@TomEllsworth Hey Tom, I had been thinking about that vid you shared and it finally hit me

Land truly is the very first signifier of wealth, but more importantly owning land signifies stability and opportunity

It’s why earlier economic theories focus a lot on land being the primary denominator of economic value and why agriculture is meant to be the key industry as opposed to other industrial enterprises

The Romans, Greeks and Carthaginians knew about this and exploited whatever land they owned to a tee. It’s also why feudalism focused so much on nobles owning as much land as they are allowed to in accordance to their rank

It’s also why rice was used as a currency by Far East Asian cultures as it is exactly because rice is so useful despite being incredibly hard to grow and harvest. It’s also why Pacific Islanders fought endlessly for control over literally tiny strips of land

People today fantasize of living the nomadic life just like some cultures did back then, but they don’t realize that the nomadic life was far more difficult than settled life and far more unstable

Today the only nomads you see are in Central Asia, Russia and Mongolia and for good reason: lots and lots of empty land that they hold on to within their designated borders, and they are willing to pay the price, as few as they maybe today