. All it takes are strong leaders and a unified populace to overthrow a regime and borders can change overnight. Borders exist solely because of the threat of stepping on someone elses territory. Once you overcome that threat, borders change.
@@kevindimauro3937 Africa has had plenty of strong leaders, but their empires always died with them in a generation or two, and that's not a great recipe for real culural unity. Large empires that last hundreds of years are built upon supply lines. For example, the Mongols were incredibly stong because of their ability to brave rough terrain with horses. They cultivated a relationship with pack animals that would have been impossible in the tropical regions. If a rebellion arose, they would cross hundreds of miles of terrain really fast and quash it. Doesn't matter how strong your leader is if you don't get to the battlefield in time and reinforce your soldiers. This has been known since Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. By contrast, horses did not exist in (precolonial subsaharan) Aftrica, and the tsetse fly supressed the sustainable use of cattle as beasts of burden. They had no natural ports or rivers to enable trade. Without any empire lasting more than a few generations, no culural unity could have developed in most of Africa.
This is what I have been thinking rather than neocolonialism. As much as that has made its impact on Africa as well, I'd say the geographic challenges youve discussed have been the main cause of Africas society being behind today
@@josiahmccallister3150 natural geography is what humanity is built around, human civilization as we know it was shaped because of it. You totally can blame many, MANY things on natural geography, political geography doesn't exist without it
The historical existence of the Songhai empire invalidates these geographic excuses. The problem is the philosophy, culture, and legal environments. Peoples as poor as they are have bettered themselves very quickly with the correct elements in those macros.
@@kenashimame The Songhai empire suffered from many failures. Every time they changed rulers they ended up with a civil war is their key failure. Their inability to change leaders without a civil war is their defect. It's the element that their culture lacked. If they had that element, the Songhai empire may have survived till today.
It was pointed out why Songhai was able establish itself in this video. It was mainly due to being on a navigable stretch of the Niger River and out of the range of the tsetse fly.
There is a much much much simpler explanation for why Africa is impoverished. Although I suppose in a way, that reason is also ultimately caused by Africa's geography so I award you the title of Technically Correct
AT 16:56 Um, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Des Moines are NOT connected to the Mississippi River via navigable rivers, lol. Not all of those rivers are navigable and this channel has even covered this before.
That's not what the picture is nor what he said. It's a picture of the navigable rivers and tributaries that feed into the Mississippi River to the ocean. All of those cities have a river or something that feeds into something larger that'll eventually get to the Mississippi.
Estonian being under "Slavic" language group is not only wrong, it is also offensive. It is not indo-european but part of finno-ugric family just like Finnish is.
It's also super interesting how the colonial borders of african countries are bad because they make the countries much too diverse to function properly.
@@ricksterallainI mean those colonial powers that imposed those borders had centuries of terribly bloody wars to build ethnostates around what geographical boundaries that were there in Europe
Yes, Africa is huge, it's a continent not a country. I'm always annoyed that Africa is talked about as if it's 1 giant country vs what it is a continent of 54 countries. Everyone including this channel is comparing it to the USA and individual European courtiers in the first 5 minutes of the video. "Africa is 3x larger than the entirety of the United States." Shouldn't you be comparing it to the North American continent? Continent vs continent? Everything is shown through the narrow views of American eyes.
While I'm sure the sparse and disconnected nature of Africa's geography certainly contributed to the diversity of language on the continent, in John McWhorter's lecture series from The Great Courses (now Wondrium) on Linguistics, he largely attributes this to the fact that complex language itself originated in Africa. Language developed in many different flavors across the continent over the course of millennia, but since Africa was separated from the rest of the world by a small strip of desert, human tribes rarely left the continent, but when they did, they were able to spread their particular language and its derivatives over vast swaths of the rest of the world, leading to the relative lack of linguistic diversity compared to Africa. Genetic diversity follows a similar pattern. (Its been a few years since I watched that lecture series but I believe that's the gist of the argument)
The only reason this question is even a question is because the mainstream refuses to acknowledge the very real “racist” differences between the people in Africa and Europe/Asia. It is not about skin color. It is about pursuing individual versus group interests.
There is no inherent difference between races when it comes to being individual-focused versus being group-focused. That's cultural and it's learned behavior, not genetic.
Collective v individual is a cultural aspect, not racial lol. Also East Asians have this more collective mindset that you’re gesturing at and they managed to develop into modern nations so even then you’re incorrect
The geographic limitations are real, but there was so little technological progress from the "out of Africa" migration until the Europeans and Arabs arrived, it's still remarkable.
I don't really buy the geography is destiny argument. Eastern Europe has the misfortune of bordering Russia, which is arguably a larger geographic handicap than anything Africa has to deal with, and yet most of Eastern Europe is a nicer place to live than most of Western Europe in the 2020's. It seems like a scapegoat; maybe Africans are the reason Africa is poor?
Africans don’t have a rich supportive western side of the continent to support them after the cold war, the problem is there leaders who are corrupt. Only a matter of time before genz Africans overthrow them.
Bordering Russia is a handicap? What with all that arable land? All the trade from western countries that aren't Russia? Support from anti-communist countries?
This is an oversimplification, maybe this is a result, not a cause. I can say this as an African who saw alot of the problems first hand, from political corruption from a minister I met, to a local one by some police.
