Jared Diamond Research Paper

Have you ever wondered why some countries stayed with the same technology they had thousands of years ago while others rose to global empires with technology that exceeds even our own imaginations? Jared Diamond has a theory. Diamond believes that these global inequalities boil down to geographic luck. He believes that areas and civilization that had a greater variety of animals, crops and fertile soil had an advantage over those who had less, for example, if an area had little nutrients in the soil, the civilization living there would have to work harder to grow crops, which in turn, would slow the technological progress of that civilization and if the area had lots of nutrients in the soil, they wouldn't have to work as hard, leading to less …show more content…
When man first had the notion of bringing their food, plants and animals, to them instead of hunting and gathering, it was the start of a huge development in human history. Livestock provided people with milk, which is a source of protein, hide and wool, can be used for clothing and shelter, dung, used as fertilizer, transportation, meat, which is a portable food source, trade and a workforce. Crops provided people with a constant source of food and a type of food that could last for years and could be easily stored. This meant that food could now be collected in mass amounts and stored for a long time and that people could have more time for thinking and inventing, instead of working. Geography plays a significant role in global inequality, for instance, if an animal can survive in one place, it could presumably survive in another area with the same latitude because two places that share the same latitude have a similar landscape, temperature, climate and species of animals. This made trade easier for country's close to each other and it also made it easier for ideas and crops to spread, but only to some countries. That is Jared Diamon's …show more content…
In the video, it gives an example of how people in Papua New Guine live currently. The New Guineans are still hunter/gathers as they were thousands of years ago. The women cut down certain trees and harvest the softer center to make bread. the process from tree to bread is long and the minute supply of trees hinders them. There are almost no other ways to gather food in the forest, because the plants aren't fruit bearing or are poisonous. Another way they make food is by growing crops. This is also very slow because it is all done by hand. Horses, cattle and other powerful beasts did not spread to this region. They do have pigs but they aren't a great advantage. Without horses to pull a plow, they have to do it themselves, thus taking more and more effort to survive. Men hunt and scavenge but it isn't a constant source of food. The people of Papua New guinea are an example of geographic luck and how the world is filled with inequalities. Now if we take a look at the United States of America, we probably waste more food in day than the people of Papua New Guinea make in a week. Our myriad of surplus food, allows people to waste a lot, but it also allows people to have time to invent and imagine new, easier ways of doing things. Many animals and crops spread into our area in early time, but if they hadn't our country would most likely never have become what it is today. Corn