Guns Germs And Steel Summary

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In the video of ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel: Part II: Conquest’ Jared Diamond is on a mission to discover just how the Spanish Conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, were so successful in conquering the globe. The Spanish Conquistadors traveled to South America reaching the Inca Empire that stretched from modern day Ecuador all the way to central Chile. The people of the Inca Empire had never seen Europeans before the Spanish Conquistadors had arrived, which was essentially a huge culture and diversity threat. Jared Diamonds theory, as mentioned in the previous episode, is that the conquest of the globe was a primary result of geography. In the New World no horses nor cattle were available to assist with farming, leaving the people to plow their own farms. Because of this …show more content…
He investigated the book, unable to understand a single word, and decided that it was pure nonsense. The Conquistadors were soon called out to kill in combat as a result of the emperor insulting their god. They killed thousands of the Incan’s present in the battle, except for the emperor in which they captured and held captive. In the 16th century, there were no cures for diseases and no way to reverse the spread of any deadly germs or viruses. Twelve years before the Spanish Conquistadors were led to South America by Fransisco Pizarro a Spanish ship sailed to Mexico. On board this ship was a man with signs of a disease called Smallpox, a disease that would spread among thousands of Americans within only weeks upon his arrival. This exposure of Smallpox would be the first deadly disease brought to the American mainland. Any human exposed to Smallpox is extremely contagious and puts many people at risk. This disease soon spread through the Incan Empire making them weaker and easier to prey on by the Spaniards. But why is it that the Europeans brought disease to the Incan’s but the Incan’s did not expose them to any deadly disease or viruses? This was because

Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond discusses the past 13,000 years, and answers many questions posed by historians, and particularly a question posed by a New Guinean politician by the name of Yali, whom Jared Diamond had met by chance in 1972. Yali had asked 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 inspired many others, such as why Europeans and Asians dominated all other cultures…

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Guns Germs And Steel Summary

In Guns, Germs, and Steel the author Jared Diamond aims to demonstrate and support his knowledge and research about human development by stating that the differential development of our society is not due to the intelligence of different people themselves but to the difference in their environment and geographical factors. The main focus of the book is to find a response to a question asked to Diamond by "Yali" a local politician from New Guinea which asked why "white people" (Eurasians) had developed…

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Guns Germs And Steel Summary

Jared Diamond writes about in Guns, Germs, and Steel, the innovation of technology and its connection to the food surplus through advancing the way food is grown. According to Diamond, “Sedentary living was decisive for the history of technology, because it enabled people to accumulate nonportable possessions. Nomadic hunter-gatherers are limited to technology that can be carried. If you move often and lack vehicles or draft animals, you confine your possessions to babies, weapons, and a bare…

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Guns Germs And Steel Summary

Jared Diamond talks about how human civilization became successful because of food using his book called Guns, Germs, and Steel. Humans used the resources of food for the benefits in order to survive. However, humans needed to find the food first and that is why there was more population where food was being grown or stored. Diamond goes further into saying how humans use animals for food and everyday necessities when he wrote, “Crops and livestock yield natural fibers for making clothing, blankets…

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Guns Germs And Steel Summary

their ancestors had. The Maori, became more complex when they came in contact with Europeans, they quickly adopted firearms,and overwhelmed their slower-to-adopt neighbours. Chapter 3: Collision at Cajamarca The Spanish had the advantage of virulent germs—earlier European contact had spread diseases like smallpox, which killed the Inca emperor and his heir, leading to a civil war that destabilized the Inca politically. Spanish firearms, and Spanish horses terrified their opponents, and with the heavy…

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Essay on Guns, Germs, and Steel Chapter by Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 1. The main lesson of chapter one was explaining how humans came to be and major jumps in our development. 2. I agree with diamonds ideas because it is scientifically proven that humans started by evolving from monkeys in Africa 3. That people developed certain things suddenly instead of gradually, that the clovis was responsible for many mass extinctions of large mammals around 11,000 B.C. Chapter 2 1. Looks at the effect of the climate on the civilization being a small group of…

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Guns Germs And Steel Chapter 1-13 Summary

Chapter 1: One day a ship came to coral cove and a tall man with a blonde beard came ashore. Chief Chowig greeted him and exchanged names. The man’s name was Captain Orlov. He and his crew, the Aleuts, came from another island to hunt otter. The deal they made was they would hunter otter and repay the tribe with jewelry and gifts. After watching from a cliff above, Karana returned to her village. Chapter 2: Even though Chowig made the deal he doesn’t trust Captain Orlov. He sends men to spy on…

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AP Euro Notes Essay

Essay #2: Discuss the political development of Italy during the Renaissance. What new political practices (statecraft) did the Italians contribute to Europe? - Machiavelli believed it was better to be feared than loved, which meant he should abandon morals to stay in power. In his The Prince, he says Cesare Borgia is a good ruler, although he uses extreme measures to stay in power. Political activity shouldn’t be restricted by morals. - Machiavelli said there was a gap between how Christianity…

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