The scope of the "world" of human civilization has expanded with the advancement of science and technology and the improvement of transportation methods.
In primitive tribes, humans could only move by foot. It often only took a few days to traverse the territory of a settled tribe, which would shrink depending on the richness of the products. The world in the eyes of this tribe is the scope of its own tribe and several neighboring tribes, plus at most some distant legendary tribes.
The world of nomads will be larger because they are always on the move, but they are still restricted.
Terrain that is not suitable for human survival, such as deserts, polar regions, large rivers and mountains, will block human migration and movement, dividing human civilization into small closed worlds.
Only with the advancement of transportation methods and brave pioneers exploring suitable paths can different small worlds be connected into one big world.
Eurasia is the largest continent in the world, but the frequent exchanges between the east and west sides of the continent did not take shape until the opening of the Silk Road. After that, through the exchange of technology and species, Eastern and Western civilizations began to accelerate their development, making Eurasia and North Africa has become, in fact, one big world.
Before the Age of Discovery, there were three relatively densely populated civilization areas in the entire Americas, namely the Mississippi River Basin, the Central American Jungles and the Peruvian Plateau. However, these three civilized areas are separated from each other by deserts, isthmus, etc., and there is little communication with each other. Therefore, they are almost all independent small civilized worlds and cannot be counted as one big world.
It is easier for a large world to make progress and lead in technology. This is because through the exchange of technology and species, agriculture is more developed in a large world and can support a larger population, which improves the population fundamentals and probability of technological progress. New technologies are also easier to communicate, triggering learning and imitation.
But it is difficult to do this in a small world like the Americas. The combined area of the Americas is only slightly smaller than the European continent and North Africa, but the small worlds separated from each other develop slowly. The Mayans invented the wheel, but because they did not have suitable livestock, they only used the wheel for toys. The Incas had the only large livestock in the Americas, the alpaca, but they had no wheels and therefore no vehicles. This is the tragedy of small-world civilization.
What the protagonist is worried about now is that he is in a very backward small world.
The land on both sides of the river is too small. Although in the eyes of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom and the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom, they are both great countries with vast territories, and they have almost reached the limit of what the existing technology and organizational system can rule.
However, from a human perspective, the land on both sides of the river is nothing more than a small mountain basin, which can only accommodate one or a few small human villages at most.
But this tiny place is the entire world that the protagonist knows now. Such a small world cannot naturally expect to develop an outstanding civilization based on self-reliance.
What would happen if one day an external civilization suddenly appeared with more advanced technology and weapons that were difficult to resist? The protagonist cannot imagine that the answers have already been given by the experiences of American Indians and Australian Aboriginals. The world of ants will obviously be more cruel, and perhaps even the reservation will not provide charity.
Therefore, the protagonist wants to explore a wider world.
But for ants, it is too difficult to migrate and move over long distances.
Terrain can be a natural chasm that hinders human movement, and the same is true for ants, and even more so.
Although ants are distributed all over the world, their numbers decrease from the tropics to the poles. Cold and drought will deny ants the ability to survive in an area.
A fast river or a wide lake can prevent the expansion of an ant empire, and a continuous and towering mountain range can also scare away an ant colony. Some ants can adapt to the desert, but most cannot. These terrains hinder communication between ants and divide them into small and fragmented worlds.
Even in the easy-to-move plains and the territories of countless ant kingdoms, ants of other races will not be allowed to pass freely. In the protagonist's limited knowledge and experience, the ants have no concept of businessmen. Either allies or enemies, this simple binary concept has become an obstacle that prevents ants from exploring the wider world.
Perhaps, this feat can only be accomplished through strong means. Just like Japan, after experiencing a thousand years of division and war, it had the energy to look beyond the archipelago for the first time.
Therefore, this winter, the protagonist is extremely eager to gain absolute advantage on both sides of the river, become the sole ruler here, and end internal strife. Then you can use all the resources in the entire region to try to explore the world beyond both sides of the river.
This small basin on both sides of the river is a dead end to the east. Except for the outlet of the river, the rest is blocked by mountains and lakes.
To the south, the protagonist has never been, but in the ancient legend of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, there are also rolling hills and mountains, with aggressive and ferocious indigenous mountain ants, and snow-capped mountains that are difficult to climb. The Big-headed Ant Kingdom was forced to enter the plains after its development to the south failed. As a result, it became a blessing in disguise and achieved hegemony on the south bank of the river.
To the north, it still belongs to the territory of the Barbarian Kingdom of Paidao Ant. The protagonist only has a limited understanding of this place, mainly from his original northern reconnaissance operation and the confession of King Fuye. It is understood that the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom has powerful enemies in the dense forests and mountains in the north - the mountain ants. They are more adaptable to the environment halfway up the mountain, and their military strength is also very strong. From the perspective of the Pao Dao Ant Barbarian Kingdom, mountain ants are the main enemy, and they also contain 80% of the military strength of the Pa Dao Ant Barbarian Kingdom, while the Big-Headed Ant Kingdom is no more It's just a scabies disease in the south. So expanding into the mountains to the north is not a good idea.
The rest, which is also the direction that the protagonist prefers, is the West.
Although the protagonist does not know much about the West, he only knows that there are similar dense forests and mountains there. However, the remains of the big-headed ants drifted down the river from the west.
According to the Big-headed Ant survivors, there are more advanced ant civilizations in the west. There are more than a dozen ethnic groups and countries that can be named in the remaining memories of the Big-headed Ant survivors.
Moreover, the remnants of the big-headed ants are only a relatively weak one among them, so they will be eliminated and expelled. But even this remnant of big-headed ants has brought many valuable technologies to the protagonist.
Therefore, Xiangxi, while ensuring his own safety, is a goal of the protagonist to contact these advanced races and learn advanced technologies.
Instead of being kicked down by the enemy in the future, it is better to take the initiative to understand the enemy, learn from the enemy, surpass the enemy, and then kick down the enemy's door!
