How Did Steel Influence The Development Of Civilization

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Recommended: In what ways did geography influence the historical development of civilizations

The fourth factor is steel. Steel was able to help develop and destroy civilizations. Geography determines the climate and the ability to have a surplus of food, it also determines the types of available natural resources. There are five requirements to make steel, you need to have a large quantity of iron ore, carbon-rich forests or just carbon, ability to have a long-lasting fire that can burn for days and you need specialists. To have specialists, you need to have a stable food supply so that people can focus on developing. The people of Europe were able to create steel because of geography. Other civilizations had all the right natural resources to create steel, but either their climate or their food supply prevented them from creating …show more content…

Many inventions would not have been possible without steel. For example, the printing press, trains, tracks, weapons such as guns, cannons, swords, armor, ships or warships and more. Steel can be used to transport supplies and natural resources that can be used to help the civilization develop and help build empires. On the other hand, it can be a deadly technology, for example the conflict between the the Spanish soldiers and the Incan empire. Like many European civilizations, Spain had steel and the Incan Empire on the West coast of South America didn’t. The only reason why the Incas didn’t have steel was because they didn’t have iron ore in the region. Because of this, the Spanish Conquistadors that consisted of less than 200 men were able to decimate and conquer the whole empire of hundreds of thousands on their own. Because of the European imperialistic ambitions, the region is behind in development because of being conquered for many years. Because of the geography of the Europeans continent, there are many civilizations jostling for power and …show more content…

Geography is the reason for this inequality because it has given civilizations advantages over other civilizations. Some civilizations were able to develop faster than others which resulted in the decimation of other civilizations and the appropriation of their resources which caused civilizations to be behind in development. The advantages helped civilizations develop, increase their wealth and their military might. The civilizations that had disadvantages were easier for the more advanced cultures to conquer.The four factors agriculture, domesticated animals, germs and steel have made a great impact on the development of civilizations. The people in places like Eurasia were very lucky to be geographically located where they could have good crops and with productive domesticated animals were able to grow a surplus of food. The people in places like Papua New Guinea were not so lucky since they couldn’t domesticate any animals or have a stable food source which led to them falling behind the rest of the world. Because the people of Eurasia have domesticated animals and a stable food supply, this led to the invention of steel. While the specialists in Europe were producing steel, they were also developing a natural immunity to diseases that came from their domesticated animals. The European’s immunity to germs and access to steel weapons allowed them to decimate a whole empire with

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