--- title: World's Smartest People: The Geography of Genius description: "If it takes a village to raise a child ... it takes a city to raise a genius." That's the case Eric Weiner makes in... canonical: https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-17T10:16:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:58:39.383Z article:section: Ideas og:title: World's Smartest People: The Geography of Genius og:description: "If it takes a village to raise a child ... it takes a city to raise a genius." That's the case Eric Weiner makes in... og:url: https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltedaf1d18823ed4ba/69888dd9bc6cfc91e83dc730/geography-genius-smart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: geography-genius-smart og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World's Smartest People: The Geography of Genius twitter:description: "If it takes a village to raise a child ... it takes a city to raise a genius." That's the case Eric Weiner makes in... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltedaf1d18823ed4ba/69888dd9bc6cfc91e83dc730/geography-genius-smart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Geography of Genius by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 17, 2016 10:16 AM UTC  Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 17, 2016 10:16 AM UTC “If it takes a village to raise a child … it takes a city to raise a genius.” That’s the case Eric Weiner makes in his latest book, which explores how history’s greatest thinkers were (and are) shaped by their surroundings. A sampling: CLASSICAL ATHENS The city’s “openness to foreign goods, odd people \[and\] strange ideas” made it a bastion of creative thought, giving birth to Socrates and Aristotle. SONG DYNASTY, HANGZHOU, CHINA From A.D. 969 to 1276, China’s emperor-poets created a culture of generalists, especially in Hangzhou, then one of the world’s biggest, richest cities. That led to advances in woodblock printing, compasses and more. RENAISSANCE FLORENCE Patrons like the Medicis thought they could save themselves from damnation by sponsoring religious artwork, launching Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. SILICON VALLEY The tech hub has become the ultimate “talent magnet” for digital disrupters. –Sarah Begley ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/"},"headline":"The Geography of Genius","datePublished":"2016-03-17T10:16:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:58:39.383Z","description":"\"If it takes a village to raise a child ... it takes a city to raise a genius.\" That's the case Eric Weiner makes in...","url":"https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/","keywords":["genius","american genius"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltedaf1d18823ed4ba/69888dd9bc6cfc91e83dc730/geography-genius-smart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltedaf1d18823ed4ba/69888dd9bc6cfc91e83dc730/geography-genius-smart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"geography-genius-smart","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/genius/","name":"genius"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4262481/the-geography-of-genius/","name":"The Geography of Genius"}}]}] ```