(insects trilling)
(birds chirping)
- I love watching birds in this place.
I began watching birds
when I was seven years old
in the United States.
I came here when I was 26
years old to New Guinea
and it was love at first sight.
Look, look, look, look, look.
- [Narrator] For much of his life,
Pulitzer Prize Winning author
and National Geographic
Explorer-in-Residence,
Jared Diamond has made
regular trips to New Guinea
for his work involving birds.
Though his studies he became familiar
and friendly with the
people of the island nation.
(speaking foreign language)
- Over the years I've gotten to know
and like thousands of New Guineans.
The name belong again you talk. Name--
- D'yahnai.
- Yahnai?
- D'yahnai.
- I've learned several of their languages
and much of what I know about birds
I picked up from them.
- [Narrator] Infinitely curious
and academically diverse,
Jared's expeditions transitioned
from a focus on birds
to questions about global inequality
and the rise of modern civilizations.
What allows some societies to flourish
while others plateau or disappear?
- [Jared] There have been
people living in New Guinea
for at least for 40,000 years.
They are among the most culturally diverse
and adaptable people in the world.
So why are they so much
poorer than modern Americans?
How did our worlds ever
become so different?
- [Narrator] To understand his
questions about the success
of certain civilizations over others,
Jared needed to examine a time
when there was global balance.
13,000 years ago, before
the rise of civilization
people around the world
lived as hunter-gatherers
in small groups.
These nomads were regularly on the move
building shelters wherever they could find
animals to hunt or plants to gather.
They would stay in one place for months
or sometimes only weeks.
One of the few remaining places
where it's still possible
to find people living
as hunter-gatherers is the
rainforest of Papua New Guinea.
- [Jared] Instead of just
reading about this lifestyle
in archeological books,
I've been lucky enough
to witness it first-hand.
To see for myself how we
all lived 13,000 years ago
and how we found food.
To catch an animal
requires skill, stealth,
and encyclopedic knowledge about
hundreds of animal species.
You have to be pretty
smart to be a hunter.
- [Narrator] Around 10,000
years ago, people here began
manipulating and favoring certain plants.
The way wild plants are adapted
by humans for their own use
is known as domestication.
This development led to early farming
in more permanent communities.
- [Jared] The transition
to farming was clearly
a decisive turning point in human history.
People who remained hunter-gatherers
couldn't produce anywhere
near as much food as farmers,
and also couldn't produce much
food that could be stored.
They were always going to
be at a chronic disadvantage
farming was clearly crucial
to the story of human inequality
but just as important
was the type of farming.
People around the world who had access
to the most productive crops
became the most productive farmers.
Ultimately, it came down
to geographical luck.
- [Narrator] While availability
of productive crops
and livestock are not the only keys
to the success of civilizations.
Jared believes they are
the primary factors.
- [Jared] My years in New
Guinea have convinced me
that people around the world
are fundamentally similar.
Wherever you go you can
find people who are smart,
resourceful, and dynamic.
No society has a monopoly on those trades.
Of course, there are huge
cultural differences,
but they're mainly the
result of inequality
they're not its root cause.
Ultimately, what's far
more important is the hand
that people have been dealt,
the raw materials they've
had at their disposal.
(gentle orchestral music)
