Ethiopia is interesting given that in most countries, the mountain areas are hardly populated and mostly devoid of any development aside from roads, rails, pipelines, etc. In Ethiopia, the mountains is where most of the population and development is concentrated.
I respect that you talked a lot about watersheds and their role in a nation's geography. Having control over a river's drainage basin makes a big difference.
Ethiopa's weakness is that it's landlocked. If it had access to the ports of Eritrea, it could easily be the most powerful country on the African continent.
Blame the former leader Meles Zenawi and his party for selling it to Eritrea for nothing. Do your research. U.S Diplomat Herman Cohen exposed their govt for that.
My only gripe is with Vietnam with it being extremely thin and narrow. Its two biggest cities are located in the north and south of the country with its narrowest point being in the middle of the country, so one well planned attack on that narrow point and you've split vietnam in half
Vietnam face droughts, typhoons, flood every years. Disproportionate population distribution, ecology mismanagement, ethnic incoherent, racism, and discrimination against native peoples.
France and Turkey are my favorites among interesting geographies, France has the better neighbors no doubt, while Turkey has a more practical location as a transcontinental peninsula.
The only drawback in my opinion is the access to global ocean. Turkey and surrounding middle eastern countries have to pass through narrow red sea in Egypt and not to mention Gulf of Aden before reaching Indian Ocean. While it is strong position for Middle East and Europe but it is not for the larger world. The same can be said when Rome and Italy was at its strongest in antiquity but failed in modern era while Spain were more succesful to gained world domination.
Few add-ons: The US was also born at the right time with rapid technological advancement from the industrial revolution. The aboriginal inhabitants couldn't build anywhere near as strong a civilization cuz they did not have the technology nor biodiversity to master such vast and volatile land. Also invasion of the UK is made even harder due to the amazing cliffs of the South Coast, compared to the flat beach of Normandy on the other end (i.e. If the coasts were swapped the Allies would've stood zero chance)
The reason the aboriginal americans fell behind their eurasian cousins is because of isolation. In eurasia and even some parts of africa, many civilizations shared their technological advancements with eachother and it would eventually spread throughout europe and asia. The aboriginal americans didn't have this. They didn't learn the chinese techniques of creating iron and guns, they didn't learn the european ways of conquest, wars, and religions. Etc.
@@axlr8deathpls294 thanks for completing my assertion. Isolation resulted in the lack of sharing and falling behind on technology, and them killing many species tamed by other civilization before they had a chance
Not only in the right time, but also the US were also colonized by the right people since the Brittish were the only nation at the time going through the industrial revolution, if the US were colonized by the Portuguese or Spanish they wouldnt have had access to all that tecnology that fast. (bad english disclamer. I tried :)
making country representations their national animal with the flag in the background has to be one of the best decisions hoser has made, really sets them apart from all other geography channels
Im surprised India wasn’t included. Has many natural rivers, desert to its northwest as a natural barrier, Himalayas to its north, surrounded by Arabian Sea, has islands that gives it thr ability to choke of the Malacca strait not to mention it sits like a triangle in the Indian Ocean. It has the most arable land maybe after the US.
@@blackman5867 the Thar desert is a good barrier with Pakistan. Kashmir the disputed region is mountainous. The dispute is more important for Pakistan due to their religious fanaticism but also their main rivers derive from there thus Indian occupation gives them control over Pakistans only source of water. The weather is actually good for the most part but there are severe heatwaves in Delhi, northern India but thats not representative of the whole country.
The U.S. and Argentina have by far the two best, they are the only two countries with naturally interconnected and navigable waterway networks that overlay arable land. There really is no other competition outside those two.
The us has better geography than Argentina. The us bigger and is much closer to the world that matters than Argentina, also Argentina borders Brazil in the north
In the past argentina was called "The US of the south" and was though to equal them in power. Sadly, this was when the country was rich and other powers poor, making the errors of the politicians dont be to worrysome for the economy. When others got on their feet, argentina showed hoe badly it was politically govern
What you said about the US is true, very true. But, you left out The Great Lakes. 26% of the world's fresh water is in the Great Lakes. It connects to the Atlantic thru the St. Lawrence. Chicago sits on a continental divide connecting the two waterways.
On top of that, there’s the intercoastal waterway connecting the entire east coast to each other. This allows for easy passage without using rough ocean seas from anywhere on the east coast, to the Mississippi River basin, to the Great Lakes via the Chicago canal. The US definitely has the best waterways
USA geography is soooo freaking overpowered and mind boggling good that there's really no competition for the USA in that regard. Any nation that has the same geography of the USA would've actively had to try and not become a superpower to not become one naturally.
Also Italy has a very good geography. It's a peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean sea so It could control the trade of it, and still now there are some huge ports like Genova, Livorno, Roma, ecc. The Alps in the north are a very good defense and the sea itself too. Also in the north there is a huge plain for farming and industry. And the climate is very good, it's always very stable except for some specific zones like Sicily where in the summer it's 45 degrees
I was surprised you missed Brazil man! HUGE land area, the Amazon is mostly in Brazil (I don't need to list the geographical benefits of it), lots and lots of long navigable rivers, lots of rainfall in most of the country, tropical climate which makes the agricultural powerhouse it is today, the total absence of harsh natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes and etc), a very long coastline which makes it defensible, lots of sunshine, water and food is abundant. So many geographical advantages that makes Brazil a very important country in the world, despite its social and political problems.
You mean the forest with infertile soil that occupies more than 30% of the land and whose the only use is the extraction of minerals (which causes environment problems) and medicine (only a fraction made in Brazil), the coastline with harsh mountains that separate most of the beaches from the rest of the country with barely any infrastructure outside the capitals, the tropical climate that doesn't contribute much to the agriculture since most of the productive soil lies on the endangered of desertification in the next 50 years biome (Cerrado) AND the cold subtropical Southern region, the long navigable rivers whose the majority leads to nowhere/one important city (Manaus) like the Amazon River, or VERY long navigable rivers that aren't useful since it's cheaper to use railroads or highways (like the Paraná River). Brazil's geography is good, but for each good part of it there's a problem.
He made a video talking about Brazil’s geography, though not in a positive way. In fact, in the video, it’s argued that Brazil’s geography hinders its development.
@@Nick.Hasper the mountains do not separate the coast from the hartland. It can be a bit more tricky, but didn't stop Brazil from being a major exporter of agriculture, neither stop brazilians to enjoy beautiful beaches on their vacations. Brazil has plenety of space for agriculture even with Amazonia taking that much of space. Southern region needs no mention. Highly developed region, with industries, agriculture, livestock, highly educated people, living standards comparable to Europe. There's is indeed one major problem: big borders with drug producing countries, that facilitates the operation of criminal organisations. And of course the main factor hampering further development of Brazil is its politics. But changes eventually comes...
Honestly I think Iran's geography is more detrimental at times than beneficial, sure it's incredibly defensible, but one of its most important ports lies outside the zagros mountain range, it's rugged terrain also makes communication and infrastructure within the nation very very difficult, it was shown in the Iran Iraq war how the geography was a double edged sword, Iraq was eventually beaten back at the zagros, but the amount of forces the Iranians could commit beyond the zagros was small, due to logistical issues, while the Iraqis had a very easy time supplying their forces across the flat Mesopotamian plain. Iran is definitely a 2 sided coin, on one hand, lying where it is on the silk roads allowed early empires to rise from Iran, on the other hand, expansion outwards is basically a must for any Iranian empire, it needs to project power outwards since the region directly next to it is mostly flat and easy navigable, at least in the west. Iran has also been somewhat difficult to unify due to how muktiethnic it is since the mountains divide the country creating groups independent of one another. Another point could be that as society progressed, Iran's geography became less beneficial, while petroleum definitely was a boost to it. Iran faced another problem by the early modern era, it's inability to project power overseas, Iran was never a naval power, it lacks ports that easily connect to the heartland of Iran, the coast was very rugged and not the best to build ports on, there's also another detriment, the strait of Hormuz, the fact that much of Iran's most important ports are locked behind this key strategic choke point is a strategic liability, if one blocked it off, the Iranian navy would mostly be trapped inside the gulf, and in the early modern to industrial eras, an oceangoing navy was vital to becoming a world power
mad disagree. If the iranains were to somehow control the Hajar mountains, it would be unstoppable as it would have full control over the gulf. Its shocking that previous historical iranain empires never bothered with doing so. If they also get a compotent govt that isnt corrupt and oppressive, they could absolutely dominate the region and even eventually reunite all the other iranain areas into one country (balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and afghanistan) and thus establish an iranain country that essentially encompasses the iranaian plateau+Al Hajar mountains. They are blessed with a land size that although huge, isnt so huge that different regions could become isolated from each other. Its only like a million km sq. Contrast this with america and china, which are each the size of europe, and different regions are so different to each other. There are, at least in my opinion, only 4 regions that are best (two of which are not on here because they arent countries as much as regions), and iran is def in the top 2 of that list
It's obviously a dumb list anyway. It ignores Australia even though that's like the biggest island. It's bipolar on whether the good geography means being between more powerful countries (Turkey, Iran) or being isolated (NZ). It includes Vietnam because it still exists after invasions, even though plenty of other countries also still exist.
