Jared Diamond’s journey to uncover the roots of inequality began in the rain forest of New Guinea. Then came the question that would make diamond stop in his tracks’ it was put bluntly by a man called Yali whom he met on the beach thirty years ago, “ why do white men have so much more cargo, and we New Guinea have so little”. The question really through diamond off, it seem so simple and obvious and he thought there must been a simple answer “but when he asked me, I had no idea what that answer was”. New Guineans use the word cargo to describe the material goods first brought to their country by the westerners.
And the question remained why, since ancient times, have some societies progressed faster than others? All great civilizations have …show more content…
These soldiers, were led by a retired army captain, Francisco Pizarro he’s was taking his men south, into unknown land. They were the first Europeans to have climbed the Andes. As they travel, they find indications of a large native civilization. They reached the edge of the mighty Inca Empire. For Indians and Spaniards alike, any encounter is a clash of cultures. These Indians had never seen white men before, and had no idea of the threat they represent.
Spanish were armed with some of the best weapons in the world. At the time of the conquistadors, Spain had the biggest army in Europe.
The Europeans biggest advantage over native peoples was actually accrued in Europe centuries before Europeans even began to venture onto the ocean. Europe just happens to be the best possible place in the world to obtain domestic animals and plants. All other areas either couldn’t get animals because of geography, or didn’t have helpful temperate weather conditions. The rise of domestic agriculture allowed Europeans to do two things; form a good food support necessary to allow for an expansive population base.
You see, when you have a large amount of animals and people together in the same area, diseases can jump from species to species. The only way to survive this is though blind