Context with Brad Harris

Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond

Jun 6, 2018
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INSIGHT

Superior Weapons and Horses Explained

  • The Spanish conquest, led by a few hundred soldiers, defeated tens of thousands of Inca due to superior weapons and horses.
  • Steel armor, weapons, and horses gave Eurasian invaders overwhelming advantages over Native American civilizations.
INSIGHT

Eurasian Environmental Advantage

  • Eurasian environments offered many more domesticable plants and animals than other continents.
  • This environmental bounty enabled earlier and more powerful agricultural and societal development in Eurasia.
INSIGHT

Disease Gave Eurasia Major Edge

  • Eurasian societies developed genetic resistance to animal-borne diseases from millennia of exposure.
  • These diseases devastated native populations in the Americas, aiding Eurasian conquests more than weapons did.
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