The French-German border region has a fantastic strategic location. From there you have access to rivers leading into the Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean, and Black Sea. No wonder it has been this heavily contested for centuries.
A unified France and Germany along with the Benelux would be a very powerful nation in Eourpe had it happened, I can only imagine if the French/ Franks earlier on didn't collapse on there plans, perhaps they would have an empire from the Atlantic to the pacific.
Thanks to the fact that Turkey is the bridge of the world and most of its borders are formed by the sea, when you look at the world map, it is great that Turkey definitely catches your eye.
@@neozarv2487 it is the best. the isolation makes it even better, since it is more protective. no enemies around to ruin our day and the added advantage of humanity having the ability to travel the seas
Argentina is the country whose set-up is by far the closest to that of the U.S.. Other than those two countries however there really are no comparisons.
The reason why France has had the largest population in Europe for most of history was because of the rivers we hone. These rivers made pretty much all of the French interior lucious and green, perfect for cultivation. Factor in the fact that France has some of the best soil quality in Europe, and that the French flourished economically and politically during much of its existence, it was one of the best countries in the medieval era. Huge armies, a literal breadbasket, and tons of money.
Ukraine would beg to defer on soil quality. The most fertile lands in the whole world have black soil called chernozem, which are the most productive soils for agriculture. Nearly a quarter of the world's most fertile soil is located in Ukraine.
If it's the only place where it rains and you can actually grow things, sure, up is the way to go. Look how the Inca empire developed, looking at the surrounding areas and Peru's geography you could figure out why Macchu Picchu existed
Damn I do agree that Ethiopia 🇪🇹 dose have a pretty good geography with is easily defensible (dessert and mountains) and is good for agriculture but the problem rises from it's ethic diversity and the government is trying to best to keep the country together but it is becoming more and more hard like just last year Ethiopia was all in news any one remember that
The problem is the Gov't itself, all the parties are ethnic even Abiyot ahmed is a leader of Oromo Prosperity party (ኦሮሞ ብልፅግና). His party is the same EPRDF(ኢሕአዴግ) that created *Ethnic Federalism* with TPLF. Ethiopia started dying when they imposed this racist repressive system.
The thing is this entire list is based solely off of geography, not politics or economy. That's why Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, etc are on these lists despite not being the most powerful countries in the world.
we would have unbelievable opportunities if we had a competent and independent government with no religious influence on it and it really makes me sad that we’re in this situation right now. Love from Iran.
How he could not include india in it💀 Natural defence - Himalayas to north and north east, ocean to east and west , hot desert to west . Indian land features - plateau in central and south, fertile plains in north and north east , long beaches, Himalayan slopes in north eastern part of india, many rivers flowing though india , have islands in indian ocean, have glacier in Himalayas, have hot desert of thar ..🇮🇳🇮🇳🐘
@@steamBR1 true but there other advantages like Switzerland does need a strong army as it is surrounded by strong allies and they can survive rising sea levels
Something you could have mentioned in the Turkey part is that the Tigris and Euphrates begin in it's eastern highlands. Having control of a rivers starting point means it is easy for you to control the downstream areas, this explains why many empires which conquered Anatolia or were based in Anatolia never struggled to also exert influence over Mesopotamia.
Turkey’s latitude and reducing the availability and productivity of agricultural land. Structurally, the country lies within the geologically young folded-mountain zone of Eurasia, which in Turkey trends predominantly east to west. and extensive areas of volcanic material. Four main regions can be identified: the northern folded zone, the southern folded zone, the central massif, and the Arabian platform.
As someone who came from Ethiopian Heritage, I couldn't be further grateful to have my parents country mentioned. Ethiopia is rich in natural resources and become the oldest nation to have civilization. After all, that's where the first human originated from.
@@jimmymuthami7130 Ethiopia? Kenya? Sri Lankans say that first human set foot here. They even have a big footprint of someone. Some/many (not sure) Muslims believe that it is the foot print of Adam (aleh salam). If it is really his, then Sri Lankan claim is correct because he was the first ever Human.
USA has the best geography, It has cold/artic, deserts, mountains, plains, great land for cities, tons of water, basically controls two oceans, It can't be debated
@@nordicnostalgia8106 The U.S. has easily surpassed Europe in economic and military power. Are cows something Europeans tell themselves to feel better? In a span of a few decades, Europeans wiped out a fifth of their population through war alone. I’ve never seen anything so pathetic.
Vietnam possessing good geography is completely bs. H0ser just repeated the same nonsensical trope. Typhoons, drought, flood, difficulty in travel, incoherent are the main characteristics of Vietnam's geography. I'm sure that Thailand and Canada are the true candidates for having best geography rather than Vietnam.
Not adding India in this topic is a joke. India too have every climate exist from polar to desert to Tropical island. Most rainy place , dry & most arable land in the world.
Italy is actually a very good geography, mountains in the north that protect it from large movements of people from Central Europe, a fertile plain in the north ( pianura padana ) , many rivers, access to the Mediterranean and is protected by the sea on three fronts, there’s a reason the romans were able to thrive in the peninsula.
Italy is interesting because it used to be S+ when the Mediterranean was most important but now it's incredibly easy to trap them in just by blockading Suez and Gibraltar.
I think Spain has one of these best geographies at least in Europe. The Iberian Peninsula is really easy to defend, with the only land connection to the continent being the Pyrenees and fertile highlands in the center (the Meseta Central) surrounded by mountains. We also have some important river basins, like the Ebro and the Guadalquivir.
Spain definitely has a great position on the map, better than France, but it lacks the navigable waterways and arable land that France has. Britain has by far the best position in Europe, though. I think the thesis here is, want to be safe? Then be an island!
@@benjauron5873 you are right about the navigable waterways, but not enough arable land? Have you seen La Mancha? It's literally a giant plain. Spain's terrain is perfect for dry-land crops, like cereals or the so-called "Mediterranean Triad", wheat, vine and olive. And with modern irrigation technics it is obviously possible to cultivate irrigated crops. In fact, the Arabs were the ones who introduced crops like rice or cotton 1300 years ago.
@@fernit0505 I didn't say Spain "doesn't have enough" arable land, I said it "lacks the arable land that France has." I'm sure Spain has great fertile land. But I'm equally sure that France has more. I can tell that just by looking at a map. I love Spain! Spain is great. I'm just saying it doesn't have as much farm country as France does. It doesn't mean it's any worse a country.
@@benjauron5873 I know you don't hate Spain, I'm not saying that. And I guess you're right, Spain has a much higher profile than France, and although we also have significant plains, there are more uncultivable highlands.
The Iberian peninsula has some very arid land, not good for agriculture, the interior of Spain is filled with mountains, making logistics inside the country very difficult.
@@hosamelsayed5723 They just took advantage of a civil war that was going on between two Visigoth candidates to the throne, so of course it's easy to take over a territory that was so politically unstable during that time, the same happened with the Reconquista, christian kingdoms took advantage of politically unstable muslim taifas to regain their territory from the Visigoth era
The Mississippi river system isn't one of the largest, it's by far the largest period. It has ten times the navigable kilometers of any other river system on earth.
@@Minecraftizawsom u can go to 6 different countries including venezuela(the richest country in oil in the world),it connects the atlantic ocean to the brazilian interior and the richest florest in the world(amazonia), and the river is calm for navegation
It doesn't seem that the animals are by national animal- but more an animal that is most associated uniquelt with the country. That's why the USA is the bison rather than the Balder eagle.
Finland has some excellent geography. Due to most of the country being impassable forest, It is one of the easiest countries to defend in the world and it has long been coveted by the Swedish and Russian empires as a buffer.
@@ffffff52 actually it being so cold here is GREAT for defending. we are used to the temperatures, but the Kazakhs that Russia sends to take over have never seen snow in their life. a winter is nothing to write home about for us, death for an enemy. not to mention it's hard to keep attackers warm. besides, climate change is working for us to make it warrmer, that problem's resolving itself right now
sweden viewed finland just as swedish as the rest of the country and considered it an integral part of it, it wasn't just a "buffer" to keep russia away from stockholm
I like to think that Bulgaria's geography has to be among the top 10 best ones. Mountains, lakes, plains, lowlands and much more are to be found in its averagely-sized territory. It also has access to sea. In history, Bulgaria has been crucial to a lot of empires' success in trade and regional domination, and even to this day, if utilized correctly, its lands can feed the entire population, and have enough land left to also make exports and partially industrialize. Great video overall h0ser! Keep it up!
Bulgaria has two big problems though. First, it's only sea access is through the black sea and that is very vulnerable of being blocked by whoever controls the bosphoros. Second, there is a very big mountain chain in the middle of the country that separate the country into a northern and southern part, so it isnt as great for defense
The cliffs near the coastal territory of Brazil downgrade it's geography a lot for me personally. The Amazon river is great bonus, but the enormous Amazon Jungle is both good for defense and bad for development
i think moroccos geography is underrated, The sahara desert to the south, the Atlas mountains to the East and The Mediterranean Sea to the north and the atlantic ocean to the west, the Atlas mountains are also a source for countless rivers
Very interesting video! I would say an ideal settlement for a civilization or nation would be flat temperate land suitable for easy development of cities and agriculture but at the same time near large bodies of water capable of shipping large quantities of goods and services to other settlements! However when it comes to natural defenses some mountain terrains on the outskirts to provide a natural barrier and having a strong navy fleet also helps.
