Guns, Germs, and Steel, published in 1997 by Jared Diamond, professor of geography at UCLA and winner of the MacArthur Foundation fellowship and the National Medal of Science, won the Pulitzer Prize for its objective and innovative look at history. As Diamond mentions in the prologue, he views world history as an onion, and when the outer exterior of the onion is peeled back, one will discover amazing things.
Jared Diamond makes it apparent in the beginning of the book that he wants to provide an objective look at many of the world’s civilizations and how they developed into what they are today. In other words, Diamond firmly wishes to discredit racism, as he states that the world’s civilizations developed at their respective speeds not because of the inherent inferiority or superiority of the peoples, but through sheer luck alone - the animals found there when the humans colonized, the weather, the geography, the agriculture, etc. He presents this very convincingly, but not before he concedes that racism is indeed a prevalent force, even today. This is seen in “Yali’s Question,” the first chapter. Yali, an intelligent politician in New Guinea, asked Jared Diamond on page 14, “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?” Diamond responds that the question, like an onion, is multilayered and can be applied to most civilizations, not just to New Guineans (who lacked modern technology until two centuries ago) and white Europeans. Diamond makes a disclaimer before he proceeds with the bulk of the book - “Some people take offense at the mere posing of the question” (17). That is, some people don’t like the question of the different developmental rate of civilizations being presented because they feel it is justifying racism and colonization. Diamond effectively counters this stance by stating that in order for the likelihood of such events to not be repeated, a thorough understanding should be reached. For instance, when psychologists study mental illness, when scientists study epidemics and disease, and when sociologists try to understand genocide, they aren’t advocating for such things to happen - on the contrary, they study it to prepare for it when it does happen in an appropriate manner.
Diamond continues his book after the introduction by going to a variety of civilizations across the globe and looking at their development in regards to geography. And, expectedly, he begins with an excursion into New Guinea - while many Europeans viewed them as inferior, as when he describes on page 19 how “numerous white American psychologists have been trying for decades to demonstrate that black Americans of African origins are innately less intelligent than white Americans of European origins,” they’re getting the situation wrong, for the environment, especially in regards to childhood, makes a very large difference, bringing into the picture the age-old question “nature or nurture?” Secondly, IQ tests tend to “measure cultural learning and not pure innate intelligence” - a very good saxophone player, for instance, may be very good because he was born into a culture which emphasizes music and after much practice, not because of innate talent. Furthermore, even if a person is talented, they have to be introduced to what they’re good at via culture or through their own learning. Diamond emphasizes that he has worked with New Guineans for 33 years in their own societies, and finds them more intelligent, engaging, zestful, and alert than Europeans and Americans. But again, he isn’t saying they’re innately smarter than Americans, for that would be a contradiction of his previous principles, for their environment plays a large role in the matter. While the main scourge for Europeans was disease, New Guineans had societies with few individuals, which made their main issue tribal warfare and starvation. This made it so that “Intelligent people are likelier than less intelligent ones to escape those causes of high mortality,” while in Europe the epidemics “had little to do with intelligence, and instead involved genetic resistance dependent on details of body chemistry” (20-21). In the current world, Diamond believes New Guinean children to be more capable than their counterparts in fully industrialized societies because New Guinean children go outside much more and do much more demanding activities, such as hunting and memorizing the surroundings, while many children in industrialized societies watch TV. Diamond backs his argument by stating that “Almost all studies of child development emphasize the role of childhood stimulation and activity in promoting mental development, and stress the irreversible mental stunting associated with reduced childhood stimulation” (21).
Diamond talks about evolutionary history before other countries, as history before literacy was just as important was history after it. Diamond describes that “some momentous change took place in our ancestors’ capabilities between about 100,000 and 50,000 years ago” (39). This is known as the “Great Leap Forward,” and when Cro-Magnons (humans) entered Europe 40,000 years ago, it is highly suggested that they “used their far superior technology, and their language skills or brains, to infect, kill, or displace the Neanderthals,” which left behind little evidence of hybridization (40). Diamond also discusses the extinction of various megafauna, which will affect the development of societies. He describes that it is too much of a coincidence that large fauna drop dead the moment humans arrive, so humans probably killed them off. When the megafauna were driven to extinction in America, that left the Native Americans with few cattle to work with, causing many of them to live a nomadic lifestyle.
