Guns Germs and Steel
1. Yali's question; "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?" 2. Diamond rewords the question as “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people environment not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.” 3. Jared Diamond analyzes several factors that he believes contributed to the existing balance of the world's resources. In order to answer Yali's question, he speculates about the role of geography, technology, cultural diffusion, agriculture, culture and biology. 4. The Maori evolved differently because of population and leadership differences. The Maori conquered the Moriori due to its advanced weapons and technology and the Moriori lost due to its lack of leadership and simple weapons. 5. Population density affected economies because the more people there are the more things you need such as food. It also affected social complexity because it easier to control smaller populations. With more people you need more control over things for decisions which goes with political organization 6. Atahualpa was the last ruler of the Inca Empire of pre-Columbian South America to exercise power independent of Spanish control. Francisco Pizarro and a small group of Spanish soldiers captured Atahualpa. In a vain attempt to save Atahualpa, his subjects assembled one of the largest ransoms in history, an estimated $30 million worth of gold and silver. 7. Pizzarro completely surprised and overwhelmed Atahualpa’s empire; Pizzarro had guns germs and steel where the Incas didn’t. Pizzarro also had horses that terrified the Incas having never seen it. Pizzarro also had a written language and the Incas did not. 8. Availability of more consumable calories means more people equals strength of numbers. Domestic animals fed people by furnishing meat, milk, and fertilizer and by animal labor. Animals and