Is geography important? I will advance the thesis that geography is an important factor in economic development. By saying that geography is important, I mean that an economy depends heavily on it, because it explains why some economies prosper, while others, conversely, struggle. I have two reasons for asserting my thesis that geography is an important factor in economic development. First, there is a strong correlation between geography and productivity (McArthur, Sachs 2001, p. 3). Second, geography directly shapes the types of institutions that evolve and therefore indirectly affects economic development (Engerman, Sokoloff 2002, p. 3). As mentioned above, my thesis emphasizes the importance of geography and its associated variables in economic development; because although there are many different attributes that contribute to economic development, it is undoubtedly evident that geography plays the most important role in determining the success of an economy. I will therefore illustrate that geography shapes the performance and institution of economies. which, in turn, means that it strongly influences economic development and therefore concludes that geography is important. In ordinary discourse, geography is a rather contested concept, so for this purpose I use the most widely accepted definition of the term, from the Oxford Dictionary, defining it as "the nature and relative arrangement of places and physical characteristics” (Simpson, Weiner, Proffitt, Oxford English Dictionary). With this clarification, I will begin by presenting the theories and evidence that illustrate why geography is important. The most obvious factor to analyze is physical location, and therefore what location means in relation to an economy and its productivity. Generally speaking, “coastal economies have higher income than landlocked economies (Gallup, Sachs, Mellinger 1999 p.173)”, which