Getting a country's level of governance right is tough, and obviously it doesn't work out usually Very turbulent time for every government, you need tons of shit to make it work right, namely centuries of history....
south africa is a prime example of this. in the 90s it ranked among Japan + Austria on the Corruption Index. today it ranks closer to Brazil + Argentina. This correlates closely to its economic stagnation, deindustrialisation + infrastructure decline
We Indonesian already in contact with many civilization around the entire ancient old world era since the 1st millenia BC through one of our kingdom known as The Kingdom of Barus that located at the coast of tapanuli region in north sumatra province. Since hundred years BC, barus kingdom already visited by merchant from many parts of the world such as mediteranean europe, middle east, southern asia and eastern asia. If we ignoring australia which at the time are lacking in developed civilization, seeing african merchant except from egypt coming to port city of barus to trade rare goods such as incense, spices, aromatic goods, sumatran ivory and such, african merchant except from egypt are something rare to be spotted in barus port city. Not only that, the earliest official contact between indonesia and most of kingdoms in the eastern coast of africa, are actualy happened in 13th century during the reign of Maharani (Empress) Tribhuwana Tunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani, the ruller of Majapahit empire. Where during her reign, she send around 3000 cargo ship (Jung Malay Class) escorted by 300 battle ship (Jung Java Class) in a diplomatic trade mission to every kingdoms around the coast of Indian Ocean.
It's racist to point out facts.. but it's okay to blame Africa's failure on "colonialism" The colonialism that brought wisdom, culture, modern architecture & clean water to Africa.
When you discuss coastline measurements, you should be careful to note the measurement stick you're using, due to the fractal measuring effect: for those who know about such things, it'll avoid detracting from your points. Your conclusions here were very valid, but it's a good addendum to mention.
At 31:48 Europe has 14 landlocked countries, not 10. You forgot about Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and San Marino. Also, it was disingenuous and inaccurate to claim that Europe has "only one major language family" (it actually has at least 6 total) while Africa has 7, when only one of those African language families dominates the continent. Your own maps clearly show how wrong your narration was in that section.
@@Therealfolkblues-1 Right! And saying that about Nigeria is misleading, because only 3 or 4 of its native languages dominate, and only 2 language families are significant there. Oh, and saying "Only 20% of languages shown due to space" or whatever, makes no sense whatsoever, lol. He never showed any languages in the first place, only language families, and he showed almost all of those (in Africa, anyway), not just 20%.
Your comments are right but they do not change anything. All the countries you identify are micro state that are 100% integrated with their surroundings. I do not know about Andorra but the other are taxes heaven that exist only for the benefit of the ruling class of there neighbours. They are sovereign but not independent countries. As for the languages, Basque is not part of the Indo-European family but no disrespect to Basque people, it does not make much of a difference either. Basque is a treasure for linguistic but economically it is irrelevant and Basque people are note isolated, many of them also speak French or Spanish. Russian and French are both part of Indo-European family but they do not understand each other. The notion of family of languages is useful to study population evolution but it quickly reach its limits. Linguistically, Africa is more divided than Europe, that was the point of the narration, your comment does not change that.
@@chrstfer2452 I hear a rather large part of the penguin nation citizens are brobed with fish. This is highly unethicl and who knows wether or not the bribery fish is ethically sourced? We need to investigate this!
Africa has the potential for the most hydroelectric power in the world. Investors just need to take advantage of the huge drops in elevation for all of Africa's rivers and build hydroelectric dams all along the rivers of Africa.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
If you'd like to watch my documentary covering the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide, you can do so next on Nebula here: nebula.tv/videos/reallifelore-modern-conflicts-the-rwandan-genocide
Thank you
Challenge:
What is the most self-sufficient country in the world?
Context: If every country in the world closed all there borders which country could survive the longest before there was complete chaos.
People have been leaving Africa for better neighborhoods since the beginnings of man...
in your map at 29:06 you showed estonian as slavic language even though its uralic please make correction there
This doesn't sound like you ,which AI are you using
Atlas Pro
Summary:
1. **Isolation & Access**
- Sahara Desert blocks north-south connection
- Smooth coasts lack natural harbors
- Rivers blocked by rapids/waterfalls near coasts
2. **Triple Transport Trap**
- No deep-water ports
- No ocean-navigable rivers
- Most landlocked countries globally (16)
3. **Disease & Agriculture**
- Only continent fully spanning tropics
- Tsetse fly prevents livestock use
- Limited, fragmented farmland
4. **Resource Paradox**
- World's richest mineral deposits
- Highest transport costs globally
- Geography prevents efficient resource use
This creates a devastating cycle: Rich resources can't efficiently reach markets, limiting development, which in turn prevents infrastructure improvements that could overcome geographic barriers.
As a Nigerian, I think it’s time we stopped looking towards the past and blaming outside powers for what they did to us. The only countries that can kind-of still use that excuse are the ex-French/Belgian colonies, as they’re still notoriously bad here.
Our geography might be terrible, but we are blessed with resources and a young diverse population. We really should be wealthier, but it’s our governments holding us back.
France still controls all of its former colonies by forcing them to use the same currency that they also control. So France is still a colonizer, just economically. What a pathetic and shitty country. And the African leaders of those countries r just as shit for letting France bribe the. All they care about is money, not helping their people.
Lots of dictators and warlords.
You say that but the countries made are just lines on maps with loads of diverse groups together under the flag of one nation.
Its like getting Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese people then putting them into one country and expecting them to flourish.
Different groups of people habe different interests so that alone would be caos. Caused by colonial times.
Im not saying complain and do nothing about it but not understanding the reasons for your current position is also asinine...
100%
Out of interest, what are the chances that Nigeria will partition in the future ?
Africa's poverty is not a result of geography, but rather of politicians. In Nigeria, a local politician owns more SUVs than the whole European Toyota factory.
