Jared Diamond Global Inequity

742 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of political culture

Robert Lynch

Dom Manna

Mr. Noyes

Global

24 March 2014

Jared Diamond Essay

According to Jared Diamond’s thesis, global inequity is not determined by cultural differences, or race, but instead, attributed to geography. The conclusion to be drawn from this thesis is, why do specific tactics only work in specific places? Furthermore, how come Western civilization tactics were effective in the Western countries such as Europe, but not effective in countries such as Egypt? All in all, the reason for this is due to the natural geographic disadvantages Egypt had dealt with in comparison to Europe. These two countries differ in plant and animal domestication, and also size as well as population. In addition to that, the terrain and environment of different regions throughout the world have a major impact on the success of civilizations.

Egypt is a country located in Northwestern Africa which sits right beside the Nile River. Egypt also borders the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Red Sea; therefore the Egyptians rely heavily on the nearby waterways. Egypt’s size is approximately four times the size of the United Kingdom or about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. As for the land, Egypt is predominantly desert; only about 3.5% of the total land is cultivated and harvested upon. Due to that, 99% of the Egyptian population resides along the Nile Valley and Nile Delta. As a result of the arid, dry weather, Egyptians view the Nile as sacred territory where they can grow their crops such as cotton, rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruits, vegetables cattle, water buffalo, sheep and goats.

Jared Diamond, in his movie “ Germs, Guns, and Steel” explained that civilizations that were able to domesticate animals and plants, were mor...

... middle of paper ...

...ation resides along the Nile and in France the people are scattered about due to a more favorable geography.
Jared diamond reiterated, time and time again, that global inequity coincided with geography. Egypt, in comparison to France, had the natural disadvantage of being dealt with a desert climate, as opposed to France’s favorable cultivating climate. This allowed for France to naturally be more skilled in areas such as planting crops; having the adverse effect for Egypt. The lack of water also contributed to the inequality, as animals were able to thrive in environments that offered a surplus of water. Lastly, a more favorable geography in developed countries plays a major role as to why developing countries are not quite developed. Jared Diamond’s thesis thoroughly explains this as geography is reason for the unequal distribution of wealth in the world today.

Show More
Related

  • Guns Germs And Steel Critique

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reason Jared Diamond wrote this book was to answer the question of his politician friend Yali that why did some societies like Eurasia was able to develop Guns, Germs, and

    Read More

  • How Did the Geographic Features of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia Impact Civilization Development?

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    During its years of development, specifically around in 3500, the ancient land of Egypt was located close to multiple continents, these continents being Europe, Asia, and Africa. It was separated into different divisions, mainly geographical, there being four major physical geographic sections. The first was water-based, the Nile Valley and Delta, the second two were deserts, Eastern Desert and Western Desert, and the last was the Sinai Peninsula. The ancient Egyptians also considered their land to be separated in two more divisions: “red land” and “black land”. The desert surrounding Egypt was the “red land” section because it was barren. The area served as a means of protection, as it divided Egypt from enemies that wanted to attack and ...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Jared Diamonds Guns, Gems, And Steel

    225 Words  | 1 Pages

    All of our history can be dated down to some place anywhere in the world and the time, now just imagine if that history could still be affecting you to this day. In Jared Diamonds Guns, Gems, and Steel he explores the idea, the theory that geographic could determine the differences between societies and social development. The book is framed upon a question that Yali, a New Guinean politician, asked him as they were chatting the question being “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” Diamond concludes that geography has ultimately affected the differences between peoples of the world.

    Read More

  • How Geographic Luck Affects Human Life In West Africa, By Jared Diamond

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    The modern world is separated into the wealthy and those in poverty. According to the theory of Geographic Luck, geography is the main determinant in a civilization’s success. Jared Diamond is correct on his theory about how luck affects human power,wealth, and strength, in that luck depends on where you are located affects what grows or lives in that area. Specifically, geography luck affects what cereal crops are able to grow successfully and sustain life, large domesticable mammals that provide labor, and a shared latitude allows the diffusion of agriculture.

    Read More

  • Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, Letter to the Directory

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Coffin, Judith G., and Robert C. Stacey. "CHAPTER 18 PAGES 668-669." Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. 16TH ed. Vol. 2. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &, 2008. N. pag. Print.

    Read More

  • In Praise of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Diamond's hypothesis is that geography gave certain groups big initial advantages. Specifically, some places are more conducive to domestication of plants and animals. Most people think that domestication is just a matter of capturing animals and breeding them in captivity. This is a misconception. Domesticated species of plants and animals have undergone major genetic changes through years of selective breeding. Compared to their wild ancestors, the major cereal crops are more nutritious, quicker to germinate, and easier to sow and harvest. Domestic animals are more docile, easier to train, and generally more suited to life in captivity. Diamond's key point is that not every wild species is equally susceptible to domestication and that domesticable species are not evenly distributed across the globe. Wild horses and camels had the "right" stuff, reindeer not so much. As modern attempts to domesticat...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Guns, Germs, And Steel By Jared Diamond

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies the author Jared Diamond covers a vast array of historical and geographic events. Diamond compares and describes many developments that are occurring in different geographic areas around the world. What was his purpose for writing and comparing this vast amount of information? What did he want the reader to get out of it? His purpose for writing this text is to explain why certain cultures developed faster and what circumstances left the others at a disadvantage. The overall goal of the book is to explain how certain cultures became dominate and succeeded and how others didn’t develop as much. Diamonds summarization of the book gives you an insight to the meaning the book has.

