Why Do Some Countries Become Wealthy And Poor

Why do some countries become wealthy and dominant, while others remain stagnant and poor? Jared Diamond exclaimed the secret to countries that prosper are guns, germs and steel. Countries have conquered other countries with the same approach. This approach is the use of military power and advanced technology. All great civilizations have had the following in common: Geographic luck, advanced technology, food production, immunity to germs, domestication of crops, domestication of animals, the use of steel, and a well organized workforce
It all starts with geographic luck. Geographic luck refers to regions of a country or nations and where they are located. The luck of the geography helps a region be rich and prosperous or poor and deprived.

For example, in Europe, nations that border the Mediterranean Sea have geographic luck because of the open sea paths, calm climate conditions, and stretched growing seasons as related to Scandinavia. Iraq is an arid region with dry mountains for the most part, but Baghdad has the geographic luck of being sandwiched between the Tigris River and Euphrates River which assists in agriculture The geographic luck of Egypt is being by the side of the Nile River Valley. There are numerous examples almost all around the world that portray geographic luck. In Papillon New Guinea the land did not retain any valuable natural resources. In Guns, Germs, and Steel the New Guinean gatherers mainly gathered wild sago. The sago does not have enough calories to support a large population which is what most prosperous nations comprise of. Most of the trees in Papilon New Guinea did not provide them anything that was edible. The sago tree also had limitations. Each tree estimates to only about seventy pounds, and takes them 3-4 days to process one sago tree which is not efficient for a large population.
With geographical luck the benefit in developing agriculture and domesticating animals take place. People that resided in the Middle East had an abundance of their natural resources in contrast to the somewhat small amount of resources provided by the jungle in areas of Papilon New Guinea, and how holding more food sources and the capability to stockpile them showed the way for people to become more agricultural and be less dependent on being hunters and gatherers. The social stability provided agricultural civilizations with a dominant advantage over hunters and gatherer civilizations, which are forced to never be able to settle and have to tag along with the animals that they hunt on the land in search for food. The most important advantage of agricultural civilizations with natural resources was that some of the members now have time on their hands from the hardship of hunting and gathering for food and are now able to devote their time to developing advanced weapons and perfecting the ability to use them. The civilizations that do not geographic luck have to go on with hunting and gathering as their way to carry on and survive. I agree with Diamond that it is ultimately geographic luck that created the cultural differences among different countries and civilizations.