WonderingSword5
Troubadour
This would take place somewhere between Thailand and Malaysia, and be set in the present or near future.
This would take place somewhere between Thailand and Malaysia, and be set in the present or near future.
I disagree. How self-suficient your are food-wise doesn't depend on size. The only factor is population density. If you're a tiny country but also sparsely populated then there's more than enough room to produce food. Also, technology can make up for a lack of space. The Netherlands sits in the top 10 of food exporters in the world, and yet it's tiny and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.Also there's the food factor. If your territory is tiny, either you become really creative with your space (and require fancy inventions from abroad to improve your farming capabilities), or you'll need to import a lot of your food, which also will reveal your wealth.
Point taken... But that happened because they reformed their agrarian sector to be that successful. And notice that, to be successful exporters, you cannot be an extremely secretive country. Even China, with all its authoritarism, has to give data about its economy so it can attract foreign investors. So, yeah, you can be a small reclusive country and feed your people as long as your population doesn't explode in number and their diet is enough for survival, but you won't become Wakanda-rich that way.I disagree. How self-suficient your are food-wise doesn't depend on size. The only factor is population density. If you're a tiny country but also sparsely populated then there's more than enough room to produce food. Also, technology can make up for a lack of space. The Netherlands sits in the top 10 of food exporters in the world, and yet it's tiny and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
For most of history, no one imported food on any significant scale. Maybe some non-perishable exotics, like spices, would be imported, but no country could feed its population on imported grain, let alone imported meat or produce, before the twentieth century. The means to preserve it so it could withstand shipment, and the means ship it very far before it went bad, even with preservation, didn't exist. So, a country's population could not outstrip its food resources. If it did, either there was famine and many died, or many emigrated, or both.Point taken... But that happened because they reformed their agrarian sector to be that successful. And notice that, to be successful exporters, you cannot be an extremely secretive country. Even China, with all its authoritarism, has to give data about its economy so it can attract foreign investors. So, yeah, you can be a small reclusive country and feed your people as long as your population doesn't explode in number and their diet is enough for survival, but you won't become Wakanda-rich that way.
There was Rome... Though technically the same country, they did move huge quantities of grain from Egypt to Rome to feed the population in the eternal city. So there's that. They were definitely an exception of course. But it makes it not completely unheard of.but no country could feed its population on imported grain, let alone imported meat or produce, before the twentieth century.
In that case, being rich would mean the country is prosperous for itself. They have the natural resources to give everyone a pretty good standard of living, and they're probably distributing those resources more or less equitably. They may or may not have a monetary system, but if they do, money is probably not their primary measure of wealth. They're not comparing themselves to other countries, they're simply content, as a group.The whole description brings to mind an image of Bhutan (though that's not actually a rich country as such). A mountainous kingdom, hard to reach, where few foreigners enter. The problem with the combination of rich and isolated is that then rich becomes meaningless. Being rich means that you've got the means to make other people do work for you. If you're secret, then the only people who can do work are those inside your country. And then being rich compared to outside countries has no meaning. It simply means that inflation was high and you now pay what foreigners would consider $1.000 for a loaf of bread. But someone still needs to grow the wheat for the bread and bake it and stuff like that.