Gus germs and steel
1. Yali asks Diamond, “Why is it that you white people developed sp
much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had
little cargo of our own.”
2. Jared Diamond’s thesis seems to be that external factors such as
geography can affect the fate of human societies. In other words, what
separates the winners from the losers is geography.
Chapter 1
1. “The Great Leap Forward” is when human history developed about
50,000 years ago.
2. The giant moas in New Zealand and the giant lemurs in Madagascar
were exterminated by humans.
3. 15,000 years ago the American West looked like Africa’s Serengeti
Plains. It was filled with elephants, giraffes, zebras, and other
African animals. All of these animals living in the American West were
either killed off by Clovis hunters or died due to drought.
4. All of the giant animals residing in Africa were able to survive
because there were no extreme weather conditions and there were not
nearly as many deadly hunters in Africa as there were in America.
Chapter 3
1. Pizzaro’s capture of Atahuallpa “offers a broad window onto modern
history” because it has happened many times since then.
2. Technology, or the guns and the steel, was used in exterminating
the Incas. The germs that the Spaniards brought over on their horses
produced small pox.
3. Diamond refers to the battle at Cajamarca a collision because two
of the greatest empires “collided” in a huge fight.
Chapter 4
1. Societies with successful food production would grow because there
was enough food for everyone. The greatest food producers became the
world conquerors because they were a big society with big ideas for
technology.
2. The development of diseas...
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...teel, I would have to say that the most
decisive factor would be the germs. A good example is Smallpox; the
virus alone killed more people than either guns or steel.
4. The East lost its enormous lead to the West (Europe) because
Europe developed a merchant system, capitalism, and patent protection
for invertors. Europe also did not have a dictatorship like China, so
inventors in Europe were worry free.
5. China lost its technological lead to Europe because they were a
dictatorship and had high taxations.
6. China’s connectedness became a disadvantage for them because their
fertile crescent had no other geographical advantages other than
domesticating wild plants and animals. China also had an absolute
despot that was controlling the country.
7. The histories of the Fertile Crescent and China hold important
lessons for the modern world including.
Jared Diamond begins Guns with a prologue which sets the stage for the rest of the book. Approached in New Guinea by his friend and local politician Yali, he is posed a question: "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?" Yali's question flared a nerve in Diamond. This question brought about the thesis of his book, that environment is more persuasive on development of civilization than people may have once thought.
Jared Diamond's fundamental argument in Guns, Germs, and Steel is that Eurasians were able to conquer the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia because continental differences set Eurasia on a different, better trajectory than the other continents. His argument addresses a simple question: Why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents? According to the author, the most important continental differences appear in domesticable plants and animals, germs, orientation of continental axes, and ecological barriers. Throughout the book, he refers back to the "Collision at Cajamarca," or the first encounter between the Incan emperor Atahuallpa and the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, as a "broad window onto world history." The encounter is effective in capturing his argument, nam...
The Spanish defeat of the Aztecs has been extensively criticized for many years. Religion was a motive for discovery, enabled the Spanish to enter the heart of the empire, and was used as justification for torture of the natives. The centrality of religion as a force in Spanish conquest is undeniable. Virtually all of Aztec culture was destroyed and the Spanish victory has had lasting effects for both natives and Europeans up to and including the present-day.
In this book review I will be discussing chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen from the book “Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared Diamonds. Chapter 12 “Blueprints and Borrowed Letters” talks about the evolution of writing, whereas chapter 13 “Necessity's Mother” talks about the evolution of technology, and chapter 14 “From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy” talks about the evolution of government religion. Jared Diamond believed that societies developed due to environmental differences. He suggested that some societies and cultures had advantages due to their geography. I will give a summary of the three chapters in this book and then I will give my opinion on Jared Diamond’s ideas.
On April 22, 1997 Jared Diamond, an American scientist, author, bio geographer, and professor, addresses the topic of patterns in human history and conquests taken place around A.D. 1500 in “Why Did Human Unfold Differently Continents for The Last 13,000 Years?” to the Edge Foundation. Diamond uses proximate reasons like military and technological advantages, the spread of contagious diseases introduction by the Europeans, the political organization and writing. I agree with his views that other things being equal, the rate of human invention is faster and the rate of cultural loss is slower in areas with with competing societies and in contact with societies elsewhere. I believe he used more proximate reasoning because those are most commonly known. His purpose is to understand so we don’t repeat history. Also he wants to provide us with a convincing alternate explanation to the currently racist in order to eradicate racist theories. He adopts an informative tone for his audience members of the Edge Foundation and others interested in the topic. Diamond's approach on analyzing human evolution takes a more scientific route. History and biology are both intertwined in his reading.
The Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal and A Taste of Banzos Sword are both great stories with morals to learn from. The Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal is a story about a Brahman who lets a tiger out of its cage and it tries to kill him. A Taste of Banzos Sword is about a man that wants to master kenjutsu and learns a lesson. Both of the stories have important lessons to learn from their events in the story. They both have parts of their stories that are similar and different.
