THE CHALLENGE OF STATE-BUILDING 13 ments.However,the challenges posed by political geography,especially low population densities,could not be ignored by any leader.Such an approach offers a tremendous methodological advantage:by holding the physical environment "constant,"I can focus on the precise political cal- culations of different African leaders over time as they sought to design their states. In this book,I argue that leaders confront three sets of issues when building their states:the cost of expanding the domestic power infra- structure;the nature of national boundaries;and the design of state sys- tems.Understanding the decisions made regarding each is critical,and there are profound trade-offs inherent to different approaches.Africa's political geography helped structure the responses that leaders adopted to each set of issues just as European decisions were influenced by the struc- tural features of that region.The following two sections provide a com- parison of Europe and Africa's political geographies.I then develop the analytic tools that are central to this study. The European Experience of State Consolidation The African experience of politics amid large supplies of land and low popu- lation densities while confronting an inhospitable physical setting is in dra- matic contrast to the European experience of state-building.In Europe, through the fourteenth century,population densities were not high enough to put immediate pressure on land and compel territorial competition.As Mattingly notes,"In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,the continental space of Western Europe still impeded any degree of political organization efficient enough to create a system of continuous diplomatic pressures. However,starting in the fifteenth century in Italy and later elsewhere, population densitics increased.As a result,European nations began to compete for territory,a tendency that only makes sense if population densities are relatively high and vacant land is limited or nonexistent,so that the valuc of conquering land is higher than the price to be paid in wealth and men.In turn,there was significant pressure to strengthen states in order to fight wars.Charles Tilly notes that one of the central reasons for the creation of relatively centralized state apparatuses in Eu- rope was the "continuous aggressive competition for trade and territory among changing states of unequal size,which made war a driving force in European history.Wars of territorial conquest,as chapter four notes in much greater detail,have been central to the formation of particular Garrett Mattingly,Renaissance Diplomacy (London:Jonathan Cape,1955),p.60. Charles Tilly,Coercion,Capital,and European States,A.D.990-1992 (Cambridge, MA:Blackwell,1990),p.54.THE CHALLENGE OF ST A TE-BUILDING 13 ments. However, the challenges posed by political geography, especially low population densities, could not be ignored by any leader. Such an approach offers a tremendous methodological advantage: by holding the physical environment “constant,” I can focus on the precise political cal￾culations of different African leaders over time as they sought to design their states. In this book, I argue that leaders confront three sets of issues when building their states: the cost of expanding the domestic power infra￾structure; the nature of national boundaries; and the design of state sys￾tems. Understanding the decisions made regarding each is critical, and there are profound trade-offs inherent to different approaches. Africa’s political geography helped structure the responses that leaders adopted to each set of issues just as European decisions were influenced by the struc￾tural features of that region. The following two sections provide a com￾parison of Europe and Africa’s political geographies. I then develop the analytic tools that are central to this study. The European Experience of State Consolidation The African experience of politics amid large supplies of land and low popu￾lation densities while confronting an inhospitable physical setting is in dra￾matic contrast to the European experience of state-building. In Europe, through the fourteenth century, population densities were not high enough to put immediate pressure on land and compel territorial competition. As Mattingly notes, “In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the continental space of Western Europe still impeded any degree of political organization efficient enough to create a system of continuous diplomatic pressures.”9 However, starting in the fifteenth century in Italy and later elsewhere, population densities increased. As a result, European nations began to compete for territory, a tendency that only makes sense if population densities are relatively high and vacant land is limited or nonexistent, so that the value of conquering land is higher than the price to be paid in wealth and men. In turn, there was significant pressure to strengthen states in order to fight wars. Charles Tilly notes that one of the central reasons for the creation of relatively centralized state apparatuses in Eu￾rope was the “continuous aggressive competition for trade and territory among changing states of unequal size, which made war a driving force in European history.”10 Wars of territorial conquest, as chapter four notes in much greater detail, have been central to the formation of particular 9 Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (London: Jonathan Cape, 1955), p. 60. 10 Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States, A.D. 990–1992 (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990), p. 54