Why do some people get the privilege to live great and others have to suffer everyday? There are many places in the world today that are not great places to live and grow up but people don't always have a choice. Guns, germs, and steel by Jared Diamond is written with a purpose to discuss and reveal why some societies have so much and others have so little. He explains the theory behind geographical luck and migration. He also talks about how these two things can lead to technology advances. The reason behind the difference of technology and economy advances all begins with the geography and the way that guns,germs,and steel were introduced and how they were introduced. Geography luck is describing how lucky you are with the land that is provided for example the closer to the fertile crescent the better and more resources you will have. People don't understand how big of a help it really is to have a greater supply of resources because by having a selective food resource people are able to store food. Since more food can be stored and saved people can become more dependent on the land continuously providing for them instead of worrying about hunting and gathering. For example, New Guinea is unlucky due to the lack of resources and rich soil which means they have to spend all of their time hunting and gathering to provide enough food for that day. Hunting and …show more content…
Living near the Fertile Crescent was a huge help due to the 7,000 years of inherited metal technology that was developed there. This put them two steps ahead of everyone that was in their way. The Europeans location and history helped them acquire Guns, Germs, and Steel and they were the first ones to do that. The Europeans were able to take over other people because of how early they advanced with guns and how they were starting to adapt to the germs while others were just being
In this part he explains how the increase in food production enabled people to increase in population and create specialized jobs while the domestication of animals helped them with the production of tools, animal labor during farming (pulling wagons) and war (horses used for battle), warmth (leather and wool), transportation, food (meat and milk), and fertilizer. Then he explains the decision of people to move to farming. This decision was influenced by different factors in different parts of the world such a decrease in wild games’ population, more domestic plants, development of technologies for food producing, and human population vs food production. Then he explains how the environmental advantages such as biological, ecological, and geographical diversity allowed for a variety of crops. For example, the plants in the Fertile Crescent were self-pollinating which allowed an increase in crop production. He further explains how geography contributed to the domestication of animals. He states that “the wild ancestors of 13 of the Ancient Fourteen… were confined to Eurasia,” (Diamond 161) which shows the geographic advantage Eurasians had since most of the ancient 14 domestic animals were in Eurasia. Additionally, Eurasia had the least amount of extinction in the last 40,000 years along with more readily domestic animals who has a faster growth rate, diet, no problem breeding in captivity, and etc. Another geographical advantage Eurasians had was the axes of the continents. Since Eurasia has west-east axes, it was easier for Eurasians to transport food production such as crops due to the same latitude which resulted in the same climate, same day length and diseases. However, Africa and the Americas has a north-south axes which made transportation of food production difficult due to
Many historians and politicians ponder over the reason why Europeans have much more wealth and power than other ethnicities. However, this question was abandoned and rarely brought up because there wasn’t enough evidence to have a clear answer. Yali, a local politician in New Guinea, asked a similar 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?” Jared Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, believes that the differences in wealth and power between different groups of people is because of the environmental differences. An event that helped answer this question was when the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro easily defeated the Incas despite having only a few men because of their geographical location, resulting advanced military technology, and writing.
The Inca empire was the largest and most advanced empire in Pre-Columbian American. However, the Spanish led by Francisso Pizarro subjugated the Inca empire in 1572. Within mere 62 soldiers mounted on horses and 106 foot soldiers against 80,000 Incan soldiers, the Spaniard wins and killed thousands of the Incans. The Spaniard also apprehends the Inca emperor, Atahuallpa;the Spaniard received the greatest ransom in history and killed Atahuallpa afterward. In "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond, Diamond summarize the Inca empire collapsed so fast during the battle against the Spanish are because the lack of technology and knowledge and the diseases brought to the land by the Spanish. In my point of view that even if Pizarro's attack had
In the book, Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, the author asks many questions about histories of the world. These question are questions that lie in the main question Jared Diamond is trying to answer. In the Prologue, the author discussed about his personal experience in New Guinea where a local politician asked him the major 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?” (Diamond 14). When further exploring the meaning of this question it could represent why major civilizations developed and advanced so much faster technologically and economically but other civilizations like New Guineans are behind in these advancements. Which could explain
At the beginning of the book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, the question is posed by Yali, as to why people of European decent are rich and why people in New Guinea are poor. Throughout the book, Diamond explains that the geography is what made Europe better because it gave them guns, germs, and steel which enabled them to conquer other nations. Chapter three of this book entitled “Collision at Cajamarca” specifically examines the Spanish conquering of the Incan Empire in 1532. As Diamond tells, Inca emperor Huayna Capac and his heir were killed by a smallpox epidemic brought to the New World by Spanish settlers in Panama and Columbia. This sparked a civil war between half brothers Atahuallpa and Huascar.
