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>The geography of Dalmatia and Moesia (to take the provinces as they were in Trajan’s time) is such that there is only a narrow strip of Mediterranean coast along the Adriatic, followed almost instantly, as one moves towards the hinterland, by high and impassable mountains.

This map makes it hard to compare topography's inhibition on development in the Western Balkans, Greece, and Italy. Contemporary per-km road construction costs (if possible excluding non-geographical factors, such as wages) might be more informative than any map or any chart of mountain heights.

It would also help to know how much poorer the isolated regions of western Greece were than Aegean Greece in ancient times. And whether towns along the Strait of Otranto route that you mention were exceptions. But I doubt this data exists.

How does the Maddison Project reach its 'more than $500' and 'a little over $400' estimates of ancient income per capita? I would be most interested to know what century they estimate that Italy surpassed Greece/Asia Minor in income per capita. Is there a handy link? Thanks.

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Croatia was not part of the Ottoman Empire but of the Habsburg Monarchy (later Austria-Hungary). And it is still much developed than the countries southeast of it.

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