Inequality In Guns, Germs, And Steel By Jared Diamond

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Guns, Germs, and Steel Inequality in the world has stemmed from geographic luck. When an area has a stable food supply, it’s people can spend extra time on inventing new things. Some areas have fertile soil, and crops that are nourishing and easy to harvest. However, other places are not so lucky, with dry soil and crops that have little nutritional value. Jared Diamond, an ecologist and anthropologist, has a theory that all inequality in the world started from the idea of “geographic luck”. Or, the idea that some areas in the world are more adequate than others for a thriving society. From luck in geography comes technological advance and conquest. Along with culture and true human nature, these all further inequality. It was primarily geography …show more content…
In some cases, germs have helped certain societies. Germs from the domesticated animals in Europe made Europeans immune to diseases such as smallpox. However, germs have also hurt many societies. When the Spaniards traveled to the highlands of Peru, they spread smallpox to the native Inca. Peru did not have these domesticated animals, and consequently, their people were not immune. Although it may not have been intentional, germs helped with conquest in many ways. When smallpox spread to the Inca people, it killed off or weakened much of the population, making it easier for the Spaniards to complete a full conquest of the Inca. Germs also have a large role in the development of nations. In pre-colonial Africa, the Bantu had experience with this. The tsetse fly lived in damp areas near the rainforest and carried a disease called trypanosomiasis, which killed many people, and made many more sick. The tsetse fly made people who were settling decide to steer clear of damp areas near rivers or in rainforests in order to stay away from the deadly disease. The germs of the tsetse fly had a role in the development of Africa because it helped to determine where people would settle. Also, because the European colonists did not know about this fly, they settled in the wet areas and got sick. Germs were a significant part of inequality because they helped with the conquest of other societies by weakening

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