More handpicked essays just for you.
What is jared diamond's thesis or argument in guns, germs, and steel
What is jared diamond's thesis or argument in guns, germs, and steel
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
According to Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, there are many types of agricultural areas that impacted the amount of food being grown, which is shown through the four original domestic animals. The author wrote in his book, “In contrast, four species of big mammals- the goat, sheep, pig, and cow- were domesticated very early in the Fertile Crescent, possibly earlier than any other animal except the dog anywhere else in the world. Those species remain today four of the world’s five most important domesticated mammals. But their wild ancestors were commonest in slightly different parts of the Fertile Crescent, with the result that the four species were domesticated in different places: sheep possibly in the central part, goats either
o They grow crops and have herds yet are all based on kinship and are don't have developed markets or governments.
I first read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel in the Fall 2003 based on a recommendation from a friend. Many chapters of the book are truly fascinating, but I had criticisms of the book back then and hold even more now. Chief among these is the preponderance of analysis devoted to Papua New Guinea, as opposed to, say, an explanation of the greatly disparate levels of wealth and development among Eurasian nations. I will therefore attempt to confine this review on the "meat and potatoes" of his book: the dramatic Spanish conquest of the Incas; the impact of continental geography on food production; and finally, the origins of the Eurasian development of guns, germs, and steel. In terms of structure, I will first summarize the book's arguments, then critically assess the book's evidentiary base, and conclude with an analysis of how Guns, Germs, and Steel ultimately helps to address the wealth question.
Domesticated animals play an important role in the Neolithic period . We know of domesticated goats , pigs and cows in Crete since 6,000 BC by Bone artefacts . Indeed, from then until the modern era there is a widely usage of goats in Crete .
land by adapting well with the elements around them. They were able to use the one living animal that
After migrating from urban centers to nearby mountainous valley regions, Jewish migrants faced arid and semi-arid land that was unsuitable for agriculture. Negligible rainfall and extreme evaporation rendered conventional growing methods impractical and useless. Building on the agricultural innovations of ancient Mesopotamia, those living in the Negev desert region so too developed systems of river and flood management, as well as water conservation, for agricultural use. These ancient farmers faced limited cultivation capabilities as a result of a harsh semi-arid climate, but were able to sustain populations by taking advantage of natural watersheds provided by geologic formations such as hills, mountains, and valleys, as well as intervening
The homelands of these agricultural societies were located in regions to which domesticable species were native and numerous, the most well-known being the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East. Diamond (2002) defines a domesticate as “a species bred in captivity and thereby modified from its wild ancestors in many ways making it more useful to humans.” He goes on to explain the shared characteristics of domesticated animals, which include decreased brain size and sensory organs that were less fine-tuned, and plants – stalks that are preven...
So the Indus Valley is a once highly populated location of agricultural origin that was for the most part overcome by the elements. Agriculture first appeared in the area within the last 3000 years and though technological innovations were undertaken to try and control the geographic features of the region, they were for the most part unsuccessful. Plants and animals were domesticated in the region, examples including emmer and einkorn wheat and horses and sheep. The 3000 year old site of Harappa is important because when the river swelled it usually started here and created damage to agriculture further downstream. So the Indus Valley is a location of agricultural origin important to understanding the beginnings of agriculture.
They used irrigation to stretch these rivers’ waters into farmland. Because these rivers regularly overflowed, floodplains were transformed into rich, fertile farmland. With the irrigation technique, the Fertile Crescent saw rise in engineering advances such as canals and dams. Irrigation was usually used in dry parts of Mesopotamia because areas near the rivers and the sea already had extremely fertile soil that was “made up of rich mud brought down by the rivers from the mountains” (“Ancient”). Moreover, the Fertile Crescent had a variety of altitudes and geography, which contributed to diversity in crops and animals. Big mammals, such as the goat, sheep, pig, and the cow were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent (Diamond 141). The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as Harappa, had rather different geographical features than Mesopotamia. Harappa also had two rivers that surrounded them, which were the Indus and the Ganges. Its rich agricultural lands were surrounded by highlands, desert, and ocean. The
The lower the level of agricultural development, the less important cattle are as a producer of meat, and the more important sheep (and goats) become as a source of meat.