Politicians enrich themselves in USA and Europe as well. The difference is in Nigeria there's a lot less money left over to power an effective government
This video is not claiming that is the only reason. It's saying it's a significant contributing factor.
What a stupid comment. You think Africa is the only region with corruption?? Without modern medicine and sanitation nearly 100% of the people living outside tropical Africa would not survive there longer than 5 years. Africa is and has always been the harshest place to live.
"Politicians" is just as self evidently asinine an explanation as "geography." For the REAL answer, look to the island of Hispaniola as a microcosm of the eurasian and African continents. Split down the middle by the two nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Haiti is FAR poorer than the DR, and it has nothing to do with geography. ...everything to do with Darwinian evolution
There will always be an angry Nigerian with so much hate and disdain for their country making silly comments.
Politicians are only 0.005% of Nigeria. The rest are you, myself, and the generations before that criticize and do NOTHING!
17 Spains can easily fit inside of Africa, making it the largest Spain in the entire WORLD. If you compare Spain to Spain, the results are even MORE shocking…
Shockin
good god...
i also have 17 Spains...but without the S
Spain
But where does the rain fall in the largest Spain?
1. Have Nebula and see that RLL released a video about the Rwandan Genocide.
2. Deduce that the TH-cam video is going to be released shortly, and is going to be about Africa.
3.
And that this one is going to be demonetized for showing an eskeleton's excavation and women chopping fruits
_"How geography keeps Africa poor"_
My government 🇲🇼 after purchasing the 50th land cruiser this month to drive on dirt roads:
*"Yes, geography is very bad"* 👀😂
Aise you're sharing misinformation!!!
We now proudly buy 70 per month😤💪🏾. One for each of ministers' children, even the ones that can't drive
And don't ask about fuel, it will deal with itself somehow, ayi zikomo😂💔
yes greed and corruption are rampant, but the only reason their greed is being fed by our taxes is because their corruptors already paid to rob us of our resources. No mark up in mos products that leave africa and the little there is to pay those bribes
lol for real.
And the huge amount of oil and meterials dug up. Very hard
There's the corruption thing mentioned in the video…
Can't be that poor with all the rich Nigerian Princes I keep getting emails from.
Rich keep all the wealth to themselves
Whos Ya DIDDY ❔️❓️
Geography made Africa poor, corruption keeps it poor.
So true
What’s wrong with their geography??
Make AFRICA Great Again 🇰🇵🇷🇺🇨🇳
@@feloniousmonk1973 You don't see how big the red arrows are ? RLL should have put even more of them to convince you there is something to watch in his one hour long retranscription of barely sourced Wikipedia articles.
@@feloniousmonk1973 watch the video
I believe that the main reason Africa is so poor is because most countries in Africa have been plagued with terrible leadership.
As an African, I agree.
Petition for the game devs to buff Africa
hopefully they add the forced re-migration patch very soon too
@EarthOnlineSupport
@@fortnitetrashcan8308not gonna happen, the ping is too high down here so EU servers will have to do😂
They already have the most natural resources out of any other continent by FAR yet are incredibly poor. Really makes you think why...its biological
@@IK_MK 😂
Geography is not keeping Africa poor it is the Politicians that is keeping them poor… a local politician in Nigeria has more SUVs than Toyotas factory in whole of Europe
@@SuperMyckie no it’s also geography. Especially historically
oh no
It is the most resource rich continent on the planet, and humans have lived there the longest😊
wrong, there’s still no singular blame. Combination of exploitation by Europeans, corruption by political officials, and civil war.
It's the archaic way of living there
By the logic of this video, switzerland should be one of the poorest countries in europe. It is landlocked, has little valuable resources, its terrain makes infrastructure extremely expensive, it has no naturally navigable river (the rhine was made navigable, it is not naturally in the state it is in.) and it is a multiethnic state. And yet...
It was part of the Roman Empire and then the Holy Roman Empire, so it inherited those countries' transport and trade networks. And it's surrounded by friendly nations with ocean access and navigable rivers.
@@andyjay729 It is surrounded by nations that fought eachother in countless wars for centuries. Ethnically the same people that live in switzerland. Yet there was not swiss genocide. And it seceded from the HRE in 1648, before the invention of the steam engine and therefore, the train.
Actually, Switzerland is very blessed to have secure lands, good climate for like dairy, surrounded everywhere by rich nations, great military ethics as a result of constant threat, ... @@lars3509
@lars3509 This video is what happens when you intentionally ignore the most obvious reason
@@lars3509 Switzerland is actually very lucky. They had rich and developed neighbours, they had defensive terrain, they had navigable river to amesterdam, well prepared army, good climate for dairy maybe, among others.
Corruption also plays a large part
This is the 100th comment that says it. But geography plays the greatest role. More than corruption or colonialism
south africa is a prime example of this. in the 90s it ranked among Japan + Austria on the Corruption Index. today it ranks closer to Brazil + Argentina. This correlates closely to its economic stagnation, deindustrialisation + infrastructure decline
Corruption is an affect, not a cause
Nothing to do with brain density
@@TheBfutgreg the cause is selfishness / sociopathy in a community and not caring about helping the poor
"But length isn't everything."
Tell that to my ex
Pencil pp
I gotta be honest. After watching this, I think it’s a miracle that there aren’t more wars being fought on the continent
Tell that to PMC troops owned by 🇷🇺🇨🇳
Is it just me or is his mic getting worse every video?
