Guns Germs and Steel Essay

Humans developed in Africa. “…, indicates that the earliest stages of human evolution were also played out in Africa.” (Page 36)

In fact, starting on this topic raises the first big question, why did older civilizations not conquer the world? Of course, Eurasians had to be superior in some aspects in order for this area and culture to thrive today. By pondering this question were are faced with yet another-

One factor that contributed to the transition from hunting-gathering to farming was the decline in the availability of wild foods to gather. A second factor was an increased availability of wild plants. A third factor was the development of technologies that food production would later depend upon. A fourth factor was the link between the rise in population density and the rise in food production. A fifth factor was food producers could force hunter-gatherers to leave or kill them off because of the great numbers they had.

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.

The transition to farming was a turning point in human history since people who remained hunter/gatherers couldn’t produce food as quickly as farmers, and couldn’t produce food that could be stored for a long period of time. Instead of roaming to search different locations for food, farming allowed them to drop seeds in soil that grow next to their

This method can however be extremely efficient as humans are able to exert their control over the plant in order to produce what is demanded. On the other hand, polyculture is a form of hedging as many types of plants and their strains are grown in a singular area and while some may succumb to disease or pests, others will thrive. Contrasting the two forms of plant growth is the best way to see the advantages and disadvantages of monoculture. It is important to understand that Pollan expresses a clear dissatisfaction with monoculture as he says it “is at the root of virtually every problem that bedevils the modern farmer (page 225)” because of the many “unimagined new complexities (page 185)” that come along with it. This form of plant cultivation has created what is known as “biological pollution” in plants where resistance in pests and weeds has grown to significant numbers and is also highly dependent on genetic engineering for its survival. Conversely, polyculture uses nature against itself by directing pests to plants that are not being raised for human purposes and also by avoiding the use of pesticides or herbicides that begin

Differences in axis orientation affected the diffusion of both food production and inventions by altering the rate that crops and livestock spread. The major axis of the Americas is north-south, while the major axis of Eurasia is east-west. According to Diamond, a continent with a long east-west axis has an advantage over a continent with a long north-south axis. A crop that has developed in one place can spread east to west rather easily, but it would have difficulty spreading north to south because some areas are more ecologically suitable for the origins of food production.

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

Defenders indicated that the lack of killing site was a result of the fast speed and early time of the extinction. They also called question into the plausibility of the alternative theory. Sprawling the continent for tens of million years, these animals prospered, and successfully endured all serious droughts during that time period. It would be such a coincidence for them to be exterminated almost at the same time, in different habitats ranging from the middle desert areas to the humid south-eastern, just after the point of human’s arrival. Here the author is illustrating the theory he supports through logical

From the beginning of the book, Diamond focuses on answering Yali’s question. Yali is a New Guinean, who out of curiosity would ask Diamond questions, one of which was hard for Diamond to answer. That question was, "Why is it that you white people developed so much

Modifying plants is not a new concept. "For centuries, gardeners and farmers have been crossbreeding different species of

Plants can change by themselves when they are purposely grow and given the care they need, wild almonds are poisonous, the Romans were the most successful at this

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

A major driving force towards agriculture was the rapidly increasing population size dilemma that humans faced. Increasing population size was a critical reason why agriculture soon would replace hunting and gathering since that alone would not be able to sustain the growing population size. Thus, agriculture allowed for massive productions of food, resulting in an abundance of food. This abundance of food was stored meaning if one year the cultivation season didn’t produce sufficient nutriment due to any casual factors, the masses would still be able to survive on the food that was produced the year before. Unlike agriculture, hunting and gathering didn’t allow for this to happen since, they only hunted and gathered, as they needed in that specific moment. Additionally, another reason for the beginning of farming is politics. The distribution of food was

Most public concern has been focused on human health and safety regarding the use and consumption of these foods, but potential environmental impacts are important to consider as well. Many varieties of genetically engineered crops are intended to decrease the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers, but the scope of environmental impacts does not stop at chemical usage. Common concerns about GM crops include the effects of cross-pollination, so-called “genetic contamination,” and the escape of GM crops from cultivation and their interactions with native species. Conversely, the environmental benefits of GM crops range from reducing dependence on chemical pesticides to the ability to treat polluted soils with bioremediating plants (Ford, 2004).