Comparing Guns Germs And Steel

There are two different beliefs about what force drives the human-environment relationship and how humans are affected by this relationship: some believe that humans are the driving force and others believe the environment is in control of human actions. Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel believes that the environment determines the course of human history. William Cronon, author of Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, believes that humans have shaped the environment over time. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond looks at the inequality experienced in the world from the perspective that the location of a country determines its wealth. This inequity was spurred when the agricultural revolution began. Some geographic locations possessed greater soil fertility as well as animals that are easier to domesticate and native plants that …show more content…
This can also be traced to inequality between the Native American population and the settlers. When the Europeans arrived, they initiated trade with the Native Americans. In order to keep up with the demand for furs, many species, such as the beaver, became overhunted (Cronon 99). Europeans saw ecosystems as resources and immediately exploited them upon arrival (Cronon 165). Timber was used in abundance because there was a severe shortage in Europe. Wood was used for nearly everything, from fence building to fuel (Cronon 111). Deforestation began to occur at rapid rates. This resulted in land that was hotter in the summer and colder in the winter, lower water holding capacities of the soil, and increased flooding (Cronon 111). Unlike the Native Americans, the Europeans used all of the resources that they could get their hands on. By the middle of the nineteenth century, about three-fourths of southern New England had been deforested (Cronon