Debating Cultural Differences: The Last 13,000 Years

In his writing, Diamond expresses his belief that cultures have developed and vary due to their geologic location. Diamond questions why the Eurasians became the conquerers and the Americans were conquered. From his writing, it would appear that Eurasia held the upper hand due to size (population wise as well as general landmass) and agriculturally.

Diamond raises an interesting point in the fact that Eurasia stretches East to West while the Americas stretch North to South. What does this have to do with development of civilizations I wondered? More than I had ever taken time to conclude. A continent thats mass stretches longitudinally would have a climate that did not vary as much as one that stretched almost from pole to pole. Plants and animals that can survive on the Atlantic Coast of Eurasia are likely to flourish on the Pacific. Yet the Americas have such varying temperatures stretching along their length that it is unlikely that a species (aside from humans with our reasoning and adaptation according to prompt 1) could survive the spectrum of climates. So, if a continent has a more average climate throughout, then plants and animals could move more freely within that area.

Diamond draws the conclusion that when food (plants and animals) can be domesticated and thus controlled, civilization will be soon to follow. Civilization brings sedentary lifestyles which brings about people specializing in one particular craft, etc. Although it is noted that with civilization comes disease, human to human as well as animal to human. This pattern began earlier in Eurasia than the Americas because civilization began there in Mesopotamia. Due to the fact that societal relationships began earlier in Eurasia, the people began building genetic immunities. Therefore when the conquistadors arrived in the Caribbean they were unknowingly starting a pandemic that would wipe out nearly 90% of the native population.

Blaunt's main criticism of Diamond's conclusion is that it is Eurocentric. Diamond's theory did not take into account the greatly varying topography of Eurasia. Although there may be a large continent stretching from east to west within a shorter expanse of longitude lines, Diamond did not recognize the great variances in climate. Olives may grow on the Mediterranean coast yet it would be difficult to find them in Siberia, as is true with many other species that have made adaptations to particular climates. It also seems that Blaunt believes that Mesopotamia was not this great starting point for civilization and culture that Diamond thinks it was. Diamond found the fertile cresent to be a spring board for greater civilizations such as the Greeks but Blaunt points out that the Chinese were doing the same if not exceeding the work of these European nations, just under differing circumstances.

Diamond's theory of geography is fascinating but makes sense only in a 2-D world that does not take all variables into consideration. Climate on the plains will be vary greatly from the climate in the mountains as climate on one coast will vary from that on another and neither one will be anything like the desert.