before deepwater navigation, the height of the human experience wasn’t very high at all. Most governing systems were a mix of imperial and feudal. The issue was one of reach. The few places with rich geographies would establish themselves as Imperial Centers and use their wealth to reach out militarily and economically to control other territorial swaths. Sometimes these Centers would innovate or adapt a technology that would alter the regional balance of power, enabling more successful land grabs. The Romans used roads to dispatch troops here and there more quickly. The Mongols developed the
...more
