Guns, Germs, and Steel Essay
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, attempts to explain why
history progressed differently for people from various geographical regions. Diamond introduces his
book by pointing out that history followed different courses for different people because of
differences among peoples environments, not because of biological differences among people
themselves. Through his convincing explanation for how civilizations were created and evolved
throughout the course of history, he argues that environmental factors gave some societies
advantages over others, allowing them to conquer the disadvantaged societies. While I agree with
Diamond s argument that the orientation of continental axis, availability of potential... Show more
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The establishment of food production proved to be more fulfilling than hunting and gathering since
it reduced the risk of starvation. Despite being provided with some of the advantages that came with
transitioning to agriculture, many regions remained as hunter gatherers. While some areas, such as
the Fertile Crescent and Eurasia, had many advantageous plants and animals that could be
domesticated, other areas, New Guinea, Eastern United States, and Mesoamerica, possessed
limited availability. Some areas are simply not suited to agriculture of any kind, while others may
support some crops that are suitable for domestication but not others. Likewise, while there were
big animals living in several regions, those species were not suitable for domestication since they
did not follow the six requirements, which involved being sufficiently obedient, humble to humans,
cheap to feed, able to breed well in captivity, immune to diseases, able to grow rapidly (Diamond
1999, 169). On the other hand, in some areas, food production developed independently. However,
only a few places developed food production without any outside influence, which included the
Fertile Crescent in western Eurasia, China, the eastern United States, Mesoamerica, and New
Guinea. In the Andes and Amazonians, and three areas of Africa, food production was also
probably an independent development, but there are
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