Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond. Yalis Question… Why did some peoples develop more cargo than others? Why is A > B and not B >A?

Guns, Germs, and SteelJared Diamond

Yali’s Question…Why did some peoples develop more “cargo” than others?

Why is A > B and not B >A?

Ch. 1: Up to the Starting Line

Ch. 2: The Great Leap Forward: 50,000 years ago

Ch. 3: A Natural Experiment of History

Diverse geography, climate, resources, etc…

Diverse peoples and adaptations.

Ch. 3 Collision at Cajamarca

What allowed hundreds to defeat thousands?

Guns: harquebuses Combat advantage

Germs: smallpox Power vacuum

Steel: sailing technology Arriving in Peru

Other Factors:

Writing/communication

Religious Conquest

Ch. 4: Farmer PowerFood production allows

specialization and population growth.

Ch. 4: Farmer Power

Animal domestication made everything easier.

Provided milk, meat, manure for fertilizer, and plowing

capabilities.

Ch. 5: History’s Haves and Have-Nots

Cultural development was dependent on crops, animals, and their nutritional value.

New Guinea The Fertile Crescent

Taro Wheat

Yams Flaxseed

Sugar cane Barley

No animals Sheep

No grains Goat

Less nutrition and resources More nutrition and resources

Less development More development

Ch. 6: To Farm or Not to Farm

Why did some hunter-gatherer communities while others have persisted into the modern day?

Decline in big-game animals

Domesticable plant availability

Pressure from population growth

Almonds are poisonous in nature, how did they develop to be people-friendly?

Ch. 7: How to Make an Almond

Ch. 7: How to Make an Almond

Consumption of mutant, edible almonds allowed more reproduction of the mutant gene.

Wild vs. Supermarket

Fruits increase dependent dispersal by:

Improving tasteandIncreasing size

Did crops decide where humans settled?

Ch. 8: Apples or IndiansThe people of the Fertile Crescent developed food

production earlier because of their geography.

Mediterranean climate

Large grass seeds

Early-domesticated animals

Mediterranean humans

Optimized food production

Ch. 9: Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna

Karenina PrincipleAnna Karenina Principle: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

≈ Domesticable animals are all alike; every undomesticable animal is undomesticable in its own way.

Characteristic

Necessity for Domestication

Diet Omnivorous or herbivorous

Growth Rate Decently fast (elephants = too slow)

Breeding Able in captivity/under surveillance

Disposition Compliant with captivity

Danger Reaction

Low panic levels

Social Structure

Acceptance of subordinate role

Ch. 10: Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes

The Americas’ and Africa’s north-south axis contained many climates.

Eurasia’s axis expresses much less latitudinal range, therefore less climate variety.

High climate variety High species variety and disease variety.

Ch. 11: Lethal Gift of Livestock

Farming = more exposure to animals = higher chance of disease

Cattle Smallpox, tuberculosis, measles

Creation of human epidemics1. Animals occasionally infect humans2. Short lived human to human diseases3. Lasting human to human diseases4. Epidemics exclusive to humans

Large populations allow disease to spread faster

More people become immune

European diseases killed about 95% of the New World Population upon European

arrival

Ch. 12: Blue Prints and Borrowed

Letters

Writing started with cuneiform in Sumerian southwest Asia.

Other peoples copied this alphabet or diffused the idea.

Developed in stratified societies, not needed in hunter gatherer societies.

Ch. 13: Necessity’s Mother

Invention can drive necessity

To be favored the invention must have:

1. Economic benefits

2. Social benefits3. Compatibility

with interests4. Obvious

advantagesEuropeans had more inventions because of more food production, fewer geographic barriers, and larger populations.

Ch. 14: From Egalitarianism to

KleptocracyBands• 5-80 blood-

related peoples• One language

and ethnicity• Egalitarian

Tribes• 80-1,000

peoples• Kin-based clans• One language

and ethnicity• Egalitarian

Kalahari Bushmen

New Guinean Tribe

Chiefdoms• 1,000-50,000

people• At least one

village• One ethnicity• Food production• Division of labor

States• 50,000+ people• 1+

languages/ethnicities

• Central government

• Laws• Division of labor

Kamara Chiefdom

Ch. 14: From Egalitarianism to

KleptocracyKleptocracies control large masses

• Disarmed commoners/armed elite

• Curbs violence

• Redistributes wealth

• Promotes kleptocentric religion and ideology

• Instills blind patriotism

Ch. 15: Yali’s People

New Guinea and Australia were last connected around 10,000 years ago.

Europeans were inhibited from New Guinea expansion from malaria and difficult conditions for crops and cattle.

Australia became and easier target for settling.

Ch. 16: How China Became Chinese

The Qin Dynasty (221 BC) forced the integration of Northern China, similar to Tibetans and Nepalese, and Southern China, similar to the Filipinos and Vietnamese. Similar aspects of previous expansion aided in unification.

Ch. 17: Speedboat to Polynesia

Austronesian immigrants came from the Chinese mainland.

Migrated to, in chronological order, Taiwan Philippines, Sumatra, Northern New Guinea, Samoa, Hawaii, Easter Island, and Madagascar.

Spread was difficult in New Guinea and Australia due to lack of competitive advantage and language barriers.

Ch. 18: Hemisphere’s Colliding

Why Europeans to the Americas and not Americans to Europe?

•Food•Animals•Metallurgy•Weapons•Transportation•Writing•Political Structure

•Domestication and arrival time•Geographic barriers•Arctic migration

Ch. 19: How Africa Became Black

Peoples like the Pygmies, Bushmen, and Hottentots were confined to small areas by Bantu farmers

Languages both fused and diminished

Change in food production domination changed populace make-up

EpilogueYali’s question is answered by accidental geography and environment.• Food and animal

domestication• Differences in diffusion and

migration rates• Population size

*Geographic barriers need to be intermediate

Too much

Too little

Just right