After you've read Part I: From Eden to Cajamarca, identify one point or issue with which you agree, disagree, or about which you would like to learn more. Use the SVHS databases or the Internet to find out more.
Your comment to this post should include the author, title, source, link or database title, and a summary of the source. In your summary, please explain why you choice this particular topic for further exploration.
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ReplyDeleteChapter three of the novel GGS provides an interesting account of colliding civilizations. Within a few years of Columbus's voyage in 1492, the majority of ancient American civilizations had been destroyed. Though the Native Americans had developed weapons of their own, their weapons were considered obsolete compared to the cannons and guns of the Europeans. Europeans had the advantage of diseases which were unfamiliar to many Native Americans until the diseases such as smallpox and measles killed millions of them. Finally, Native Americans had never seen war advancements and they had never developed war tactics like the Europeans. The weaponry advancement, diseases, and advanced military tactics lead military leaders such as Pizarro and Cortez to destroy some of the greatest empires in ancient America. This topic provides a great analysis on why some areas were defeated by others, whether it was on purpose or on accident, one is able to see the correlations between history and the modern world. (Ushistory.org. “Clash of Cultures: Two Worlds Collide.” Infotopia. N.p., 2008. Web. 27 June 2016.)
ReplyDeleteGGS is a work of non-fiction - not a novel
DeleteIn chapter two of GGS, Diamond discusses the invasion of the Maori people onto the Moriori people’s land. Diamond also explains how the varying lifestyles of these two groups of people are the very reason the Moriori were captured and slaughtered so easily. In late 1835, the Maori people invaded the Chatham Islands where the Moriori people had been living for years. The Maori were able to immediately murder many of the Moriori people, as well as enslave those who survived. The Moriori people were not familiar with combat and were not equipped for any type of battle, whereas the Maori were accustomed to battles and were capable of producing and using large equipment, because of their farming lifestyles. The Maori participated in many battles and had a multitude of weaponry from their previous lives, however the Moriori were hunter-gatherers, because the environment in which they lived was unsuitable for farming. Due to the peaceful lifestyle of the Moriori, the Maori were able to capture the Chatham Islands and put their captives through years of suffering and enslavement prior to the New Zealand Government stepping in. The Moriori’s culture and beliefs lead to the near extinction of all their people, because they believed in peace rather than war, and were unwilling to go against their beliefs. The idea that because of varying lifestyles, one group of individuals may be able to easily conquer another group, is only solidified by the deaths and captivity of hundreds of Moriori people. The Te Ara Encyclopedia provides further insight into the lives of the Moriori people, from before they arrived at the Chatham Islands, through the Maori Invasion, and to the time in which the New Zealand Government stepped in to assist the people. The Moriori were not initially from the Chatham Islands but immigrated to the islands in several groups. Overall there were approximately 2000 Moriori people prior to the invasion and they were all hunter-gatherers due to their environment. Then the Maori people invaded from their separate island, where they were used to battling, and controlled the Moriori people for multiple years. The Maori people were able to control the Moriori because of the Moriori’s lack of experience in battles and their simplistic lifestyles. The invasion of the Maori people is very interesting as it shows how if a group is more organized and has the right tools they can control an entire island of people. (Davis, Denise, and Maui Solomon. "Story: Moriori." The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. N.p.: n.p., 2012. 1-5. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Web. 7 July 2016. .)
ReplyDeleteThe third chapter of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" explores how Fransisco Pizzaro and his fellow spaniards defeat Atahuallpa and his army. There were many reasons as to why Pizzaro was able to defeat them that include advanced technology at that time which includes guns, steel, diseases and horses, but what I found most interesting was how written history helped the spaniards. The source I used helped further reinforce the fact that Atahuallpa and his army were simply too weak against the spaniards, but what affected them the most was their inexperience against other armies. The spaniards did not have to worry about this because they had written history that gave Pizzaro many ideas and tactics that he can use against his enemy. As Jared Diamond stated, Pizzaro used many of Cortes' strategies which could have been blocked by Atahuallpa if they had had any written history or previous experience. The source I use does state that they had an "elaborate government" and good agriculture, but not having a writing system did prove to be a problem for the New World and I fully agree with what Jared Diamond said. The source I used helped explore the factors that led to the demise of an army of 80,000 soldiers to the hands of just 180, especially the role written history played.(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pizarro-executes-last-inca-emperor) "Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor"
ReplyDeleteCitation is: ("Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.) No author
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ReplyDeleteIn chapter 3, Diamond briefly references the colonization of Sydney, Australia. Since he goes in depth on how Pizarro defeated the Inca I was curious how the british went about colonizing Australia. In another source, it explains that British captain, Arthur Phillip, lead the First Fleet to the island with many prisoners to set up a colony in which to take said prisoners from England. By creating this colony, the British brought an epidemic that left only about ten percent of the native population alive after it came through. This source gave more insight on a topic that Diamond did not explain in depth. It was also straight to the point in telling the history of the original colonization of Australia. (Pearlman, Jonathan. "History of the British Settlement of Sydney." Telegraph: n. pag. Infotopia. Web. 3 Aug. 2016.)
