One of the books enlisted in DGHS’s second grade English material, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a must-read for those who wish to understand human history; Guns Germs and Steel is a world-renowned book that introduces how the modern world was shaped and how humans have come to power over other humans. Covering factors from societies and cultures to genetics to even geographical reasons, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that the differences between various human groups sprout from geographical characteristics (Diamond recognizes these factors as what led to the success of a society, and that these factors were all affected by geography: food production, germs and immunity, the domestication of animals, and the discovery and use of steel.)

 

Jared Diamond’s fundamental thesis is that the environment and geography are the most crucial reasons of human development and the shaping of the modern world: the western society having advanced tools and technology that aided them in rising to power, whereas the many other societies had a huge gap in the development and eventually became the dominee or vanished.

 

In the prologue, Diamond talks about his New Guinean friend Yali and thinks about the reasons as to what caused gaps between the developments of various human groups. To find the answer to this question, Diamond attempts to find an answer by exploring human history from the very beginning.

 

The first humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers who by the course of time develop into an agricultural society. However, to achieve this advancement, three conditions were needed: access to high protein vegetation that humans can store, a dry climate that allows storage without rotting, and access to animals that are capable of being domesticated. Only when all three of the conditions were present, humans are able to build and develop complex societies with higher population, technology and even ruling classes (The Eurasian continent had a great advantage, because they had access to six grains rich in protein-such as barley and wheat, had the climate suitable for storage, and had major tamable animals.)

 

Diamond then addresses domestic animals. 13 species capable of transport or providing workforce were domesticated in Eurasia, whereas only one useful animal was domesticated in South America. Domesticated animals provided great benefits from providing transportation, clothing, dairy products, and power to till fields. Animal domestication also resulted in viruses. Societies with large units of animals faced diseases such as smallpox and influenza. Over a long period, they obtained immunity to the virus but it spread all over the world; being the cause of the downfall of Mayan Empires and American Indian tribes.

 

The Eurasian continent also has a long east to west distance. This means that the overall climate is similar and therefore people could easily exchange cultures, technologies, and even diseases. With these advantages, the Eurasian continent had the ascendancy over the other human groups. Abundant food sources, technologies, and animals that (more effectively) did human work let people focus on different divisions such as crafts and academics.

 

By reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, we learned that geographical advantages were what ultimately enabled Europeans to gain power over other groups. Thus, we could understand the reason behind the current gap in development between the nations ̶ and ultimately interpret the history of mankind.

 

 

By Eun-Young Choi and By Eun-Jee Kim (DG reporter)
Jung-Su Kno (DG reporters)