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

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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.