North America must be on the list of places with good geopolitical environment in the world, and the United States, located in North America, is now the only superpower in the world.
The land of the United States is big and good, but the original famous Indians have not derived a decent civilization, and are still in a primitive and ignorant tribal state, in addition to the climate and terrain, there is also an inconspicuous factor - firewood.
What is the geopolitical environment of the United States? Why didn't civilization emerge?
All statements in this article are based on reliable sources of information and are reproduced in the article
Heaven has given the land
With an area of 7,635,000 square kilometers, 1,535,000 square kilometers larger than the 6,100,000 square kilometers of the Western Han Dynasty, the land is not only vast, but also has superior natural conditions.
The Great Lakes in the north, the Great Plains in the central and eastern regions, and the Mississippi River in the center are ideal for agriculture, and the Pacific coast is also habitable, however, until 1776, there was no ancient civilization in such a privileged land, only Indian tribes.
It is understandable that Alaska and Hawaii do not have ancient civilizations, because Alaska is too cold and Hawaii is too remote, but the conditions in the continental United States are so good, but there are no ancient civilizations, what is the reason behind this?
The rise of the United States is due to the geographical advantages of North America - located in the Western Hemisphere, with a good natural environment and perfect resources, the United States survived two world wars, and with its vast territory and abundant resources, it profited from the wars and quickly rose to become a world power.
North America not only has a suitable climate, but also has abundant natural resources, including forests, water, grasslands, fisheries and minerals, North America accounts for 18% of the world's total forest area, 34.7% of the world's water resources, and also has the world's famous Newfoundland Fishery, a large fishing ground.
These resources are mainly enjoyed by the United States and Canada, and North America can be described as a paradise compared to the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, where the territory of resources is constantly disputed.
The United States and Canada are friendly countries, and the United States is strong enough to ensure that there are almost no border conflicts or frictions with its two neighbors, Canada and Mexico, which is difficult for Eurasian countries to have.
Rotten land for agricultural development
By the standards of the agrarian era, the land in the United States was not ideal, it could be said to be a rotten land, the terrain was running from north to south, floods, droughts and severe winters were frequent, and half of the colonists in New England starved to death in the first winter.
Some of the Indians, such as Pueblo, had reached the level of sedentary agriculture, but they were not able to spread agricultural civilization widely, and there were no east-west mountains in this vast plain, and the monsoon could drive in the winter.
What does that mean? Once there is extreme weather in winter, agricultural civilization will be restarted, and large-scale precipitation in summer will not be able to run away, in this environment, how can the agricultural era develop a highly developed agricultural civilization?
The Great Plains of North America had an extreme climate with frequent tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme cold, and high temperatures, and while there were some rudiments of sedentary agricultural civilizations, these civilizations often died out due to climate change, and people returned to living in small, scattered tribes.
Firewood that is easily overlooked
There is a saying in Feng Shui that "there should be water in front of the house and mountains in the back", which shows that the combination of mountain and water resources is needed to nurture civilization, and in fact, in many cases, the importance of the plain is not as important as that of the landscape.
The influence of climate on civilization has already been said, I would like to talk about the heat source separately, in rural areas, the places where the population is concentrated tend to be close to the mountains, followed by water sources, the mountains provide an abundant source of firewood, and what matters is the number of mountains, not the size of a single mountain.
Mountains are often densely wooded, infested with wild animals, and are not easy to enter, therefore, there is a saying in the dialect that "the eggs are big and there is no sperm, and the mountains are big without firewood", which means that the mountains are more useful than the mountains, because if there is no firewood in the east, you can go to the west to find it, and if you are in trouble in the east, you can hide in the west.
The benefits of mountainous areas are many, such as being able to avoid taxes, hunting pigweed, looking for game, etc., and they can be used in rotation, but the most important thing is to provide firewood, and throughout history, the role of the woodcutter has appeared frequently in literature, and together with the fisherman, it constitutes a rich literary image.
Whether in poetry, novels, or legends, the image of the woodcutter is ubiquitous, not because literati liked to fictionalize the story of the woodcutter, but because in the past, chopping wood was a very common activity in daily life.
In order to chop wood, the woodcutter had to go into the remote mountains, and this experience often became the background for the stories of encountering gods or monsters.
In fact, if you have the experience of burning firewood, you will know that in a family, the real firewood is not cooking, but baking fire for heating in winter, most winters, the fire can not be extinguished, the demand for firewood is very much, the fire should always be added to the firewood, because the fire is very slow, people are easy to freeze.
One of the key reasons why China has been able to survive as an ancient civilization in the world for a long time is that it had inexhaustible firewood resources before modern energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas became the mainstream.
China has numerous mountain ranges, from the main mountain range to countless small hills, providing endless firewood, and the abundant firewood resources support human reproduction and consumption, and also promote the rise of large-scale cities.
For example, in ancient times in large cities such as Xi'an and Luoyang, how many mountains were cut down? One of the reasons for the westward shift of China's urban centers cannot be ignored is that the mountains in the west are gradually no longer suitable for cutting firewood.
Ancient China developed a splendid civilization with its rich mountain and firewood resources, why is pottery all over the world? Humans naturally love to play with mud, but only Chinese porcelain has led the world for thousands of years, because other civilizations around the world do not have the same abundant firewood resources as China.
They don't have so many mountains, heating is a problem, how can they have the spare energy to fire porcelain, today it seems that a mountain city like Chongqing is anti-urban, but in ancient China, it was simply a perfect world.
With great places to chop firewood on all sides and water at your fingertips, who wouldn't love a place like that? In ancient China, wildfires were often raging and the land was scorched, but thanks to the abundant mountain resources, China was able to recover as quickly as "wildfires burn inexhaustibly, and spring breezes blow and regenerate".
In contrast, the terrain of the United States does not have such advantages, the characteristics of the United States are "big eggs without slugging, mountains are big and there is no firewood", the terrain of the United States is surrounded by mountains at both ends, and there are vast plains in the middle, lacking the complex and changeable terrain like China, and it is difficult for ancient people to survive in such a place.
Once settled on the Great Plains, it is necessary to go to distant places to find firewood, and without an adequate source of heat, humans cannot survive on such plains, let alone survive long winters, and some scholars point out that the so-called Feng Shui is actually the appropriation of resources.
The ancient Chinese believed that "there is water in front of you and mountains in the back" is the standard of good feng shui, because mountains and water are precious resources, while plains are less important in comparison, land can be developed, even steep places can be planted, but there are no mountains, no firewood, and no fire source.
Without fire, how can civilization be born?