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Guns germs and steel essay
Guns germs and steel essay
Written analysis of guns, germs and steel
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“History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples ' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves” (Jared Diamond). In the book Guns Germs and Steel he accounted a conversation with Yali, a New Guinean politician that had asked “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 tries to answer this by describing the difference in use of government throughout history by bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states.
Bands are a group of dozens of people made out of one family and do not have a set area where they live and in that band they would have only had one ethnicity and language.
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Throughout the chapter he describes the differences between bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states and not all of them had the same beliefs and there is still some groups of people today living without government. One of his quotes even says “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples ' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves”.
I think government is important, but does not help preserve human society. History has gone throughout time and earlier generations have not had the knowledge and technology that we have today but we have evolved to what we are now without government. I think government is just there to keep everyone in line with laws and our rights and to control terrorism and making big decisions.
Diamond was asked “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?”. That is what he explained in his book Guns Germs and Steel by describing the difference in use of government throughout history by bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. Dr. Diamond expressed that through history different people made their own decision because of their environment not because of their race so government really did not have anything to do with how people live today it was all our decision for
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.
Diamond wrote this book to answer the question of a New Guinean politician, Yali. He asked “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 set out to find the answer to this question, to find out why history unfolded like it did. Diamond credits the inequalities in history to differences in environments not biological differences as so many people like to say. Most of the advantages the Europeans had were a direct result of geography. The main points that Diamond attributes to European dominance are early plant and animal domestication and as a result of close contact to animals the deadliest germs were given to the Europeans. As result of its East-West axis the diffusion of food production, technologies, humans and ideas were easily spread throughout Europe. The axis mean that there were similar climatic, geographic, and disease conditions to migrants and no barriers. So anything that could be grown in one area was sure to quickly spread and thrive in the neighboring locations. Moreover, political administration, economic exchanges, incentive for exploration and conquest, and making information available to every individual were facilitated after the development of writing.
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.
His conclusion stated that as long as the older tribes were hostile to each other and independent in the past, the separate groups were stable. He blamed failures of countries on the innate flaws of certain races. Slavery also introduced weakness, since slaves were debased humans. He didn’t say that slaves were any particular race, but were of a lower quality of people because of their station in life.
“Different but Equal” is a video in which Basil Davidson, the narrator, attempts to expand and heighten the understanding that Western civilization has about Africa. Often thought of as underdeveloped or uncivilized, Basil focuses mainly on the accomplishments of Africans throughout the years and uses them to contrast the surprisingly popular belief of African inferiority. Just a few of the main issues being brought up are how Europeans routinely discredited African accomplishments, the often disputed race of the Egyptians and their society, and why the thought that Africans are ‘uncivilized’ isn’t accurate. The video uses science, archaeology and history combined with the input of well-known researchers to give a more accurate depiction of
Over time concepts of ‘Race’, defined as a distinct group with a common linage, and ‘Primitive’ which pertains to the beginning or origin, , have been inextricably linked with the perception of Africa. The confusion of the two in the minds of people at the end of the 19th centaury, and some of the 20th, caused a sense of superiority amongst the ‘White Races’ that affected every aspect of their interaction with ‘the Black’. The ‘Civilisation’ of Africa by conquest and force was justified by these views.
What I found most interesting about the Guns, Germs and Steel episode: Into the Tropics was how the European colonists thrived in the similar ecological and environmental area around the Tropic of Capricorn around the southern tip of Africa. By dominating the native populations with their domesticated animals that carried germs such as small pox, this bug simply devoted the native population which had no natural resistance. During their continued push north, the Europeans ran into the Zulu people who conquered their early camps and then the Zulu were conquered by the ‘circle the wagons’ method. As the colonists continued to push north into the Tropic of Cancer, the rolls of nature and evolution switched. Now they were the victims of disease, unable to grow sustainable food, and lacked the antibodies against Malaria.
In 1972 while Jared Diamond, a biology professor from UCLA, was in New Guinea conducting research on tropical birds, he met a local politician named Yali. Yali started the conversation by questioning Diamond on goods brought to New Guinea from Europeans such as steel, food or clothing. He then proposed a question to the American professor regarding the comparison between the two countries. Yali asked, “Why is it that your white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” (Diamond 14). This question triggered Diamond to search for an answer to Yali’s question about the dominance of the white race throughout history. In this book, Diamond displays his belief that agricultural and environmental, as well as geographical aspects played a vital role in the successful development of countries, as opposed to the most commonly referred reason, intellectual racism. Intellectual racism stems
In summary, Davidson successful traces Africa’s earliest origins and demonstrates that this is a civilization far from having no arts, technology, sophistication and unique culture. Culture and civilization as we know it today can be traced back to Africa, and modern science has verified the early perceptions of Europeans to be wrong. He provides more than adequate evidence of Africa having a history complete with vast and rich civilization, including archaeological finds and specialized interviews with distinguished scholars and philosophers. Despite the fact that society possesses a more positive attitude towards African civilization today in terms of recognition, equality, and acceptance than in the past, negative stereotypes are still acknowledged and modern day racism unfortunately exists. I believe that the existence of Davidson’s work and videos such as Different but Equal are crucial to challenging these stereotypes and discrimination in order to create a more accurate image of Africa and its history. Overall, Davidson proves that the continent of Africa is home to a history that is just as meaningful, comprehensive, and progressive as that of any other civilization in the
The Declaration Of Independence states that,“Governments are instituted among Men.” Meaning that the governments will have all the power over its people. Compared to today, governments are still in power over their people. There are different types of government that help keep balance and govern people.
Supposedly, before the white man’s curiosity drove him to Africa, he already had a land upon which he built his nation and defined or refined his identity. He had fought in wars with his own kind to protect his place and rights within that land. When he reached Africa, the continent’s history not only commenced with him, it became part of his history. However, Plaatje’s perspective is that the black man’s history began before the arrival of the Boers where he—so secured in his identity—was only concerned with creating his own history of conquest and invasion (1-9). Nevertheless, History depicts that these two men’s path crossed and the white man came to classify himself as the civilized, which definition describes an advanced state of society,
Government effects my life everyday in a vast variety of ways. From the quality of the milk that I drink in the morning, to the license and Insurance I need to drive my vehicle to school and work. Government also effects the taxes that are deducted from my salary. The government uses this money to protect consumers and provide services for the public amongst many other things.
Can you imagine if the world didn’t have a government ? It would be total chaos. That’s why I said IMAGINE. There are numerous of definitions that people or citizens of a country considered their government to be. In the Merriam -Webster Dictionary their definitions of government are “1. 'the group of people who control and make decisions for a country, state, etc.', “2. a particular system used for controlling a country, state, etc.' and “3.'the process or manner of controlling a country, state, etc.' With all three definitions they share a common interest of government are people that are involved in a system within a specific place.
In conclusion, if there wasn’t a government there would be a “state of nature” according to Thomas Hobbes. The government's purpose is to avoid this “state of nature.” The government's responsibilities is to protect the citizens, and the citizens responsibility is to voice opinions on what is wrong to make society a happy
establishment of religion, and a working form of government was already necessary for a tribal