Let's be honest here, geographic determinism is more right than wrong. Geography is literally the most important thing in determining historical trajectory.
Sure it's not the only thing, but how can you compare people in Central Africa, surrounded on all sides by jungle and thousands of miles and the world's largest desert from the nearest civilization, no navigable rivers, and no way of traveling that far to Italy, smack dab in the middle of every important thing happening, easy access to the Mediterreanean and a temperate climate and say these two people should develop equally?? IQ 200 supermen would not be able to do much in Congo before modern times except realize it's shit and try to move
Is it any coincidence that the longest civilizations in Africa (Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia) are ALL on the path of the Nile? These all involved heavy black population btw so race has nothing to do with it. Why did the Middle East "decline"? Because it is now a desertified shithole. It didn't just become retarded overnight. It just keeps smacking you in the face constantly that environment literally determines 80% of a nation's fate