GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – I flew to London this week, with an hour and a half to reflect on the great distances between France, at the Swiss border, and England, historically, culturally and politically. Today it takes us only 90 or so minutes and we like the illusion that we all get along; it’s easy to minimize the differences. When European crises arrive, such as the current refugee one, the old differences between countries tend to surface.

Geography has always had an impact on history, creating natural barriers and borders, but also determining what kind of activity people are doing in a given place. (photos of Geneva’s vineyards on ellenwine.com)

Take a little geographic tour with me, as a reminder, across the relatively low Jura mountains, lush and green, to the broad, flat brown fields that make up France’s breadbasket in the centre of the country.

Just north of Paris the Seine twists and bends, with deep forests on one side and barley and colza on the other.

The weather shifts, skies change and suddenly we’re over the Channel, told it is raining heavily in London. But by the time we’re flying over the mighty Thames, home to this kingdom’s centuries-long history of imports and exports, the weather is clearing and we see the bonnie green fields with ancient hedges along the river’s edge. We sail along, slipping lower and lower as we come in above the docks and shipping lanes, to land at London City Airport. And suddenly we are very much back in the present.