...easy beast to tame, and one shouldn’t expect an explanation to come easily. To Jared Diamond, there is a combined ecological and political explanation for what caused the collapse of The Southwest civilizations such as the Anasazi. The Anasazi saw a rapid increase in population in the late 1300s, and when the weather continued to provide positive weather conditions for growth, their empire expanded into lands that were not as fertile to provide food and resources for their growing population. When the weather ceased to grant the Anasazi people quite as much potency, a drought occurred and famine thereafter. The only way to produce food was to use the fertile lands left in the middle of the empire, but this wasn’t nearly enough to feed the entire empire. Thus, the empire collapsed due to overzealously...
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...Collapse- book is about a history topic about how societies choose to fail or survive. The main characters are historical people and unknown kings of Mayan cities or Easter Island villages. Jared Diamond tells the story of the Viking explorer Erik the Red, who discovered Greeland and Vinland (Terranova, in Canada). Another character is captain Olafsson, a norse sailor who wrote the last news about Greenland in 1410. Another main character is Christopher Columbus, who arrived at Hispaniola in 1492, but now this island is two countries, the Dominican Republic and the Haiti. Diamond studied the politics of two presidents. the dominican Rafael Trujillo, who protected the enviroment and the dictator François, Papa Doc, Duvalier, who decided on politics of deforestatation of his country, Haiti. The author considered the bad politics of another main character, king George II, who was interested in sending merinosheeps from Spain to Australia, an idea which was succesful from 1820 to 1950 but then the farmers understood their lands lost fertility. Another main character is Tokuwaga Jeayasu, a shogun of Japan in 1600, who prohibited Christianity in 1600 and protected his country againt deforestation. The book takes us to a lot of places around the globe: Mayan cities, Rwanda, Viking colonies of Vinland or Greenland, Haiti and Dominican Republic, Easter Island and Polynesian colonies in Pacific, and the Chaco villages in New Mexico (United States). The time period was from 800 AC, when...
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...Scientist Jared Diamond has worked for years trying to find an answer to a question, asked to him by a New Guinean, “Why do you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” Why did the Europeans succeeded so much more than the New Guineans? How did the Europeans have such a head start? Was it religion, trade, or another unknown aspect? Jared Diamond argues that geographic and environmental luck have been the most important factors allowing the Eurasian societies to dominate the rest of the world. Jared Diamond’s argument, geography was the reason civilizations advanced, is correct. For two reasons, the East to West axis spread, and the fact that the Europeans had better plants that were easy to farm and spread. The first reason geography was an important aspect to civilization is the East to West axis spread. First, according to document B, the East to West spread allowed Europeans to spread ideas, animals, plants, religion, language, and more throughout Europe. A main reason this spread was easy is because the continents of Europe and Asia have a large latitude,giving many places the same length of day, soil, and temperature, making it easy to travel and easy to plant the same plants successfully and domesticate the same animals. This spread also led to interconnection which gave Eurasia most of its power. According to document I, the East to West led to domesticated animals, plants, food storage, successful...
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...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...
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...COLLAPSE HOW S O C I E T I E S CHOOSE TO FAIL OR S U C C E E D JARED DIAMOND VIK ING VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 13579 10 8642 Copyright © Jared Diamond, 2005 All rights reserved Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed/Jared Diamond. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-670-03337-5 1. Social history—Case studies. 2. Social change—Case studies. 3. Environmental policy— Case studies. I. Title. HN13. D5 2005 304.2'8—dc22...
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...I am always interested in knowing about our ancient societies and how they survived under different political and cultural circumstances. After reading the preface of this book, I was very glad that there is one book intended mainly for students and lay persons to provide an understanding of how our ancestors transformed their societies and moved through periods of crisis. I found this book very readable and thought provoking, especially for readers like me, who don’t have an anthropological background. This book was written by a group of Archeologists, Anthropologists and Social workers. It has very interesting collection of essays responding to Jared Diamond’s popular writings, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Diamond is a Professor of Geography at UCLA, not an anthropologist, archaeologist, or historian. He makes most complex and abstruse publications of historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists easily understandable for a larger public. This...