I haven't watched a video for a few months
And when I hear the voice I can hear the difference
I can’t believe that he spends so much time on each video, the rest of the presentation is high quality, and he can’t invest into a decent mic
He talks through his nose
@@arcanehornet He might have an completely fine mic, but there's more to good sound than just the mic. The room, background noise, echoes, etc. and the processing of the audio matter a lot too
@@arcanehornet I mean he likely needs to improve the entire room he is recording in.
The legendary Tomas Sowell wrote about this topic in detail.
> Nature and man have combined to make Africa the most tragic of the continents - and the men who did this have been both black and white.
> The great French historian Fernand Braudel said, "In understanding black Africa, geography is more important than history." Much of Africa's history was in fact shaped by its geography.
> Almost every great city in the world has risen on navigable waterways - and such waterways are more scarce in Africa than in any other continent. An aircraft carrier can dock on the Hudson River in midtown Manhattan, but there is not a single river where that is possible on the vast continent of Africa, which is larger than Europe or North America.
--> Thomas Sowell: Geography and man have all but killed Africa
Thomas Sowell is a piece of shit, and I say that as a black man. Might as well quote Clarence Thomas, or even better, Stephen from Django Unchained.
Make AFRICA Great Again 🇨🇳🇷🇺🇰🇵
Africa is a huge continent with lots of resources with diverse terrains and geography, has over a billion people. I don't think its the geography, it's the corrupt politicians that keep the countries poor.
True but it beg the question why are so many politicians in various african countries so corrupt?
So how would non corrupt politicians have overcome being effectively cut off from world trade?
What would you have done?
@SamS-uv2 invest in basic infrastructure so we can atleast have a decent life not rich but decent😊
@@icetrip2417 What would you invest in it with? You have little to no trade remember
@@SamS-uv2ql they expect the Chinese and Europeans to build some infrastructure for them, but those superpowers obviously do not care about the African people, they just want to do business... so they end up falling into debt traps
Geography and its impact on history and modern society cannot be underestimated. While we humans are inventive and adaptable, we can only do so much to reshape nature to suit our needs.
Geopolitics should be an essential component of the sociopolitical disciplines such as economics, historical analysis and political science. Understanding geopolitics puts so much about human history and development into context.
I love how the video literally OPENS with a lengthy explanation of how it's an oversimplification focusing on but a single factor out of hundreds that keep Africa poor, and the comments are still like "well geography isn't all that keeps Africa poor >:c". Like Jesus Christ guys it's not like it's at the end of the video, it's literally the first thing he says???
As a would-be author, I find this very instructive in world-building. What really stood out to me was the smooth coasts that lack natural harbors-without any good trade nodes linking Africa with the rest of the world, trade in the continent is hampered, preventing development. This does a lot to inform how fictional societies would develop in similar conditions. While unfortunate for Africa itself, it offers us a glimpse of how human-like societies are impacted by their geography. Great video!
Except for Switzerland...
I'm not sure Australia use rivers to get their products to the world.
@@25SoupyAustralia has some of the world's largest natural harbour's where it founded it's cities. Sydney has the largest in the world.
It doesn't need to use rivers. Though those natural harbours all connect to large river systems anyway.
@@25Soupy Switzerland largely sidesteps the issue of river/water access by focusing largely on the financial sector. They don't need to physically move products the same way other resources are moved. And it happens to be in the middle of the second most developed continent.
When I saw the title in the thumbnail I was sceptical. But I have to admit, you made a very compelling case. This completely changed my perspective on Africa. Thank you.
Not to mention the mega fauna of africa evolved alongside humans and were never able to go extinct unlike the mega fauna outside the continent like the wooly mammoth
Here before TH-cam says a deep dive into economic analysis of Africa is too violent and gets demonetized
Africa could fix this its possible
@@Supremebrawler07 if we get genetic engineering for humans maybe
Yes, we only need time and for foreign nations to stop financing our corrupt regimes. Keep your money and be happy, this makes us happy.
@Omer1996E.C ok sure buddy after so little progress for thousands of years....
@@mysampson284 transportation and communication has developed so much that you can't compare today by yesterday. It's ALL about transportation and communication. The reason why Europe developed was mainly navigable rivers for transportation and communication, now we don't need navigable rivers, so we should develop.
@@mysampson284 this is blant overt racism,yes some of the governments may be corrupt but doesnt mean all of them are
A lot of commenters didn't watch the whole video and started judging. The impact of geography is greater than colonialism or corruption. If the african geography was so good, colonialism or corruption wouldn't have happened. People underestimate the importance of TRADE in development, trade of goods, services, communications, ideas and everything
Yeah but that isn't as edgy as saying " f black people".
No its corruption. If Scandinavian nations can be rich in that terrible cold I don’t but this theory.
buddy, geography is just one of the main reasons, not the only one. He said it at the beginning...
How many tropical diseases do Scandinavian countries have to deal with? Did you watch the video?
It’s not corruption, all government are corrupt. The real reason is because all other super bower countries have agreed to team up with each other to continually rob Africa and have been doing so notably since the late 1800’s. Look up the Berlin Conference. And then look up France vs Niger. Those are the two clearest examples of the common occurrences that hold the continent of Africa back.
I hope youtube didn't demonetize this one... I like your content on this site
@@dintypls9853 they won't. This video supports the mainstream narrative.
@@mysampson284 Indeed, why would they demonetize this video?
@@mysampson284your race is going extinct
He ruled out one of the most important reasons out of hand at the beginning
At around 29:15, Estonia is erroneously shown as Slavic. Just a minor nitpick that’s not even related to the main topic
Sad, since Finnic languages are already speaken by only so small number of people.
