Guns Germs And Steel Analysis

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.”

Yali’s question is “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 a broader sense, why did some things progress in some areas, but not in others?

Within this passage, Mann explains how the loss of Native America to the havoc of European arrival robbed the world of numerous advanced societies, who had not only developed the land itself, but also had explored the fields of politics, literature, religion, and science. Furthermore, in order for the Native Americans to nurture such advanced ideas, they also must of have settled in the Americas thousands of years prior to originally believed. Thus, the thesis of the book is that the societies that existed in times before European integration were great in number, early in arrival, and sophisticated in

Jared Diamond is a professor at UCLA, a biologist by training, and a specialist in human physiology. He is trying to figure out how the Europeans developed advantages of military power, lethal microbes and advanced technologies in the first place. His quest was to uncover the roots of inequality.

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

Chapter 1: Up to the Starting Line – In this chapter Jared Diamond attempts to answer Yali’s question by explaining how and where some of the first human settlements were located and where the earliest signs of evolution are. Diamond explains how many settlements had a clear advantage over others due to where they were located. He then shows the advantage by stating “… the earliest human fossil in Europe, the earliest evidence of domesticated corn in Mexico, or the earliest evidence anywhere…” This shows how the advantages played out. Diamond then goes on to explain how certain civilizations needed to adapt differently to survive. Diamonds last point describes how many of the civilizations were colonized and how certain colonies developed much

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?"

“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)

How did Europeans conquer so much of the globe, laying waste to the indigenous civilizations and helping themselves to the natural resources of the lands they settled? Was it because the Europeans were superior to the indigenous people? Or was something far larger behind the European success at colonization? These are questions that Dr. Jared Diamond, a professor at UCLA, sought to answer in his book “Guns, Germs and Steel”, a fascinating look at why Europeans succeeded in expanding across multiple continents, and why the native populations fared so badly in the face of European exploration.

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.

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.

A few sections in Guns, Germs, and Steel most clearly illustrate Diamond’s thesis and supporting evidence. To begin, the chart on page 87 detailing the “chains of causation” clearly illustrates Diamond’s theory that the Eurasian East/West axis allowed for plant and animal diversity, thus allowing for the growth and development of complex societies that could conquer the rest of the world. Next, the chart at the bottom of page 162 clearly shows that Eurasia had the most domesticateable mammals, proving that the people of Eurasia had more animals that could be used for farming, labor, and food. Last, the chart at the bottom of page 207 lists the most deadly Eurasian diseases, including measles, tuberculosis, and smallpox, in order to prove that these and other diseases, which devastated native populations worldwide, were spread from Eurasian animals to humans. While the rest of the book is very informative, the bulk of Diamond’s claim is effectively summarized on the above

The Moriori and the Maori people developed differently due to environmental differences. Although the Maori people were originally farmers, their cold crops could not grow in the cold climate of the Chathams. This caused them to resort to hunting/gathering. While this got them by, they weren’t able to bring in the mass amount of crops needed to support the other nonhunting craft specialists. Their prey did not require elaborate machines, so they just used traditional hunting methods. Also, they were a small island with no easily accessible neighboring islands, so they did not colonize and they learned to get along with each

Jared Diamond’s theory of global differences in his book entitled “Guns, Germs, and Steel” is the result of geography and climate and not human differences such as race and culture. Jared Diamond is a biology professor at the University of California. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. While studying birds in Papua New Guinea he was asked the question of “Why you white men have so much cargo and us New Guineans have so little.”

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.