Papua New Civilization

Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the importance of geography in the ways ancient civilizations grew and spread and how some areas were more advanced than others. He began his research when he was asked a question by a Papua New Guinea residence, Yali. Yali had asked Diamond “[w]hy you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” At that point Diamond had no answer and he was curious to find out why Eurasia had a head start in civilizing people meanwhile the other continents were behind. As a result, several differences were made between countries that did not have the same resources as those who were advanced. Some of the developing countries were poor and they had to rely on whatever was given to them through nature. When Diamond went to Papua New Guinea, he discovered that the residences of the island had the same routine as those in the ancient civilizations of Eurasia. They would often hunt for animals and used stone weapons instead of metal.

Major domesticated animals in the Old World in 1492: horse, cow, pig, sheep, goat, chicken, camel, oxen, cat, dog

lands and sometimes on building projects or in mining.” (World of the Inca). Thus the Inca expected

The Inca Empire, the massive nation that extended 2,500 miles along the western coast of South America and had a population of over 7 million at its peak. It included all of what is now Ecuador and Peru and most of Chile. Known as “The Children of the Sun”, they excelled at craftsmanship, weaving, and culture (“Children of the Sun”). A very religious people, they worshiped the Sun as their supreme god and held religious festivals monthly to appease these gods. Although they did not value it aside from its beautiful appearance, the Inca Empire was home to millions of pounds of solid gold and silver. The Inca had no use for it except to use it to craft decorations and statues. In fact, an Inca citizen valued cloth more than they valued gold

Domestication is a very useful skill that has remained the same for many years. Animals can be used for meat, milk, wool, etc. They are also used as farming tools and transportation. Certain animals much better suited to domestication than others; Jared Diamond calls this the “anna Karenina principle’ (Class Lecture).

The Old World introduced horses, pig, cattle, and sheep, which helped the Europeans while they were settling. Before the arrival of these animals the native people only had turkeys, llamas, alpacas, and dogs. However, years after Columbus’ arrival the cattle and sheep because wild and were everywhere. The Natives were not very pleased with these wild animals, considering that they would destroy food crops. The horse, however, made the lives of the Natives easier by helping them move and kill faster than before. Due to horses, Indians decided to leave farming and become nomadic buffalo hunters which made them a bigger enemy to the settlers. For this reason horses were one of the few things that the native peoples would want from the Europeans.

The transmission of the smallpox was yet another unavoidable disease that was constantly contracted. “The Negroes are so incident to the smallpox that few ships that carry them escape without it.” (Document B) “pain in the head, back, shivering, vomiting, fever, etc.” (Document B) Due to the small living conditions, diseases, such as the Smallpox, were easily transmitted and passed throughout the

* Incas invaded in the mid 15th century and conquered down to Rio Mapia but could not defeat the Indians further south.

When the Columbian Exchange didn’t happen yet many of the Native Americans had to do all of the labor by themselves without any use of animals. After the Columbian Exchange, Columbus brought over horses, dogs, cattle, goats, and chicken and it provided the Natives with a new source of labor and also with a new source of food. Many of these animals carried diseases and humans were dying. Those diseases that the animals carried with them came to the New World. Cattle were very profitable because you could eat their meat and also use their hides as a blanket. The cattle hides were then shipped back to Europe to be sold as well as the meat. Cattle have a downfall because they were destroying Native American crops by eating them or by just simply stepping on them. Black rats carried bubonic plague and typhus; the black rats came from the Old World to the New World and that plague spread to the colonist. The plague also killed off some of the smaller animals that belong to the Native Americans. Horses also land a great impact in the new world for Europeans; they used horses to scare the Native Americans because the natives didn’t know what a horse was and what they do. Horses have lots of power and compared to the other animals the horses are much faster and have a bolder look and that is why the Natives are so frightened of

When the Europeans had their first contact to the New World, it had a great impact on the spread of diseases that would wiped more than eighty to ninety percent of indigenous population. Neither Europeans nor Native Americans had medicine to fight the diseases. But Europeans had developed throughout the year’s immunities to fight diseases back in their homeland, so they were in a big advantage over the scarce resource that the Native Americans had. One of the main disease that killed millions of indigenous groups was called smallpox. Europeans had been exposed to many diseases throughout their history, in the Old World it was common for children at a young age to be infected with smallpox. So with advanced treatments with smallpox in the Old World, they had a different perspective on how to control these type of diseases. Many indigenous groups had not developed an immunities to fight smallpox. Reference to the book were it mentions that smallpox specifically means not the disease but the pimpled, pustules appearance which is the most obvious symptom of the disease (Crosby, p 43). As a result, many indigenous groups needed to find refuge due to the high percentage of deaths caused by European conquest and

The Spaniards had a few reasons to overthrow the Incas, but mainly because they wanted to rule the world. They wanted to dominate the universe. But, the Incas did have lots of emeralds, gold, and silver. They wanted that as well. The early Spaniards were very greedy and wanted everything for themselves. The first place they overthrew was the Inca territory in Peru, which also had the most emeralds and gold. They didn’t break a sweat

Until Spanish interactions however, Smallpox had never been introduced in Mexico. The Smallpox epidemic was contracted by Mexica and Spaniard allies alike. As told by the people of Tlatelolco “[The disease] brought great desolation; a great many died of it. They could no longer walk about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places” (Sahagun 2000, 190). The Spaniards began to use Smallpox to their advantage greatly weakening the Mexica forces. Smallpox’s exact death toll is uncertain but there are rough estimations that “range from a low of 10 million to a high of 100 million” (Hansen, Curtis 2013, 343). The use of biochemical agents in battle goes to prove the Spaniards military cunning over the

Metalurgy first made an appearance in Europe during the Neolithic. (Levack et al 2009:16) Architecture improved and in many areas dwellings were made with sturdy supplies like stone and brick. Some villages, particularly in Southwest Asia, were surrounded by impressive stone walls for protection against enemies. (Leonard 1973:18)

The diseases exchanged between the Old World and New World resulted in a drastic change in demographics and world population in both the Americas and in Europe. The most deadly disease transferred between both worlds was smallpox. Smallpox, as described by historian Alfred W. Crosby Jr., in his book The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, states that “Smallpox is usually communicated through the air by means of droplets or dust particles… it has been a steady, dependable killer, taking every year from 3 to 10 percent of those who die. Where it has struck isolated groups, the death rate has been awesome” (Crosby. 44). When one contracts smallpox, the effects are felt for a lifetime. As a Spanish person living in

Animals such as sheep, cattle and pigs supplied more meat to bulk up native diets,