Inca Geography

The conquest of the Inca looks unlikely on paper: Less than 200 Spaniards against an Empire with millions of subjects. How was it possible for the European Empire to decimate an entire civilization? Due to the Europeans geographical location and climate,they had reliable and nutritious crops, many animals suitable for domestication, which led to immunity from epidemic diseases, and the time and resources to develop steel. Latitude and other geographic factors determine the climate of all locations. Climate controls which crops people can grow, which determines how much calories and nutrition those people get. The better nutrients and the easier the crops are to grow the more those people have time to grow and develop their civilization

Living in a climate that supports more productive and domesticable animals can benefit humans greatly in the development of their civilization. Though there seem to be many suitable candidates for domestication, there are some important requirements to do so. To be a productive farm animal, they must be over 100 pounds,a herbivore, mature quickly, have a social hierarchy, and can get along with humans. Eurasia is home so many suitable domesticable animals because of its climate. Pigs, horses, cows, sheep, and goats can all thrive in the Fertile Crescents semiarid climate. Large domesticated animals like pigs, cows, and goats provided the people of Eurasia with a substantial source of protein. And horses can be used for transportation and provided labor in the fields. The hides from cows and sheep provided warmth and all of these animals improved crops with their manure. This greatly increased the speed of food production there, which left more time for more people to work on developing their civilization. This is why they have developed faster than anyone else. Meanwhile, in Papua New Guinea, the only domesticable animal they have access to are pigs, due to their climate. And the only thing pigs can provide them with is meat. They have to transport everything and plow the fields themselves. This leaves them much less time to focus on developing their civilization.

This helps those civilizations to conquer those without these technological advancements. In order to develop steel, a civilization must have a surplus of food, and a climate that is rich with iron and trees. The food surplus allowed for there to be specialists. Specialists were people who could fully concentrate on developing steel and spend years to further better their techniques, without the worry of having to supplying food for themselves. And the climate must be dry in order to maintain a fire at high temperatures for long periods of time, and must also have many carbon-rich forests, and plenty of iron. For example, the Inca’s had specialists, but no iron due to their climate. Therefore, they were unable to develop steel. Spain, oh the other hand, and the right materials and specialists, so they were able to develop steel. This made it easy for them to conquer the Incas, who had only weapons of bronze. And bronze is much weaker than steel. Geographical location and climate affect what resources you have and what types of crops you can have. The Europeans had efficient crops for specialists, many nearby civilizations to create competition, and the resources to develop steel. Therefore they were able to develop excellent weapons, armor, tools, and eventually ships to travel across oceans to decimate other cultures and appropriate their