On the opposite of the scale, India has the worst geography among all major countries 1) the only 2 major river system, Ganges and Brahmaputra are all concentrated in the north, and none of the 2 lie entirely within India, they exist to the sea in Bangladesh. They are also not navigable, which means Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. the most populous and 3rd most populous states in India are landlocked. Which means India cannot have an efficient water based transport for building up a supply chain, which is why the low end manufacturing, China doesn't want is moving to South East Asia not India. 2) India lacks internal mountains, the entire North West opens up the entire Subcontinents to invaders, which is also why India throughout its history has been invaded and conqoured by foreign powers, all except for the British came through the opening in the North West. 3) Indian coastlines has no natural deep harbor, the only one is Mumbai. India's harbors are also not connected to internal waterways. which means the interior of India where most of the population lives has no access to sea based trade.
I agree to some extent for point 1 like yes the opening in Punjab is the major weak point in the entire sub continent. But you can only conquer northern part. India has internal mountains called western and eastern ghats while Decan plateau is where every empire die. Also no India has deep harbours which was basically how Romans had to trade to china by sea route. So my conclusion is that other than punjab the natural plain other points are wrong.
Geography is as good as the nation makes it. In another world, had the US failed, some may have pointed to its geography. It's malarial swamps in the south, as well as it's massive deserts and mountains in the west could be used to make an argument for promoting disunity and stagnating growth. However the US invested in Canals and roadways and Air conditioning and the like to bind the nation together and circumnavigate its weaknesses. Geography plays a big roll but geographic determinism is always a danger. Just look at Argentina.
Even if the US had failed, it would still have had the best Geography in the World. Even if the US failed, it would still border the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Geography doesn't matter about politics and all that, it is natural. Argentina, in my opinion has the second best Geography after America but has failed. That doesn't change the fact that it has incredible Geography.
@thomas grabkowski While yes the US gets tornadoes and hurricanes, the benefits of its geography far outweigh the costs. Japan gets natural disasters, mountainous terrain which is terrible for growing crops and lack natural resources like oil, but their geography kept them safe from invasions due to being an island surrounded by water. The US has the same geographic advantages as Japan but with plenty of natural resources, arable land, and huge navigatable waterways.
Thailand's geography isn't bad either. We have mountains, forests, seasides, and huge farm areas. Our borders are mostly naturally set. We may not have a long seashore like Vietnam, but that's why we are not affected by hurricanes or typhoons that much. We are also located in the center of Southeast Asia, where many roads and trains will pass through from north to south and east to west.
France has access to both atlantic ocean and mediteranian sea. Atlantic for global trade and mediteranian to trade with the old center of civilization of Europe and Middle East. It is also border to other most powerful countries in the world. It is at the center next to the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy in addition to Benelux region and the financial hub Switzerland. Only the slavic civilization is where France quite far from its proximity
People actually really underestimate the strategic defensiveness of the northern border of the USA. In the east, the St Lawrence River and Great Lakes System form a natural defensive border - and even if you manage to get ships up the St Lawrence, good luck getting them past Niagara Falls. In the West, the Alaska/BC border isn't exactly defensible, but it's not far off, since simply retreating from the mainland would allow control over the remainder of the archipelago. BC/Washington is extremely easy to defend. The rest of the border is just straight lines through empty nothing far from the middle of nowhere. If either side invaded, the distance between the border and anything important is far enough to allow the defender to mobilize.
To add to the UK, despite being so far north its incredibly temperate due to the gulf stream bringing up warm water through the atlantic which means that the climate is temperate year-round
Colombia must be at the top, it is among the tropics and still has very varied climates, 70% of the world's paramos are in Colombia, including the largest páramo in the world, half of the country is covered by the Amazon, has the rainiest region in the world El Choco and one of the driest also the Guajira, it has almost every variety of soil and climate in the world, and even though it has the Andes and multiple volcanoes, it's not as seismic as its neighbors Ecuador and Peru.
@@Figue- There is good farmland and due to its variety of altitudes you could theoretically farm most foods inside the country itself. One of the only problems is the fact that the Andes make transportation inside the country a lot harder.
It's actually 50% of the world's paramos. The paramos are only found in South America, and you can only find this type of ecosystem in some parts of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru.
@@lucasbakeforero426 Wow i didn’t know that. Apparently it has more fresh water reserves than the EU so if the economy was better iy would probably be one of the countries that will survive the best this century
The Spanish defeated the British a few years later in Cartagena, and that was a victory absolutely devastating to the British fleet. Nobody talks about it cause it doesn't fit Anglo historiography though.
It wasn't game changing though was it. which navy went on to dominate the seas for centuries. the Royal Navy or whatever the hell they call the Spanish navy.
I think Egypt also deserves to be mentioned just because it controls both the Nile delta and the suez canal (giving it great leverage over international trade), it's basically surrounded on all sides by desert making it very hard to invade, and it controls the only land crossing into Asia from Africa (The sinai peninsula). I think its only weakness would be its lack of farmable land.
Bro didn't Know there is a country called India and it's natural boundary... Mighty 8000m peaks of Himalayas on North, Sandy Harsh Thar Desert on West, Evergreen Forests and mountains on North East, Mighty Indian Ocean surrounding South , South West and South East ...😂
@@sydhenderson6753 Then what about US which is a nation conquered by westerner for centuries.... All 10 countries above told are under other Empire's Rule ...
How about Italy? it's surrounded by either water or mountains, has a warm climate that allows for farms and cities to be easily constructed, and has a series of mountains that would make conquering it a bit of a pain (unless mussolini happens to lead it)
Iran has a major flaw in its geography , Khuzestan which sits at south west of the Zagros mountains which blocks it from the rest of iran so its pretty underdefended and that's where Iran's oil fields are located
@@suhritkanumuru6456 They we’re successful because it was a surprise attack and Iran had just finished its revolution. He tried again near the end of the war and failed. Has nothing to do with terrain.
@@jacopofolin6400 Himalayas provide great protection. The Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal along with the Thar desert also provides protection. The vulnerable part of India is just the plains to the northwest that had been subject to multiple invasions. India is also the country with the most area of arable land in the world.
Countries with power chose to control what they need, and after that they sit around, develop their land get weak, and later get saved by their magnificent geography, like the worst places are those that have No way to get defended (like the Netherlands or Poland), or those places that have the BEST defense ever but have little ways to earn money or substain a developed country (like Afghanistan or Nepal), the worst places are those that have nothing at all, they are destined to get conquered by anyone that knows how to ride a horse, loose everything and the only way for them to survive is to be the bad guy around everyone else, like old Russia, that they had Horrible lands to defend so they went and formed a goverment that conquered land in order to get a defense in their main cities, of course the only way to control that Huge nation is with an iron Fist and corrupted politicians that are puppets of the central goverment.
Anyone who's played Assassin's Creed Valhalla can see how good England's geography is for supporting life. It's largely flat, with water and greenery *everywhere.* And, yeah, having what is essentially a giant moat around Britain is a great natural defence which paid off big-time in the second world war, helping to keep Britain free. Also, there are no deadly animals, and it doesn't get dangerous weather. Literally the only drawbacks are that the weather is a bit gloomy and it's not a huge country.
Fun fact about New Zealand: due to its isolation from the rest of the world, it was the country that recovered from the COVID-19 Pandemic the fastest. The virus was dealt with and life went back to normal in New Zealand as early as February 2021, while the rest of the world was still in shambles.
Well yes but actually no. At first we did really well and life did return to normal, but the omicron strain took down the whole country, with about a quarter of the country being infected at any given time.
Australia is probably one of the hardest countries to take over it’s probably impossible 1. 1/3 of the country is very very hot desert similar to the sahara with very few people inhabiting it 2. isolated population centres Adelaide, Perth and Alice Springs are very isolated Perth and Adelaide have over 1,000,000 people in them and they are thousands of kilometres apart and alice springs is in the middle of the steaming hot outback 3. Alliances, Australia is currently allied with the United States the dominant superpower and they have close relations with many countries in the region such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand and Taiwan gives australia very strong allies ready to come to Australia’s immediate aid 4. The forests in the northern part of australia there is rainforests such as Kakadu park which is very hard to invade (ask vietnam) 5. the control australia has over the mining industry, australia produces the most iron in the world and the second most gold and makes large amounts of Uranium Bauxite Aluminium Magnesium and copper 6. ITS A ISLAND, Australia is technically the largest island in the world making it difficult to invade without a world class navy 7. the east holds the major cities such as Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney so urban warfare would be incredibly difficult to wage 8. the Australians have huge farms that produce heaps of food so it wpuod be hard to starve them
@@Schlesticle i suppose they could.. in times of crisis be united to form a crack paratrooper team, dropbear springing on troops kamikaze style ripping heads of Spiders infiltrating special areas stealing plans and making a mess of sleeping quarters While emus charge into battle lines in huge formations similar to roman legions but on steroids
@@nolesy34 the spiders will take out the enemies using stealth The kangaroos and emus will be fighting on the front lines while magpies will be dropping vegemite grenades and the koalas will be reinforcements while jellyfish and sharks will be pur navy
I think Indonesia should be one of the top 10, Indonesia borders 2 Oceans and 2 Continents, especially the Malaya strait, it also has really good natural defense as its mostly made of islands and is mountanous in some part and pure jungle in the eastern part, its also pretty cursed due to the natural disasters ig
A small correction. Constantinople was renamed to Fatih (after its conquerer Fâtih Sultan Mehmed), not İstanbul. Fatih today is only a district of the size 15 km² while İstanbul is 5,461 km². The name İstanbul comes from the medieval greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν (is tim bolin), which means "to the city". This is how the local Greeks referred to it as well under the Ottoman rule. Cool video though, thank you.