ReplyDeleteThe evolution of Humans is a puzzling and intriguing matter, and Diamond expresses one of the several claims about the progression of humans in the first chapter of GGS. The article “Timeline: Human Evolution” adds details to the outline of human evolution that is given in GGS. To start, the timeline suggest that the “first primitive primates” evolved 55 million years ago (MYA). Homo sapiens are descendants of the first gorillas that came about between 8-6 MYA. The next ancestor of humans appeared 5.8 MYA, and it was called Orrorin tugenensis. The first ancestor of humans to have the ability to walk on two legs was the Orrorin tugenensis. Ardipithecus was one of the first “proto-humans”, and it lived 5.5 MYA. A proto-human is defined as “of, relating to, or resembling extinct hominid populations that had some but not all the features of modern Homo sapiens.” (Dictionary.com). The next considerable advancement happened 2.5 MYA when the Homo habilis evolved. Around this time primates began using stone tools and eating meat. About half a million years later, 2 MYA, the average brain volume of the species was 850 cubic centimeters, which is a little more than half the brain volume modern day humans have. Homo erectus was found to have lived 1.8 to 1.5 MYA. They are the earliest ancestors of humans to have been hunter-gatherers, and are also the first to have drifted out of Africa. Between 600,000 and 230,000 years ago evolution moved very fast, early humans started building shelters, hunting with spears, creating blades, and migrating around the world. Following these strides, the “Great leap forward” occurred, this is when the brain abilities and rituals of modern humans seemed to develop. People reached the America 12,000 years ago, and the first villages were formed 10,000 years ago. The end of the Stone Age came 5,500 years ago when the Bronze Age started. During the Bronze Age people began living similar lives to modern humans, but they still did not have machines. (Pickrell, John. "Timeline: Human Evolution." New Scientist, RELX Group, www.newscientist.com/article/dn9989-timeline-human-evolution/.)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter one of GGS, Diamond discusses the point in human evolution that is named the "Great Leap Forward". The "Great Leap Forward" is the point in time when humans started to expand their territory beyond Africa. This event occurred at some point between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. This was caused because humans started to develop deadlier tools for hunting. Humans started to get more efficient at killing animals and they started to hunt in groups. This may have been because humans started to think and develop more ideas. (Wells, Spencer. "The Great Leap." Theguardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 July 2003, www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jul/03/research.highereducation1. )
ReplyDeletePart 1 of GG&S, "From Eden to Cajamarca", provides a thorough introduction to many of the ideas that Diamond brings up throughout the book. In particular, I found that chapter II, "A Natural Experiment of History", describes the chilling genocide of the Moriori due to their lifestyle choices and environmental factors. Settlers initially began to reach Polynesian islands around 1,200 B.C., which hosted a variety of environmental challenges, which required settlers over the many islands to adapt differently over hundreds of years. Some of these factors allowed certain settlers, especially those of northern New Zealand, to develop significant technological advantages and an increased quality of life as opposed to their neighbors. The Maori of northern New Zealand were fortunate to have settled in a warm environment that supported their imported tropical crops, unlike the once-Maori Moriori of the Chathams, a set of islands 500 miles east of New Zealand. The Chathams were cold and did not support many crops, which forced settlers there to become hunter-gatherers, which did not allow for a large and already crippled population size due to the Chatham Islands' small area. Fast forward over 3,000 years of colonization and development, and the Maori had decided that the Moriori were to be their slaves. This was especially troubling for the Moriori, as they had created a peaceful way of life that involved resolving of disputes in a peaceful manner. While this strategy may be effective elsewhere, it meant little to the power-hungry and advanced Maori. They arrived at the Chathams in 1835 and attacked the Moriori with 900 armed people over two trips. The Moriori had been absolutely picked apart, as hundreds were killed, others enslaved, and many more tortured. Just like the Morioris' peaceful ways, this slaughtering was nothing more than Maori custom. The website Virtual New Zealand offers an article that further describes the interactions and consequences of this clash, including statistics of Moriori survival and what the Maori would go on to do with them. I chose to research this particular event further because I felt that it provided a simple yet rigorous introduction to many of Diamond's most critical points on human societies. Specifically as to why this interaction between the Maori and Moriori occurred, I agree with Diamond on how these islands initially isolated different settlers with various environmental factors, resulting in different ways of life, which was ultimately the downfall of the Moriori when faced with the Maori invasion. (Johnson, David. “Moriori Culture.” Virtual Oceania: New Zealand, Virtualtopia, www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/moriori/. Accessed 21 Aug. 2016.)
