Jared Diamond’s (Diamond) book Guns, Germs, and Steel, won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction and was made into a documentary by the National Geographic Society, broadcast in 2005. The documentary was shown in three parts: Out of Eden, Conquest, and Into the Tropics. The series builds towards the ultimate conclusion that geography, and the creation of agriculture, was the determining factor for the success of a society’s evolution.
Part One, Out of Eden, begins with setting the stage of Diamond’s interaction with New Guinea native peoples. Diamond was intrigued with a question from a New Guinea man of ‘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?’ To answer this question, Diamond provides a historical review of when, where, and how agriculture developed. He begins 13,000 years ago with how hunters and gatherers lived. He found they lived in small groups that were consistently moving. The groups were small, built shelters, and only stayed in a place as long as the land could sustain their food production, and then would seek another location to start again. Diamond attributed this nomadic existence to a lack of knowledge, advanced technology, and the ability for people to sustain a larger work force.
Diamond identified that in certain similar latitudes, traveling East to West around the globe, ancient villages were discovered that showed long term communities. These communities supported large numbers of people with the ability to manage their crops and domesticate and manage animals. Included in these latitudes was the Fertile Crescent, considered to be the birthplace of modern farming. The people that lived there were afforded the benefits of temperate weather and environment (trees, water, etc.) that allowed them to repeatedly grow foods and thus settle in larger communities. With the support of storing foods and domestication of animals, communities could innovate and hierarchies were established.
Conversely, Diamond identified that North and South of those ideal latitudes, hunters and gatherers were faced with the chronic disadvantage of not having temperate weather and environment. Diamond found that many people in New Guinea still live much like those from hundreds of years ago. They raise serial crops that cannot be stored and some still use stone tools. They lacked the stability of domesticated seeds that have the potential to support larger populations. Additionally, they did not have domesticated animals that could provide food, clothing materials, and farming assistance.
In Part Two, Conquest, Diamond looks at conquests of the Europeans and points to a war in 1532 between the Incas and the Spaniards. He reveals that the Spaniards did not lose any fighters in this war yet the Incas lost approximately 7,000. He thinks the geography of Spain allowed the Spaniards, through the benefits of agriculture, animal domestication, technology, and the creation of steel to fight differently. Having more leisure time to innovate also permitted time to explore. The Spanish explorers in 1532 were searching for gold when they came across the Incas.
The Incas were a large population of about 80,000. They had a strong government and farming was their main way to sustain the large community. They did not have domesticated animals and their tools and weapons were made of bronze. They had gold but it was only decorative, not used as money. The Spaniards also inadvertently infected the Incas with small pox and measles diseases for which they lacked any immunities. Spaniards, who had for centuries co-habited with animals that infected them with these diseases, had developed immunities which they were able to pass on to their children. Diamond believes that because the Europeans were innovative and had steel and germs, it was just by chance that they could conquer those they came across.
Part Three, Into the Tropics, examined the impact of guns, germs, and steel on Africa. Parts of Africa were similar to Europe, other parts very different. In Southern Africa the weather was similar and the Europeans easily drove natives from their lands. They then looked to expand to the interior of Africa in the 1830’s. The African army was very different than previously experienced, being military oriented with a sophisticated culture and 30,000 square miles of land. Unknown diseases like Malaria plagued Africa, and the early European pioneers were overwhelmed. Requiring the need for different protection, the gun and automatic machine gun was introduced, decimating the Africans. Europeans dominated and, in some areas, the Africans ancient technology was lost. Using slaves for obtaining iron and copper and as laborers to build train tracks to extract the iron and copper led to the destruction of their tropical lives.
Today trains still move iron and copper, but Africa is free and independent today, however old, new and unknown, diseases such as AIDS and malaria continue to affect all.
Critique of Jared Diamond’s Arguments
Guns, Germs, and Steel was ground breaking and created much discussion and in some cases controversy. It seems that his standpoint on the issues he raised have been accepted, discounted, questioned, or used in multiple age groups to create discussions. In my opinion it is difficult to look at something from only a geographical viewpoint. Diamond’s series looked to “build towards the ultimate conclusion that geography and the ability for agriculture was the determining factor for the success of a society’s evolution.” I look at the two places he discussed, New Guinea and the Fertile Crescent/Europe as opposites.
Diamond looked back 13,000 years ago, to the hunter and gatherers time, in an attempt of establishing similarity versus a racial inequality frame work. He says the latitude that offered temperate weather and environments made a big impact on a community’s sustainability. Storage of food and farming and domestication offered control. Over-use of the environment forced early mobility, yet technology gained in domesticating animals and subjugating the land assisted them as they moved farther away, leaving time for innovation and prosperous outcomes.