New Zealand will never be a great power, but it's self-sufficient in food supply, and has the advantage of being so far away that only a superpower would be able to seriously threaten it without going bankrupt from the immense logistical undertaking. And even then, what would be the point? Other than maybe using it to stage missiles to threaten the Australian heartland (big *maybe* there), there's no sense in making the attempt. Exerting influence on the Pacific Islands? You had to have passed them on the way here, you could have just taken those islands instead.
Despite its small size, has Georgia 🇬🇪also one of the best geographies around the globe. We have everything you can imagine about it. including different climate zones, mineral resources, soils and landscapes, among mountains, subtropics, steppes, swamps, coasts and much more. In addition, the Caucasus region between the EU and Asia have a very great strategic importance. That's because this country has always been occupied by countless of foreign invaders and is still shaped by the conflicts and interests of the big powers.
@@anonymoususer8895 Russians call Georgia a diamond in the crown jewels, that's why they don't leave us alone. If God hadn't "blessed" us with Russia as our neighbor, Georgia would be one of the most successful countries in the region today.
@@marcel84marcel Yes, but in the case of Georgia, that is not entirely true. It should be noted, that Georgia have very high mountains, which makes it easier to defend the country, some of which are over 5,000 meters highs. That means, that Very organized army could defend the country very well in the case of war. we also have access to open seas, there is an opportunity to build a strong navy, in addition, there are countless agricultural production within the country, almost all types of food one needs and other important resources are available. Unfortunately, 90% use of our resources is not properly exploited, otherwise Georgia would have become the second Switzerland or better than that, since Switzerland has no access to the Ofen seas.
I mean, I understand most of the list but why would you leave Brazil out of a list like this? Sure, it may not have the same natural defenses as some of the other countries but it is a powerhouse in all other aspects. Access to sea, has accessible farmland, rivers and maybe most important of all, basically no natural disasters.
China is good for building a civilisation but not defending against enemies. This is why China was invaded and invaded by the northern nomadic tribes throughout history. And this was why they had to build the great wall. In modern times, the first island chain limits China's naval expansion from the greater Pacific
Ethiopia is interesting given that in most countries, the mountain areas are hardly populated and mostly devoid of any development aside from roads, rails, pipelines, etc. In Ethiopia, the mountains is where most of the population and development is concentrated.
Iran and Colombia are similar cases.
@@Chazza1000 Peru is as much coast as it is mountain. Like more than a third of the whole population lives around Lima near sea level.
Puts it at an advantage to defend itself and leaves the river sources near the cities
Like Inca
Ethiopia is only going to get stronger when that dam is done building
France has good natural borders: The Alps, Rhine, Seas, Pyrénées and Napoléon.
Ah yes, Napoleon, my favourite geographic feature
Only its too small to matter.
@@RK-cj4oc France or Napoleon?
@@RK-cj4oc if u call napoleon small your calling 95% if engllish man during that time small along with 98% of the population.
Not at the rhine river hahahaha. Im literally there right now in cologne what a coincidence
I respect that you talked a lot about watersheds and their role in a nation's geography. Having control over a river's drainage basin makes a big difference.
Ethiopa's weakness is that it's landlocked. If it had access to the ports of Eritrea, it could easily be the most powerful country on the African continent.
Blame the former leader Meles Zenawi and his party for selling it to Eritrea for nothing. Do your research. U.S Diplomat Herman Cohen exposed their govt for that.
ethiopia should have negotiated with eritrea when the received independence
@@TheSwedishHistorian Again, blame the Ethiopian government at the time for selling on their country and its interests
Well they will have to make their military strong and take some land to the south
@@KingK2205 the current Eritrea leader TOOK it
My only gripe is with Vietnam with it being extremely thin and narrow. Its two biggest cities are located in the north and south of the country with its narrowest point being in the middle of the country, so one well planned attack on that narrow point and you've split vietnam in half
Vietnam face droughts, typhoons, flood every years. Disproportionate population distribution, ecology mismanagement, ethnic incoherent, racism, and discrimination against native peoples.
North and South Vietnam
@@cudanmang_theog this is just south east asia things
USA china could not do so IDTS
@@cudanmang_theog you think you're so unique in your hardships
France and Turkey are my favorites among interesting geographies, France has the better neighbors no doubt, while Turkey has a more practical location as a transcontinental peninsula.
Lol better neighbors
Turkey *is* the bad neighbor
Turkey is legit next to syria and iraq xd
France has better neighbours.
France for the majority of history be like:
Bruh.
@@The-ZebraFinch-Channel Let's not pretend Turkey isn't playing an active role in their neighbors.
The only drawback in my opinion is the access to global ocean. Turkey and surrounding middle eastern countries have to pass through narrow red sea in Egypt and not to mention Gulf of Aden before reaching Indian Ocean. While it is strong position for Middle East and Europe but it is not for the larger world. The same can be said when Rome and Italy was at its strongest in antiquity but failed in modern era while Spain were more succesful to gained world domination.
Few add-ons:
The US was also born at the right time with rapid technological advancement from the industrial revolution. The aboriginal inhabitants couldn't build anywhere near as strong a civilization cuz they did not have the technology nor biodiversity to master such vast and volatile land.
Also invasion of the UK is made even harder due to the amazing cliffs of the South Coast, compared to the flat beach of Normandy on the other end (i.e. If the coasts were swapped the Allies would've stood zero chance)
I think you meant Normandy
The reason the aboriginal americans fell behind their eurasian cousins is because of isolation. In eurasia and even some parts of africa, many civilizations shared their technological advancements with eachother and it would eventually spread throughout europe and asia. The aboriginal americans didn't have this. They didn't learn the chinese techniques of creating iron and guns, they didn't learn the european ways of conquest, wars, and religions. Etc.
@@axlr8deathpls294 thanks for completing my assertion. Isolation resulted in the lack of sharing and falling behind on technology, and them killing many species tamed by other civilization before they had a chance
Normandy doesn’t have flat beaches though. Picardie and nord pas de Calais sure. Normandy has very steep cliffs though
Not only in the right time, but also the US were also colonized by the right people since the Brittish were the only nation at the time going through the industrial revolution, if the US were colonized by the Portuguese or Spanish they wouldnt have had access to all that tecnology that fast. (bad english disclamer. I tried :)
making country representations their national animal with the flag in the background has to be one of the best decisions hoser has made, really sets them apart from all other geography channels
But the national animal of the US is the bald eagle haha.
@@GEMINI52398that’s the national bird, the national anime is the bison
Spain: 💀
Agreed. I wish I thought of that😅
He remixed the uk into a bulldog tho 👎👎👎
Im surprised India wasn’t included. Has many natural rivers, desert to its northwest as a natural barrier, Himalayas to its north, surrounded by Arabian Sea, has islands that gives it thr ability to choke of the Malacca strait not to mention it sits like a triangle in the Indian Ocean. It has the most arable land maybe after the US.
Except the temperature is too hot and there are too many deserts I guess. Also there's no mountain to protect itself from its neighbor in the west
@@blackman5867 the Thar desert is a good barrier with Pakistan. Kashmir the disputed region is mountainous. The dispute is more important for Pakistan due to their religious fanaticism but also their main rivers derive from there thus Indian occupation gives them control over Pakistans only source of water. The weather is actually good for the most part but there are severe heatwaves in Delhi, northern India but thats not representative of the whole country.
@@rohanindra6401 Punjab
@@blackman5867 punjab is considered northern india. It borders Delhi, Haryana where the heat waves were prominent
@@rohanindra6401 and it's also a perfect gateway for Pakistan if a war broke out
The U.S. and Argentina have by far the two best, they are the only two countries with naturally interconnected and navigable waterway networks that overlay arable land. There really is no other competition outside those two.
The us has better geography than Argentina. The us bigger and is much closer to the world that matters than Argentina, also Argentina borders Brazil in the north
@@cuddlemuffin.9545 yeah brazil be creepy af bruh
China is literally the same thing
The US has two oceans to trade unlike Arngentina
In the past argentina was called "The US of the south" and was though to equal them in power. Sadly, this was when the country was rich and other powers poor, making the errors of the politicians dont be to worrysome for the economy.