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...biologist, Jared Diamond, published Guns, Germs, and Steel, sparking debate among anthropologists and other academics. Winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and New York Times bestseller, Guns, Germs, and Steel is arguably one of the most controversial novels of its genre, for Diamond’s futile attempt to explain why human development proceeded at such different rates on different continents has resulted in critical responses among scientists. In his novel, Diamond explains that civilization is exclusively the consequence of climatic and environmental imperatives, contending that the polities allowing for expansion and technological advances in human society are attributed to geography, food production, the domestication...
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...In the video, Jared Diamond explains that the three major elements that separate the world's "haves" from the "have nots" are guns, germs, and steel. These are the same elements that the Spaniards used to their advantage during their conquest of the Inca empire. Diamond had a theory about geographic luck, which basically means that where you are born is what dictates how much of an advantage you will have due to your surrounding environment. A key element in geographic luck includes domesticated animals which led to greater productivity; the majority of domesticated animals were indigenous to the mild climates of the world where powerful civilizations then developed. Because of their geographic location, Europeans were the first to obtain...
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...New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” (14). One commonly espoused answer is the varying intelligence based on genetics (19). Jared Diamond disputes this by stating that evidence that “human differences in intelligence…parallel human differences in technology is lacking” (19). He also states that, in example, New Guineans who were raised in remote villages and were unschooled may seem stupid to Westerners in large cities. In contrast, when Westerners who visit remote villages in New Guinea seem stupid to the local population (20). The varying definitions and types of intelligent make it unreasonable to compare intelligence of genetically varying people, especially from different environments. Another commonly espoused answer is the differences in climate stimulate human energy and creativity to develop technology. Cold climates encourages one to build a warm home and clothing, while in hotter climates, simpler homes and less clothing(22). Diamond, however, states that, also in example, the people of northern Europe did not create anything important to the Eurasian civilizations until the last couple thousands of years, and simply had the luck to live in an environment that would receive...
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...The main issue surrounding the epilogue of ‘Guns, germs and steel’ (Diamond, J) is how we can apply the general principles of scientific method to study of history. The obvious difficulty is existence of cliché that history and science as two separate areas of knowledge, yet Diamond attempts to substantiate that there is an interlink between these two areas of knowledge. This is done by Diamond's emphasis on the subject overlapping between history and science, which is historical science, a subject employing methodology from both sides. In this section ‘The Future of Human History as a Science’, Diamond attempts to apply scientific methodology to in study of not only human history as the title suggests, but stretches the area of knowledge...
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...An adventure through Jared Diamond’s eyes showing how he came to learn that these were the reasons the Europeans were so successful in the new world. Jared Diamond proves that farms, diseases, and weapons are the reasons the Europeans were successful in the new world. Jared Diamond seeks evidence to be able to show the world that these reasons are true. Will he be able to prove to the world that these reasons are true? The Europeans had farming on their side in the new world. Their civilizations had wheat and barley to farm, which was more nutritious and easier to grow and plant than anyone else’s crops in the new world. An advantage to this was that animals could be used to pull the plows to help farm. Also, wheat and barley could be stored for years before it went bad and all of the other civilizations in the new world did not have crops that could be stored for extensive periods of time. All the animals working caused farms to be more efficient and crops to harvest faster. Finally the animals would spread diseases, but the Europeans would not get them anymore because they developed immunities to the diseases unlike natives the Europeans would encounter....
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... Eric Salkewicz Bus 4001 Company Profile The company was founded in 1999 by Marc C. Vandon after purchasing an existing diamond dealer website that later became Blue Nile. By 2009 Blue Nile has become one of the largest online retailers of diamonds. Selling diamonds is not all that Blue Nile offers, amongst their diamond jewelry there are plenty of other gold, platinum, silver and pearl pieces for purchase. In addition to selling diamonds, it also offers platinum, gold, pearl, and sterling silver jewelry. Blue Nile is a publicly traded company that operates in 25 different counties. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Blue Nile offers its products through its United States, Canada and the United Kingdom websites for all product distribution. Lastly, Blue Nile has received several accomedations such as “Forbes Favs 2000-2005”, “Best Online Jewerle Jewelry ,Personal Fiance 2006”(1) The mission of Blue Nile is simple become the number 1 name in jewelry industry, which will be achieved through using high quality products with compelling values while providing customers with outstanding shopping experiences. Also while educating their customers and providing guidance to the way that Blue Nile offers it shopping experience. Many of the goods that Blue Nile offers aren’t actually held in house until a specific order has been placed. Compared to their competitors Blue Nile has an operating advantage through contracts with suppliers that allow them to...
