Guns, Germs, and Steel
America some people are going out and buying hundreds of dollars of food to provide their families while in papua New Guinea people are trying to figure out what they are going to eat that night.Geography can answer why the world is so unequal and why some countries are thousands of years in front of others. Some civilizations are thousands of years in front because geography affects agriculture, domesticated animals, steel, and germs. Each of these plays a special role in why the the world is so unequal.
Geographic location affects what crops you can grow because in some topic areas you can not grow much food and you will have to always have to be looking for food and resources and will never spare time to build a
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Some other animals can not be domesticated because there climate or if they can survive in that specific climate. The animals can not be domesticated if you can not support them with certain crops to eat or survive on. Papua New Guinea could not domesticate animals simply because the animals did not really exist then. There were animals but Papua New Guinea could not domesticate them. Papua New Guinea would be able to hunt of those animals but no domesticate them. Some major domesticated animals are pigs, cows, horses, sheep, and goats. why pigs are a big factor is because they can clean up fields and produce food. Why cows are important is because cows can produce milk and food. Cows can also speed up crop production and also clothing. Why the horse is important was because they could pull the plow which would speed up crop production. Sheep would be used for milk and food sheep was a big factor on clothing. Goats were able to produce milk and food. All of these animals played a big role on why the world is so …show more content…
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
Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize Winning, National Best Selling book Guns, Germs and Steel, summarizes his book by saying the following: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." Guns, Germs and Steel is historical literature that documents Jared Diamond's views on how the world as we know it developed. However, is his thesis that environmental factors contribute so greatly to the development of society and culture valid? Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History is the textbook used for this class and it poses several different accounts of how society and culture developed that differ from Diamond's claims. However, neither Diamond nor Traditions are incorrect. Each poses varying, yet true, accounts of the same historical events. Each text chose to analyze history in a different manner. Not without flaws, Jared Diamond makes many claims throughout his work, and provides numerous examples and evidence to support his theories. In this essay, I will summarize Jared Diamond's accounts of world history and evolution of culture, and compare and contrast it with what I have learned using the textbook for this class.
Why did certain early civilizations thrive and some fail? Jared Diamond, a famous author and scientist, explains in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. He believes civilizations like the ones in Europe thrived because of geographical luck. Geographic luck is the idea that people in some areas got luckier than others. For example, the Fertile Crescent had a warm, moist climate, and fertile soil to grow wheat and barley, while people that lived in places like Papua New Guinea had to hunt, and forage for their food. Geographic luck aided the European empire, and was the reason they became so powerful. One of the key reasons Europe did so well was farming. Another reason they were able to conquer so much of the world was their well-placed civilization. Finally, Europe’s weapons, made from steel, were much more advanced than the weapons possessed by the rest of the world, and they came from their good geographic placement. Understanding geography’s role in Europe’s technological advancement is important, and to do so you must look at how they became powerful in the first place, which is because of farming, and domestication.
I first read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel in the Fall 2003 based on a recommendation from a friend. Many chapters of the book are truly fascinating, but I had criticisms of the book back then and hold even more now. Chief among these is the preponderance of analysis devoted to Papua New Guinea, as opposed to, say, an explanation of the greatly disparate levels of wealth and development among Eurasian nations. I will therefore attempt to confine this review on the "meat and potatoes" of his book: the dramatic Spanish conquest of the Incas; the impact of continental geography on food production; and finally, the origins of the Eurasian development of guns, germs, and steel. In terms of structure, I will first summarize the book's arguments, then critically assess the book's evidentiary base, and conclude with an analysis of how Guns, Germs, and Steel ultimately helps to address the wealth question.
I believe that the environment deiced whether a society will or will not have technology, militaristic and farming abilities imbedded within the society. That will give an advantage so that one society is better equipped than others.
