Guns, Germs, & Steel

Geographic Determinis!
& The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond
 INTRO:
Collision at Cajamarca

• Atahualpa (Inca) vs.

Pizarro (Spaniard)

• Cajamarca, Peru

• Significance?
 INTRO:
Collision at Cajamarca

• Atahualpa (Inca) vs.

Pizarro (Spaniard)

• Cajamarca, Peru

• Significance?
 Collision at Cajamarca
REASONS FOR PIZARRO’S SUCCESS

• Military Technology
(guns, steel weapons,
and horses)

• Infectious diseases
 Collision at Cajamarca
REASONS FOR PIZARRO’S SUCCESS

• Maritime technology

• Centralized political
organization

• Writing
 Chains
of
Causation
 Proximate Causes
“GUNS, GERMS, & STEEL”

• Why Europe (Asia)?

Why NOT America?
East - West Axis

North - South Axis

Ultimate Causes
“FARMER POWER”
 Agriculture & Animals

Agricultural societies Meat from livestock

produce more food and replaces wild meat.
thus more people. Animals also provide
Density also creates power to pull plows and
more possible inventors. fertilizer. Diseases follow.
 World Distribution of
Large-Seeded Grass Species
Area Number of Species
West Asia, Europe, N. Africa 33
East Asia 6
Sub-Saharan Africa 4
Americas 11
Northern Australia 2
TOTAL 56
 World Distribution of
Large-Seeded Grass Species
Area Number of Species
West Asia, Europe, N. Africa 33
East Asia 6
Sub-Saharan Africa 4
Americas 11
Northern Australia 2
TOTAL 56
 Corn niblets vs Chickpeas

• Teosinte
• Ancestor of Maize
• Indian selection
created varieties
 Corn niblets vs Chickpeas

• Chickpea
(Garbanzo bean)

• High in protein
• Edible in original
wild form
 Mammalian Candidates
for Domestication

Eurasia America(s)
Candidates 72 24

Domesticated species 13 1

% of candidates domesticated 18% 4%

 Mammalian Candidates
for Domestication

Eurasia America(s)
Candidates 72 24

Domesticated species 13 1

% of candidates domesticated 18% 4%

 Domestication Dates
(large mammals)
Species Date (B.C.E.) Place

Dog 10,000 SW Asia, China, N.Amer.

Sheep 8,000 SW Asia
Goat 8,000 SW Asia
Pig 8,000 SW Asia, China
Cow 6,000 SW Asia, India
Horse 4,000 Ukraine
Donkey 4,000 Egypt
Water Buffalo 4,000 China?
Llama 3,500 Andes
Bactrian camel 2,500 Central Asia
Arabian camel 2,500 Arabia
 Domestication Dates
(large mammals)
Species Date (B.C.E.) Place

Dog 10,000 SW Asia, China, N.Amer.

Sheep 8,000 SW Asia
Goat 8,000 SW Asia
Pig 8,000 SW Asia, China
Cow 6,000 SW Asia, India
Horse 4,000 Ukraine
Donkey 4,000 Egypt
Water Buffalo 4,000 China?
Llama 3,500 Andes
Bactrian camel 2,500 Central Asia
Arabian camel 2,500 Arabia
 Deadly Gifts
from Our Animal Friends
 Deadly Gifts
from Our Animal Friends
Human Diseas$ Animal Sourc$
Measles cattle (rinderpest)
Tuberculosis cattle
Smallpox cattle (cowpox)
Flu pigs & ducks
Pertussis pigs & dogs
Falciparum malaria birds (chickens & ducks?)
 Conclusion
“Why weren’t the Incas the ones to
invent guns and steel swords, to b%
mounted on animals as fearsome as
horses, to bear diseases to which
Europeans lacked resistance, to
develop oceangoing ships and
advanced political organization,
and to be able to draw on th%
experience of thousands of
years of written history?”