Latvian here. Terviseks, my Eesti brother.
Rwanda may have had the greatest genocide in history and is now rebuilding to become the "Singapore of Africa"
Did the government kill over 30% of population? Asking to see if worse than cambodia and pol pot
Rwanda is very poor, half the gdp per capita of Ethiopia, and quarter the gdp per capita of kenya, and both are very poor btw
While I commend the progress Rwanda has made, I cannot support a government that enables the suffering of other fellow Africans. *They must leave the Congo!!*
@@IK_MK fr Congolese lives matter, like any other human being, and Rwanda should stop
Why didnt the USA intervene in that conflict?
Rivers Basins in Africa can be managed differently with respect to other Rivers Basins.We can introduce canals,tunnels to overcome the current situation to harness the huge opportunity presented by the Rivers in the continent of Africa.
I agree 💯 it will take blood sweat and tears, but it can be done 💪
Can you please make a video about Jamaica? I have been watching you for years and I am from Jamaica. Please, make a video about our beautiful nation.
Africa, only smaller. Done. You’re welcome. 😂
@@toebeans3985 Good guess, but actually no.
@@toebeans3985You're either trolling or really clueless
Jamaica has its own unique and beautiful identity very different from ours, loved heavy still ❤️🇯🇲
Think he hates caribbean people,not one video about the caribbean outside of Guyana
@tauceti8060 I doubt it. Hatred is not the same as lack of interest. After a quick look at his catalog said interest seems to be primarily Northern Africa, Europe, and the US with other regions being poked every once in a while. Try shooting some more specific ideas for videos.
"Africa is poor because of poverty"
Surely the geographical factor has significantly affected Africa's development in the past. But what keeps Africa poor today are its tribalism, the lack of a culture that encourages the common good and governments that are inviting colonialism in, no longer from England and France, but from China Russia and US
The geography hasn't changed. It still costs more to build roads, railroads, and everything else in mountainous or heavily wooded and swampy regions than on flat plains. Tribalism has nothing to do with that.
Please, stop underestimating geography
@@perfectallycromulent there have been many nations that were geographically penalized (perhaps not as much as Africa) but which, having a clear national project inspired by a strong ideal and a population not divided into hundreds of different ethnic groups but united under one ideal, have bonified swamps, created artificial canals, deforested thousands of hectares to make them suitable for agriculture etc. In many African countries the idea of a nation is a pure abstraction created more by colonialism then the will of the people. This is the main problem
True African countries should own their own industries
The geography is the source of the tribalism. Many peoples, speaking different languages, with different histories, lifestyles, and interests, coming together for the first time and having to negotiate a common path forward without any of them feeling left behind, taken advantage of, or wronged. Building a common identity takes a lot of time, and the path there is often messy.
Greed. Corruption. Low education.
You misspelled corruption
The geography encourages it greatly.
someday i will open a real life lore video and this guy will have a half decent microphone. that will be a glorious day.
I'm willing to bet all the money ever printed that if a population swap were to take place, for example all congolese people moved to Germany and all German people moved to the DR Congo, in 30 years, the DRC would be one of the richest countries in the world and Germany would be in civil war and extreme poverty!
It's about the people and the system implemented, not so much about geography.
I love how incredibly in-depth are your videos about anything. I learn so much.
What about Rhodesia and Apartheid South Africa? They prove that the geographical issues are not ridiculously insurmountable.
Few were willing to accept the sacrifices that needed to be made to keep those countries running.
When those sacrifices stopped being made, both those nations rapidly degenerated. That’s how hard it is in Africa
This whole video had me thinking of “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History” by Alfred Thayer Mahan.
Reminder that Iceland and Japan have even worse geography than Africa yet are first world countries. Weird! Experts stumped.
Icelands gdp is due to industry, agriculture and tourism and for such a small place compared to the CONTINENT of Africa, money easily spreads back into its economy.
Japan has a large fishing industry and arable land. Plenty of systems and modes of easy transportation and burden. They both are culturally homogenous with less language barriers than the same area they occupied the anywhere in Africa.
These places also share something in common as well. Several coastal ports for shipping. Don't remind the Koreans how many times Japan came knocking.
@whoeverfromwherever Consider that Europe is culturally inhomogenous and has many languages, and furthermore that Africa has much arable land.
Look up IQ by country
@colin351 You commented about Japan and Iceland, not Europe. Are you okay? Don't shift the argument just because you want to.
@feloniousmonk1973 This argument is played out and overrated. Look at the corelation between class, financial stability and IQ. Stop parroting talking points. Think for yourself.
Bro the nerf videos are iconic
Finally a video explaining that Geography is a very important factor why Africa is so poor, because usually when I tell this people blame me as being racist
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 finally more lying videos.
Look up IQ by country. Mind blown
Geography is definitely a big factor but to act like economic, and social exploitation from the western powers (even to the present day in France’s case) didnt play a significant role in its hardship is disingenuous. Arbitrary lines were drawn to create nations that lumped in people of different groups close together against their will. It’s literally the same thing they did with the Middle East after ww1.
By that logic Inca, Tibetan and Mongolian Civilizations should never had flourished
Great vid! Thank you for explaining this 'cause I have been wondering and thinking about this question myself for a very long time :))
(PS: 28:55 Could you make Belgium a little bit more blue/Germanic next time? As a Fleming I don't like seeing my city in the French speaking part lmao 😭)
Bro chill TF out with the double unskippable ads.
