Guns Germs And Steel Summary

In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond answers Yali’s question, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people have little cargo of our own?”. Diamond begins his research in Papua, New Guinea where he says people have been living for 40,000 years. In Papua, Diamond discovers that gathering is both more productive and effective rather than hunting. He wonders why these New Guineans did not advance like more developed countries did. Geographic luck is the term that comes into play. Crops, animals, and climate effect geographic luck. The New Guineans were not lucky when it came to what crops and animals were provided in their environment. However, the Fertile Crescent’s environment contained productive crops and helpful animals, thus propelling them

The Incas were going about their life peacefully, until they caught sight of men on horses. “To the Incas, the sight of Pizarro’s conquistadors passing through their land is extraordinary. They’ve never seen people carried by their animals before. Some think they are gods.” (Diamond). The sight of the white men stunned them so much they gave offerings and treated them well. Historian Efrain Trelles states that the Incan leader, Ataxalpa, played a mind game with the Spaniard, being nice and inviting them in, but really prepared for attack. 80,000 Incas stood ready for battle, however, they were unarmed. Diamond says the Spaniards tried to introduce the bible to the Incas. The problem was that they couldn’t read it! That misunderstanding led to a massacre of thousands of Incas. Diamond estimates around 7,000 to be more precise. Francisco Pizzaro and his men did not suffer any casualties themselves when they conquered these natives. The concept of guns in Guns, Germs, and Steel ties in again as one of the main factors that shaped human