One of the over-arching questions, often pondered by many, revolves around why the Europeans exceeded in conquering the planet as opposed to other counties and civilizations. Despite scientific conclusions of non-racial reasons for varying economic developments among continents, many individuals often believe in the idea of a “superior race” and acknowledge the success of the European colonization to their race. Along with race, cultural and historical aspects also come into play for certain historians and researchers. In the novel Guns, Germ and Steel: The fates of human societies, written by Jared Diamond – the focus on race as a major factor is not considered, and instead concentrates on environmental factors, ultimately proposing that differences between various continents is completely ecological. From start to finish, Diamond strives to answer the questions around why history had such different outcomes on different continents.
While in New Guinea Diamond would became completely invested and found an appreciation for the various Indigenous people he interacted with. There he would meet Yali, a New Guinea native and would become captivated with the question that he 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?” (Pg. 14, 1997). The cargo that is referred to by Yali is actually technology, including various tools such as axes; accessories such as umbrellas; and other complex inventions such as medicines. Diamond indicates that only two centuries ago, before meeting his friend Yali, most indigenous people of New Guinea still used stone tools “Two centuries ago, all New Guineans were still ‘living in the Stone Age’. That is, they still used stone tools similar to those superseded in Europe by metal tools thousands of years ago, and they dwelt in villages not organized under any centralized political authority” (Pg.14 1997) What aspects of development allowed for the economic success of one group to form and not of the others? Together with surveying history over many generational years, and viewing the distribution and migration of early humans from areas such as Africa and Asia, Pacific islands to Siberia and the South American continent, Diamond sought out to find answers. Diamond also focused his attention on figuring out whether or not one group of people were smarter than the other. Why was there such a discrepancy in the goods and resources produced by varying continents? To further explore the variances between cultures, Diamond focused on the effects of food production, writing, technology, government, and religion. In the end Diamond concluded that geography, as opposed to biology or race, produced continental discrepancies, bringing forth controversy in comparison to other studies. Diamond discusses that adopting the agriculture lifestyle, by growing plants and raising animals was the definitive aspect that brought forth difference among nations. Typically Eurasians happened to inherit more species of large animals than did other people of the other areas “Eurasian peoples happened to inherit more species of domesticatable large wild mammalian herbivores than did other people of the other continents. That outcome, with all of its momentous advantage for Eurasian societies, stemmed from three basic facts of mammalian geography, history and biology.” (Pg. 174 1997). Different cities and countries also have very different distribution among peoples and continents. Diamond explains this by focusing on the more ancient revolution in consumerism. Industrialization trailed the steps and followed food production and trade.
In this book there are four over-arching explanations as to why Europeans gained and maintained power; conquering the natives of North and South America, and not the other way around. One of these was the availability of plants and animals for domestication, allowing for higher food production and consequently able to sustain a larger population. Similarly, the variance and distribution of agriculture, technology and new ideas compared to the outline of Europe and Asia only lead to further growth. Back in Eurasia, the simplicity of large-scale trade and travel between Europe, and other continents kept the higher ups in control. Lastly, the variation in continental size, led to variances in overall population size and technology dispersion, added to the maintenance of power. Some of the crucial arguments that Diamond brings back throughout his book are that agriculture and domesticating wildlife encourage an economically secure civilization, which is often absent in societies that are largely hunter-gatherer.
Some individuals can take what Diamond says in the duration of his book to be offensive, however Diamond goes on to respond to critics of his book and attend to questions of concerns of readers. He explains that he could be misunderstood when stating that he praises the Europeans for their maintenance of power through their conquests. However, Diamond strongly suggests he is not idolizing anyone, rather he is simply validating what had occurred, and why it had occurred the way it did. Diamond clarifies that he’s simply explaining, not criticizing or glamorizing anything or anyone. In his work, there are some parts where his point of view becomes very clear – his disgust with the European colonial racism and prejudice. However, Diamond’s tends to keep a methodical and unbiased narrative. Another aspect critics may misunderstand to think it is true, is that Diamond is claiming that the hunter-gatherer culture is lesser to agricultural advancements in other cultures. Agriculture has becomes the utmost effective and main way to obtain food in this day and age, adding to his theory of geographical reasons for disparity – a scientific validation of his thinking. However Diamond also explains that the hunter-gatherer would have been more advantageous in other region at a certain time. Diamond never goes on to say that one type of social group is better than another.
Jared Diamond’s central focus is to discard any racial explanation of the apparent differences in material culture between different regions of the planet. “In short, Europe’s colonization of Africa had nothing to do with difference between European and African people themselves, as white racists assume. Rather, it was due to accidents of geography and biogeography- in particular, to the continents’ different area, axes, and suite of wild plant and animal species” (Pg. 401, 1997). Diamond argues that there is no basic distinction in intellect or superiority among different races. Individuals who are living in New Guinea are able to survive and flourish in detrimental conditions and are therefore more likely to be better equipped and intelligent in those environments than individuals living a safe life in other continents, since survival is a guarantee. Diamond explains in the following quote, how something one is not used to or equipped for, such as Eurasian germs being spread to the local natives, whether insignificant or severely detrimental, can have a ever-lasting impact on a society “The main killer were Old World germs to which Indians had never been exposed, and against which they therefore had neither immune nor genetic resistance” (Pg. 212, 1997). Disregarding racist descriptions for alleged variations in intellect is the key here, Diamond argues. More specifically, that difference in geography and environment united with periods of conquest and combats and outbreaks, makeup the differences of continents across the world.
When asked to summarize his book in one sentence, Diamond said “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves” (Pg. 25, 1997). Diamond relates societal success to geography, food production, immunity to germs and the domestication of animals for agriculture. Diamond was able to create an intelligible and understandable narrative, which allows the reader to not only conceptualize his view but fully comprehend its reasoning as well. Every time the question regarding disparity among populations across the world is raised, Diamond’s book will have material that can shed light on controversial and misunderstood issues The argument prepared and presented in Jared Diamonds work holds sincere value and does a well- attempted job at expressing evidence to support his idea. Overall, he makes a forceful and valuable point that the mere reason why certain continents obtained great societal success was due to their specific environment, resistance to germs, domestication of animals, food production and use of material products, such as steel.
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