California geography in the 1860s were wide and flat valleys with a limited population what made what the ideal crop. California physical geography in the 1860s were flat and wide in the valleys which made wheat the ideal crop ideal crop, Before the panic of 1893, wheat was “profitable agricultural commodity” (201).The central valley of California improved agricultural through the development of technology such as “planting, pulverizing the earth, spreading the seeds in one operation, and improvements on cutting and threshing of grain” (pg. 202) California physical geography led to a prosperous agricultural and diversity various types of
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Many Caucasian’s have thought and believed positively they were superior to many other races. Most of these people were from a geographic area that had advanced technology, large populations, and a large workforce. This area started in the Middle East and spread laterally within a similar environment that provided a fertile habitat for farmer gatherers. Jared Diamond discovered that approximately 13,000 years ago man started out as hunter-gatherers following seasonal game migration to provide food for their survival. Man would find whatever food that grew in that area to supplement the game animals for sustenance, but this activity would take a majority of his time and would be conditional to the regions environment and his own skills. Man’s desire and ability to find innovative ways to make his life easier prompted them to plant larger open areas with some of the first edible grass seeds. They began to stay near the water and planted areas establishing more permanent shelters, which they would return to from following game. In addition, they learned to store grains for planting and future consumption, which led to a healthier lifestyle for the growing population. The first cultivated grains were wheat, barley, rice, corn, beans, millet, sorghum, squash, and yams. This farming facilitated larger production with less manpower for a growing populous. This provided time for the inventors and engineering people to find better and faster ways of production, and inventing tools. These people moved and spread east and west and began to domesticate larger indigenous animals and control breeding of goats, sheep, and pigs first, which provided meat, milk, hair, and skins. The animals best suited for domestication needed to ...
Domestication is a process in which wild species are removed their natural habitat and are acclimatised to surviving and breeding in captive. Animals are domesticated for purposes which, in general, are designed to be beneficial to humans. These reasons commonly include labour, food sources and companionship. Over generations, domestication results in genetic and physiological changes in the organism (Wilson,. Mammal Species of the World (3rd Ed.). Baltimore).
that it 's in due to human activities.. First with the vertical farming, “crops can be produced all
However, the erratic weather patterns and lack of space makes farming very difficult in
There is nothing better then realizing that each indigenous people evolved into something better or that they found ways to survive in situations they weren’t use too. There were many changes that happened over time that cause for situations to change for everyone around them. But it also has helped with being able to progress with the way they lived. Jared diamond the author of Guns, Germs and Steel interpret his famous theory oh how we came to be. How the geography luck helped each country developed more rapidly than others as well as being able to expand more. However they also had geography luck when it came to how many advantages they had with the technology nevertheless, germs also was a big part of how the conquered most of the lands because it would kill instantly millions of european and
Why do nations fail? This is a topic of popular debate with many economists and a question many scholars have struggled to find an answer to. Global poverty is an issue that economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson investigate and provide an alternative insight for in their book: ‘Why Nations Fail’. Acemoglu and Robinson investigate inequalities that exist across countries and why nations are an epitome of success and others, failure. They come up with an alternative explanation for why standards of living differ across countries, and why a gap exists between the rich and poor. The book introduces an example of two cities that are separated by a border: Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. On the American side of the border, the income of the average household is $30,000, the population is relatively healthy, and the citizens live prosperously (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). On the opposite side of the border in Mexico, majority of the population do not own a high school degree, poor health conditions exist, poor infrastructure and unfortunately, high infant mortality rates (Acemoglu & Robinson 2012). How can situations on opposite borders be so different? The basis for Acemoglu and Robison’ s thesis for this phenomenon is that of institutions. They propose that that there is a strong correlation between economic and political institutions. That is, inclusive political institutions support inclusive economic institutions, and extractive political institutions support extractive economic institutions (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). Democratic institutions generally allow opportunities for the majority, leading to positive economic growth. Political institutions that look after a narrow elite is reinforced with stag...
Before I dive into the past history and how it transformed the topic of Geography, I would like to first define what geography is. Geography, in simple terms, is the “study of the world, both near and far” (Bonnett, 2008, p. 1). For the greater part of the human history, the term ‘geographical knowledge’ was coined to define the survival of the human population on the local level. Knowledge regarding the local landscape meant the difference between life and death. As societies grew, so did the push for advanced technology, not only were people growing food and raising livestock, but now they could now focus on more specialized skills. They started to explore their surroundings and came into contact with other groups of people, allowing humans
...o climate change. All of these have caused an impact on the ability to produce crops and grow agriculturally. Climate change has been increasing the number of droughts, floods, health hazards of employees, natural disasters, and sea level elevations. All of these put in danger the crop productivity resulting in famines and food price increments. Climate change affects agriculture in every country differently due to its location. Countries such as Canada and Russia are being affected positively by climate change since it has enabled the country to prosper agriculturally. Other countries cannot handle drastic temperature changes, such as Sudan and Bangladesh, whose agricultural growth has been affected negatively by the climatic changes. Agriculture is fundamental in a country, creating a balance between agriculture and the increasing climatic changes would be ideal.