Great Divergence Chapter Summary

“Although it has often been stated that the nations of Western Europe were far superior to the rest of the world at the same time of their initial contacts, this, in fact, is not true.”

By 1491, Europeans already were growing grains such as rye, wheat, barley. They used wind and water as power sources, and had a lot of domesticated animals. Horses in Europe were plowing soil, and pigs were used as a source of protein and leather was made from their skin. Also, they had sheep and cows, so they could drink milk and make butter. In contrast, on American continent, natives were only growing corn, and in South America only potato was growing at that time. In America only lamas were present who could not pull a plow nor give milk. In North America Ice age and hunting put animals at levels of extinction.

Documents 4, 5, 8, and 10 all showcase why the change in economy helped the west rise. Document 4 is a graph representing different technological inventions created during the rise of the west. These creations, such as the crossbow, gunpowder, and paper, had positive outcomes. These innovations helped increase the trade throughout Europe as the demand for them drastically increased. This demand in trade from all over the world greatly increased the western economy, empowering the nations in the west. In document 5, the point of view of William McNeill, the author, is that the east ultimately benefited as a direct result of the borrowing from the west. He believes that since the west was so successful and powerful, that the only reason the east caught up with it was because they borrowed from the west. He also believes that borrowing was the only way to come to power and boost the economy. In document 8, there is evidence that the east was once the leaders in dominance and economics, but lost that standing during the rise of the west. But, there is the argument that the rise was not for the west, as it was for the world economy. Document 10 argues that there was an intentional driven European growth, and a similar growth happened in East Asia. Although this growth didn’t happen until the 1800’s, there is still the resemblance between the two. This growth in Europe helped shape its

How they domesticated wild animals and plants for milk, food, clothing, and more, and the benefits of domestication over the hunter-gathering culture. More food meant more calories for humans meaning more work. More work meant higher crop yields which meant more population density which meant more people could work, and the cycle continued over and over again. The reason food production was so successful in Europe was because the continent lies east to west creating a similar climate for food to grow. Europe also has more open fields compared to Africa, the Americas, and Australia, where there were deserts, jungles, and drastically different climates. The conversion from the hunter-gatherer society to the domestication of wild animals and farming society was gradually and took many years and there are still hunter-gatherer societies today.

“Guns, germs, and steel” refers to the geographical advantages and disadvantages that were present in early civilizations. Although Europeans some may see them as a genetically superior race, their large amounts of success is due to geographical advantages (Source 1)( Diamond, year). It is shown throughout Diamond’s discoveries that because these three continents lay of the same vertical latitude, they are able to keep up with each other when it comes to livestock (Source 1). Geography has played a major key in shaping the current day cultures of Eurasia, South America, and Africa. Jared Diamond stated in episode one of Guns, Germs, and Steel that Europeans were put on this pedestal over the other continents spoken about in the video.

For one the continent contained the largest amount of wild mammals. Another reason is that Eurasia has had the least extinction in the last

The establishment of food production proved to be more fulfilling than hunting and gathering since it reduced the risk of starvation. Despite being provided with some of the advantages that came with transitioning to agriculture, many regions remained as hunter-gatherers. While some areas, such as the Fertile Crescent and Eurasia, had many advantageous plants and animals that could be domesticated, other areas, New Guinea, Eastern United States, and Mesoamerica, possessed limited availability. Some areas are simply not suited to agriculture of any kind, while others may support some crops that are suitable for domestication but not others. Likewise, while there were big animals living in several regions, those species were not suitable for domestication since they did not follow the six requirements, which involved being sufficiently obedient, humble to humans, cheap to feed, able to breed well in captivity, immune to diseases, able to grow rapidly (Diamond 1999, 169). On the other hand, in some areas, food production developed independently. However, only a few places developed food production without any outside influence, which included the Fertile Crescent in western Eurasia, China, the eastern United States, Mesoamerica, and New Guinea. In the Andes and Amazonians, and three areas of Africa, food production was also probably an independent development, but there are

Food is one of the many factors that determine a population. The use of big, domesticated animals helped in the production of food and while Eurasia had 13 of the 14 main species, the Americas only had one (llamas and apachas). In addition to having most of the main animal species, the geographic location of Eurasia (west to east) had helped in the expansion of the domesticating of animals and plants because of the similar environment and climate where in the Americas (north to south), the climate and environment made it hard to move the animals and plants for domestication. Already in the lead with having the most species and their location, domestic animals in Eurasia provided labor; plowing and manure which helped produced faster and more crops. In the Americas though, the llama/apacha could not be used for labor. The rate of food production In the Americas was a much more painful and slow process because it was picked and planted by hand while Eurasia had machinery and animals to help increase food production. For the production of plant food crops, both Eurasia and the Americas had widespread agriculture but Eurasia had more farmers and land so they could tend to the farms, whereas the Americas had limited land (due to environment and barrier issues) and more hunter-gatherers. Because of their easier and faster labor system, the

The Great Divergence is term used to portray the gradual shift of dominance that Europe gained by establishing itself as the most powerful world civilization by the 19th century. While a case could be made that the Great Divergence occurred because of the pre-eminence of Europe and Britain, as well as their supposed superiority in invention and innovation above anywhere else in the world, this argument is flawed. A more compelling argument would be to state that it was rather through the geographical advantages that Europe obtained that lead it into eventually becoming the most powerful civilization after 1500 A.D., as this essay will strive to demonstrate.