When others got on their feet, argentina showed hoe badly it was politically govern
What you said about the US is true, very true.
But, you left out The Great Lakes.
26% of the world's fresh water is in the Great Lakes.
It connects to the Atlantic thru the St. Lawrence.
Chicago sits on a continental divide connecting the two waterways.
On top of that, there’s the intercoastal waterway connecting the entire east coast to each other. This allows for easy passage without using rough ocean seas from anywhere on the east coast, to the Mississippi River basin, to the Great Lakes via the Chicago canal. The US definitely has the best waterways
USA geography is soooo freaking overpowered and mind boggling good that there's really no competition for the USA in that regard. Any nation that has the same geography of the USA would've actively had to try and not become a superpower to not become one naturally.
@@ThwipThwipBoom Russian Empire, they had Ukraine and Alaska, too bad corruption and greed took that away
Brazil is country with more fresh water in world,biggest export of meat,one of biggest of fruits,verdures etc
Also Italy has a very good geography.
It's a peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean sea so It could control the trade of it, and still now there are some huge ports like Genova, Livorno, Roma, ecc.
The Alps in the north are a very good defense and the sea itself too.
Also in the north there is a huge plain for farming and industry.
And the climate is very good, it's always very stable except for some specific zones like Sicily where in the summer it's 45 degrees
113 fahrenheit
France:
The Mediterranean sea, check ✅
The Alp, check ✅
The rhine river, EÉÊÉK ❌
What do you mean? France also has acces to the Rhine in its eastern border. Strasbourg has a river port.
@@lbs7774 Aix-la-Chapelle is still German last time I check
@@MasonGreenWeed Aachen is german, Strasbourg is french. What's your point?
@@MasonGreenWeed and last time I checked L'Alsace is french and it borders the Rhine
I was surprised you missed Brazil man! HUGE land area, the Amazon is mostly in Brazil (I don't need to list the geographical benefits of it), lots and lots of long navigable rivers, lots of rainfall in most of the country, tropical climate which makes the agricultural powerhouse it is today, the total absence of harsh natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes and etc), a very long coastline which makes it defensible, lots of sunshine, water and food is abundant. So many geographical advantages that makes Brazil a very important country in the world, despite its social and political problems.
You mean the forest with infertile soil that occupies more than 30% of the land and whose the only use is the extraction of minerals (which causes environment problems) and medicine (only a fraction made in Brazil), the coastline with harsh mountains that separate most of the beaches from the rest of the country with barely any infrastructure outside the capitals, the tropical climate that doesn't contribute much to the agriculture since most of the productive soil lies on the endangered of desertification in the next 50 years biome (Cerrado) AND the cold subtropical Southern region, the long navigable rivers whose the majority leads to nowhere/one important city (Manaus) like the Amazon River, or VERY long navigable rivers that aren't useful since it's cheaper to use railroads or highways (like the Paraná River).
Brazil's geography is good, but for each good part of it there's a problem.
He made a video talking about Brazil’s geography, though not in a positive way. In fact, in the video, it’s argued that Brazil’s geography hinders its development.
@@Nick.Hasper the mountains do not separate the coast from the hartland. It can be a bit more tricky, but didn't stop Brazil from being a major exporter of agriculture, neither stop brazilians to enjoy beautiful beaches on their vacations. Brazil has plenety of space for agriculture even with Amazonia taking that much of space. Southern region needs no mention. Highly developed region, with industries, agriculture, livestock, highly educated people, living standards comparable to Europe. There's is indeed one major problem: big borders with drug producing countries, that facilitates the operation of criminal organisations. And of course the main factor hampering further development of Brazil is its politics. But changes eventually comes...
At this point i feel entire earth's geography is best at its place.
What mountains separate the coastline, have you ever been to brazil or you think brazil is just the southeast region??
Honestly I think Iran's geography is more detrimental at times than beneficial, sure it's incredibly defensible, but one of its most important ports lies outside the zagros mountain range, it's rugged terrain also makes communication and infrastructure within the nation very very difficult, it was shown in the Iran Iraq war how the geography was a double edged sword, Iraq was eventually beaten back at the zagros, but the amount of forces the Iranians could commit beyond the zagros was small, due to logistical issues, while the Iraqis had a very easy time supplying their forces across the flat Mesopotamian plain. Iran is definitely a 2 sided coin, on one hand, lying where it is on the silk roads allowed early empires to rise from Iran, on the other hand, expansion outwards is basically a must for any Iranian empire, it needs to project power outwards since the region directly next to it is mostly flat and easy navigable, at least in the west. Iran has also been somewhat difficult to unify due to how muktiethnic it is since the mountains divide the country creating groups independent of one another.
Another point could be that as society progressed, Iran's geography became less beneficial, while petroleum definitely was a boost to it. Iran faced another problem by the early modern era, it's inability to project power overseas, Iran was never a naval power, it lacks ports that easily connect to the heartland of Iran, the coast was very rugged and not the best to build ports on, there's also another detriment, the strait of Hormuz, the fact that much of Iran's most important ports are locked behind this key strategic choke point is a strategic liability, if one blocked it off, the Iranian navy would mostly be trapped inside the gulf, and in the early modern to industrial eras, an oceangoing navy was vital to becoming a world power
mad disagree. If the iranains were to somehow control the Hajar mountains, it would be unstoppable as it would have full control over the gulf. Its shocking that previous historical iranain empires never bothered with doing so. If they also get a compotent govt that isnt corrupt and oppressive, they could absolutely dominate the region and even eventually reunite all the other iranain areas into one country (balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and afghanistan) and thus establish an iranain country that essentially encompasses the iranaian plateau+Al Hajar mountains. They are blessed with a land size that although huge, isnt so huge that different regions could become isolated from each other. Its only like a million km sq. Contrast this with america and china, which are each the size of europe, and different regions are so different to each other. There are, at least in my opinion, only 4 regions that are best (two of which are not on here because they arent countries as much as regions), and iran is def in the top 2 of that list
It's obviously a dumb list anyway. It ignores Australia even though that's like the biggest island. It's bipolar on whether the good geography means being between more powerful countries (Turkey, Iran) or being isolated (NZ). It includes Vietnam because it still exists after invasions, even though plenty of other countries also still exist.
The French-German border region has a fantastic strategic location. From there you have access to rivers leading into the Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean, and Black Sea.
No wonder it has been this heavily contested for centuries.
A unified France and Germany along with the Benelux would be a very powerful nation in Eourpe had it happened, I can only imagine if the French/ Franks earlier on didn't collapse on there plans, perhaps they would have an empire from the Atlantic to the pacific.
Franks didnt know about pacjfic
Thanks to the fact that Turkey is the bridge of the world and most of its borders are formed by the sea, when you look at the world map, it is great that Turkey definitely catches your eye.
The United States has the best geographic positon and internal geography of any country by a long shot.
Maybe not the best, it is kind of isolated.
@@neozarv2487 it is the best. the isolation makes it even better, since it is more protective. no enemies around to ruin our day and the added advantage of humanity having the ability to travel the seas
True
Argentina is the country whose set-up is by far the closest to that of the U.S.. Other than those two countries however there really are no comparisons.
@@evboto.5597 Australia and the UK too. The Uk is kind of like a small US.
The reason why France has had the largest population in Europe for most of history was because of the rivers we hone. These rivers made pretty much all of the French interior lucious and green, perfect for cultivation. Factor in the fact that France has some of the best soil quality in Europe, and that the French flourished economically and politically during much of its existence, it was one of the best countries in the medieval era. Huge armies, a literal breadbasket, and tons of money.
Ukraine would beg to defer on soil quality. The most fertile lands in the whole world have black soil called chernozem, which are the most productive soils for agriculture. Nearly a quarter of the world's most fertile soil is located in Ukraine.
@@nicotri9722 Well, yes, but one could also argue that southern Russia, and much of eastern europe in general, are similar.
3 - 3
4 - 2
@@pis322 ?
@@strasbourgeois1 argentina 3 - 3 france
4-2
Most countries: ew mountain, we are moving to the flatlands.
Ethiopia: Hmm mountains?😏 *did someone say real estate 🏡*
If it's the only place where it rains and you can actually grow things, sure, up is the way to go. Look how the Inca empire developed, looking at the surrounding areas and Peru's geography you could figure out why Macchu Picchu existed
Damn I do agree that Ethiopia 🇪🇹 dose have a pretty good geography with is easily defensible (dessert and mountains) and is good for agriculture but the problem rises from it's ethic diversity and the government is trying to best to keep the country together but it is becoming more and more hard like just last year Ethiopia was all in news any one remember that
yet it is extremely poor xdxd
The problem is the Gov't itself, all the parties are ethnic even Abiyot ahmed is a leader of Oromo Prosperity party (ኦሮሞ ብልፅግና). His party is the same EPRDF(ኢሕአዴግ) that created *Ethnic Federalism* with TPLF. Ethiopia started dying when they imposed this racist repressive system.