I don’t think he has any control over that
Use brave, and adds be gone ;)
Try working for free👍
Sub Saharan Africa wasn’t isolated from wider Eurasia though. There were trans Saharan trade routes for over a milenia. Meanwhile Eastern Africa was connected to the Indian Ocean trade network.
Seeing a lot of comments about corruption, and while I fully agree, I don’t think they should discount the geography either. I mean, it’s just literal facts about the area that are negatives. The US, for example, has a lot better geography that helps contribute to our economy. We’ve got a large section of our country that’s perfect for growing crops, a large section that’s perfect for mining, a large section that’s perfect for fishing, we’ve got access to tons of minerals, our coastline is easily accessible, contrast that to literally everything in this video.
Again, I’m not discounting corruption, I fully believe that Africa as a whole would be a lot better off without the corrupt governments. I’m also not discounting the history of colonialism, again, it would probably be better off without that. I’m just pointing out that geography really does play a role.
Sounds like you have improved your audio. Sounds great!
In the book "why nations fail," you can clearly understand how colonial institutions set Africa to poverty for decades to come. And in the book "Looting Machine" by Tom Burgis, you can further understand how foreign governments are a fundamental reason why corrupt regimes keep on surviving in Africa.
Colonialism did us too dirty. It's hard to make any change whatsoever, and if it's possible, I'm ready to spend my life to overthrow even one of these governments, even if it won't change anything. These leaders should be reminded that no one can hold on power forever at least.
THANK YOU. I hate how we just blame geography, because we cannot control it, so we can’t speak about solutions. The books you mentioned speak of the institutional reasons for these issues, which we do have control over
The institutions which are not run by colonial powers? Sure, um, I guess pieces of paper are far more responsible for what happens in reality than the people that work in those institutions?? Institutions are made up of two things, pieces of paper that tell people what to do, and people who perform actions. If the people choose not to follow the paper, then the institution becomes whatever the people running it desire it to become..... duh.
is African Geography also the reason France controls the currency of 14 african nations representing 210 million Africans?
Out of Africa is starting to be contested as i understand. Im not seeing the logic of it myself as youve alluded to early in the video. I wish them all the very best though, just to be clear.
Today's Fact: In 2014, a man in Florida accidentally received a package from eBay containing a WWII-era bomb that was still live and had to be detonated by the bomb squad.
😮😮😮
But y did he receive it at all?
Today's fact: on November 23rd 2024 some random user read a comment on a TH-cam video.
I know, crazy right?
@@CharlieKellyEsqdo you need a hug?
Woah your account is a blast from the past when Hearthstone was popular. Glad the account still lives on.
it seems that all these videos unable to see the elephant in the room
I’ve been waiting for this video my whole life 🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯
You should do a follow up video talking about how nonsensical the borders of most African countries are
And follow that up with a video about how African countries, the OAU and AU have done nothing to change that, although it's totally in their power to do so.
An excellent blog.
Its really cuz theyre black, look at Haiti.. also a country rich with resources... but the people there are all black.. race definitely plays a role and it shouldnt be ignored.
A better quality of people makes all the difference
Germany was invaded, partitioned and destroyed twice in the last century and they rebounded both times better than before. Inspite of war reparations and a completely broken national spirit
Norway is one of the most equalitarian and prosperous nations on Earth despite the foundation of its economy being based on extractive industry (oil). Something that doomed literally every other nation to a legacy of corruption and greed
Iceland has the worst geography in Europe. It’s completely isolated and was itself a colony for most of its history but they still managed to create a state that puts anything in Africa to shame
While geography undoubtedly has affected Africa's development in the past there is no reason for it to affect its future, we have the technology to overcome these obstacles. What's holding Africa back is now its own people.
No. It’s tribalism and nepotism that’s keeping Africa poor. So many countries throughout the world have terrible geography, but have still managed to be rich.
Did you watch the video yet? He mentions this part of the way through. It's not as if individual tribes are more hostile to one another, it's more so that the geography has prevented any empire from rising up and subsuming the cultures of all surrounding tribes, meaning that Africa just has more tribes. It all comes back to the geography my man
@@danielhoover5169 Empires can rise regardless of geography. All it takes are strong leaders and a unified populace to overthrow a regime and borders can change overnight. Borders exist solely because of the threat of stepping on someone elses territory. Once you overcome that threat, borders change.
@@kevindimauro3937 Africa has had plenty of strong leaders, but their empires always died with them in a generation or two, and that's not a great recipe for real culural unity. Large empires that last hundreds of years are built upon supply lines.
For example, the Mongols were incredibly stong because of their ability to brave rough terrain with horses. They cultivated a relationship with pack animals that would have been impossible in the tropical regions. If a rebellion arose, they would cross hundreds of miles of terrain really fast and quash it. Doesn't matter how strong your leader is if you don't get to the battlefield in time and reinforce your soldiers. This has been known since Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War.
By contrast, horses did not exist in (precolonial subsaharan) Aftrica, and the tsetse fly supressed the sustainable use of cattle as beasts of burden. They had no natural ports or rivers to enable trade. Without any empire lasting more than a few generations, no culural unity could have developed in most of Africa.
@@danielhoover5169 those are fantastic points
Like the USA
that's really interesting to find out. never noticed the almost complete lack of bays and stuff before now.
This is what I have been thinking rather than neocolonialism. As much as that has made its impact on Africa as well, I'd say the geographic challenges youve discussed have been the main cause of Africas society being behind today
We cannot discuss solutions by blaming geography. We can blame POLITICAL geography, but not natural geography.
@@josiahmccallister3150you're wrong, why can't we blame both? There is no silver bullet problem or solution. It's all a combination of many factors
Africa's poverty is a modern phenomenon. History is the best way to understand it, not geography determininism.
