From Hormuz to the Indus: Why Geography Still Shapes Global Politics

At a time when chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz can disrupt economies across continents, author Akshay Chavan argues that geography remains one of the most powerful forces shaping politics, trade and power. In his new book, The Wealth Networks, Akshay traces how roads, rivers and seas shaped India’s past and continue to influence its future.

Excerpts from an exclusive interview

How does the current focus on the Strait of Hormuz reinforce your argument that geography still dictates global power?

Today we live in the age of AI, satellites, and hyper-connectivity, where we often assume geography no longer matters. Yet a narrow strip of water like the Strait of Hormuz can still shake the global economy. Despite all their advanced military technology, even the Americans have struggled to fully secure global shipping routes there.

You can see the same pattern elsewhere. During Operation Sindoor, despite India and Pakistan being nuclear powers with advanced missiles and drones, one of India’s strongest strategic levers remained the Indus Waters Treaty. Control over rivers still matters.

Similarly, Russia’s long historical obsession with access to warm-water ports helps explain the importance of Ukraine and the Black Sea in today’s conflict. These examples reinforce the central argument of The Wealth Networks: geography continues to shape history, just as it did centuries ago.

If wealth networks shaped history, what are the most critical routes influencing India’s future today?

In my book, ‘The Wealth Networks’, I trace 15 major wealth networks across the Indian subcontinent. For much of Indian history, the most important were the overland routes connecting India to Central Asia through Afghanistan. But after 1947, those networks are inactive.

Today, India’s most critical wealth network lies to the West across the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Much of our oil flows through these routes. Even the undersea data cables that connect India to the global digital economy pass through these waters. So in many ways, India’s future is still deeply tied to the maritime geography of the Indian Ocean world, especially the network I discuss in Chapter 8 of the book.

Are modern economic corridors simply a continuation of ancient trade and pilgrimage networks?

Very often, yes. You see this repeatedly in Indian history. The Grand Trunk Road in North India, for example, follows routes that have existed for over two thousand years. The same is true for many routes linking Hyderabad with coastal Andhra.Cities may rise and fall, empires may disappear, but geography remains remarkably constant. Routes sometimes decline for a few decades or centuries, but they often re-emerge because the terrain continues to favour the same corridors of movement.

What does your framework reveal about why certain regions in India remain persistently wealthy while others lag?

One of the most interesting things I discovered during my research is that there was never a single “rich India.” Different regions became wealthy at different moments depending on their connection to global demand and trade networks.When Europeans came searching for spices, wealth flowed into Kerala because pepper was concentrated there. When European demand for cotton textiles exploded in the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat and the Deccan prospered. The rise of gunpowder warfare increased demand for saltpetre, bringing wealth to Bihar. Later, the silk trade enriched Bengal.

Meanwhile, regions that remained outside major trade and transport networks, such as dense forest zones in parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, or remote Himalayan regions, often lagged economically.So the connection a the ‘Wealth Network’ was important.

How should policymakers rethink infrastructure if history is fundamentally about controlling routes rather than territories?

I would say it is less about controlling geography and more about respecting it.Even today, we often behave as if technology has conquered nature. But geography still imposes limits. Expressways in the Himalayas are repeatedly damaged by landslides. Our so-called high-tech cities continue to flood during the monsoon.History shows that successful infrastructure works with terrain rather than against it.

In an age of digital economies, do physical networks: roads, rivers, seas, still hold the same strategic importance?

Absolutely. The recent tensions around Hormuz are a reminder that physical geography still underpins the global economy.There is enormous excitement today around AI and data centres. But even digital infrastructure depends on geography.Undersea cables still carry the world’s internet traffic across oceans. Data centres require vast amounts of water. The wealth networks are still as relevant today, as they were in the past