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

Warfare and the consolidation from wars creates the capacity for growth and expansion. The industrial revolution brought about the rail network making countries much smaller and easier to control and secure. The only advances in transportation done in these countries were financed by imperial powers who had an economical incentive to pull resources out, stunting the ability for these countries to advance their infrastructure. As the colonial age ended the power vacuum created was so great in some parts of the world that the cycling power structures never can sustain positive growth. It's like trying to climb a ladder with missing rungs.

I'd say infrastructure, primarily transportation is one of the biggest elements of building a successful country. Been the truth as far back as the Ancient Romans and early Chinese Dynasties.

The white man came and took it all.

Religion and corruption

ETA: backwards religious beliefs based in ideology from hundreds of years ago slow progress.

Corruption then e sure that any money to go towards progress goes into the pockets of the most ruthless MFer around.

The concept of private property & private enterprise.

Cultures where those in charge own or decide all, chokes the drive out of people to aspire for more.

In the USA, private property emphasis was the big difference. If a bureaucrat was giving you issues, you could move 5 miles away and never see him again.

That has all changed and the capitalistic engine of prosperity is being strangled in regulations.

But during the growth and development of th country, progress out ran the bureaucrats.

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heavily influenced by geography/climate

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I've thought that too. If your tribe lived in a rain forest there was usually something you could hunt or gather with relative ease. With no extreme temperatures you didn't need extensive clothes or lodging.

Living in the icy areas was a different ball game. If you didn't figure out the tools and strategies for hunting, clothing and protection, you were dead. Glacial lands created a greater intellectual challenge.

I thought this was gonna be about north Baton Rouge.

Carry on.

Money, Greed, and Power.

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Religion

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You cant blame religion. Western European culture is basically founded in religion.

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By why haven't any of these places become imperial powers?

Why haven't they had their own colonies? They're always the colonized

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The strong always take advantage of the weak. Just a fact of life. These countries are weak due to extreme diversity, not one unifying element in these countries except sometimes religion. Even then, there is diversity there with different interpretations of their religions.

This new age idea that cultural diversity makes a country stronger is one of the biggest fallacies taught today in Social Sciences. How did the United States get to be so powerful? Our federated system allowed for a unique balance between a national identity/system and regional level of self-government. Even as some elements of our political system and are showing early signs of failure and our cultural identity is being diluted, the country is kept alive by our excellent infrastructure and the apathy of the ruling majority. We are more interested in creature comforts than doing what needs to be done to grow the country.

Nothing is forever.