@@josiahmccallister3150 natural geography is what humanity is built around, human civilization as we know it was shaped because of it. You totally can blame many, MANY things on natural geography, political geography doesn't exist without it
Neocolonialism could only happen because of all the disadvantages. It just made things worse.
This might be the most informative video about Africa of all time
The historical existence of the Songhai empire invalidates these geographic excuses. The problem is the philosophy, culture, and legal environments. Peoples as poor as they are have bettered themselves very quickly with the correct elements in those macros.
Exactly 👏🏾
Someone’s never heard of “the exception that proves the rule.”
The Songhai would be what’s known in statistics as an outlier.
@@kenashimame The Songhai empire suffered from many failures. Every time they changed rulers they ended up with a civil war is their key failure. Their inability to change leaders without a civil war is their defect. It's the element that their culture lacked. If they had that element, the Songhai empire may have survived till today.
It was pointed out why Songhai was able establish itself in this video. It was mainly due to being on a navigable stretch of the Niger River and out of the range of the tsetse fly.
I knew when we got near the end of the video he’d start talking about war so the Nebula plug could follow!
Geography is not keeping Africa poor. Powerful people who don't like reading are.
Oh and corruption too :/
The discussion about the coastal geography is reminding me about conversation about why no one lives on the coast of the Southeastern US.
So it's not monetary policies, corruption, and foreign interventions. It is "geography" 🥺
There is a much much much simpler explanation for why Africa is impoverished. Although I suppose in a way, that reason is also ultimately caused by Africa's geography so I award you the title of Technically Correct
What is "that reason"?
6:53 that really just opened up my eyes to how big the Sahara is WOW
AT 16:56 Um, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Des Moines are NOT connected to the Mississippi River via navigable rivers, lol. Not all of those rivers are navigable and this channel has even covered this before.
That's not what the picture is nor what he said. It's a picture of the navigable rivers and tributaries that feed into the Mississippi River to the ocean. All of those cities have a river or something that feeds into something larger that'll eventually get to the Mississippi.
@@Kornwallace334 No, that map is clearly showing what he claims are the navigable rivers in the United States and which cities you can navigate to.
Estonian being under "Slavic" language group is not only wrong, it is also offensive. It is not indo-european but part of finno-ugric family just like Finnish is.
Yes “geography”
Wasn't Rhodesia a pretty successful country? As well as South Africa.
@@PuerRidcully shh
It's also super interesting how the colonial borders of african countries are bad because they make the countries much too diverse to function properly.
They weren't governed by africans.
@@ricksterallainI mean those colonial powers that imposed those borders had centuries of terribly bloody wars to build ethnostates around what geographical boundaries that were there in Europe
They should’ve take notes from the Marley empire
Yes, Africa is huge, it's a continent not a country. I'm always annoyed that Africa is talked about as if it's 1 giant country vs what it is a continent of 54 countries. Everyone including this channel is comparing it to the USA and individual European courtiers in the first 5 minutes of the video. "Africa is 3x larger than the entirety of the United States." Shouldn't you be comparing it to the North American continent? Continent vs continent? Everything is shown through the narrow views of American eyes.
The continent is less rich than some countries. It’s overkill.
I’m always annoyed when people compare all Africans with each other when in reality they have tons of ethnic groups
1 continent, 54 sh it hole countries
@@25Soupy my comment got deleted of course
Look up IQ by country
While I'm sure the sparse and disconnected nature of Africa's geography certainly contributed to the diversity of language on the continent, in John McWhorter's lecture series from The Great Courses (now Wondrium) on Linguistics, he largely attributes this to the fact that complex language itself originated in Africa. Language developed in many different flavors across the continent over the course of millennia, but since Africa was separated from the rest of the world by a small strip of desert, human tribes rarely left the continent, but when they did, they were able to spread their particular language and its derivatives over vast swaths of the rest of the world, leading to the relative lack of linguistic diversity compared to Africa. Genetic diversity follows a similar pattern. (Its been a few years since I watched that lecture series but I believe that's the gist of the argument)
This might be the most comprehensive explanation internal forces regarding Africa's poverty i've ever seen
The only reason this question is even a question is because the mainstream refuses to acknowledge the very real “racist” differences between the people in Africa and Europe/Asia. It is not about skin color. It is about pursuing individual versus group interests.
There is no inherent difference between races when it comes to being individual-focused versus being group-focused. That's cultural and it's learned behavior, not genetic.
Collective v individual is a cultural aspect, not racial lol. Also East Asians have this more collective mindset that you’re gesturing at and they managed to develop into modern nations so even then you’re incorrect
The geographic limitations are real, but there was so little technological progress from the "out of Africa" migration until the Europeans and Arabs arrived, it's still remarkable.
I don't really buy the geography is destiny argument. Eastern Europe has the misfortune of bordering Russia, which is arguably a larger geographic handicap than anything Africa has to deal with, and yet most of Eastern Europe is a nicer place to live than most of Western Europe in the 2020's. It seems like a scapegoat; maybe Africans are the reason Africa is poor?
Africans don’t have a rich supportive western side of the continent to support them after the cold war, the problem is there leaders who are corrupt. Only a matter of time before genz Africans overthrow them.
most of eastern europe is NOT a nicer place to live than most of western europe
Bordering Russia is a handicap? What with all that arable land? All the trade from western countries that aren't Russia? Support from anti-communist countries?
"Off to Zanzibar, to meet the Zanzibarbarians!"
