re: Why are some areas of the world so woefully less advanced?

On a serious note, perhaps it has something to do with the need to improve. Necessity is the mother of all invention after all. If you look at civilizations in the tropics, there was little need to improve since the weather was conducive and resources were plentiful. The farther north you go, the more advanced you have to become in order to thrive. The same is true as you head south.

I may be completely off base, but by and large countries and civilizations in the tropics - between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer - are the least developed in the present day.