The next society Diamond discusses is the Polynesian islands. These islands contained multiple civilizations, and these peoples took different routes. Within the Polynesian islands are the Chatham Islands, which feature the Moriori and the Maori. The Moriori and the Maori “had diverged from a common origin less than a millennium earlier. Both were Polynesian peoples,” but when they took up residence in various areas, they adopted varied ways of life (53). The Moriori island was much smaller than that of the Maori, which caused agriculture to not be taken up. Because of the small island size, the Maori had no choice but to collaborate peacefully to survive. On the other hand, the island the Moriori lived on was much larger, and was suitable for agriculture. This caused a population explosion, which made it harder to live on the island, which caused the farmers to engage in ferocious combat with each other, leading to the development of weapons and battle strategy. In December 1835, the Maori went to the island of the Moriori, announcing “that the Moriori were now their slaves, and killing those who objected. An organized resistance by the Moriori could still then have defeated the Maori, who were outnumbered two to one” (52). Unfortunately for the Moriori, their peace-loving ways led them into enslavement, and the Maori attacked, killing hundreds of the Moriori over the next few days, cannibalizing the corpses and slaughtering people on a whim. Or as a Maori conqueror explained, “‘We took possession … in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped. Some ran away from us, these we killed, and others we killed - but what of that? It was in accordance with our custom’” (53). Jared Diamond described further that these two civilizations had forgotten each other’s existence for 500 years, and this whole affair occurred because of the isolation the islands brought. Diamond also discusses Easter Island and their great achievements - their statues weigh 30 tons.
Another historical incident which Diamond describes involves the collision of the New World and the Old World at Cajamarca, which was seen with the Incan Emperor Atahuallpa and his many subjects and the small number of Spanish soldiers led by Francisco Pizarro. Francisco Pizarro, an explorer, wanted to take over the Incan Empire, but he knew he was completely outnumbered, so after torturing some Native Americans for information, he sent an envoy to the Incan Emperor, Atahuallpa, promising him he would do him no harm, for Pizarro just wants an audience. Atahuallpa foolishly and confidently went to meet with Pizarro, accompanied by a massive amount of his followers and courtiers. Pizarro sent a friar to Atahuallpa, telling him to accept Christianity. Atahuallpa, ignorant as to how to open a book, struck the friar on the arm when he extended his arm to open it. The friar then turned to Pizarro and his soldiers, granting them absolution. The Spanish soldiers, utilizing the absolution, slew most of the 40,000 Indian troops presented, as well as mutilating the corpses and leaving many terribly wounded but alive. The Spanish soldiers saw this as a victory for Christendom, and gave the credit for their atrocities to their god - “Truly, it was not accomplished by our own forces, for there were so few of us. It was by the grace of God, which is great” (71). After the mass slaughter of soldiers and civilians, Pizarro told Atahuallpa that he lived a “bestial and diabolical life,” and that he should tell his subjects to stand down (71). Pizarro then demanded a massive ransom from the Incan Empire for his life (enough gold to fill a room 22 feet long by 17 feet wide to a height of over 8 feet), and when he got the ransom, he decided to break his oath by slaying Atahuallpa. Pizarro, after slaying Atahuallpa, was killed by one of his own men when they argued over the division of the enormous fortune. The reason for the victory of the Spaniards over the numerous Native Americans involved technology and disease - many members of the Inca Empire died from the diseases brought by the Europeans, and the Europeans had guns, while the Incas had only melee weapons like spears. Furthermore, the Spaniards convinced the peoples incorporated under the Incas to revolt against their masters, which also bolstered their victory. The model followed at Cajamarca would be followed for most of America, as the Europeans would use their superior technology to destroy the Native Americans and their culture.