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... Incorporated in 1999 as a Delaware corporation, Blue Nile Inc.is the leading online retailer of high quality diamonds and fine jewelry. Blue Nile offers its products for sale through the bluenile.com website in over 40 countries and territories throughout the world. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and employs 206 employees as of December 2012. The objective of Blue Nile is to offer high-quality diamonds and fine jewelry at competitively attractive prices and at the same time providing useful information and guidance throughout their purchase process. High end jewelry shopping has in fact taken a surprising turn as more and more customers order them online at websites like bluenile.com instead of vising a brick and mortar store. Blue Nile is definitely not the only online jeweler. It has competitors like diamonds.com, whiteflash.com and successful retailers like amazon.com have also tapped this market in the recent years needless to say that the competitive market is intense and highly fragmented with brick and mortar stores also selling a big percentage online. While barriers to entry is high in this industry due to high capital costs, regular brick and mortars are entering this online market due to the ability to keep costs down while reaching a huge market. Threat of substitutes is really low which is a significant advantage to all diamond jewelers. The bargaining power of customers is medium as there are many options for purchase. However as people...
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...儿都不值钱。 Diamonds are not such high in value and rare in amount. On the contrary, diamond mine are one of the common minerals. In fact, in European and American areas, there are even more cut- diamonds than vehicles. They are valuable, however, they could not be exchanged freely like other products as the prices for second-hand diamonds are far below its origin. Besides, the natural diamonds can now be replaced by rhinestones. Actually, diamond might be worthless without its traditional image of romance. 钻石市场供大于求。世界上钻石的供给量，一直都超过它的需求，按照经济学供需规律，钻石应该会跌价，变得很便宜才对。但是，戴比尔斯通过持续买进市场上多余的钻石，来维持它的高价，估计到目前为止，戴比尔斯已囤积了价值超过百亿美元的钻石了。戴比尔斯还能支撑多久，还能持续买进多少市场上的钻石，没人能回答。 In diamond market, supply always exceeds demand. According to economic rules, the price will finally drop. However, De Beers have controlled and manipulated the price by continuously purchasing the stockpiles of diamond that come from other competitors. The price of which, has amounted to more than $10 billion up till now. How long can De Beers last and how much diamonds can they buy? No one knows. 天价打造的“浪漫形象”。戴比尔斯在世界钻石市场的成功，可以说是一个近乎达到垄断的完美范例。它一方面总能刺激市场对钻石的需求，另一方面则减少钻石供给，即使在1955年通用公司（GE）研究实验室宣布发明了人造钻石后，戴比尔斯公司仍能成功维持钻石的高价完美形象。事实上，戴比尔斯公司每年花在广告上的费用多达1.6亿美元，不断传递着“Diamonds are Forever”的信息，持续钻石浪漫的传奇。 They has put much emphasis as well as financial resources on preserving the romantic image of diamonds. To be frank, De Beers spends as high as $160million in advertising every year, continuously conveying the idea of ‘Diamonds are Forever’...
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...Until the beginning of the eighteenth century all known diamonds came from the Golconda region near Hyderabad in India. Pliny wrote an incredible account of how diamonds were found in an inaccessible valley. The locals threw meat into the valley and the diamonds stuck to it. Eagles carried off the meat to their nests from which the diamonds were recovered. At their peak the Golconda diamond fields probably supported many thousands of workers but were practically exhausted by the late seventeenth century. In 1844 diamonds were discovered in Brazil and for a while the Chapada Diamantina, or Diamond Highlands, in the state of Bahia, became the diamond capital of the world attracting prospectors and adventurers in the same way that the California Gold Rush did. A series of major diamond finds in South Africa from 1867 onwards, coinciding with a decline in production in Brazil, soon made it by far the biggest source of diamonds. As in Brazil and Indian the first finds were alluvial but by 1869 diamonds were being mined in South Africa. Their value depended on their rarity and Cecil Rhodes realised that if suppliers competed against each other that would be threatened. By the end of his short life Rhodes had gained control of the diamond mines and extended British rule over much of southern Africa. Mark Twain said of him that when he stands upon the Cape of Good Hope, his shadow falls to the Zambesi (Twain, 1904). One area that was not under British rule was South-West Africa...
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