Guns, Germs, and Steel Analysis

 In his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond seeks an explanation for the vast difference in the amounts of material wealth held by people in different geographic locations. By going back to a time predating civilization and tracing the growth of societies in different regions in the world, Diamond came up with a hypothesis that uses differences in natural food resources to explain the differing rates at which societies advance technologically.

Diamond identifies two simple grains--barley and wheat-- as the keys which provided the first steps for advancement to the people in areas where those grains grew naturally, such as the Fertile Crescent. In comparison to the taro and bananas which were popular foods for cultivation in tropical climates, grains were easier to mass produce and store, which gave its cultivators two advantages: they could adopt a sedentary lifestyle since they no longer had to rely on hunting and foraging to feed themselves, and they could produce enough sustainable nutrition to feed a growing population, thus giving their society chance to flourish without the pressure of hunger.

Diamond also studied patterns in animal domestication throughout history. He found that, amazingly, in the entire history of domestication, only 14 animals have ever been successfully domesticated for use as food. 13 of those originated in Eurasia. People living near the Fertile Crescent had access to a plethora of large animals, who not only provided valuable protein, but also milk, wool, leather, and most importantly, labor.

Early farmers found that horses or mules were invaluable to the farm. When hooked up to a plow, these beasts of burden could easily increase the efficiency of farm-work, once again allowing certain geographically lucky societies to spend more time honing their techniques and technologies. On the other hand, societies in Africa would certainly have their hands full if they wanted to tame the wild beasts of the safari. The people of New Guinea domesticated the pig, but this animal is pretty useless as a laborer.

According to Diamond, these plants and animals gave certain lucky groups of people the ability to focus their energies on creating new innovations which then give them an even greater advantage over smaller societies in places like New Guinea, who rely on less efficient crops and livestock to sustain their populations. Those less fortunate societies had to spend the majority of their time and energy trying to eke a living out of the land, and thus they have little time for thought about technological advancement.

Certainly the answer to why certain geographic locations see more human prosperity than others has more complexity to it. However, I think Diamond’s link between civilization and food resources is a very logical starting point for explaining the great mystery of inequality in the world.