Geography in the 19th Century

In our Risk game, the geographical layout of the game affected the play of the game in terms of a nation's nationalism. When nations spread across multiple continents as a sign of power, there is a lesser sense of nationalism because it is much more difficult to keep a far spread group of people united under the same principles. Not only that, but the natives in the lands that are taken over will most likely not give in without a fight. Here, cultural geography and the conquered nation's own sense of nationalism threaten the superiority of the nation in charge.

By the 19th century, there were enough technological advancements that made the world more and accessible to any nation that wanted to extend its reach. Europe had incorporated a huge variety of delicacy foods and materials into their common life. Because some natural resources are specific to a certain area, Europeans would import these products and advantageously colonize these areas. Natural resources would attract the Europeans, and their foreign influence altered the lifestyle of the natives living in the area.

However, in a sense, the focus of geography was not completely on the geographical usefulness of the territory a nation owned, but rather the land itself. Due to a growing sense of nationalism within European countries, capturing land became a sort of a race; whichever nation owned the most land would be superior to the others. In the eyes of the public, land was synonymous with power. Even if a territory had little value, the fact that new land had been captured was success enough.