Guns Germs and Steel Part 1 Flashcards
What question was Jared Diamond looking to answer at the beginning of the movie?
what separates the haves from the have nots, how have guns germs and steel shaped the world
where inequality came from
What does Jared refer to the people of New Guinea as?
“among the world’s most culturally diverse and adaptable people in the world”, yet they have much less than modern Americans.
What question was asked to Jared Diamond?
Why do white men have so much cargo and New Guineans have so little?
cargo
term used to describe material goods 1st brought to their country by westerners
cargo was regarded as a symbol of white mans power, treated with religious reverance
answer to question was rooted in inequality
How did Westerners believe power was determined?
believed power was determined by race and saw themselves as genetically superior and thought it was fair that they had so much cargo and the indigenous people did not
Jared Diamond asks why did these people not develop good tools build big cities or other things of modern civilization
why during ancient times did some societies progress faster than others
egyptians built pyramids and why did Greeks develop great civilization
What things did all great civilizations have in common?
advanced technology, large pop, well organized work force
How did people in the middle east function at 1st?
ppl in middle east lived as hunter gathers; mobile always on the move making shelters wherever they could find animals
What was the fundamental problem with hunting?
fundamental problem of hunting is that it has never been productive way of finding food; takes time hard with bow and arrow
What did socities rely on due to unproductivty of hunting?
b/c hunting is unpredictable traditional societies relied on gathering
gathering is done by women
Was gathering a productive way of finding food?
doesn’t provide enough calories to huge pop
lots of physical work for not enough yield
this is why hunter gather pop are so small; low on protein, and also the sago can’t be stored for a long time.
Which crops were grown in the middle east?
barley and wheat; more plentiful and nutritious then sego
Who were the worlds 1st farmers and why?
evidence of this shown in the movie
stone age people in the middle east
during drought ppl started growing their own food
stayed close to any water and planted fields of wheat and barley rather then following the food
site in Jordan; draw
one of the earliest villages in the world
series of oval huts
1st time ppl settled down
emerged at same time as end of drought
had worlds 1st granary; oval shaped mud wall building at centre of village stored wheat and barley for years
domestication
way crops are changed by human interference
What disadvantge did hunter gatherers have over farmers?
ppl that remained hunter gatherers couldn’t produce enough food as farmers couldn’t produce much food that could be stored.; always at disadvantage
What parts of the ancient world developed agriculture and what were their crops?
Asia grew rice, the Americas grew corn, squash and the Middle East grew wheat and barley
What pattern did Jared Diamond see related to farming and civilizations
Pattern; wherever farming emerged a large advanced civilization followed exception was the highlands of New Guinea;
Why was that even though people in the highlands of New Guinea were farmers they didn’t have advanced civilizations or produce their own cargos?
their farming was based on taro crops which is more work have to be planted one by one can’t be stored for long and low in protein
bananas
What was another crucial factor to inequality in the world?
Farming was crucial to inequality but the type of farming was just as imp.
ppl that had access to the most productive crops became most productive farmers
Geographical LUCK
due to the crops we eat
Americans hd adv. over new guineans bc they grew crops that were more productive and nutritious
but this idea seemed to simple that it was bc of the plants we ate that the world is divided into haves and have nots
domestication of animals
controlling where the animals are moving, their feeding and breathing
What benefits did domesticated animals prodive to early socities?
animals could be used for milk and meat, hair for clothes
animals and plants were mutually beneficial to each other
ploughs were attached to animals to produce more food; could feed more ppl
Which communities domesticated animals?
communities that had cultivated crops were the ones that began domesticating animals as well
What were the 1st animals to be domesticated?
goats and sheep
why’ didn’t new guineans domesticate animals?
the only big domestic animal in New Guinea was the pig, and it wasn’t even native
pigs do give you meat, but pigs don’t give milk, or wool, or leather or hides, and most important of all, pigs can’t be used for muscle power – pigs don’t pull ploughs or pull carts. The only muscle power in New Guinea was human muscle powe
Why haven’t elephants in Africa been domesticated?
elephants were farmed bc it doesn’t make economic sense bc they mature later on
What makes animals best for domestication?
animals that are good candidates for domestication start reproducing early have one ore more offspring a year; more productive social animals and a internal hierarchy, domesticate animals need to get along with humans that’s why zebras aren’t used
List the 12 domesticated animals
EXAM QUESTION
Goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, Bactrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithans, and bali cattle
ancestry of all domesticated animals are from Asia Europe and north africa
List the 4 big livestock animals
cows, pigs, sheep and goats, were native to the Middle East.
Fertile crescent
-middle east was home to best crops and animals in the world;
Why did people in the fertile cresent have a head start?
ppl were geographically blessed
began making actual homes
How were people in the middle east able to adavnce their society and develop advanced tools?
villages grew bigger more ppl to work on land more ppl could produce more food that can support specialists within the community
b/c not everyone had to farm ppl could learn new skill and produce new technology, making plaster from limestone, learning to work with fire
Why did people in New Guniea never develop advanced technology?
his required that the other people in the community were able to make enough food surplus of food to sustain the community but the agriculture was not productive enough result was no specialists no metal workers so no metal tools
**
Ppl in new guinea didn’t advance technologically bc they spent to much time feeding themselves
then westerners arrived and used their technology to colonize **
Fertile Crescent is not the powerhouse of the modern world, nor is it the bread basket it once was. How did it lose its head start?
The Fertile Crescent had a dry climate and a fragile environment. The people of the time did not have conservation methods. Instead, they over-exploited the land and environment.
Over time, the land could no longer support them.But they had advantage of geography. The fact that the Fertile Crescent shared the same latitude with Europe and Asia which mean they shared similar climate allowed them to move their crops and animals to these areas and continue to thrive. Had they not lived adjacent to land masses that could support their crops and animals, they may have died out
