Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
part 4 around the world in five chapters
summary in this section Diamond applies
the broad patterns he identified in the
first three parts of the book two
specific regional examples he analyzes
the history of New Guinea China and
Africa in contrast with that of Eurasia
he begins with New Guinea and Australia
diamonds vacation in the Australian
desert made him wonder how people native
to this region survived modern humans
probably settled Australia before
settling Western Europe so this is
remarkable with such a head start
diamond prompts us to ask why did
Europeans end up conquering Australia
and not vice versa it is useful to
compare New Guinea with Australia New
Guineans lived at much higher population
densities than Australians because they
were food producers not hunter-gatherers
at first it is hard to understand why
New Guinean innovations did not spread
to Australia which was relatively close
to New Guinea overall however both New
Guinea and Australia would be considered
backward by modern people some white
Australians believe this is because the
Aborigines are genetically inferior but
diamond approves this illogical by
explaining the history of Australia and
New Guinea human societies in Australia
and New Guinea came from Asian societies
but then developed in isolation they are
a good example of how environmental
differences can cause genetically
identical peoples to develop very
differently over time New Guineans and
Australians diverged genetically from
their Asian ancestors and from each
other this change reveals the very
different environments in which these
groups of people developed New Guinea is
a very fertile place
thanks to volcanic activity glaciers
that continue to advance and go back and
mountain streams that brought silt to
the lowlands Australia on the other hand
has one of the oldest and most infertile
soils of any continent because it lacked
these ancient geographical features
these environmental differences shaped
the two differing cultural histories New
Guinea was an independent origin of
plant domestication thanks to its
fertile soil it went on to develop the
most advanced technology social and
political organization and art in
Greater Australia but why did New
Guineans continue to use stone tools
instead of developed metal ones why did
New Guineans not learn to read and write
and not organized into chiefdoms and
States first there was no animal
domestication in there food production
system so there was very little protein
in their diet the people therefore did
not have a lot of muscle power to
cultivate complex crops because of the
lack of animal domestication New
Guineans also did not have epidemic
diseases like those in Europe as a
result they did not develop immunity
they also had limited available area
when compared to Eurasia which meant
their population density was low the
terrain was challenging and there were
often Wars between different bands this
led to social fragmentation furthermore
New Guinea was geographically isolated
which prevented it from receiving
technology and ideas like Eurasia did
New Guinea was advanced compared to the
rest of Australia thanks to its
environmental advantages but it also had
a number of disadvantages when compared
to Eurasia which kept it relatively
primitive for in comparison to Eurasian
societies New Guineans were lucky
compared to Native Americans however
European germs did not kill them as much
because there were no permanent European
settlements in New Guinea until the
1880s by that time medicine could
control such diseases however Europeans
often suffered from the tropical
diseases that existed in New Guinea also
their crops did not do well in the
rugged terrain
for these reasons Europeans eventually
left New Guinea they did colonize
Australia though because it was suitable
for European food production and
settlement and because European Guns
Germs and Steel were more effective in
getting Aborigines out of the way
Australia did not have as many serious
diseases to threaten Europeans like New
Guinea did in fact Europeans con alized
Australia earlier than new Guinea which
meant they did introduce some diseases
that helped them to decrease the
aboriginal population it is important to
understand that white English colonists
were not the ones who created a literate
food producing industrial democracy in
Australia they imported these elements
from outside Australia and were lucky
that they could work Europeans have
never learned how to independently
survive in Australia or New Guinea
without bringing over their own
technology in this way they did not have
as many skills as native Australians and
New Guineans China is also an
interesting case because it has been so
massive from the start of its recorded
history actually China was once diverse
but was unified much earlier than most
other nations China became Chinese by
homogenizing the huge region by
repopulating tropical Southeast Asia and
by influencing Japan Korea and even
India China was one of the world's first
centers of plant and animal
domestication it possibly had two or
more independent centers of food
production this helped it to become very
dominant
an early stage it developed a single
writing system that spread throughout
the area other nations did make cultural
contributions to East Asia of course and
their influence is important but China's
influence was much much greater as a
result the country seems especially
unified today in Polynesia the role of
food production in human population
movement is clear Austronesian expansion
in New Guinea was opposite to that of
Indonesia in Indonesia the indigenous
population disappeared
probably because invaders arrived with
deadly weapons and diseases however in
New Guinea locals were able to keep
invaders out the Austronesian invaders
were the same in both cases and the
people from New Guinea Indonesia and the
Philippines were also genetically
similar geography explains the
difference in outcomes Indonesia was
thinly occupied by hunter-gatherers who
didn't even have stone tools while in
New Guinea food production had already
been established for many years
austronesians did not have many
advantages in competing with the New
Guinean population thus they were able
to triumph over native Indonesians but
not over native New Guineans in part for
Diamond also returns to the gap between
Native Americans and Europeans that he
first explored in the beginning of the
texts he applies the lessons from the
previous three sections to explain that
variations in food production also
explains Americas disadvantages even in
areas where agriculture was supported it
had major disadvantages dependence on
protein poor corn hand planting of
individual seeds instead of ploughing
with domesticated animals lack of animal
manure to increase soil fertility and
lack of animal muscle power for
agricultural work
these differences in food production
were the ultimate cause of the gap
proximate factors included germs
technology political organization and
writing in terms of Technology
Native Americans lacked metals used for
tools in Eurasian societies strong
military technology sources of power for
operating machines and sea transport all
of these disadvantages helped Eurasians
to conquer the Americas and not the
other way around
overall important developments in
America happened later because of a
later start limited number of wild
animals and plants available for
domestication greater barriers to
diffusion and smaller or more isolated
areas of human population in fact
Eurasians first tried to colonize the
Americas around 1300 C II when Norse
peoples traveled to North America this
first attempt failed because the harsh
climate killed the Eurasians the second
Eurasian attempt succeeded because it
involved a source latitude and time that
made Europe's advantages very effective
circumstances were important to deciding
the success or failure of a conquest
finally diamond asks why people tend to
think native Africans are all black in
fact very different peoples occupied
much of modern black Africa until a few
thousand years ago even African blacks
are all very heterogeneous these diverse
peoples resulted from Africa's diverse
geography and long prehistory blacks
became the most widespread rather than
the four other groups that existed there
thanks to their ability to better
subjugate these other peoples some
people were luckier than others because
of the available domestic animal wild
plant
animal species in their environment
these lucky Africans were able to use
these to their advantage over all Africa
did have a number of disadvantages
relative to aresia however these
included a lack of domestic animals and
plants a smaller area and a different
axis orientation because of these
factors aerations were able to colonize
africa this happened after some Africans
subjugated others on the continent
geography and biogeography were the
deciding factors of African history
