"Combining history, anthropology and social science, Stanford historian and archaeologist Ian Morris looks afresh at our global past, present and future."
He wrote a history of the world, and concluded that geography is destiny, but as we achieve a destiny, we change how geography is important.
Agriculture spread very fast across Asia and Europe, but didn't do too well in Mesopotamia, because they needed irrigation to ease out weather patterns. But since irrigation takes societal organization, they became the cradle of civilization.
The next important geography was rivers, which allow trade.
The next bit which I remember was the Atlantic. It is small, especially with sailing ships (good wind/waves), compared to the Pacific, so it was easy for Europe to conquor/colonize America, and this powered everything up to the industrial revolution.
Now the Pacific is small, which has powered another change.
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