This book is about geography, economics, society, and innovation. Why did different regions evolve in different ways? What caused economic priorities and activities to go in one direction or another? The author believes that happenstance played a relatively minor role in this process. There were and are driving forces, as well as success factors. In each ecosystem, ambitious immigrants arrived, displaced native populations, and proceeded to develop and exploit the geography of their ecosystem, which included leveraging water resources for transportation, commerce, irrigation, etc. They often invented the means of development and exploitation, including unfortunately slavery, but also various technical methods, tools, and devices. Inventions that became innovations enabled industries, revenues, profits, and economic growth, initially for the ecosystem and then more broadly. The impacts of geography and economics are profound. Available resources strongly affect the options available
