Good harbors and navigable waterways are notably absent along the west
coast of South America and notably present in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Consequently, the South American West Coast line is sparsely settled to
this day, while the Eastern Mediterranean has been crowded with peoples,
teemed with trade and commerce, carried largely by sea, between cities
that occupied the best access to waterways.
Safe harbors and navigable waterways made trade and transport easy and
cheap. As each wave of human advance turned from animal husbandry and
agriculture to bourgeois practices of industry, commerce and finance,
locations at strategic points along trade routes were first occupied by
occasional markets and fairs and eventually by trading towns and cities.
Geography was a decisive factor.
Fertility was equally important. In the early stages of social
development transportation was difficult, dangerous and expensive.
Sources of food and building materials were found within a short
distance of the growing trade center. Again geography played a decisive
role. A deep, sheltered harbor backed by a desert could not attract and
support a thriving trade center. Food and raw materials are
indispensable to concentrations of human beings.
The Nile Valley, like that of the Ganges and the Yellow River, provided
the fertility and transport, the food and raw materials that have
sustained concentrated human populations for many thousands of years,
forming part of the base for Egyptian, Indian and Chinese civilizations.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109