Zach Cuddy

Geography 350
Final
The role the colonial experience had on many different countries dramatically influenced the
forms of transportation systems seen around the world. Before the Europeans began sailing
around the world with their advanced marine vessels in order to find new trade routes the
majority of the world was using vessels suitable only for making shorter voyages if any at all.
The arrival of colonizers and the opening of new trade markets lead to the exchange of
commodities and knowledge between groups. More cultures were able to create new ships
modeled from the newly witnessed ships of the Europeans. As the connection between the
colonizers and colonies increased there was an influx of western technology into the colonies
that had never been seen before. After arriving on ships the next step for Europeans was to
reduce the costs of acquiring desired materials. So they worked to develop better roads and
systems of travels in their respected colonies to help them compete in the global market.
As time went by more regions were becoming the colonies of western states. In these core
states there were major advances being experienced. In fact many of these more developed
countries experienced enlightenments and revolutions in their industries that created a seemingly
new form of society. The introduction of the engine and machines that were able to operate on
carbon based fuels was a huge breakthrough in the way travel was conducted. These
technologies stemming out of more western countries gave them a spatial and temporal
advantages over countries that were using more primitive forms of transportation. Generally
these technologies were only implemented in colonies to derive benefits for the core state and
not used to increase their overall development for the native populations like they were back in

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the core states. These technologies were often abandoned by the core powers after decolonization
without leaving the technology and information to properly maintain them.
Countries that are unable to access certain modes of transportation definitely experience a set
back from a business perspective. Technology advancing transportation highly impacts the way
we import and export goods and it is used as a way to spread ideas/knowledge more quickly
between regions. Collaborations that crossed vast distances were becoming more feasible with
travel times being extremely reduced. That alone is enough to allow for the advancement of
development to occur by increasing the number and quantities of possible trade transactions.
Things were getting bigger while getting faster and soon enough transportation by flight was
becoming a possibility. These technologies were not just revolutionary themselves they
revolutionized the way industries operated. By having more options you develop information
gaps on what is most efficient from an economic standpoint. In the competitive global market
where money means power the optimization of import and export strategies through logistic
analyses became a very important tool for cutting down expenditures. All these different forms
of transportation over the years to support western styles of trade have created to the global
market system that we are currently operating in and have defined the very way that business is
conducted. Currently in the golden age of technology we are capable of sending documents and
information at the touch of a finger. Books containing knowledge that once had to be shipped
thousands of miles by sea are now able to be accessed via the internet in seconds. Countries that
lack access to the current era modes of transportation are not able to operate as economically
efficient as the countries that do further creating a gap in wealth between the two as technologies
only continues to grow from themselves.

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Historically the transfer of new modes of transportations between cultures was restricted
mainly to coastal countries. This was because there was no need for colonizers to adventure into
the interior to achieve what they wanted. If you look at the most populated areas around the
world they are located proximate to the coast of an ocean. Much of the native populations living
in the interior of regions impacted by colonization did not have the same experience that the
coastal populations did. This created gaps between the native populations of regions by
introducing novel ideas and objects to only a portion of the regions greater population leading to
development advancement being restricted to these areas. It may have been restricted because of
geographical isolation, cultural separation or the lack of capability to pass on the information.
The global economy and the processes of globalization continue to influence the geography
of differential development of regions in many different aspects. The global economy operates
under a capitalistic principle trying to generate as much monetary value as possible. The problem
with this is that only a handful of countries have money to spend. Because of this only countries
with the highest desired materials like oil are being focused on for development, as to more
easily access the desired resource. Developing a country is a very expensive and long process.
There needs to be a driving factor for the development of a region to occur. An example is seen
African countries where populations are suffering from famine and poverty but are not being
aided in being developed due to the lack of commodities they are capable of offering to the
global market. The access to certain countries is highly dependent on their geographical location
and surroundings. If the process of building and maintaining transportation systems is more
expensive than what the region is capable of offering then another region capable of offering the
same commodity at a lower cost will be selected. This essentially creates a system that has very
poor and uneducated countries undercutting each other to receive minimum economic gains at

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the benefit of the importer when they should be collaborating with and learning from each other
to raise their quality of life.
Today, the quality of a country is measured by almost every imaginable aspect pertaining to
human life. Comparable statistics representing counties in categories like the many found in the
human development index and index of social progress are based on trying to quantify the levels
of development found around the world. This relatively new tool allows people around the world
to analyze data representing almost every country making it possible to prioritize development
needs. People are now able to obtain information on the social injustice levels for a certain
country. This has become a huge driving factor in deciding which countries are being prioritized
for development towards becoming more globalized. The citizens of developed countries that
access this information tend to sympathize for cruel injustices that are still occurring in todays
world. These people come together to push their own governments either by protest or by other
means to aid it promoting the civil rights of people around the world. This tells us that
development and its driving factors are not static. It shows that the idea of being considered
develop is solely based upon ones perspective and the characteristics deeming a country a
priority for development isnt just limited to the commodities they can offer. It instead reveals
more detailed data that is capable of quantifying certain aspects of human life that are conducted
differently in different cultures into comparable numbers.
This class definitely changed the way I viewed countries that are not well developed or have
well established governments. I was not aware of any aspects regarding Marxism and socialism.
The way the worlds economy developed was a fascinating idea to me as to how it was created
without equality and how it continued to grow upon itself by basically forcing countries to
comply with it or be left behind. Overall the class opened me up to a more sympathetic view of

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other countries and the realization of how good some countries have it relative to the surrounding
world. I can now look at a topographic map of a developing country and be able to gain a basic
understanding of the geographical factors that have and continue to limit the countries progress
of development.

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