The thing is this entire list is based solely off of geography, not politics or economy. That's why Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, etc are on these lists despite not being the most powerful countries in the world.
aaaand its landlocked
@@brookethebaron9270 Iran is really powerful, some sources say it’s gdp is 1.7T now
Congratulations, you have been sponsored by curiosity stream. You are now officially an established education channel!
Country Animals > Countryballs
no
@@luanasari5161 Cope and seeth
Country animals > countryhumans
Nah
we would have unbelievable opportunities if we had a competent and independent government with no religious influence on it and it really makes me sad that we’re in this situation right now.
Love from Iran.
Before I clicked read more I totally would have believed you were American
@@2Links can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or not lol
@@thestatueofIiberty why would it be sarcasm? Look at your name and picture
Seriously underrated channel!
"it's an island mate"
--h0ser 2022
Sadly, they cannot move away from Europe and have faced multiple incursions on the British isles.
How he could not include india in it💀
Natural defence - Himalayas to north and north east, ocean to east and west , hot desert to west .
Indian land features - plateau in central and south, fertile plains in north and north east , long beaches, Himalayan slopes in north eastern part of india, many rivers flowing though india , have islands in indian ocean, have glacier in Himalayas, have hot desert of thar ..🇮🇳🇮🇳🐘
Bro calling a landlocked country a country with best geography
Being landlocked is not always a bad thing see Switzerland
@@mrk5216 for economical and commercial purposes, every landlocked country (except the ones with large River) have fucked up geographies
@@steamBR1 true but there other advantages like Switzerland does need a strong army as it is surrounded by strong allies and they can survive rising sea levels
Something you could have mentioned in the Turkey part is that the Tigris and Euphrates begin in it's eastern highlands. Having control of a rivers starting point means it is easy for you to control the downstream areas, this explains why many empires which conquered Anatolia or were based in Anatolia never struggled to also exert influence over Mesopotamia.
New Zealand also has almost every climate type somehow despite being so small.
*the only real power that can influence them is themselves*
Empire of japan(or ww2 japan): well yes but actually no
@@The_whales How so? Yeah, we fought Japan in ww2, but Japan never made it to our shores. We're more influenced by modern Japan than Imperial Japan.
Turkey’s latitude and reducing the availability and productivity of agricultural land. Structurally, the country lies within the geologically young folded-mountain zone of Eurasia, which in Turkey trends predominantly east to west. and extensive areas of volcanic material. Four main regions can be identified: the northern folded zone, the southern folded zone, the central massif, and the Arabian platform.
Zindabad!
So what does this mean for their future
@@Kunumbah1 turkey will be destroyed by erdogan.
@@Kunumbah1 now there is no problem to farm but if the global worming get worse, somethings will not be like old
This might be a dumb question but what are some good sources to learn more geography?
geography now.
Mix common sense with history and maps. Seriously
History.
wikipedia
School if you have a decent one. Lmao.
As someone who came from Ethiopian Heritage, I couldn't be further grateful to have my parents country mentioned. Ethiopia is rich in natural resources and become the oldest nation to have civilization. After all, that's where the first human originated from.
The first human originated from Kenya, fella!
@@jimmymuthami7130 true but Kenya was colonised
@@R1IY2N What does that have to do with where the first human originated from?
@@jimmymuthami7130 debated
@@jimmymuthami7130 Ethiopia? Kenya? Sri Lankans say that first human set foot here. They even have a big footprint of someone. Some/many (not sure) Muslims believe that it is the foot print of Adam (aleh salam). If it is really his, then Sri Lankan claim is correct because he was the first ever Human.
Thank you Hoser for posting this video otherwise I couldn't finish my lunch.
would love to see an extended video about new zealand!
USA has the best geography, It has cold/artic, deserts, mountains, plains, great land for cities, tons of water, basically controls two oceans, It can't be debated
USA also benefits from having two weak neighbours that makes it almost an island fortress, in regards to defence.
It’s still not a great starting location. It lacks animals that are easily domesticated which is a huge disadvantage compared to the old world
@@nordicnostalgia8106 But where did all the cows, pigs, and chickens in America come from
@@o_o825 Europeans brought them
@@nordicnostalgia8106 The U.S. has easily surpassed Europe in economic and military power. Are cows something Europeans tell themselves to feel better?
In a span of a few decades, Europeans wiped out a fifth of their population through war alone. I’ve never seen anything so pathetic.
The French did colonize Vietnam for some time though, you could've also mentioned that China basically controls the Menkong river.
China has also ruled Vietnam for about a thousand years in the past.
You can control the land, but never the people
Vietnam possessing good geography is completely bs. H0ser just repeated the same nonsensical trope. Typhoons, drought, flood, difficulty in travel, incoherent are the main characteristics of Vietnam's geography. I'm sure that Thailand and Canada are the true candidates for having best geography rather than Vietnam.
@@cudanmang_theog Why does Canada have a good geography ❓
in the 1880s when the country was sparsely populated and had no technology tbf.
Please make a video on Sri Lanka and it's future
future indian/chinese puppet state
@The Philosoraptor become an indian state
Not adding India in this topic is a joke. India too have every climate exist from polar to desert to Tropical island. Most rainy place , dry & most arable land in the world.
Italy is actually a very good geography, mountains in the north that protect it from large movements of people from Central Europe, a fertile plain in the north ( pianura padana ) , many rivers, access to the Mediterranean and is protected by the sea on three fronts, there’s a reason the romans were able to thrive in the peninsula.
Italy is interesting because it used to be S+ when the Mediterranean was most important but now it's incredibly easy to trap them in just by blockading Suez and Gibraltar.
@@dennischan1349 Exactly.
Italy though has a serious issue in accessing the rest of Europe through land also has a huge coast to defend.
I think Spain has one of these best geographies at least in Europe. The Iberian Peninsula is really easy to defend, with the only land connection to the continent being the Pyrenees and fertile highlands in the center (the Meseta Central) surrounded by mountains. We also have some important river basins, like the Ebro and the Guadalquivir.
Spain definitely has a great position on the map, better than France, but it lacks the navigable waterways and arable land that France has. Britain has by far the best position in Europe, though. I think the thesis here is, want to be safe? Then be an island!
@@benjauron5873 you are right about the navigable waterways, but not enough arable land? Have you seen La Mancha? It's literally a giant plain. Spain's terrain is perfect for dry-land crops, like cereals or the so-called "Mediterranean Triad", wheat, vine and olive. And with modern irrigation technics it is obviously possible to cultivate irrigated crops. In fact, the Arabs were the ones who introduced crops like rice or cotton 1300 years ago.
@@fernit0505 I didn't say Spain "doesn't have enough" arable land, I said it "lacks the arable land that France has." I'm sure Spain has great fertile land. But I'm equally sure that France has more. I can tell that just by looking at a map. I love Spain! Spain is great. I'm just saying it doesn't have as much farm country as France does. It doesn't mean it's any worse a country.
@@benjauron5873 I know you don't hate Spain, I'm not saying that. And I guess you're right, Spain has a much higher profile than France, and although we also have significant plains, there are more uncultivable highlands.
So easy to defend that they got conquered by Muslims for 800 years lol
great video man keep up the great work
I believe that if Spain and Portugal were a single country and had gibraltar they would made the first spot in the list.
The Iberian peninsula has some very arid land, not good for agriculture, the interior of Spain is filled with mountains, making logistics inside the country very difficult.
The Muslims took it so easily tho!
@@hosamelsayed5723 They just took advantage of a civil war that was going on between two Visigoth candidates to the throne, so of course it's easy to take over a territory that was so politically unstable during that time, the same happened with the Reconquista, christian kingdoms took advantage of politically unstable muslim taifas to regain their territory from the Visigoth era
Naah bro US is too op
@@rawsy4769 and the Spaniards took it back utilizing instability and Muslim civil war as well. What's your point?
The Mississippi river system isn't one of the largest, it's by far the largest period. It has ten times the navigable kilometers of any other river system on earth.
Navigable maybe, but it's not the largest of all. The largest river system is the Amazon river system.
The Amazon actually has more potential. It just has a lot of waterways that is blocked by dead Vegetation.
No it doesn't. You just like making up numbers.
@@francogiobbimontesanti3826 how does it have more potential?
@@Minecraftizawsom u can go to 6 different countries including venezuela(the richest country in oil in the world),it connects the atlantic ocean to the brazilian interior and the richest florest in the world(amazonia), and the river is calm for navegation
Grey Wolf is the national animal of Turkey, bro. And I liked your idea of representing the nations via those cute drawings :)
It doesn't seem that the animals are by national animal- but more an animal that is most associated uniquelt with the country. That's why the USA is the bison rather than the Balder eagle.
Turkey is a cat country full of cat
I love the Shroom Ridge music in the background
The UK did not leave Europe, it left the EU which is very different.
Ne anlatıyon la?
Finland has some excellent geography. Due to most of the country being impassable forest, It is one of the easiest countries to defend in the world and it has long been coveted by the Swedish and Russian empires as a buffer.
