Considering Geography

No, I'm not trying to figure out which Trivial Pursuit category is my favorite.

Rather, for a variety of reasons, today yours truly finds himself considering the influence geography has had on history.

For example, ye socks may recall that my regular Thursday morning group has recently been plodding thru the Book of Acts.

Today, one of the guys asked why the early apostolic missions seemed to be focused primarily (if not solely) on the west. (See Acts 16:6)

I suppose the same geographic considerations that genealogists apply to the migration patterns of our forebears may be applied in this case, too. Coupla observations along that line:

* St. Paul enjoyed Roman citizenship, the benefits of which pretty much ended a few miles east of his base in Antioch but extended for thousands of miles to the west.

* It's a lot easier and faster to travel across the Mediterranean or Aegean by boat than by camel caravan thru a desert.

* The majority of people living at Antioch had fairly recent roots in Macedonia (modern Greece), not to mention an affinity for all things Greco-Roman.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?