Why Are Northern Countries More Successful Than Southern Ones?
Why are countries in colder climates more successful than warmer ones? The French philosopher Montesquieu answered this question back in 1725:
cold air constricts the extremities of the external fibres of the body; this increases their elasticity, and favours the return of the blood from the extreme parts to the heart. … People are therefore more vigorous in cold climates.
This sentiment echoed my thoughts in the 1990s when I was an amateur historian and overall ignorant teenager who dished breezy opinions on all subjects. I believed that nations in colder climates were more successful because colder weather made people tougher.
But shouldn’t the opposite be true? If adversity makes us stronger, why aren’t there successful people living in Antarctica? Why isn’t Canada completely dominating the United States? Or, why don’t we seek harsher conditions for ourselves? Shouldn’t I starve myself to gain more grit? After all, what does not kill me should only make me stronger.
Jared Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, is probably the most successful thinker on the Big Connections between geography and destiny. He believes that the answer to the riddle is simpler. Northern countries seem more successful because the colonizers who reaped the benefits of the…
