Land, they're not building any more of it. Bhutan, Thailand, and Nepal are probably the only lands in the world that have never been conquered. Practically every country in the world sits on land that has experienced human migration, conflict, or territorial shifts over thousands of years. Ten thousand years ago, the Paleo Indians were in Manhattan.

At its peak in 117 CE, the Roman Empire covered about 1.9 million square miles of land in Europe, North Africa and Asia, which was roughly 3.5% of the Earth's total land area. At its greatest peak under the early Caliphates, the Islamic Empire covered an estimated 5 to 5,79 million square miles in the Middle East, North Africa, Central and South Asia and parts of Southern and Western Europe. More recently, at its peak, around 1920 - 1922, the British Empire controlled approximately 13.7 million square miles of land. That's all ancient (and not-so-ancient) history. What about more recent history? More than 100 new countries have been created or gained independence since World War II, that's in just about 80 years.

Population growth is a primary driver, aside from power-hungry politics. A thousand years ago, there were under 300 million people on earth, roughly the size of Indonesia. While the earth is large - about 57.5 million square miles - some parts are extremely concentrated. Today, in real estate land, we are often confronted with the need for more land, more resources as populations keep growing. The US will have about 30% of its land preserved. But almost everyone reading this today should be reminded that it is highly likely almost any major city in the world has experienced significant war, siege, revolution, or violent upheaval at some point in its history. Because cities are historically established around vital geographic assets (like trade rivers, defensive harbors, and fertile plains), they have always been the primary targets for conquest and political control.

Selective history is cute. Who knows just how accurate history is when even today, with cameras everywhere recording everything, we still have inaccuracies and distortions and opinions that ignore hard facts and data? We all live on land that once did not 'belong' to us, and that ultimately no-one owns land forever. So are we merely custodians of the land for future generations and do we simply need to live together in harmony?