Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, attempts to explain why history progressed differently for people from various geographical regions. Diamond introduces his book by pointing out that history followed different courses for different people because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves. Through his convincing explanation for how civilizations were created and evolved throughout the course of history, he argues that environmental factors gave some societies advantages over others, allowing them to conquer the disadvantaged societies. While I agree with Diamond's argument that the orientation of continental axis, availability of potential...show more content...
The establishment of food production proved to be more fulfilling than hunting and gathering since it reduced the risk of starvation. Despite being provided with some of the advantages that came with transitioning to agriculture, many regions remained as hunter–gatherers. While some areas, such as the Fertile Crescent and Eurasia, had many advantageous plants and animals that could be domesticated, other areas, New Guinea, Eastern United States, and Mesoamerica, possessed limited availability. Some areas are simply not suited to agriculture of any kind, while others may support some crops that are suitable for domestication but not others. Likewise, while there were big animals living in several regions, those species were not suitable for domestication since they did not follow the six requirements, which involved being sufficiently obedient, humble to humans, cheap to feed, able to breed well in captivity, immune to diseases, able to grow rapidly (Diamond 1999, 169). On the other hand, in some areas, food production developed independently. However, only a few places developed food production without any outside influence, which included the Fertile Crescent in western Eurasia, China, the eastern United States, Mesoamerica, and New Guinea. In the Andes and Amazonians, and three areas of Africa, food production was also probably an independent development, but there are
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Guns, Germs, And Steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Prologue:
1.Yali's question puzzles over why the white people have become more successful than others. Diamond states that Eurasian societies were set to dominate from before 3000 B.C. He wants to know why other races are unable to be as advanced with technology and power.
2.Diamond's first objection is implying that if we explain why some people rule over others we're okay with the domination by others. His second reason explains that Europeans are disappearing anyways and it's wrong to talk about them dominating the world. His third objection states that we must understand other societies and that the question implies that some are better than others.
3.A "Eurocentric" approach to history is a way of teaching history, mainly focused onEurope, while ignoring the other countries such as China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia, or other societies.
4.Diamond believes that everyone's intelligence is based on where they live and grew up. One major point explaining that Europeans are not more inborn intelligent than New Guineans, is that the New Guineans need intelligence to live in the wilderness. Another is the lack of entertainment and distractions they have which doesn't negatively affect their brain development.
5.Passive entertainment means little to no interactivity due to entertainment such as television, videogames, or radio. While Americans are busy spending hours with these activities, New Guineans are out doing something that encourages them
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Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the importance of geography in the ways ancient civilizations grew and spread and how some areas were more advanced than others. He began his research when he was asked a question by a Papua New Guinea residence, Yali. Yali had asked Diamond "[w]hy you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?" At that point Diamond had no answer and he was curious to find out why Eurasia had a head start in civilizing people meanwhile the other continents were behind. As a result, several differences were made between countries that did not have the same resources as those who were advanced. Some of the developing countries were poor and they had to rely on whatever was given to them through nature. When Diamond went to Papua New Guinea, he discovered that the residences of the island had the same routine as those in the ancient civilizations of Eurasia. They would often hunt for animals and used stone weapons instead of metal....show more content... They didn't have the proper farmland and the same animals. Furthermore, this digressed the way their civilization spread and grew. Diamond researched and established that certain lands were blessed only due to their geographical location. The earliest civilization began in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. This land had rich soil and a variety of animals, which made the land promised and geographically lucky. As time passed people living in the area learned new ways to keep their civilization alive. The Fertile Crescent became known as the "Promised Land" and a way of survival was introduced as farming and the domestication of Get more content