Jared Diamond explores the history of the world from a unique view. An ecologist and evolutionary biologist himself, he was not particularly trained to examine the world in the way an anthropologist would. This book, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, delves into the known world and societies within it, at least as of 1997. Diamond wanted to uncover why history unfolded differently on the different continents over the last 13 thousand years, but more importantly he wanted to find the answer without saying that some peoples were superior to others. The question that started this adventure was posed to Diamond by a well-respected figure in New Guinean society, Yali. Yali asked Diamond: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had so little cargo of our own?” From this one question, Jared Diamond dedicated himself to solving the greatest mystery of mankind. The answer to Yali’s question was not a single factor, but rather several factors, none of which were the people themselves. The most influential factor lies with the development of food production. When a society begins to advance, one of the first tasks it must accomplish is sustaining or advancing the population. The beginning of food production began as a by-product of unconscious decisions. Many of these decisions were made because of cultural preferences, the need to find a status within society, and the basic lifestyles. At the same time food producers were arising, hunter-gatherer societies were still existing with few problems. The factors that tipped the competitive advantage away from the hunter0gatherer lifestyle towards food production may include a decline in the availability of wild foods, possibly food crisis, an increase in domesticable wild plants, the development of technology, and the link between increasing population density and the need for food production. Together these factors make a sedentary lifestyle supported by food production, rather than a roaming hunter-gatherer lifestyle, the advanced lifestyle. However, food production did not just appear magically one day. In fact, it seems likely that in the beginning the domesticated plants were evolved by accident. Many of the first domestic sites were found around latrine areas. People are innately selective. If a nut or berry has an ill flavor or makes them sick, it is ignored and those which are sweeter tend to be preferred. The seeds from these sweet foods are the ones that humans then select to plant, or at least would become such. When looking at specific domestication of plants, the pea shows the easiest turn of events. When a pea plant drops a pod, in order to spread its seeds the pod must burst open. When the pod does not burst open that line of mutated plant would eventually die out. However, when man came by and saw the unopened pods, they took them with as food. Over time, the mutated pea plants became the more abundant species. Mankind turned natural selection completely around and created the first major agricultural improvement. Not all plants are able to domesticated and not all continents had the same concentration of domesticable plants. The same applies
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Eurasia has a horizontal axis, its land spread across similar latitudes. This made food production easier because the climates and seasons were similar. In conjunction with its geography, the Eurasian continent had the easiest time sharing and gathering techniques. Food production first formed in societies with access to clean, fresh water, river systems. Continents like Australia, first set back by geographical isolation, lacked these river systems and was therefore late to the game on food production. Other continents, the Americas and Africa, were spread with vertical axes and therefore varying climates and seasons across one continent.
The ability of societies to exchange amongst each other was crucial. Continents that were vertical faced more struggles in trade than those that were horizontal. This diffusion within continents led to Crops were among the exchanges and helped advance individual societies engaged in these exchanges. Societies without food production were left without the resources to advance. Food producing populations could support denser
Eurasia has a horizontal axis, its land spread across similar latitudes. This made food production easier because the climates and seasons were similar. In conjunction with its geography, the Eurasian continent had the easiest time sharing and gathering techniques. Food production first formed in societies with access to clean, fresh water, river systems. Continents like Australia, first set back by geographical isolation, lacked these river systems and was therefore late to the game on food production. Other continents, the Americas and Africa, were spread with vertical axes and therefore varying climates and seasons across one continent.
The ability of societies to exchange amongst each other was crucial. Continents that were vertical faced more struggles in trade than those that were horizontal. This diffusion within continents led to Crops were among the exchanges and helped advance individual societies engaged in these exchanges. Societies without food production were left without the resources to advance. Food producing populations could support denser