Guns Germs and Guns Germs and Steel Steel The Fates of Human Societies The Fates of Human Societies By Jared Diamond 1997 Text extracted from Chapters 1-10 http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/ 0393317552.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Mar 26, 2015
Guns Germs and Guns Germs and SteelSteel
The Fates of Human SocietiesThe Fates of Human Societies
By Jared Diamond1997
Text extracted from Chapters 1-10
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0393317552.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
After the Ice AgeAfter the Ice Age• Human societies
began to change 13,000 years agoo when the last ice
age melted
After the Ice AgeAfter the Ice Age
• Different societies resulted:o Some literate,
industrialo Some illiterate,
agriculturalo Some hunter
gatherers retaining stone tools
Inequality and Inequality and ExterminationExtermination
• “Those historical inequalities have cast long shadows on the modern world,
• because the literate societies with metal tools
• have conquered or exterminated the other societies."
Yali’s QuestionYali’s Question• Yali, a New Guinea
politician asked • "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?"
Distribution of Distribution of WealthWealth
• To rephrase, • "why did wealth and
power become distributed as they now are, o rather than in some
other way?”Distribution of Wealth in the World
Common Common explanationsexplanations
• Racial or genetic superiority? o No objective
evidence for this theory
Common Common explanationsexplanations
• Cold climate stimulates inventiveness?
• But Europeans inherited from warm climate peopleso agriculture, o wheels, o writing, and o metallurgy
• Japan inheritedo Agriculture, metallurgy,
writingo Industrial Revolution
Conquest of the New Conquest of the New WorldWorld
• "The biggest population shift of modern times
• has been the colonization of the new World by Europeans,
• and the resulting o conquest, o numerical reduction , o or complete
disappearance
• of most groups of Native Americans".
PizarroPizarro• The Incas were
conquered by the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro.
Pizarro’s ForcesPizarro’s Forces• Pizarro had 168
soldiers. • They were in
unfamiliar territory, o ignorant of the local
inhabitants, o were 1000 miles away
from reinforcements, o and were and
surrounded by the Incan empire • with 80,000 soldiers
led by Atahuallpa.
Guns, Germs and SteelGuns, Germs and Steel• Pizarro had
o steel armoro swords o horse mounted cavalry o guns
• a minor factor
ConquistadorsConquistadors• In addition to horses and steel,
conquistadors had:o Superior ocean going shipso Superior political organization of
the European states• Carried infectious diseases that
wiped out 95% of Native Americanso smallpox, measles, influenza,
typhus, bubonic plague • Superior knowledge of human
behavioro from thousands of years of
written history.
Why not the other Why not the other way?way?
• Still, why was it that the Europeans had all of the advantages instead of the Incas?
• Why didn't the Incaso invent guns and steel
swords, o have horses, o or bear deadly
diseases?Inca
Inca Warrior
Unequal ConflictsUnequal Conflicts• "Much of human history has
consisted of unequal conflicts o between the haves and the have-nots:
• between peoples with farmer power and those without it,
• or between those who acquired it at different times."
WHY?WHY?
Advantages of Advantages of Agricultural SocietiesAgricultural Societies
• More food, more people.
• Domestic animalso Meato Pull plows, cartso Transportation, waro Furs, fibero Fertilizero Deadly germs
Advantages of Advantages of Agricultural SocietiesAgricultural Societies
• Sedentary Existenceo Short birth intervals o higher population
densities
• Grain Storageo Support specialists:
• Kings • bureaucrats• soldiers• priests• artisans.
Independent Crop Independent Crop DomesticationDomestication
• Middle East (8,000 BC)o Wheat, pea, olive
• Chinao Rice, millet
• Mexico (3,000 BC)o Maize, squash,
beans
• Andes mountainso Potato
• USAo Sunflower
Other people adopted these crops (and domesticated animals) later as a cultural package
Adoption by Hunter-Adoption by Hunter-GatherersGatherers
• Sometimes domesticated plants and animals were adopted by hunters/gathererso Native Americans in
U.S.