Sorry. Once he said Zanzibar, I immediately thought of Gonzo in Muppet Treasure Island
it's not geography. it's the management and leadership, or lack thereof.
This is an oversimplification, maybe this is a result, not a cause. I can say this as an African who saw alot of the problems first hand, from political corruption from a minister I met, to a local one by some police.
Getting a country's level of governance right is tough, and obviously it doesn't work out usually
Very turbulent time for every government, you need tons of shit to make it work right, namely centuries of history....
Geography is very much why historically it is poor and less developed
south africa is a prime example of this. in the 90s it ranked among Japan + Austria on the Corruption Index. today it ranks closer to Brazil + Argentina. This correlates closely to its economic stagnation, deindustrialisation + infrastructure decline
@@Jcguy123geographic determinism is false
We Indonesian already in contact with many civilization around the entire ancient old world era since the 1st millenia BC through one of our kingdom known as The Kingdom of Barus that located at the coast of tapanuli region in north sumatra province. Since hundred years BC, barus kingdom already visited by merchant from many parts of the world such as mediteranean europe, middle east, southern asia and eastern asia. If we ignoring australia which at the time are lacking in developed civilization, seeing african merchant except from egypt coming to port city of barus to trade rare goods such as incense, spices, aromatic goods, sumatran ivory and such, african merchant except from egypt are something rare to be spotted in barus port city.
Not only that, the earliest official contact between indonesia and most of kingdoms in the eastern coast of africa, are actualy happened in 13th century during the reign of Maharani (Empress) Tribhuwana Tunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani, the ruller of Majapahit empire. Where during her reign, she send around 3000 cargo ship (Jung Malay Class) escorted by 300 battle ship (Jung Java Class) in a diplomatic trade mission to every kingdoms around the coast of Indian Ocean.
Take a drink every time he repeats himself.
39:54 - Thanks for confirming that. I've always said its all about the water discharge volume
How many Guns, Germs, and Steel anecdotes will I notice?
Guns germs and steel is a terrible book that misleads people into avoiding talking about the real solutions for todays problems
Watching this a few days before my appointment at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to get malaria tablets for a trip to Sub-Saharan Africa 😅
It's racist to point out facts.. but it's okay to blame Africa's failure on "colonialism"
The colonialism that brought wisdom, culture, modern architecture & clean water to Africa.
Please get educated before you make such dumb comments
When you discuss coastline measurements, you should be careful to note the measurement stick you're using, due to the fractal measuring effect: for those who know about such things, it'll avoid detracting from your points. Your conclusions here were very valid, but it's a good addendum to mention.
20:51 That’s a Crane Fly, not a mosquito (although where I’m from they’re nicknamed Mosquito Eaters)
i came here to say this lol
I posted this too. Poor craneflies always getting lumped in with mosquitos.
Thank you on shingling light on the troubles I have with my beautiful Congo
At 31:48 Europe has 14 landlocked countries, not 10. You forgot about Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and San Marino. Also, it was disingenuous and inaccurate to claim that Europe has "only one major language family" (it actually has at least 6 total) while Africa has 7, when only one of those African language families dominates the continent. Your own maps clearly show how wrong your narration was in that section.
He literally just said "Not counting Microstates.....".
And the language map he presented is a gross generalisation. Otherwise he wouldn't say Nigeria alone has 500+ languages...
@@Therealfolkblues-1 Right! And saying that about Nigeria is misleading, because only 3 or 4 of its native languages dominate, and only 2 language families are significant there. Oh, and saying "Only 20% of languages shown due to space" or whatever, makes no sense whatsoever, lol. He never showed any languages in the first place, only language families, and he showed almost all of those (in Africa, anyway), not just 20%.
@@heinrichkrull2523 That happened a bit later and the map claims that Europe only has 10 landlocked countries and doesn't mention any exceptions.
Your comments are right but they do not change anything. All the countries you identify are micro state that are 100% integrated with their surroundings. I do not know about Andorra but the other are taxes heaven that exist only for the benefit of the ruling class of there neighbours. They are sovereign but not independent countries. As for the languages, Basque is not part of the Indo-European family but no disrespect to Basque people, it does not make much of a difference either. Basque is a treasure for linguistic but economically it is irrelevant and Basque people are note isolated, many of them also speak French or Spanish. Russian and French are both part of Indo-European family but they do not understand each other. The notion of family of languages is useful to study population evolution but it quickly reach its limits. Linguistically, Africa is more divided than Europe, that was the point of the narration, your comment does not change that.
It's one of the richest continents for resources.
Look up IQ by country
@@feloniousmonk1973Botswana average IQ is 105
Pretty sure Antarctica is the poorest continent
If we go by GDP/Capita I'm sure it isn't ;P
Those well educated eggheads are bound to have decent wages.
Idk bro, you don't hear about riots, economic crashes and wars in the Antarctic. President penguin is doing pretty well if you ask me😂
@@IK_MKemperor penguin actually, those elections are a sham
Actually, it is, in terms of GDP
@@chrstfer2452 I hear a rather large part of the penguin nation citizens are brobed with fish. This is highly unethicl and who knows wether or not the bribery fish is ethically sourced? We need to investigate this!
Africa has the potential for the most hydroelectric power in the world. Investors just need to take advantage of the huge drops in elevation for all of Africa's rivers and build hydroelectric dams all along the rivers of Africa.
Stop blaming to geography. It’s the ppl
Geography has a large inlfuence on culture
Sub Saharan African countries spend millions each year just fight against a single disease : Malaria.
You forgot mention the parana river system in south America its also navigable