Cape Town, South Africa, near where the Europeans first setteled the country.
A map showing the highest risk areas for malaria in South Africa.
Recap
In Guns, Germs, and Steel, I learned that geography can and did play a major role in how the world's resources and wealth were spread around. The resources in that certain area, and the local climate can play a major role in how fast the people lived there developed and prospered. The ideal climate gave the people that lived there an advantage because they could develop farming and animal herding easier and faster. I have also learned that the somewhere's geography can determine what diseases that are found there, which can greatly affect the civilization there by limiting areas that can be lived in and tying up resources to deal with the disease.
Revisit
One of the countries that needs assistance in Africa is South Africa. There are many problems that face this nation, among them being disease, lack of food, and unemployment. South Africa is the second highest nation in terms of HIV/AIDS infections. They also face a large problem with malaria. Some of these problems with diseases stem from the first encounters the South African people had with the Europeans. When the Europeans first arrived in South Africa hundreds of years ago, they reworked the civilizations that they found there and caused the native people to do things that they were not accustomed to, such as living near water. This caused them to become more susceptible to malaria because they lived nearer to mosquito habitats. The Europeans also passed on their own disease of smallpox onto the natives. There are still problems with solving the malaria crisis today, and it is one of the top priories of the South African government.
Sources:
http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/history.htmhttp://www.mapsofworld.com/south-africa/society/poverty.html
Reflect
I think that the impact of "geographic luck" is still very prominent in our world and many countries are still feeling its effects in the negative sense. While it is much easier to overcome this type of barrier in the modern world where vast quantities of natural resources can be imported and exported, many countries still feel the sting that years of disease and poverty have brought upon them, and it is harder for them to come out of this cycle of poverty without outside help. This is part of our obligation as one of the countries who are geographically lucky to help those who are not, along with the poor people in our own country. We also need to help in stopping the spread of infectious diseases so that all people will be more safe from this threat. In this modern world, we are so connected that an epidemic of infectious disease can spread the entire world through the use of air planes, cars, and other forms of transportantion.
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