Norway and Sweden have better geographies
it's also cold AF, not great for defending, atackign or living if simply going outside can kill you during good portions of the year.
lol, yeah, was about to say we need a video with the worst positioned ones also :P
@@ffffff52 actually it being so cold here is GREAT for defending. we are used to the temperatures, but the Kazakhs that Russia sends to take over have never seen snow in their life. a winter is nothing to write home about for us, death for an enemy. not to mention it's hard to keep attackers warm.
besides, climate change is working for us to make it warrmer, that problem's resolving itself right now
sweden viewed finland just as swedish as the rest of the country and considered it an integral part of it, it wasn't just a "buffer" to keep russia away from stockholm
Awesome video love the little animated pieces you added 🤣
i love finding that new channel that i instantly make my favorite channel
I like to think that Bulgaria's geography has to be among the top 10 best ones. Mountains, lakes, plains, lowlands and much more are to be found in its averagely-sized territory. It also has access to sea. In history, Bulgaria has been crucial to a lot of empires' success in trade and regional domination, and even to this day, if utilized correctly, its lands can feed the entire population, and have enough land left to also make exports and partially industrialize. Great video overall h0ser! Keep it up!
the comment i was lookin for my mission is over take care brat🇧🇬
im guessing it wasn't mentioned just because its so small.
It's okay, nothing special.
Bulgaria has two big problems though. First, it's only sea access is through the black sea and that is very vulnerable of being blocked by whoever controls the bosphoros. Second, there is a very big mountain chain in the middle of the country that separate the country into a northern and southern part, so it isnt as great for defense
@@pangolimazul6055 Also the northern part of the country is vulnerable to invasion.
Missed Brazil on this one, it can easily fight for top 1
China, US and India belong in the top (i especially missed India)
The cliffs near the coastal territory of Brazil downgrade it's geography a lot for me personally. The Amazon river is great bonus, but the enormous Amazon Jungle is both good for defense and bad for development
@@wp12mv hmmm india was not included
And only has direct access to one of the oceans that the USA geography is graced with
Not top one,but maybe better than Ethiopia
i think moroccos geography is underrated, The sahara desert to the south, the Atlas mountains to the East and The Mediterranean Sea to the north and the atlantic ocean to the west, the Atlas mountains are also a source for countless rivers
For me:
1) Ethopia
2) India
3) France
4) Italy
5) Spain
6) Turkey
7) Brazil
8) Venezuela
9) USA
10) China
And Argentina?
@@tiburcio2889 Argentina is 14
Surprised you missed Colombia. It is extremely diverse and the geography was so good that it led to it's own demise.
again loving this whole national animals thing that your are doing man
I kinda prefer the countryballs but the animals are a more unique approach, so that’s good for his niche. I’ve grown on them
@@redwoodpartisan2433 Countryballs are so overexposed.
@@redwoodpartisan2433 I'd like countryballs if all of them were shaped like a cat also
Imagine an USA Island, that's probably peak border security. But to be fair USA is already invincible anyways.
0:10 me explaining to my parents all the different types of villages in minecraft
Thank you for sharing this information
Very interesting video! I would say an ideal settlement for a civilization or nation would be flat temperate land suitable for easy development of cities and agriculture but at the same time near large bodies of water capable of shipping large quantities of goods and services to other settlements! However when it comes to natural defenses some mountain terrains on the outskirts to provide a natural barrier and having a strong navy fleet also helps.
On the opposite of the scale, India has the worst geography among all major countries
1) the only 2 major river system, Ganges and Brahmaputra are all concentrated in the north, and none of the 2 lie entirely within India, they exist to the sea in Bangladesh. They are also not navigable, which means Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. the most populous and 3rd most populous states in India are landlocked.
Which means India cannot have an efficient water based transport for building up a supply chain, which is why the low end manufacturing, China doesn't want is moving to South East Asia not India.
2) India lacks internal mountains, the entire North West opens up the entire Subcontinents to invaders, which is also why India throughout its history has been invaded and conqoured by foreign powers, all except for the British came through the opening in the North West.
3) Indian coastlines has no natural deep harbor, the only one is Mumbai. India's harbors are also not connected to internal waterways. which means the interior of India where most of the population lives has no access to sea based trade.
I agree to some extent for point 1 like yes the opening in Punjab is the major weak point in the entire sub continent. But you can only conquer northern part. India has internal mountains called western and eastern ghats while Decan plateau is where every empire die. Also no India has deep harbours which was basically how Romans had to trade to china by sea route.
So my conclusion is that other than punjab the natural plain other points are wrong.
Geography is as good as the nation makes it. In another world, had the US failed, some may have pointed to its geography. It's malarial swamps in the south, as well as it's massive deserts and mountains in the west could be used to make an argument for promoting disunity and stagnating growth. However the US invested in Canals and roadways and Air conditioning and the like to bind the nation together and circumnavigate its weaknesses.
Geography plays a big roll but geographic determinism is always a danger. Just look at Argentina.
Also a weakness of US geography is prone to natural disasters
he added Argentina in here and it’s a failing nation
Even if the US had failed, it would still have had the best Geography in the World. Even if the US failed, it would still border the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Geography doesn't matter about politics and all that, it is natural. Argentina, in my opinion has the second best Geography after America but has failed. That doesn't change the fact that it has incredible Geography.
@@jimmymuthami7130 Shows that government, people and culture are more important in terms of building wealth than geography
@thomas grabkowski While yes the US gets tornadoes and hurricanes, the benefits of its geography far outweigh the costs. Japan gets natural disasters, mountainous terrain which is terrible for growing crops and lack natural resources like oil, but their geography kept them safe from invasions due to being an island surrounded by water. The US has the same geographic advantages as Japan but with plenty of natural resources, arable land, and huge navigatable waterways.
"Can you think of another animal with this much variety in geography?"
Biology nerds: *Inhales*
Chickens. I swear I've seen chickens in the snow and I own chickens in the desert. Chickens are everywhere
@@lumpstergash2380 that's thanks to us though
Love. Thanks I needed this.
Thailand's geography isn't bad either. We have mountains, forests, seasides, and huge farm areas. Our borders are mostly naturally set. We may not have a long seashore like Vietnam, but that's why we are not affected by hurricanes or typhoons that much. We are also located in the center of Southeast Asia, where many roads and trains will pass through from north to south and east to west.
France has access to both atlantic ocean and mediteranian sea. Atlantic for global trade and mediteranian to trade with the old center of civilization of Europe and Middle East. It is also border to other most powerful countries in the world. It is at the center next to the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy in addition to Benelux region and the financial hub Switzerland. Only the slavic civilization is where France quite far from its proximity
Well all of Asia too
atlantic and mediterranean 👍🏻
People actually really underestimate the strategic defensiveness of the northern border of the USA.
In the east, the St Lawrence River and Great Lakes System form a natural defensive border - and even if you manage to get ships up the St Lawrence, good luck getting them past Niagara Falls.
In the West, the Alaska/BC border isn't exactly defensible, but it's not far off, since simply retreating from the mainland would allow control over the remainder of the archipelago. BC/Washington is extremely easy to defend. The rest of the border is just straight lines through empty nothing far from the middle of nowhere. If either side invaded, the distance between the border and anything important is far enough to allow the defender to mobilize.
Hawaii also provides a good naval base even if it’s away from most of America and are populated enough
Your videos keep getting better I’m entertained from beginning to end 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
To add to the UK, despite being so far north its incredibly temperate due to the gulf stream bringing up warm water through the atlantic which means that the climate is temperate year-round
Great video, ya hoser
As an Argentinian, this video only makes me feel worse. FUCK
Yeah you guys really fucked it up
Colombia must be at the top, it is among the tropics and still has very varied climates, 70% of the world's paramos are in Colombia, including the largest páramo in the world, half of the country is covered by the Amazon, has the rainiest region in the world El Choco and one of the driest also the Guajira, it has almost every variety of soil and climate in the world, and even though it has the Andes and multiple volcanoes, it's not as seismic as its neighbors Ecuador and Peru.
How is the farmland in Colombia ?
@@Figue- There is good farmland and due to its variety of altitudes you could theoretically farm most foods inside the country itself. One of the only problems is the fact that the Andes make transportation inside the country a lot harder.
It's actually 50% of the world's paramos. The paramos are only found in South America, and you can only find this type of ecosystem in some parts of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru.
@@lucasbakeforero426
Wow i didn’t know that. Apparently it has more fresh water reserves than the EU so if the economy was better iy would probably be one of the countries that will survive the best this century
Being covered by the Amazon is a negative
The Spanish defeated the British a few years later in Cartagena, and that was a victory absolutely devastating to the British fleet. Nobody talks about it cause it doesn't fit Anglo historiography though.
It wasn't game changing though was it. which navy went on to dominate the seas for centuries. the Royal Navy or whatever the hell they call the Spanish navy.
@@1orissmate you couldn’t have sounded more bias at the end there haha
I'm British of course I'm bias.
@@1oriss ah as a polish person. Spain wins in weather for sure. England made me depressed for 3 days
I think Egypt also deserves to be mentioned just because it controls both the Nile delta and the suez canal (giving it great leverage over international trade), it's basically surrounded on all sides by desert making it very hard to invade, and it controls the only land crossing into Asia from Africa (The sinai peninsula). I think its only weakness would be its lack of farmable land.
He’s just doing top 10
Great video!
