Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond. Yalis Question… Why did some peoples develop more cargo than...
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Transcript of Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond. Yalis Question… Why did some peoples develop more cargo than...
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