It occurs to me that place matters. Diamond discusses the Europeans, in particularly Spaniards, as living in a geographical area that lends to forced adaption for survival. A feast or famine mentality caused farming to occur during the months that weather permitted for growing food and requires an excess to survive during times that food could not be produced. The stress of survival created the need to innovate. They altered the land and grew the plants they needed to accommodate their needs to survive. Storage of food was required to allow famine to be decreased and the occurrence of larger communities. Food storage allowed community efforts of sustainability and exploration outside of their area.
The proverb “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” may be the impetuous for the need of learning to store food, work as a community for the betterment of all, or, it could be that food storage ensured a person could keep or take what they needed to survive or protect themselves. In the same context, steel and other equipment/tools were created to maximize a prosperous environment and the ability to survive. With time for exploration, conquering historically was at the expense of societies found.
Value is judged from the perspective of human experience. The Spaniards were looking for new locations to prosper and, in comparison with the Incas, their perspectives of most things were different. The Spaniards wanted gold as wealth; the Incas saw gold, as ornamentation or art. The Incas had a huge population and were able to conquer other smaller groups through shear mass of people. It did not occur to them to fear the Spaniards and their inferior numbers. The Spaniards used strategy and their steel swords to win the war with the Incas.
New Guinea is a small island that has been farmed for thousands of years and little has changed. They farm for little more than what is needed to sustain their group today; what they need tomorrow, they get tomorrow. They never have much excess, nor do they need it. Due to the environment, farming has not changed much, most is done through manual labor. Perspective is important. Do the people of New Guinea think they need to evolve or have something better? When I first read the question “Why do white people have so much cargo,” I thought it was racially motivated. This may be because my perspective is through my Western eyes. It could be that a New Guinean asked it in this way because it distinguished him from Diamond in the only way he knew how. People are tied to location because of many reasons including tradition, family, and/or the lack of the unknown.
In respect to the origins of inequality, Diamond’s argument of inequality is related to geography and environment instead of the typical racial context looking at an under-developed society’s intelligence. I believe inequality is interrelated and warrants debate. There are four types of inequality according to Carter & Reardon, 2014, composed of socioeconomic, health, political, and sociocultural. Inequality is interconnected and it is important to understand the connections. Socioeconomic inequality is the primary domain that fortifies the other domains (Carter & Reardon, 2014). The definition of socioeconomic inequality relates to the distribution of resources. It has been found that education has a direct impact on a person’s socioeconomic capability. Health and economic inequality are closely related. Health inequality is a person’s ability to access healthcare and the outcome of their healthcare (Carter, & Reardon, 2014). The political arena has a deep affect on access to policy decision making, engagement, and influence. Politics is closely related to socioeconomic status and determines participation (Carter, & Reardon, 2014). It is a fact that many under-represented groups (e.g., LGBTQ, low income, women, people of color) cast a wider influence from the political domain than the other domains (Carter, & Reardon, 2014). Sociocultural inequality is the way people identify in a social atmosphere or group of cultural peers (Carter, & Reardon, 2014). Cultural inequality interacts with the other three domains in legal and social acceptance practices and traditions. The interconnectedness of inequality makes it difficult to determine the causes, identify ways to eliminate barriers, and provide equal opportunities.
I see several ways to reduce inequality, in the County of San Diego (COSD), Live Well San Diego is a ten-year effort to accomplish this task. To change a community requires knowledge, ownership, collaboration, and dedication. Collective Impact (CI) has been identified and implemented as a framework to assist a devoted group of partners to join efforts for a common agenda. Embracing an accepted agenda, common appraisals, mutually reinforced actions, perpetual communication, and steadfast support are the five pillars of CI (Kania & Kramer, 2011).
The foundation for Live Well San Diego includes the Top 10 Indicators, 5 Areas of Influence, 4 Strategic Approaches, and 1 Vision. The Vision encompasses how a community can Build Better Health, Live Safely, and Thrive. This movement includes top County Executive, the Board of Supervisors, local resource community partners, and community members in its efforts. Additionally, the Live Well approach looks at local and regional policies that are in tandem with the four domains listed above. The COSD provides ongoing statistics that have provided a baseline and bench mark areas of positive reduction, stagnation, and negative increase of their indicators. Each year a Report Card on Children, Families, and the Community is provided.