What separates the haves from the have nots? How have guns, germs and steel shaped the history of the world?
The overall point of this chapter in Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond was to give a quick explanation on why Europeans societies have dominated, and even stomped out, other ones. He attempts to find this answer after a man named Yali, asked him, “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?” It was a seemingly simple question that Diamond did not have the answer to. He researches and writes this book, years later, to answer Yali’s question. The author acknowledged other answers to this question, for example: Europeans are more intelligent. Diamond rebuttals this with an explanation on why that is not correct, and tells us why he believes people like the New Guineans, are more intelligent. He points out that European children stay at home and watch tv, sit at the computer, and play video games, while New Guinean children, play outside with friends and family. Though, how playing outside, rather than inside, is a good point to make about who is more intelligent, is not explained any further. A lot of the answers historians have come up with are racist, that many do not accept, but many also do.
Jared Diamond starts off his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel with stating his attempt to answer Yali’s question, “Why is it that you white people developed much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own.” Diamond elaborates and brings to simpler terms how Yali’s question relates to many questions on the origins of humans, but more specifically, how Eurasians, the white people mentioned by Yali, came to successfully dominate the rest of the world. In the prologue, Diamond mainly drives his point of the “effects of continental environments on history over the past 13,000 years” as to what he believes is the main root to why Eurasians came to dominate so successfully. Alongside of continental environments,
In Jared Diamond’s book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, he starts the prologue off by introducing the reader a question, Yali's 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?" In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond set’s out to answer Yali's question by touching on a few main categories, such as food production, writing, technology, government, and religion.
According to page 103, “The people of areas with a head start on food production thereby gained a head start on the path leading towards guns, germs and steel.”
“Ender did not hesitate. He stepped on the head of the snake and crushed it under his foot. It writhed and twisted under him and in response he twisted and ground it deeper into the stone floor… And in the mirror he saw a face that he easily recognized. It was Peter.” (117)
1. Yali's 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?"
When reading the title of Jared Diamond’s, “Guns, Germs, and Steels,” the readers must initially think how do these three connect? After starting the first few chapters they will realize that Diamond is referring to the proximate and ultimate factors in that lead to the advancement of society. When Diamond talks about proximate and ultimate factors, he is explaining the cause of European dominance in the world. The proximate factors are the one that directly led to the European dominance and the ultimate factors are the ones that let to proximate factors. I believe that this book is referring to the Homo sapiens revolutionizing through the years, through the Neolithic Revolution through agriculture and industrialization.
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.
Beliefs are instilled in each of us from early childhood; oftentimes, inherited through our upbringing, in relation to a trauma, or simply by repetition (Jemmer, 2006). Because humans are egocentric by nature, they often use self-centered standards to justify their beliefs, assuming that others whose beliefs are different than theirs are inaccurate (Paul & Elder, 2012). When using critical thinking, beliefs should be supported by factual evidence. In years past, women have assumed the roles of caregiver for the family and elders, food preparation, and housekeeping, while men have been the family breadwinner (Kray, Howland, Russell, & Jackman, 2017). For many, the shift in gender roles in modern day society is an adjustment for the family, extended family, friends, and even the individuals themselves (Kray, et al., 2017). Due to changes in modern day society, more women are becoming the family breadwinners, often in male-dominated jobs, and men are assuming the family caregiver roles (Kray, et al., 2017). Promoting gender equality in these changing roles is important for the masculine identity as well as enabling the female to find success in the traditional male-dominated roles (Kray, et al., 2017). Older adults often still view the female as the caregiver and assume that there is either something physically wrong with the male or that he is lazy if he is not the family breadwinner.