As a child, I was always told, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” however; I have come to disagree with this adage. While some people choose to express their feelings, others would rather hide them. Neither person is “right,” but they are both affected by words. My personal experiences, literary events, and my observations support that words hurt people.
The downfall of the Aztec Empire was a major building block of the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas. Spain’s empire would stretch all the way into North America from the Southwest United States all the way up the Pacific Coast. The unfortunate side effect of this was the elimination of many nations of indigenous people. The three major themes shown in this conquest really give deeper look into the anatomy of this important historical event. Without context on the extent of native assistance given to Cortez in his fight with the Aztecs, a reader would be grossly uniformed. The Spanish conquest was closer to a civil war than an actual conquest. Until reading detailed personal accounts of the fighting it is difficult to judge the deadly effectiveness of the Spaniards technological superiority. Without it is difficult to imagine 500 conquistadors holding thousands of native warriors at bay. Once the greed of Cortez and greed in general of the Europeans one understands that if it wasn’t Cortez if would have just been a different man at a different time. Unfortunately fame and prosperity seem to always win over cares about fellow human beings
China had a communist system which suppressed competition by limiting the rewards. They had one massive economy, whereas Europe was nimbler because they had many smaller states competing for economic growth for the good of their residents. They too shifted to an economy which was described by Chinese business leaders as allowing the bird to have just enough room in the cage to fly around. When comparing these two countries, Robyn Meredith found that the communist economy to soar at first by doing activities that would be slowed down in a democratic economy such as forcing relocation of residents to build a dam. India was slower to develop, but had more incentive to offer its people because of competition. Edward Bernays wrote, “Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism this unseen mechanism of society constitutes an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. … Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate, if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning
This free market enabled goods to be available at a cheaper rate, in Europe. The geographical conditions of Britain (abundance of coal, proximity to water sources, etc), coupled with its decision to import from the New World, while engaging its own population in more profit-oriented activities, facilitated the rapid development of capitalism and modern industry. Here, Europe, the core, imported from the periphery. China handled the situation in a vastly different method. They were at a disadvantage, as they did not have the geographical advantages that Britain had, nor did they focus on trade. The domestic market in China was prioritized, and this led to the increase in price of commodities, and the subsequent increase in prices diminished China's role in the world economy. It was these factors that led to the emergence of Europe as a core, and helped it overcome the land constraint. Thus, the Great Divergence took place and the Eurocentric world emerged. Eric Jones, in this book titled, “ The European Miracle”, also adds on to Pomeranz's view of the great divergence and the role of several factors within, and outside Europe, that resulted in its advantage over all other economies in the
The Modern Era is depicted as a time of the development of great empires, globalization, and transformations of the many peoples involved. This momentous period in history is highlighted by many positive and lasting effects on the world we live in today, specifically with the establishment of the European, Asian, and Russian empires. It was also a time of great disease, despair and intolerance for many societies. The effect of empire building and the establishment of global linkage on the Native Americans, the African Americans, and many others were not as favorable. The Modern Era forever changed or eliminated many significant peoples around the world. The primary sources found in Ways of the World, A Brief Global History provide visual depictions of the unsurmountable destruction faced by the Aztec and Incan populations during the Modern Era.
In the early modern era, the growth of technology would initiate competition between West and East powers. Before the Industrial Revolution China would be highly advance with technology during 700 and 1400 C.E., “ China was clearly the world leader in technological innovation... Prompting various scholars to suggest China was on the edge of an industrial revolution...”(Ch.17 Pg.741). Although China was the world's leading hegemony, it was abruptly interrupted when European brought inventions from China to the West. Surprisingly, Europe would begin factories and take a step into modernization because Western societies increased the number of factories. Soon after, reformations for factory workers were beginning to start leaving China to
It is widely acknowledged and respected that China is one of the most modernized and advanced countries in the world. However, this has not always been the case for this great nation. Nowadays referred to as the People’s Republic of China, it is booming economically, technologically, et cetera. Yet, prior to the Opium Wars that began in 1839, China could not compare to the prominent countries at that time that were primarily European. China is located in East Asia and did not have the same culture, traditions, or technology that the majority of Europeans possessed and used in everyday life. The Europeans and Americans on the western hemisphere were leading the world in terms of all areas of innovation. Preceding the Wars,
The massive country of China was lead by the Qing Dynasty, which ruled for hundreds of years, only to ultimately crumble and be no more. There were various factors, both interior and exterior, that lead to this conclusion. It is of the up most importance to be aware of what caused their decline in order to determine whether or not the Qing dynasty could have changed the final outcome.
The Industrial Revolution paved way for the development of various innovations that led to increased agricultural output, faster transportation and communication, and better quality of life, which would, in turn, further encouraged the research on and creation of technologies and more efficient systems of knowledge and processes in future periods of time. The outcomes of Industrial Revolution also capacitated urbanization and capitalism (Mack, 2012). The Industrial Revolution has different consequences to societies around the globe. From what historical records show, western countries especially USA and Great Britain benefitted most from the advancements during this time, as they had more resources to allow for the maximization of novel discoveries and inventions.