Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel

Jared Diamond explores the history of the world from a unique view. An ecologist and evolutionary biologist himself, he was not particularly trained to examine the world in the way an anthropologist would. This book, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, delves into the known world and societies within it, at least as of 1997. Diamond wanted to uncover why history unfolded differently on the different continents over the last 13 thousand years, but more importantly he wanted to find the answer without saying that some peoples were superior to others. The question that started this adventure was posed to Diamond by a well-respected figure in New Guinean society, Yali. Yali asked Diamond: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo …show more content…
Eurasia has a horizontal axis, its land spread across similar latitudes. This made food production easier because the climates and seasons were similar. In conjunction with its geography, the Eurasian continent had the easiest time sharing and gathering techniques. Food production first formed in societies with access to clean, fresh water, river systems. Continents like Australia, first set back by geographical isolation, lacked these river systems and was therefore late to the game on food production. Other continents, the Americas and Africa, were spread with vertical axes and therefore varying climates and seasons across one continent.
The ability of societies to exchange amongst each other was crucial. Continents that were vertical faced more struggles in trade than those that were horizontal. This diffusion within continents led to Crops were among the exchanges and helped advance individual societies engaged in these exchanges. Societies without food production were left without the resources to advance. Food producing populations could support denser