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Yali's People, By Jared Diamond

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Recommended: Human development influenced by environment

In the chapter “Yali’s People” (Chapter 15), Jared Diamond discusses the interactions between Australia and New Guinea. The Torres Strait is a mere 90 miles and contains islands populated by farmers who resemble New Guineans. The strait additionally separates Australia from New Guinea. One would think innovations that arose in New Guinea would travel across the narrow strait over into Australia, but that is not the case. Aboriginal Australians never developed farming, herding, metal, bow and arrows, writing, and chiefdoms.
Aboriginal Australians were unfortunate in the geography of Australia. Many negative effects on agriculture were present. For example, there was a minute amount of plants and animals that could be domesticated, and an unpredictable climate. Thus, a society was unable to thrive.
Even though the Aboriginal Australians failed to generate the characteristics of a civilization, 40,000 years …show more content…

Jared Diamond thoroughly answers this question throughout the book and come to the conclusion that different societies on different continents grew and developed differently from other due to their respective continental environments.
While reading Guns, Germs, and Steel I was most surprised to learn about the reasons why Europe was able to conquer many groups and not vice versa. For example, Europe was constantly fragmented resulting in competition, which led to more innovation. Furthermore, Europeans domesticated many more plants and animals which helped in creating a food surplus.
As I was reading Guns, Germs, and Steel I was most disappointed to learn about the Musket Wars and how one tribe held such a large advantage. It was extremely unfair and other tribes stood no change without muskets of their own. It is disappointing when societies with more advanced technology than others take advantage of it and destroy numerous

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and “why did wealth and power become distributed as they now are, rather than in some other way?” Diamond continues to try and explain the answer to Yali ’s question while asking similar questions, such as: “Why is it that europeans, despite their likely genetic disadvantage and their undoubted developmental disadvantage, ended up with much more of the cargo?” The Europeans colonized the New world rather than Native Americans colonizing Europe simply due to the European stage of development. The Europeans had military technology (guns and steel),political organization, their superior armament, knowledge of human behavior

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The moment Europeans arrived in the area, they began changing the land to suit the European way of life (Aboriginal History of Yarra, 2016). Colonisation had a devastating impact on the Indigenous people who had lived on this land for over 60,000 years, where they had developed their own culture and traditions, and adapted to their own way of life. The most immediate consequences of colonisation was a wave of epidemic

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First, Paleolithic Australia was always hunting, gathering and being nomadic during the fifteenth century. Then, in the late eighteenth century Europeans arrived and changed this area. Over many thousands of years, these people have copied many material items and cultural practices from others like outrigger canoes, fish hooks, complex netting techniques, art styles,

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In the novel, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond takes the audience through time and gives them a perspective of how civilizations began to prosper on their respective land. I support Professor Diamond's thesis in which he stated that Eurasian civilizations are dominating because of the way they developed. This is shown through their interaction with the environment, the use of science and technology, and their power and authority, all played a large role in their success and how they continued to strive in Eurasia. The way civilizations interact with the environment play a large role in whether or not to survive. Domestication played a large role for Eurasian civilizations, giving them a faster form of transportation, easier access to food, and clothing if needed.

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The Myall creek massacre occurred 50 years after Europeans arrived in Sydney. For all the 50 years, there had been confliction between the aboriginals and the Europeans over competition of land. “Myall Creek was the tip of the iceberg of frontier violence against Aboriginal people.” (Prof. Rhonda Craven)

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Australia has had a diverse cultural since before European explorers came here and defined this land as “Terra Nullius” - unoccupied land. However, the indigenous people have always had a rich variety of cultures, languages and customs. Regardless of the differences between people, Australia being a culturally diverse society holds

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Firstly, European empires in the Americas as well as Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman empires are different in their development because Europe interacted and depended on other regions. The Atlantic Ocean connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Strayer states how “these two ‘old worlds’ were joined, increasingly creating a single biological regime, a ‘new world’ of global dimensions.” The reason for this difference is that Europe constructed their empires across the Atlantic Ocean in the Americas, or the New World, unlike their Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman counterparts. This resulted in an advantage for the Europeans because they had access to new resources and ideas.

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Even when experience suggested that these aboriginals were civilized and religious in their own right the impression did not change, moreover the Europeans were also considered barbarians from the natives. The natives did their best to defend their culture and civilization from these intruders, but they could only hold up for so long, they were over powered by the Europeans, sold as slaves and deployed to build what is now known as today’s western

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