Due to the very painful events that have taken place in our country in recent years, many people have been talking about the saying that geography is destiny, which is attributed to Ibn Khaldun. Although it is debatable who this phrase belongs to, who can deny how true it is because of its meaning? Let’s take a closer look at the phrase “geography is destiny”.
During the basic education process, we all learned how good our country’s geographical position is and how lucky we are. True; We are surrounded by seas on three sides, we live in four seasons, we act as a bridge between continents and more. But We are neighbors to the Middle East, which does not go a day without conflict, The Russians always cause a problem, if we say islands, it is boiling, Europe is definitely doing something and more.
At this point, one of the most important names of Islamic philosophy, The quote attributed to Ibn Khaldun is that geography is destiny. comes to mind. It is not certain that the word belongs to Ibn Khaldun, but even if we do not see the word directly, we can see its meaning in his work called Mukaddime. Let’s go step by step and examine the phrase “geography is destiny” in some detail. Let’s see if geography really has an effect on people.
First, what does ‘Geography is destiny’ mean?
The phrase “geography is destiny” may seem like it doesn’t have a deep meaning when you first look at it. What to do, we were born in this country and we will shoot It is normal at first glance to think of meaning as such. However, when we think about its deeper meaning, we see how the blowing wind, falling rain and even the sun have an effect on the people of that region.
Let’s go back thousands of years, why was civilization established in Mesopotamia? Because the land was fertile, there were abundant water sources, the animal population was rich, The weather was ideal for living and there was plenty to shelter in the surrounding area. Although our first ancestors appeared in Africa, geography determined their fate and they had to establish civilization in Mesopotamia.
Let’s step away and look at Japan. A tiny island state almost holds the world economy thanks to its productions. Why is that? because The land of Japan is barren, It is difficult to eat anything other than fish, if they do not use the mines efficiently and produce with the help of a little intelligence, it is easy to become a colony of European countries again, just like hundreds of years ago. So yes, geography is destiny.
So who does the phrase ‘Geography is destiny’ belong to?
Contrary to general acceptance, The word “geography is destiny” is not mentioned in Ibn Khaldun’s work called Mukaddime. You cannot see this phrase directly in any of Haldun’s works. We encounter the phrase “geography is destiny” in Turkish for the first time in Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s work titled As I Live.
Although this word does not directly belong to Ibn Khaldun, The deep meaning underlying it is undoubtedly his thoughts. The first part of the foreword deals with the effects of climate and nutrition on people. Although the word “geography is destiny” is not mentioned in this section or in the author’s other works, even when you read it for a while, you say yes, geography is destiny.
So, is geography really destiny?
Greek philosophers, who lived thousands of years ago, saw water as the source of life. Water was the beginning of everything. Yes, studies prove that life really started from water, but it is not correct to say that life started with water directly. But it is an undoubted fact that water sustains life.
Today, we have built dams, constructed irrigation canals, and have water transfer technologies that are marvelous in engineering. However, not much even when we look back a few hundred years We see that human settlements have always been built on the water’s edge. It means that water is really our number one need to sustain life.
The location of water resources also determines the climate and thus nutrition. If we look at the general acceptances supported by scientific studies We see that people who constantly eat protein are more aggressive, people who eat carbohydrates are more lazy and people who eat mostly vegetables are more energetic. Behavior patterns of people determine their actions, and their actions determine their fate. When we rewind the movie and look at it, it would not be wrong to say that geography determines everything.
The phrase ‘Geography is destiny’ in Turkey:
Unfortunately, our country has experienced many tragic events in recent years. People inevitably say that geography is destiny and they began to think that it had exactly the right meaning to our country. It is possible to see how effective the geographical location of our country really is on what we experience, even when we go a little further and just look at the map.
Without the steep mountains, terror could not have spread so much in our eastern provinces. If we could establish railway lines in the Black Sea region It is possible to give many examples such as we could have used the advantages of the beautiful climate to the fullest, we could have taken our maritime activities one step further if the Aegean Sea were not so full of islands. However, according to many people, these may be just excuses.
Man has been fighting against nature since the day he existed. After all, we knew the structure of these lands when we were fighting against the invaders. Even with a basic knowledge of agriculture We know what we can do. So maybe it’s early for a new smartphone company that will rival the iPhone, but we are all aware that something may change as a result of our R&D studies on the products to be planted in beautiful lands.
Let’s think again, to whom does the phrase “geography is destiny” belong?
We do not encounter the phrase that geography is destiny in Ibn Khaldun’s Mukaddime, yes, but we encounter much deeper philosophies in that work. Couldn’t countless scholars, commanders, leaders, scientists, farmers, soldiers and even ordinary people who have achieved such success in thousands of years of Turkish history not have this word?
Instead of whining behind the words that geography is destiny ‘He who loves his country the most is the one who does his job best.’ consequences of sticking to one’s word wouldn’t it be much better? By looking at the people living in our 7 different climate regions, we can easily say that geography, climate and nutrition determine their fate and temperament. However, it is in the hands of us who live this fate to knead this fate a little and make it much better.
attributed to Ibn Khaldun We answered the question of who owns the word “geography is destiny” and we talked about the meaning of this word. It is at the core of philosophy to find meanings that are not seen at first glance, after scraping a little. You can share your thoughts on the phrase “Geography is destiny” in the comments.