Guns Germs And Steel Discussion Questions

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As questions arose regarding who had superior and power over others, such as the Europeans over New Guineans, scientist Diamond chose to go back in time and start from the beginning to uncover such questions. Geographic luck and access to crops and animals isn’t as simple as it sounds, but it is the ultimate reason there was, and still is power over others. The history of guns, germs, and steel have undeniably shaped the history of the world. Power was defined by race, and western colonials found themselves genetically superior to the native population, which made it only natural that they had so much cargo, and New Guineans so little. Great civilizations have had three things in common: advanced technology, large population, and a well organized workforce. In order to identify what makes a population a part of have and have nots, Diamond needed to identify a time before inequality, before civilizations, and into prehistory.…show more content…
In the middle east, there were lots of forests, trees, and plants. People in the middle east lived like anyone else did at that time-as hunters and gatherers. Wherever the source of food went, they went and made shelter to live in for weeks or months at a time. Diamond was able to see how people lived 13,000 years ago first hand, as people of New Guinea still hunt and gather in the rainforest of Papua. In the middle east, there were different plants to gather, as they had barley and wheat, which is far more plentiful than sago that is found in New Guinea. As the ice age conditions returned, the world became colder and drier, which made animal herds dry off, along with many trees and plants. This drought lasted for 1,000 years, but people still managed to survive even though they had to search longer and farther than before for

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