In the second part of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses agriculture. He describes how hunter gatherers became farmers, how the Europeans found many domesticable animals in Europe while the Native Americans found none (Europeans domesticated 18% of the species, while America developed only 4%, while Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia domesticated 0%), how geography plays a large part in agriculture (Africa’s tropical temperature, for instance, made agricultural more difficult, not to mention there was a lack of domesticable animals, and a surplus of wild beasts), the development of only a few plants into crops (cereals account for half of the calories consumed today, there are only 12 major crops, strawberries originally were extremely small, but selectively cultivated), 14 species of cattle (the major five include the sheep, goat, cow, pig, horse, while the minor nine include the Arabian and Bactrian camels, llamas, donkeys, reindeer, water buffalo, yak, bali cattle, and mithan), as well as how the agricultural revolution in fact lead to humanity acquiring many diseases from the animals, such as smallpox (acquired in 1600 BC), measles, tuberculosis, smallpox, flu, pertussis, and falciparum malaria (the last five diseases on the list were acquired by interactions with cattle, pigs, ducks, dogs, and birds). In the third section of the book, Diamond discusses how writing started in select areas and spread to other areas due to their usefulness, the evolution of technology, as well as how societies turned into kleptocracies from egalitarian ones. When it comes to the third point, Diamond describes a few examples of societies when it comes to population, from bands to tribes to chiefdoms to states. Bands are composed generally of only a family, while tribes could involve multiple families. These two types of societies see no stratification, as the population is too low, and no literacy, luxury goods, or architecture due to the fact that survival is the main issue. When it comes to chiefdoms and states, however, things are very different, for chiefdoms are composed of relatively large numbers of people and are stratified by kin. Chiefdoms also see the presence of luxury goods for the elite. States, stratified not by kin, often have large-scale slavery, luxury goods for the elite, the existence of architecture, and literacy (to facilitate records and taxes). Diamond remarks accurately that large societies generally see nationalism and the development of religion, for people need to cooperate and be dissuaded from killing each other regarding issues like rivalry. Diamond also describes how bands and tribes see no suicide charges or national songs, while large states and chiefdoms do. Or in the words of Diamond, the reason there are suicide charges and rabid nationalism in many states is because they “make their troops willing to fight suicidally,” as “what makes patriotic and religious fanatics such dangerous opponents is not the deaths of the fanatics themselves, but their willingness to accept the deaths of a fraction of their number in order to annihilate or crush their infidel enemy” (270). Diamond also provides a statistic for further evidence: “Fanaticism in war, of the type that drove recorded Christian and Islamic conquests, was probably unknown to Earth until chiefdoms and especially states emerged within the last 6,000 years” (270).
In the fourth section of the book, Diamond discusses specific instances of countries. Among these include Yali’s people (Australia and New Guinea), China, Polynesia, Eurasia and America, Africa, and Japan. But it is unnecessary to go into more detail, as certain details of this section were repeated earlier, and this section, indeed the book, can be summarized in one sentence, as Diamond attests: “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people’s environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves” (25). Diamond details in his epilogue that history should be categorized as a science, not as a part of the humanities, due to its study being highly attached to that of causation - history, like science, can be analyzed, studied, its causes ascertained. Diamond acknowledges, though, that there are some obvious issues with the claim that history could become a science, since humans are far from rational - it is highly unlikely that humans will follow predictions exactly as planned, or will follow a certain pattern of behavior.
My thoughts:
Guns, Germs, and Steel is one of my favorite books because of its vivid demonstration of human history. Diamond’s examples are fully fleshed out, and he has no shortage of facts. I also appreciate that this book was fully intended to show the folly of racism, as Diamond illustrates that there is no such thing as genetic superiority. Guns, Germs, and Steel also uses graphs to show the allocation of things like agriculture and animals, and though they aren’t common, when they do appear they are a large help. Guns, Germs, and Steel should be read by anyone interested in causation, “The Butterfly Effect,” history, culture, and geography.
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