• Sometimes hunters/gatherers were displaced by agriculturalists o European expansion in
Australia, Tasmania
Trugannini, last Remaining Tasmanian Aboriginal, 1868
http://www.tasmanianaboriginal.com.au/images/hist/Trugannie.jpg
Head StartHead Start• "The peoples of areas
with a head start on food production o thereby gained a head
start on the path leading to guns, germs and steel.
o The result was a long series of collisions between the haves and have-nots of history."
Food ProductionFood Production• Food production
often led to o poorer healtho shorter lifespano harder labor for
the majority of people.
Early Plant Early Plant DomesticationDomestication
• Humans unknowingly selected for traits:o seed size, fiber lengtho lack of bitternesso early germinationo selfingo dispersal mutations
• wheat that does not shatter• seeds that stay in pods
http://www.union.ku.edu/traditions/desktops/wheat.JPG
80% of World’s 80% of World’s Production:Production:
• Wheat• Maize• Rice• Barley• Sorghum• Soybean• Potato• Cassava• Sweet potato• Sugar cane• Sugar beet• Banana
Major Domesticated Major Domesticated CropsCrops
• No new plants domesticated in modern times
• All of these domesticated thousands of years ago.
• Need a suite of domesticated plants to make agriculture worko Thus new plants
domesticated where agriculture already successful
Fertile CrescentFertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent Fertile Crescent AttributesAttributes
• Mediterranean climate. • Wild stands of wheat • Hunter/gatherers settled
down here before agriculture, living off grain
• High percentage of self pollinating plants -- easiest to domesticate.
• Of large seeded grass species of the world, 32 of 56 grow here.
• Big animals for domestication: goat, sheep, pig, cow
Meso AmericaMeso America• In Meso America, the
only animals domesticated were turkey and dog
• Maize was slow to domesticate.
• Occurred 5,000 years after domestication of wheat
Big 5 Domesticated Big 5 Domesticated AnimalsAnimals
• Horse• Cow• Pig• Sheep• Goat
• All from Eurasia
Large AnimalsLarge Animals• Of 148 large
herbivorous or omnivorous species in the worldo Eurasia had 72o Africa 51o Americas 24o Australia 1
• Most cannot be domesticated
Why have 134 out of 148 big Why have 134 out of 148 big
species not been domesticated?species not been domesticated?• Diet too finicky
o koala• Growth rate too slow
o elephants, gorillas• Won’t breed in
captivityo cheetah, vicuna
• Nasty Disposition. o grizzly bear, African
buffalo, onager, zebra, hippo, elk
Why have 134 out of 148 big Why have 134 out of 148 big
species not been species not been
domesticated?domesticated?
• Hard to herd (no dominance structure)o deer, antelope
• Tendency to panic. o deer, antelope, gazelles
• Solitary o only cats and ferrets
domesticated
• Territorialo rhino
Easier to spread Easier to spread East-WestEast-West
• It was easier for domestic plants and animals o later, technology like
wheels, writing)
• to spread East-West in Eurasia
• than North- South in Americas.
EvidenceEvidence
• Some crops domesticated independently in both S. America and Meso America o due to slow
spread• lima beans• common beans• chili peppers
EvidenceEvidence• Most crops in
Eurasia domesticated only once.
• Rapid spread preempted same or similar domestication.
• Fertile Crescent crops spread to Egypt, N. Africa, Europe, India and eventually to China.
AfricaAfrica• East-West spread of plants,
animals easier o due to same day-length,
similar seasonal variations. • Temperate N. Africa crops
did not reach S. Africa until colonists brought themo Saharao Tropics
• Tropical crops spread West to East in Africa with Bantu culture, o did not cross to S. Africa due
to climate.
AmericasAmericas• Distance between
cool highlands of Mexico and Andes was only 1,200 miles but separated by low hot tropical region.
• Thus, no exchange of crops, animals, writing, wheel. o Only maize spread.
AmericasAmericas
• It took 2,000 years for maize to cross 700 miles of desert to reach U.S.A.
• It took another 1000 years for maize to adapt to U.S.A. climate to be productive
Not a Cultural IssueNot a Cultural Issue• Some species like cows,
dogs, pigs independently domesticated in different parts of the world. o These animals were well
suited for domestication.
• Modern attempts to domesticate:o eland, elk, moose, musk
ox, zebra, American Bison o are only marginally
successful.