Jared Diamond Article

Throughout the article, author Jared Diamond describes his ideas about why the Europeans were most dominant in early colonizations. These ideas behind colonization set the stage for an attempt at determining the reason for the variety of human history throughout different continents. In his article, Diamond uses examples of several continents in his reasoning.

The first colonization that Diamond describes is that of the New World; previously inhabited by Native Americans. The European colonists arrived by sea, using large sailing ships that had never before been seen or even imagined by the Native Americans. In addition to their advanced transportation, the colonists from Europe were also advanced in many other ways. It is this technological advancement that ultimately led to the European conquer of the New World, and it’s Native American inhabitants.

Other technological advancements of the Europeans (besides those within the realm of transportation) included that of steel weaponry, political organization, and writing. Most original inhabitants of the now-colonized societies were lacking in basically all of these technologies. It was this lack of modern technology that ultimately led to the downfall of the indigenous populations.

Interestingly enough, the most important determinants of a society’s success are not necessarily found in their specific technological advancements. These advancements are actually a result of other basic differences. Both an increase in modern agriculture and domesticated ‘farm’ animals led to the differences in human history. In Europe, domesticated animals thrived, and farming-related agriculture was blossoming into a very important aspect of Eurasian society. Unfortunately, other continents were lacking in these agricultural developments, and therefore were unable to stand up to the European colonists. The continents were lacking in these developments because the local wildlife in most non-European areas was not able to be domesticated. Additionally, overarching environmental factors contributed to the lack of farming advancements. These agricultural advancements in turn led to the production of other modern technologies, such as the weapons, steel, and other tools used in colonizations.

Overall, Diamond attributes these differences in human history to the differences in continental environments. Contrarily, some individuals believe that these differences are actually due to varying biological traits within the worldwide human population. However, this theory of biological trait differences is not supported by Diamond. 

Finally, these seemingly ancient ideas behind the development of worldwide human population can easily be applied to today’s global economy. While events such as ‘New World’ colonizations are not occurring in these times, it’s evident that advancements in modern technology stemming from environmental benefits are what contributed to the varying levels of societal development. The societies that have the most technological and environmental prowess will seemingly be more advanced and successful than those populations that are at a technological/environmental disadvantage. 




link to original article:
http://edge.org/conversation/why-did-human-history-unfold-differently-on-different-continents-for-the-last-13000-years