“Currently 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used directly or indirectly for animal production. In the US over half the total land mass is used for the production of meat and dairy products” (Clarke).
The environment in different parts of the world made agriculture a lot easier or harder. From agriculture you will develop specialization’s that will help your civilization succeed and gain power over others. Many civilizations spread out West / East instead of North / South. In spreading from East/West you will see that there is going to be the same amount of day length, same seasonal variations, share similar diseases, same temperature and share the same habits or biomes. All of these factors played a big role in the way plants germinated and this lead to the domestication of different types of plants. Diamonds says,” That’s part of the reason why fertile Crescent domesticated spread west to east so rapidly, they were already well adapted to the climates of the regions to which they where spreading”(Diamond 185). This helped out civilizations to grow more crops for different kinds of purposes (Olives for oil) and to gain food surplus over other civilizations, which leads to greater specializations and advancements. ...
A lot of people don’t know what the term animal husbandry actually means. Through my research I have come to define it as the care for and breeding of animals. Animal husbandry has been practiced since the age of the Neolithic Revolution. It is still being done today and probably will still be done in the future. Today animal husbandry is very common and is actually a great way to make a living. A variety of animals can be domesticated and used for the practice of animal husbandry. It is a misconception that animal husbandry is only for the use of agricultural or farm animals. Domestication goes hand in hand with animal husbandry but animal husbandry does not always require domestication. In this paper I will be displaying animal husbandry from 1 BC and before, 0-1000 AD, 1000-1800 AD, and 1800 AD – Present times.
Farming has been an occupation since 8,500 B.C. On that year in the Fertile Crescent farming first began when people grew plants instead of picking them in the wild. Then nearly 5,000 years later oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs were domesticated. During the middle ages, the nobles divide their land into three fields. The reasoning for this was to plant two and leave one to recover. This was the start of crop rotation which is a big part of farming today. Burning down forest and then moving to another area is a farming technique used by the Mayans called Slash and burn. Mayan farmers also were able to drain swampy areas to farm them buy building canals. In 1701 Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and a horse drawn how that tilled the land. In Denmark they would plant turnips in the previously unplanted field. The turnips help restore the nutrients in the ground thus crop rotation is born. In England people began moving there fields closer to each other for a more efficient way of planting. Later in the 18th century selective breeding was introduce which made bigger, stronger, and more milk producing livestock. In the mid 1800’s a steam plough was invented. By the 1950 tractors, milking machines, and combines were used by almost farmers. The latest f...
The agricultural transformation was the beginning of new way of life; it modified the way we lived and continues to affect us even in today’s society. It began when hunter-gatherer groups in Mesopotamia and in the New World started to settle in single places instead of continuously roaming in search of food. The ability to store food brought on Settling and some other new customs such as using more advance stages of preparing food (grinding grains), and eventually the early stages of agriculture. Originally nomadic foragers would follow herds of sheep and goat and eventually started to domesticate the herd animals around 12,000 years ago.
The local people are well aware about the importance of seeds and their correlation with the production of crops. It is found that most of the people relied on this practice not only for living but also for the believe and knowledge of agriculture and the better methods of their forefathers. Traditional people used cows when ploughing and it would take all most the whole day cultivating approximately 3000 square metre yard. Traditional farmers had the knowledge of seasons, and which crop to grow in a which season, which might favour the rate at which the crops grow. Consequently, this increased the chances of harvesting good and fresh crops that would keep people healthy. Those days, farmers had no fertilisers, but believed that animal wastes, dead crops, and dead animals make the soil rich for crops, seeds and plants’ growing. There were no sterilizers hence they had bad production when it comes to the time they harvest. Traditional farmers or households had less access to different types of crops, and thus hinders them to a successful