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Guns Germs And Steel Chapter Summary

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1. Yali’s question is about the origins of inequality between societies in the world. He wants to know why people of European descent are rich and powerful while non-white people tend to lack wealth and power. Yali wonders if there is something wrong with non-white people like him, as they are not as technologically or economically advanced as white people. 2. The three main objections to answering Yali’s question are that by answering the question we justify dominance of other societies, glorify the Europeans, and imply that civilization is good and hunter-gatherer societies are bad. 3. A Eurocentric approach glorifies western Europeans. This approach tends to be centered on Europeans and interprets the world in their ways. 4. Diamond’s response …show more content…

Religion also played a critical part in the defeat of the Incas. The Spaniards’ thought of themselves as superior and when Atahualpa threw their “Book” on the ground, the religious Spaniards were deeply offended. They immediately started fighting and quickly overpowered the surprised Indians. 22. Diseases probably played the biggest role in the collapse of the Incan empire. Shortly before the arrival of Pizarro, the smallpox epidemic had just killed the Incan emperor and most of his court. Then, there was a civil war between Atahuallpa and his brother Huascar regarding who should be emperor next. If it had not been for the epidemic the Spaniards would have faced a united empire. 23. Literacy and government organization played a considerable role in the overthrow of the Incas. Atahualpa had very little information about the Spaniards, their military power, or their intent. He could only get information by word of mouth, as they had no form of writing. The envoy that Atahualpa sent saw the Spaniards at their most disorganized. Atahualpa remained ignorant about the Spaniard’s conquest due to being illiterate. Pizarro’s organized government gave him an advantage. Pizarro’s centralized government allowed Spain to upgrade their ships and weapons. Atahualpa was an absolute monarch and his capture led to the immediate annihilation of the Incan

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After the Spanish regained control of Cuzco, Manco Inca (The Inca Emperor) and his armies retreated to the fortress where he successfully launched attacks against Pizarro based at Cuzco and even managed to defeat the Spanish in an open battle. However, the Inca Emperor knowing that he could not fight a war in which almost everyone one of his people died from fled to the south in the mountains in Vilcabamba. There they founded a new Inca Empire which would remain independent for some decades. Tupac Amaru was the last Inca Emperor, he would later be murdered and the Spanish would take over Vilcabamba, even the Spanish King didn 't like this final destruction of the Inca Empire and did not want his death. However the Viceroy of Peru killed him

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• Another pre-dominant reason was Spanish weaponry which includes steel body armor , fire power, cross bows etc, which psychologically effected the Aztecs helped him to gain dominance over

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Fear was a major factor in the increasing power of these empires. Both empires used fear as a way to gain more land, increasing their empire. The Aztecs were feared for their strong warriors and human sacrifices to their gods. The military power of the Aztecs helped them in conquering the surrounding tribes. While this empire was growing, they contracted an alliance with the Tepanec tribe.

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In The Americas, a myriad of Native American empires fell victim to conquistadors. During the Spanish Conquest, there were three important terminated empires. First; the Aztec. Aztecs faced a vast number of difficulties in the upbringing of their new domain. Before all else, they trekked through the deserts of South America by command of their war god, Huitzilopochtli.

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The Spanish Conquistadors had the advantage over the Aztecs in many ways. One way they used was using allies against thee Aztecs. The Aztecs was a tribute empire, where they required

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The Aztec and Incan empires were destroyed in similar ways. While their empires were ruled differently and focused on different things their downfall was caused by even the same group of people. Their destruction wasn't peaceful and somewhat gory. Important factors of the fall of the Aztec and Incan empires were European expeditions, disease, and warfare. The Aztec and Incan empires were both unique in their own ways.

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The fall of the Aztec and Inca empires depended on many factors. These factors included strategic advances from the Spanish that would essentially allow the smaller, Spanish troops to successfully slaughter the vast amount of Aztec and Inca troops, and advanced weaponry that these empires did not have. One of these strategic advances was successfully attempting to make indigenous allies. These great and powerful empires outnumbered the Spanish, but their lack of weaponry and technology resulted in the fall of the empires. The fall of the Aztec was primarily led by Hernan Cortes while the fall of the Inca was led by Francisco Pizarro.

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Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.

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The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.

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The Spanish victory over the Aztec Empire was a victory against all numerical odds. There were many factors that contributed to the remarkable victory by the

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During the Tokugawa Shogunate, did the emperor have any power? If so, what? When the emperor Tokugawa Shogunate came into power he continued with, and made bigger changes to what Hideyoshi had started. He disarmed peasants, removed a lot of the source of rebellion that seemed to haunt Japan.

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The conquest of Mexico and Peru are very similar. Spanish explorers roamed the land, claiming territory for their country. While claiming this land, the conquistadors met up with natives. They did this to trade and create alliances to be able to put up a fight against an empire. In Hernando Cortez’s case, the empire they took down were the Aztecs.

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The causes for the development of past human societies is a topic widely debated by scientist and historians alike. Ideas such as racism, geography, and pure luck have clashed in desperate attempts to solve the mysteries associated with Yali 's Question: "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 14) In Jared Diamond 's Pultzer Prize winning and New York Times Bestselling novel Guns, Germs, and Steel, he attempts to lay the foundation for understanding human history since the evolution of the Homo-Saipan in Central Africa. The causes for the development of past human societies are directly linked to the geography of the Earth in allowing the generation of Guns, Germs, and Steel to create complex states.

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AP courses are supposed to be hard. Their curriculums were designed by the Collegeboard to challenge motivated students and build up essential academic skills. However, aspects like the cost of taking AP exams, Arlington’s policy requiring students to take the AP exam with the course, and the north’s late school year start often create unintentional difficulties, adding stress to already difficult classes. To start, the exam themselves are expensive. At $94 per exam, even students who are able to afford the fee might think twice about dropping hundreds of dollars on AP exams.

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The fall of the Aztec Empire was due to the determination of the Spaniards. The Spaniards were destructive. They did not respect the Natives’ religions at all. They almost destroyed all of the Natives’ culture, and now we know very little about Natives. The Spaniards’ greed and obsession with power, this was their main motivation to conquer the Aztec Empire.

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