### id263736810 marshlands are hard to externally rule > [Dithmarschen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dithmarschen) is still an area on the North Sea, in what is now Germany, and was one of those parts of Northern Europe that people hadn’t got around to draining out yet, unlike the lowlands in what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. So it was, as the name indicates, a big ol’ marsh that supported smaller communities to thrive. One of the big reasons they did so was the wool trade. Marshy land wasn’t great for planting crops, but was excellent for grazing hardly lil’ sheep on, and so people did that, collected wool, and made cloth. However, the generalised marshy conditions of the place overall made it super hard to rule with an iron fist or whatever, cuz what were you gonna do? March an army through here to oppress the shepherds? Good luck man, this is a bog. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr4j4c3wys5f8gsmcz91mvwb) - [[On Looking in the Past for a Better Future by Dr Eleanor Janega#id263736810 marshlands are hard to externally rule|View in Vault]]