Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains Jared Diamond's theme in his book that geography determines all of the differences between the world's societies. The author points out that, according to Diamond, geographic factors have been responsible for all historical developments. The paper describes such geographic factors as population size, the transfer of knowledge between continents, the availability of potential crops and domesticated animals and the orientation of continental axis to facilitate the spread of agriculture.

From the Paper:

"In the epilogue of "Guns, Germs and Steel", Yali asks Jared Diamond, "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" This question is answered by Diamond through the theme of his book, for according to Diamond, geography determines all of the differences between the world's societies. Population size in civilizations and diffusion between continents have been determining factors, as the geography of Yali's homeland demonstrates, for it imposed isolation from the rest of civilization and kept the population low, which resulted in a primitive culture in which material progress was not valued or pursued."

More papers on Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel":

• Book Review # 70626 : "Guns, Germs, and Steel"
• Book Review # 97337 : "Guns, Germs and Steel"
• Analytical Essay # 28693 : "Guns, Germs and Steel"

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