Geographic Features of A Region Has Important Effects on Development The geographic features of a nation or region have an important effect on the development of that nation or region. This effect is apparent in many in cases such geographic features as Japan being a group of islands or archipelago and the rain forest in Latin America. This essay will describe the effects of these features on there nation. Japan is a group of islands called an archipelago. This influences the development of Japan because it limits the size of their usable land and since much of the land is mountainous