Many historical events were created when the Europeans first came to the Americas. The Europeans brought many diseases, animals, new technologies, and their political structures in the Americas, or the New World. In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond states many arguments about these events. This paper will take you through different topics about the Europeans and their culture and agriculture in the Americas. In this paper I will be talking about diseases that came from Europe to Americas, then I will talk about animals that were diffused to America. After that I will talk about Europeans developing a political structure in the Americas. Finally, to end of the paper, I will talk about maritime technology. In this paper I will …show more content…
Diamond says that the major 5 animals originated in Eurasia and diffused to other places. These animals provided transportation, help in supporting in society, and helped with wars. The example he uses for domestic animals is in Kazakhstan horses were and still are used as modes of transportation and helped during war times. He uses this to show us how animals were diffused to different places and how in each place they used that animal. He also talks about the Major 5 which you will find out later on in the paper. This argument and the example he uses goes under agriculture. This goes here because when animals diffuse to different places and they are used for people's needs. This use of animal was needed during the agricultural revolution. Agricultural Revolution is the time when humans began first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied on hunting and gathering. This will give you an example about what this topic will be all about. Diamond uses this argument because these major 5 animals (which you will learn about later) were more than just farm animals. They helped many people and made their life easier. Animals also were more than just transportation help they also helped people during wartime. These animals also spread disease because they were infected, (but you will learn about that in the disease part of this
Diamond describes the early parts of human history in a broad scope towards the beginning of the book. He focuses on both the evolution and spread of human beings, arguing that some civilizations had a head start over other ones because of when the period of human evolution took place. He explains how different environments shaped human history through an a example of how populations which inhabited the Polynesian islands developed differently due to the different environments and then by telling the stories about what happened as populations with better geographical advantages encountered more disadvantaged populations in the Americas. Diamond explains the many factors that influenced the historical progression of different societies. Diamond argues how food production was very much a primary factor in the advancement of each society. Societies
What I've obtained while watching the movie “Guns Germs and Steel - Out of Eden
In the book Guns, Germs and Steel Jared Diamond who is a biophysics scientist and a psychologist, set out on a journey to find out the reason behind great achievements and conquest of the Europeans. What is the secret of success of Europeans? His hypothesis was very original and at first looked very simple, it was guns, germs and steel. The journey of Diamond took over 30 years and helped him answer the main questions of human history and what is it that separates humans today from "rich and poor" and from "haves and have not’s." To do this he had to go back when everyone was equal.
1) The book, 1491, by Charles C. Mann gives readers a deeper insight into the Americas before the age of Columbus, explaining the development and significance of the peoples who came before us. Moreover, Mann’s thesis is such; the civilizations and tribes that developed the Americas prior to the discovery by Europeans arrived much earlier than first presumed, were far greater in number, and were vastly more sophisticated than we had earlier believed. For instance, Mann writes, regarding the loss of Native American culture:
Presents information and ideas that are too often overlooked in our day-to-day thinking about what we have, and where those things came from. Issues rose such as the American Indians' contributions to the geopolitical influence of American silver and gold on the rest of the world. Questions from my youth are where did all of the Inca gold go to? Why is not Spain not a major world power? Why does it seem as though most foods are native to the Americas? These are questions that are avoided in popular history books, giving all of the stability of modern life to the credit of the civilized Europeans.
The reason Pizarro succeeded was he had originally gained the trust of Atahualpa and then captured him and used his advanced weaponry to conquer the Incans
When European exploration led to the populating of the Americas, it was described as the event with one of the greatest ecological impacts in history. The force behind this impact was the mass movement of people and their behavior's toward their "New World". It only stands to reason that a clash would occur with the natives of these lands. One of the areas with the greatest conflict was the field of technology.
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
Historical arguments are seldom proved without controversy, while there are certain historical methods that, if not dissipating all questions, give enough credibility to a theory or argument for us to call it proven. In Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, the author linked history development with well-recognized evolution theory and other biological knowledge to back his argument. He also employed the strategies of traditional historians, which included dealing with primary documents from multiple sources, evaluating different explanations as well as appealing to common sense and deduction to support his view.
In the video “Guns, Germs and Steel: Episode 3.” The overall summary of the episode is how Europe dominated Africa, how they fought through diseases and land wars with local tribes. During this adventure major diseases spread across Africa, affecting Europeans and Africans, causing thousands to die. The main two diseases were smallpox and Malaria, for example in the video it stated that, “It was believed Smallpox originated in the tropical region of Africa, Africans were certainly similar with the disease, they had even developed methods of immunity for life.” This was the advantage they had over the europeans, they were able to protect themselves from Smallpox; avoiding such a dramatic incline their population. Not only did they develop immunization to Smallpox, they tried to fight off Malaria. For example in the video it says, “Native Africans had also developed antibodies against one of the most virulent diseases on the earth, Malaria.” This was because they settled and live in high or dry locations, away from wet and humid areas, which is where mosquitos are generally found, hence why thousands of Europeans died to this disease due to living by rivers and swamps. However, Malaria isn’t the most common disease in Africa now, the most common disease is “Pneumonia and Other Lower Respiratory Tract Infections….Pneumonia alone is responsible for 90% of all lower respiratory tract infections and is one of the most deadly diseases in
1) There are many Indo-European language groups and English falls into the Germanic language. There are also many other languages for example; Swedish, Dutch, Icelandic, Danish, ect. There are many languages that change over time, English happens to be one of the languages that changed dramatically and even to this day there are still changes that are being made. English has changed so dramatically because of the cultural environment and how it migrates to many different places. Another reason why English has changes so much over the time is also because of the colonization and invasions.
Jared Diamond's bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel (GG&S) is an attempt to explain why some parts of the world are currently powerful and prosperous while others are poor. Diamond is both a physiologist and a linguist who spends a good deal of his time living with hunter gathers in Papua New Guinea. As a researcher and as a human being, he is convinced that all people have the same potential. Hunter gatherers are just as intelligent, resourceful, and diligent as anybody else. Yet material "success" isn't equally distributed across the globe. Civilization sprung up in relatively few places and spread in a defined pattern. I should emphasize that Diamond doesn't equate material
Yes, if there is a lot of resources around it can support a large group of people instead of a small group of gatherers
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
Guns, germs, and steel. Three of the main components found in changing civilizations, and three essential factors that must be brought into consideration when discussing how our modern day world came to be. In the critically acclaimed documentary, based off of the book by Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel provides valuable insight into these crucial aspects, showing an in-depth history of world and culture. In the first portion of this three part series, Diamond and other commentators explore the impact of agricultural development and how various societies were affected by either geographical advantages or hindrances. The explanations provided help to clarify reasons behind historical turmoils and wars, along with current economic status of states, and are perhaps more relevant than ever.