    Read More

  • Geography Of Ancient Egypt

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Egypt is situated in the Nile valley in the north east of Africa. Ancient Egypt included two regions a southern region, and northern region. The southern region is called Upper Egypt, and the northern region was called Lower Egypt. The life around Ancient Egypt centers on the Nile River and the fertile land around the banks of the river. Farmers created an irrigation system to control the water flow, so the crops can grow in both the rainy and dry seasons. This irrigation system made a surplus in crops.

    Read More

  • The Geography Of Ancient Egypt: Queen Hatshepsut

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    Egypt is located in North Africa, it is along the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile river, which runs through the center of Egypt, acts as a great water source. It’s floods create fertile soil for farming. Egypt was divided into two an upper and a Lower Egypt based on the flow of the river. Upper Egypt was in the south. It was called Upper Egypt because the Nile flowed upstream. Lower Egypt was in the north, it held the Nile delta.

    Read More

  • The Neolithic Period: One Of The Most Important Revolutions

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every civilization encounters many tragedies, but some were smart enough to take their homeland’s geography into consideration. The smartest and largest group of people from Western civilization was the Egypt...

    Read More

  • River Nile Essay

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    Then by some chance, the river Nile formed and allowed Egypt to fructify into a populous civilization. Evidently, the river Nile affected a number of factors in Egypt’s development. Agriculture became widespread and possible due to the stable periodic inundation of the Nile, while the art and culture of the Egyptians became much more sophisticated and refined by the influences of the Nile. Commerce was manifest by the Nile when foreign countries sailed by the Nile to make their trades. Despite the Nile not being the only factor in affecting ancient Egypt’s trade and culture, the river itself is satisfactory enough, in that removing it from Egypt’s geography will significantly change the course of Egyptian trade and culture. Therefore, it is certain to declare that the Nile river has indeed substantially affected the agriculture, trade, and culture of ancient

    Read More

  • Guns Germs And Steel Essay

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Environments can affect economy, technology, political organization, and fighting skills within a short time” (Diamond 57). An environment rich in domesticable flora and fauna allows for sedentary communities to develop. Farming allows for the storage of surplus food, which in turn allows for full-time soldiers, politicians, and craft specialists. In Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, the amount of domesticable large mammals, the amount of domesticable crops containing high calorie counts, and the volume of people contributed to countries’ development of guns, germs, and steel.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Geography In Guns, Germs, And Steel

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    With bad geographic location you can have trouble feeding yourself and others also if you can domesticate animals to help that food production grow significantly faster and also if you can provide germs to prevent immunity to smallpox and provide steel to develop resources to build resources and weapons to conquer in war. For agriculture civilizations need the right climate to grow the right crops such as wheat and being able to provide food for others. When civilizations are able to provide food for all others you can develop specialist to try to get domesticated animals to provide faster crop production also domesticated animals can provide food and milk and can use plows. Having domesticated animals can help with germs. A civilization can benefit from immunity because when a civilization is around animals they can build immunity from those animals while other civilizations don't, they can not develop immunity to smallpox. Having steel can benefit a civilization because you can make resources and weapons to conquer a civilization. Why all these topics matter to the question “why is the world so unequal?” because if you do not have all these topics you can’t build a strong civilization and will not advance in the world. For a while people thought is was just race that caused why the world is

    Read More

  • Geography and its Effect in Ancient Civilizations

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Ancient Egypt they use the Nile River and the Sahara Desert in some many ways that benefited them. Ancient Egypt was divided into two land different land, the black land and red land. The black land was the fertile land that the Nile River made and the red land was the desert of Egypt. They use the Nile River for the fertile soil that was left after the river was not flooded, so that they could use that fertile soil for growing crops. They would also use the Nile River for fishing, washing their clothes, and sometimes they would trade with others for resources that they needed. The Sahara Desert was used for protection against other invading armies. The climate was always hot and very dry; this is what made it really hard for farming if you lived in the desert area.

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Nile to Ancient Egypt

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Providing extremely fertile soil is one, if not the most important, roles the Nile River played in the life of the ancient Egyptians. By providing fertile soil, the Nile made it easy for cities and civilizations to grow alongside the banks of the river. This fertile soil comes from the annual flooding of the Nile. This replenishes the top soil with silt deposits that hold much needed nutrients for crops to grow. Ancient Egyptians developed highly complex irrigation methods to maximize the effect of the Nile waters. When the Nile overflows in mid summer, Egyptians divert the waters through the use of canals and dams. As the water seeped into the farm land, rich deposits of silt ensured a good harvest for the year. This allows the civilizations of Egyptians to grow enough food to feed the community. Without the annual flooding of the Nile, Egyptians would have a very difficult time growing necessary amount food to sustain life. Most of the land in the Egyptian nation is dry desert. Very little rain falls year round here. The river provides the needed water to grow the crops as well as provide drinking water for the people. Th...

    Read More

More about Jared Diamond Global Inequity

Open Document