If it misses one qualification it gets eliminated, in this case from the ability to domesticate, by means of potential cause: diet, growth rate, many features of communal association, inclination to panic, and mating habits. Thirteen of the fourteen big domesticated animals before the twentieth century are limited to Eurasia. Many of the contenders of the Americas and Australia vanished in the late-Pleistocene extinction – perhaps since they became exposed to humans later in our development when we had better hunting skills and weapons. This put Eurasia at an advantage over Australia, the Americas, and sub-Saharan

It is possible that a social hierarchy was created when such densely packed communities were created, as now human interaction became all the more important, as the relationships between neighbors, and social groups would most likely create tension in the situation. It was also during the time of the Early neolithic in which the first clues of plant domestication began to appear. Though it was the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period in which domesticated crops including wheat, barley, lentil, peas, and legumes were found. These domesticated grains showed an increase in size and durability . Animal domestication was quick to follow, as Sheep were found to be domesticated in Turkey, Iraw, and Iran, while the reduction in size of the animals, and the discovery of the animals outside their habitat became common finds. Finally, it was during the Late Neolithic period in which a reduction in the number of large villages across the Middle East began. We can see the shift toward a way of life focused on the grazing of domesticated animals, as villages began to shrink, and the population became once again scattered across the land. It was also during this period in which a decline in the role of hunting for subsistence became apparant, as well as Late Neolithic societies reliance on plants that were domesticated during the Early Neolithic periods. We can see from this that the origin of agriculture in Europe came from the usage of Middle Eastern

There are many reasons why the people of the Eastern Hemisphere developed trade more extensively than the people of the Western hemisphere, but, the difference in their environments or habitats was one of the biggest reasons. First, the Eastern hemisphere had a variety of large draft animals capable of domestication, whereas the Western hemisphere environment had no draft animals capable of agricultural or commercial use in its lands. Secondly, the difference in the climates and landscapes made possible for the East to develop long-distance trade while the West was not able to make the long journeys over treacherous and distinctly difficult ground. Therefore it was the difference in the environments – the terrain or landscapes, and the animals, or lack of animals, in that region – play a role in why the Eastern hemisphere was able to create not just one, but three sizable long-distance trade routes, while the Americas were not able to.

Having domesticated animals is a huge advantage for a civilization. Geographic location affects what animals are available in that location. If a civilization has animals that can be domesticated, they can be used as a tool, and that can speed up the development of a civilization. To domesticate animals civilizations need animals that are herbivores, large mammals with a quick growth rate, live in herds, have a good social structure, breed well, and a nice disposition. There are 148 species of animals, but only 14 have been domesticated because they don't meet the specifications. Eurasia had plenty of domesticated animals, far more than Papa New Guinea. Domesticated animals provide transportation, protein, and warmth from their hair. They can work and help with crops. When domesticated animals do work, people don't need to. When people don't have to work, they can become specialists so the civilization can develop and expand. Specialists are people that focus on other things than farming, like becoming a doctor or an inventor. The more specialists a civilization has the more jobs created. The more people that become specialists, the faster a civilization will develop. If a civilization has a surplus of food and a handful of domesticated animals, they don’t have to focus on finding food and farm work, they could experiment with their recourses and develop new inventions. The people of Papa New Guinea couldn't do that, so there became a bigger gap between them and Eurasia, it created more

The beneficial continental circumstances enjoyed by Eurasians first appears in vegetation. The Fertile Crescent was endowed with diverse, abundant, and highly productive cereals and pulses such as wheat, barley, and pea that yielded both starch and protein. These food staples were domesticated very quickly and with little effort by Eurasians, whose newfound farms gave rise to specialization and division of labor. Conversely, in the Americas, the sole cereal crop of corn took many more thousands of years of domesticated refinement to prove useful to humans. Mr. Diamond also places great emphasis on the geographic East-West orientation of Eurasia. A plant growing at a given latitude can grow at that latitude the world over. Thus, Eurasia's East-West orientation was highly conducive to the rapid spread (by trade) of productive domesticated grains across the continent. Conversely, the Americas, Africa, and Australia were impaired by their North-South orientation, which dictated that domesticated plants from people of one latitude were of little use to their neighbors to the North and South. Compounding the effect, the trade of agricultural technology in Eurasia ultimately led to trade in other things, such as technological advances, including writing and language

The early western world benefitted from revenues from trading European products to the Eastern countries (Pomeranz, 2000). High earnings obtained from trading with eastern countries and sales of slave established seven percent profit per annum, which is a “relatively high rate of return considering the high rate of depreciation on pre-industrial capital stocks, which limited the amount of savings and capital accumulation”, stated Pomeranz (2000). Many theories suggest that the Great Divergence occurred as a result of trade development from Europe to Asia, which later on became the main factor of the New World. As, Pomeranz (2000) stated, “the greatest significant advantage for Europe was the vast amount of fertile, uncultivated land in the North America which could be used to grow large quantities of farm products required to sustain European economic growth and allowed labour and land to be freed up in Europe for industrialization.” A great example of this is how England saved approximately 23-25 million acres of agricultural space by importing goods such