Bro didn't Know there is a country called India and it's natural boundary... Mighty 8000m peaks of Himalayas on North, Sandy Harsh Thar Desert on West, Evergreen Forests and mountains on North East, Mighty Indian Ocean surrounding South , South West and South East ...😂
There have been lots of successful invasions from the northwest.
@@sydhenderson6753 Then what about US which is a nation conquered by westerner for centuries.... All 10 countries above told are under other Empire's Rule ...
@@andrewtt1780 usa has a way better geography than india
How about Italy? it's surrounded by either water or mountains, has a warm climate that allows for farms and cities to be easily constructed, and has a series of mountains that would make conquering it a bit of a pain (unless mussolini happens to lead it)
Nah, it can easily be invaded from the interior should the Vatican or San Marino want to expand.
They’re defensible, sure, but they’re pretty much trapped in the Mediterranean.
@@T.Hebert tell that to the romans
I remember seeing a video a few years ago by “Brains4breakfast” on why America is on easy mode
RIP
For new zealand, you forgot to say that it has developped the best defensive weapon of all time : the bob semple
Great video, thanks bro! Keep on doing this
Iran has a major flaw in its geography , Khuzestan which sits at south west of the Zagros mountains which blocks it from the rest of iran so its pretty underdefended and that's where Iran's oil fields are located
It’s also swampy which was a major detriment to the invading Iraqi army so not really
@@ShahStark but iraq was still successful in capturing it. Although they were just too slow.
@@suhritkanumuru6456 They we’re successful because it was a surprise attack and Iran had just finished its revolution. He tried again near the end of the war and failed. Has nothing to do with terrain.
@@ShahStark it wouldnt have been a suprise attack if not for the geography
@@suhritkanumuru6456 it was a surprise attack because he didn’t formerly declare war..?
You missed the country with one of the best geographies of all; INDIA
no
How? Their biggest weakness, no control on their water source (Himalayas) and the Pakistan border have no Natural barriers
@@jacopofolin6400 Himalayas provide great protection. The Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal along with the Thar desert also provides protection. The vulnerable part of India is just the plains to the northwest that had been subject to multiple invasions. India is also the country with the most area of arable land in the world.
USA has the best geography.
@@artman12 Himalayas are mostly cinese, Tibet Is occupied
Countries with power chose to control what they need, and after that they sit around, develop their land get weak, and later get saved by their magnificent geography, like the worst places are those that have No way to get defended (like the Netherlands or Poland), or those places that have the BEST defense ever but have little ways to earn money or substain a developed country (like Afghanistan or Nepal), the worst places are those that have nothing at all, they are destined to get conquered by anyone that knows how to ride a horse, loose everything and the only way for them to survive is to be the bad guy around everyone else, like old Russia, that they had Horrible lands to defend so they went and formed a goverment that conquered land in order to get a defense in their main cities, of course the only way to control that Huge nation is with an iron Fist and corrupted politicians that are puppets of the central goverment.
Anyone who's played Assassin's Creed Valhalla can see how good England's geography is for supporting life. It's largely flat, with water and greenery *everywhere.* And, yeah, having what is essentially a giant moat around Britain is a great natural defence which paid off big-time in the second world war, helping to keep Britain free.
Also, there are no deadly animals, and it doesn't get dangerous weather.
Literally the only drawbacks are that the weather is a bit gloomy and it's not a huge country.
Fun fact about New Zealand: due to its isolation from the rest of the world, it was the country that recovered from the COVID-19 Pandemic the fastest. The virus was dealt with and life went back to normal in New Zealand as early as February 2021, while the rest of the world was still in shambles.
Well yes but actually no. At first we did really well and life did return to normal, but the omicron strain took down the whole country, with about a quarter of the country being infected at any given time.
Also partially because of very early lockdowns and high vaccination rates
Australia is probably one of the hardest countries to take over it’s probably impossible 1. 1/3 of the country is very very hot desert similar to the sahara with very few people inhabiting it 2. isolated population centres Adelaide, Perth and Alice Springs are very isolated Perth and Adelaide have over 1,000,000 people in them and they are thousands of kilometres apart and alice springs is in the middle of the steaming hot outback 3. Alliances, Australia is currently allied with the United States the dominant superpower and they have close relations with many countries in the region such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand and Taiwan gives australia very strong allies ready to come to Australia’s immediate aid 4. The forests in the northern part of australia there is rainforests such as Kakadu park which is very hard to invade (ask vietnam) 5. the control australia has over the mining industry, australia produces the most iron in the world and the second most gold and makes large amounts of Uranium Bauxite Aluminium Magnesium and copper 6. ITS A ISLAND, Australia is technically the largest island in the world making it difficult to invade without a world class navy 7. the east holds the major cities such as Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney so urban warfare would be incredibly difficult to wage 8. the Australians have huge farms that produce heaps of food so it wpuod be hard to starve them
They dont need to be invaded they have their own war.. the drop bear the house spider and the emu are all enemies of the Australian people
@@nolesy34 they our allies
@@Schlesticle i suppose they could.. in times of crisis be united to form a crack paratrooper team, dropbear springing on troops kamikaze style ripping heads of
Spiders infiltrating special areas stealing plans and making a mess of sleeping quarters
While emus charge into battle lines in huge formations similar to roman legions but on steroids
@@nolesy34 the spiders will take out the enemies using stealth
The kangaroos and emus will be fighting on the front lines while magpies will be dropping vegemite grenades and the koalas will be reinforcements while jellyfish and sharks will be pur navy
@@Schlesticle the true force of nature
Dont forget the bush ants providing much needed scouting and soldiering
I think Indonesia should be one of the top 10, Indonesia borders 2 Oceans and 2 Continents, especially the Malaya strait, it also has really good natural defense as its mostly made of islands and is mountanous in some part and pure jungle in the eastern part, its also pretty cursed due to the natural disasters ig
yeah bro, we just gotta spread the population and make the other islands getting on the spotlight too
@@darthyodrus Truu that
Turkey has great geography
Earthquake has joined the chat.
A small correction.
Constantinople was renamed to Fatih (after its conquerer Fâtih Sultan Mehmed), not İstanbul. Fatih today is only a district of the size 15 km² while İstanbul is 5,461 km². The name İstanbul comes from the medieval greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν (is tim bolin), which means "to the city". This is how the local Greeks referred to it as well under the Ottoman rule.
Cool video though, thank you.
Awesome video! Could you make a video about Colombia?
I thought you said video tomorrow like a few hours ago
THE GRIND IS REAL HERE NO EXCUSES, 10 SQUATS NOWWW
ants have also taken over the world
New Zealand will never be a great power, but it's self-sufficient in food supply, and has the advantage of being so far away that only a superpower would be able to seriously threaten it without going bankrupt from the immense logistical undertaking. And even then, what would be the point? Other than maybe using it to stage missiles to threaten the Australian heartland (big *maybe* there), there's no sense in making the attempt. Exerting influence on the Pacific Islands? You had to have passed them on the way here, you could have just taken those islands instead.
nice vid bro keep it up
Basically what this video confirmed is America is by far the most geographically advantaged country on the planet and 2nd place isn't even close.
Despite its small size, has Georgia 🇬🇪also one of the best geographies around the globe. We have everything you can imagine about it. including different climate zones, mineral resources, soils and landscapes, among mountains, subtropics, steppes, swamps, coasts and much more. In addition, the Caucasus region between the EU and Asia have a very great strategic importance. That's because this country has always been occupied by countless of foreign invaders and is still shaped by the conflicts and interests of the big powers.
If your country borders Russia then your geography is horrendous sorry to say.
If Georgia has such good geography, why was it so easily invaded by Russia? I don’t support Russia but it’s something to note.
@@anonymoususer8895 Russians call Georgia a diamond in the crown jewels, that's why they don't leave us alone. If God hadn't "blessed" us with Russia as our neighbor, Georgia would be one of the most successful countries in the region today.
@@marcel84marcel Yes, but in the case of Georgia, that is not entirely true. It should be noted, that Georgia have very high mountains, which makes it easier to defend the country, some of which are over 5,000 meters highs. That means, that Very organized army could defend the country very well in the case of war. we also have access to open seas, there is an opportunity to build a strong navy, in addition, there are countless agricultural production within the country, almost all types of food one needs and other important resources are available. Unfortunately, 90% use of our resources is not properly exploited, otherwise Georgia would have become the second Switzerland or better than that, since Switzerland has no access to the Ofen seas.
You should do top 10 countries with the worst geography.
I mean, I understand most of the list but why would you leave Brazil out of a list like this? Sure, it may not have the same natural defenses as some of the other countries but it is a powerhouse in all other aspects. Access to sea, has accessible farmland, rivers and maybe most important of all, basically no natural disasters.
China is good for building a civilisation but not defending against enemies. This is why China was invaded and invaded by the northern nomadic tribes throughout history. And this was why they had to build the great wall.
In modern times, the first island chain limits China's naval expansion from the greater Pacific
How come Australia was not on the list. The sixth largest landmass with no bordering countries ...abundant resources and a wide range of climates.
Despite its a beautiful country full of resources, most of the territory is covered by deserts