Geography's Role The existence of geographical features profoundly influences a nation's development.

One geographical feature that determines a nation's development is the presence or absence of natural resources. Consider how the presence of natural resources impacts the nations of Japan and Portugal. Natural resources are typically defined as land or raw materials; they occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by man, in a natural form. Japan has very few mineral natural resources, with the result that it is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as the second largest importer of oil. Japan does however have an abundance of fish. Portugal on the other hand has a long list of natural resources: fish, cork forests, iron ore, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, silver, gold, uranium, marble, clay, gypsum, salt, arable...

A country's natural resources can make or break its economy. The quantity of a country's natural resources determines the health of its economy, the quality of life of its citizens and so forth. Countries with extensive quantities of natural resources tend to be among the more highly developed, industrialized or wealthy nations.
Another aspect of geography that impacts a nation's development is its spatial location relative to other countries. Whether a country is geographically isolated, like the island of Japan, or whether it shares a boundary with a friendly, neutral or warlike neighbor will have a significant effect on its geopolitics. A country's location determines how easy it is to attack or defend, which has profound political implications; likewise its ability to launch an attack as well. Geography influences the makeup of a country's military…