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ReplyDeleteIn chapter two of GGS, Diamond mentions the Maori and Moriori people. The Moriori people seemed very interesting because they basically gave up, and they had a huge advantage to the Maori but never used it, and this was interesting to me. These people originated on the islands of Polynesia, specifically New Zealand , but they eventually split to two different areas. Diamond describes the Moriori people living on the Chatham Islands, and becoming hunter-gatherers since there was not good farming necessities. Eventually, the Maori people attacked the Moriori, and the Moriori only wanted peace. The article entitled "Story: Moriori" describes the Moriori people before the attack. The Moriori lived on Chatham and Pitt Island, two islands of the Chatham Islands that were not very far apart. Their ancestors were people of the Wheteina and Rauru tribes of Hawaiki, and they came to the Chatham Islands by canoe. Here they intermarried with locals in the Hamata tribe. After seeing much violence, an ancestor named Nunuku-whenua created the Nunuku's Law, this was a law of peace that banned murder and cannibalism. Europeans came with the Maori people to the Chatham Islands after 1791, and this is when the Maori came and shattered the peace law. The Maori people started enslaving and killing Moriori. The Moriori people didn't do anything because they followed Nunuku's Law. Finally, after twenty-eight years, the New Zealand government had to step in and stop the war, but by that time most of the Maori people had returned home. (Davis, Denise, and Maui Solomon. “Story: Moriori.” The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Crown, 10 Sept. 2014, www.teara.govt.nz/en/moriori.)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter one of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond talks about how during the Ice Age, ocean levels sank due to water being trapped in glaciers. Having questions about this, I researched exactly what an Ice Age is and what it can do to the environment. The definition of an Ice Age is a “period of colder global temperatures that features recurring glacial expansion across the Earth’s surface”, and they can last up to hundreds of decades. Ice Ages form because sometimes, the temperature does not allow all of the snow to melt, turning them into ice. Therefore, more snow layers on top of this base, creating a glacier. The absorption of water causes sea levels to sink, which is why Diamond states that the once shallow waters across Asia and Indonesian islands became land. The weight on these glaciers causes them to move, and during the process, they pick up sediments of rock and other things. Once the glaciers begin to melt, the water and sediments they carry often melt over a basin and create lakes. (“Ice Age” history.com www.history.com/topics/ice-age )
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DeleteIn chapter one of Guns, Germs, and Steel Diamond brings up many examples of mass extinction of large animals. First he explains the Australia and New Guinea overkill hypothesis. Diamond expresses his skepticism about some theories on the mass extinction. Some scientists believe that climate change could have been a reason for many large animals to go extinct in Australia and New Guinea around 40,000 years ago. I agree with Diamond and that it seems very unlikely that after many millions of years of surviving in Australia and New Guinea, suddenly because of climate change, which the animal species have probably experienced before, many species go extinct within a few thousand years of each other. I find that the much more logical explanation is that the newly arriving humans over hunted and caused mass extinction. I found this topic interesting and continued to find research to help support both what Diamond and I to believe the real cause of this overkill. I found an article that detailed even further evidence supporting Diamond's thinking. The article explained how scientists found eggshells of an extinct large bird in Australia. The eggshells of the Genyornis newtoni were dated using carbon technology. Scientist then concluded that the bird went extinct between 45,000 and 55,000 years ago. This time period matches when humans landed on Australia, but not any severe climate change. Although this evidence does not prove Diamonds theories, it does how further support and convince me of his thinking. Monasterky, R. "Ancient People Sparked Die-Offs Down Under." Science News, vol. 155, no. 2, 9 Jan. 1999. EBSCO Host, web.b.ebscohost.com/src_ic/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=0f5597f8-ae07-4871-bc12-e86b8847c0fa%40sessionmgr101&hid=107&bdata=#db=mih&AN=1428705. Accessed 26 Aug. 2016.
ReplyDeleteChapter one of Guns, Germs and Steel discusses the timeline of which the continents were first settled. North and South America were the last two continents to be settled due to the distance from the western continents. Diamond brings up the term “pre-Clovis sites” to discuss the possibility of human beings in the Americas before the Clovis settlers, yet he does not describe in complete detail what that means. Many different pieces of evidence of their existence have shown up, yet it is very difficult for archaeologists and paleontologists to pinpoint the exact time when the artifacts were established. These pre-Clovis sites are places where archaeologists found possible structures of early tools or weapons. Additionally, the radiocarbon dates show that some sites in the Americas were populated more than 10,000 years ago, which proves that people lived in the Americas before the Clovis settlements came about. ("A 'Pre-Clovis' Settlement." A Journey to a New Land, SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 2005, www.sfu.museum/journey/an-en/postsecondaire-postsecondary/preclovis. Accessed 26 Aug. 2016.)
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ReplyDeleteIn Chapter One of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses the topic of The Great Leap Forward. Intrigued by this topic, I went to the internet to research more on the topic. The Great leap Forward happened about 50,000-60,000 years ago when suddenly there was a change in Africa. Tools were suddenly being made and Art started to develope. Overall, humans brains started to develope more and become more efficient and smarter. There are two ideas for why this great leap occurred. Humans evolved and got away from Africa. They continued to adapt and over the years became more and more understanding of their surroundings. There is no real reasoning for this outburst of change in humans or why it occurred in Africa but It changed the future for humans immensely. This topic striked intrest in me because of how suddenly hummans started to change and slowly become more adept.
ReplyDeleteWells, Spencer. "The Great Leap." The Gaurdian, www.theguardian.com/education/
2003/jul/03/research.highereducation1.