Geography's Significance in the 19th Century

Europe was a continent with access to two other large continents, Africa and Asia that had many of the raw materials that Europe desired. Because of Europe’s proximity to these countries it was able to more easily bring their “civilization” to the indigenous people and extract the materials they wanted, whether they be tea, diamonds or cocoa.

            The 19^th century was also a time when geography posed less of a challenge to the Europeans with the power of their Industrial Revolution. Steam-driven ships allowed the Europeans to reach far African and Asian ports, and they could also navigate up rivers. The underwater telegraph also helped negate geography because people could send messages over great distances almost instantaneously.

            In our game of RISK, Asia proved vulnerable to attack because its vast size allowed Europeans so many different areas it could attack from. Even though in our game the natives joined together to attack Europe, in reality Europe had the advantage. Because it could so easily access Africa and Asia, Europe was able to reap the economic benefits.

            Lastly, Europe used the geography of countries like India and China for its benefit. Because most European countries were small they took an interest in the enormous populations that India and China had to offer. In order to sell their goods Europe would export to these countries and take advantage of the huge number of potential buyers in these previously untapped markets.