Friday, December 30, 2005

 

Politics of a single supercontinent?

How would the world be different today, geopolitically speaking, if the ancient land masses had never drifted apart and, therefore, today's world consisted of a single supercontinent? How would biological life be affected?

Comments:
Not to be too pessimistic, only I feel that a persistant pangaea would have led to easier conditions for warfare, geopolitically speaking. There would be no substantial geological barriers because continents haven't been smashing into each other to create vast mountain ranges, for example.

Furthermore seafaring might be limited to coastal or near coastal exploration and exploitation because any expedition toward any one of the cardinal horizons would probably have led to failure, at minimum, by way of the ship needing to return for lack of supplies.

On a lighter, yet cynical, note development of aircraft might have come sooner because of the inability of navies to efficiently ply global trade routes or wage war.

Biologically speaking, I would imagine the continent would be much like Australia: habitable coastlines with rugged to hostile interiors giving rise to highly specialized species.

Human habitation would be densest on the coasts, obviously. That is if coastal cities could survive the frequent mega-hurricaines and near constant storms that would be spawned by a 2/3rds by volume water mass unobstructed by any substantial land mass.

Happy New Year!
 
we would not have as much diversity...plagues would have run rampant...there would be more wars, not less because humans need natural barriers (atleast in the distant past). we would not all get along because we were of one land. it just wouldn't happen. sigh.
 
If there was a single world continent, the populations of peoples would be much more homogenized than it is today, as would be the diversity, or lack thereof, of plants and animals. The sociopolitical problems would probably be much like they are in Africa and South America now, and as they were in Europe and Asia until very recently in history. There would be a great deal of civil war and unrest, the impetus being the same as always, resources and power. Racial issues would turn into class issues, with the higher classes holding the most territory, resources, and therefore, power.
LV
 
I've always thought that if we were one continent we probably wouldn't have other countries. There may have been in the distant past (borders being drawn on mountain ranges and rivers). But the simplicity of one entity taking over them all would have caused a single ruling government ot arrise.

Also the major population would be situated along coastlines, because water would potentialy be scarce inland (because of the way rivers and streams flow it would have emptied into the ocean long ago).
 
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