Geographic Luck

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Life_Expectancy_2008_Estimates_CIA_World_Factbook.png

The Question

Why do areas like North America, Europe, and Asia have so much technological development and wealth while huge continents like Africa have high rates of poverty and disease and remain relatively undeveloped?

“Guns, Germs, and Steel”

by Jared Diamond

The Answer (according to Jared Diamond)

Geographic luck

Some countries developed more rapidly than others and were then able to expand and conquer much of the world because of geographic luck.

Year 10,000 BC• The world is equal

• We are all Hunter and Gathers– Hunting our food– Gathering from the land what we can– Moving to find food

Advanced Civilizations require

• Advanced technology

• Large populations

• Specialized workforce

QUESTION: Are Hunter/Gatherers “advanced civilizations”?

Hunter/Gatherers Agricultural SocietyThe road to “advanced civilization”

• Get more food than you need, store it for later

• Settle down and Build cities• Not everyone has to be a farmer• Development of “specialists” within the

civilization who develop the technologies necessary to make these civilizations more profitable, stronger, and more powerful than others around them

Two things needed for Agriculture:

1. cultivating specific crops

2. the domestication of certain animals

Crops: grows easily, stores over time, a lot of nutrients. Two examples: wheat and barley

Domesticate animals: to help you do work, in particular farming

Video - Animals

10,000 years to domesticate animals2 Millions animals; 148 are domesticated

• QUESTION: Of the 148, how many animals have been domesticated to do farming?

• QUESTION: Where do you find these animals?

• #5 – 3:30 – 4:52• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0edh5Itvhy8

Earliest development of people who go from Hunter/Gatherers to Agricultural

Society

• The Fertile Crescent

Why here?

• Geographic Luck

• Best place for native crops and native animals

Video – Spread of Agriculture leads to a head start for some cultures

• Question: What happened to the Fertile Crescent?

• Question: How does latitude affect what happens in Europe and USA?

• Discussion: Egypt

• #6: 0:30 – 5:29• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBHs_1_xCN8

What happened to the Fertile Crescent?

• Destroyed the environment– Use all water– Cut down the trees– Over farmed

Latitude – similar climate– moved crops and animals and still prospered

Egypt

• Growth of population

• Specialized workforce (scribes, engineers)

• Technology

What have we learned?Hunter/Gatherers Agricultural Society• The cultures who make this move first have

an advantage

Why do some make this move before others?• Geographic Luck• The natural resources plus the native

species and climate provided by their geography led some cultures to become more agricultural and less dependent on hunting and gathering.

Jared Diamond’s Theory

Diamond asserts that those living in temperate climates with indigenous plants and animals that could be domesticated were more likely to develop advanced civilizations.

Next comes: Guns, Germs and Steel