Nor can it be accidental that to speak of the group of developed countries is to
speak of the North. The reason is that the size of emerged lands on Earth is greater
in the Northern hemisphere, where, as Diamond has pointed out, the longitudinal
dimension is higher than in the Southern continents, and the climatic barriers which
have prevented or impeded the diffusion of species and crops is much lower. We
cannot forget that up until 150 years ago the economic base of most of the world
population was agrarian and this fact defined the initial conditions for growth and
a society’s ability to obtain the consecutive developing advantages that history has
shown to be decisive. This factor, and not racial or cultural reasons, is the main
and necessary primary cause of Euro-American economic, political and cultural
hegemony.