What is our civilization?
A civilization is a complex human society, usually made up of different cities, with certain characteristics of cultural and technological development. In many parts of the world, early civilizations formed when people began coming together in urban settlements.
What was the first human civilization?
Lower Mesopotamia
What 3 things do great civilizations have in common?
A civilization is a complex culture in which large numbers of human beings share a number of common elements. Historians have identified the basic characteristics of civilizations. Six of the most important characteristics are: cities, government, religion, social structure, writing and art.
What 3 things does Diamond say all great civilizations have in common?
Jared Diamond: All great civilizations have had some things in common – advanced technology, large populations, and well-organized workforce.
What is the main idea of Guns Germs and Steel?
In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond outlines the theory of geographic determinism, the idea that the differences between societies and societal development arise primarily from geographical causes. The book is framed as a response to a question that Diamond heard from Yali, a charismatic New Guinean politician.
What kinds of large animals did New World societies possess?
In the New World, there were no horses or cattle for farming. All the work had to be done by hand. The only large domestic animal was the llama, but these docile creatures have never been harnessed to a plough.
Are Guns Germs Steel accurate?
While praised by many and well received, the book “Guns Germs and Steel” has been roundly criticized by the scientific specialists which make up the fields Diamond drew upon. The criticism notes that Diamond’s book is a profound oversimplification of the topics presented and thus sacrifices accuracy.
Who wrote Guns Germs and Steel?
Jared Diamond
How long does it take to read Guns Germs and Steel?
9 hours and 28 minutes
What is Diamond’s argument?
At the risk of oversimplifying Diamond’s 440-page book, and the debate about it, the discussion goes something like this: Diamond’s book argues that the differences in progress for different societies around the world do not result from one group being smarter or more resourceful than another.
What is Jared Diamond’s claim?
The physical locations where different cultures have taken root, he claims, have directly affected the ability of those societies to develop key institutions, like agriculture and animal domestication, or to acquire important traits, like immunity to disease.
What is Diamond’s answer to Yali’s question?
Jared Diamond’s journey of discovery began on the island of Papua New Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively simple question: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”
How did the east west axis of Eurasia benefit humans?
Continents that are spread out in an east-west direction, such as Eurasia, had a developmental advantage because of the ease with which crops, animals, ideas and technologies could spread between areas of similar latitude.
What is the importance of latitude to the development of civilization?
Lines of latitude are significant not just for global navigation – but, more fundamentally, because they reflect the changing angle of the sun in respect to the earth. This alone determines day length, seasonality, and to a large extent, climate.
How does the North South East-West axis play a role in diffusion?
Thus, a crop can diffuse along an east-west axis. This allows continents with long east-west axes to have crops diffuse, helping civilization to emerge all across the continent. This is not so possible in land masses with north-south axes.
What is the East-West axis?
The first and most basic cause is the shape of the continents: their “axes.” A continental landmass with an “east-west axis” supposedly is more favorable for the rise of agriculture than a continent with a “north- south axis.”[3] Diamond divides the inhabited world into three continents (he uses the word “continent” …
What is the process used to domesticate crops?
For thousands of years, people have been cultivating crops. Describe the process used to domesticate crops and create plants that yielded bigger, tastier harvests. Artificial Selection. People used their best crops to get the seeds for their next crop.
Why did crops spread easily in Europe and Asia?
The Fertile Crescent had a dry climate and a fragile environment. The fact that the Fertile Crescent shared the same latitude with Europe and Asia allowed them to move their crops and animals to these areas and continue to thrive.
Which continents have a north south axis?
The Americas are largely lined up North–South, while Europe and Asia (Eurasia) are largely lined up East-West.
What do you know about Eurasia?
Eurasia is the combined landmass of Europe and Asia in the northern part of the Earth. It has the Atlantic Ocean on its west, and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Sometimes Eurasia is divided into West Eurasia and East Eurasia. West Eurasia is Europe and the Middle East.
Why did Europe evolve faster than Africa?
The short answer: Europe profited off of the backs of slave labor, due to the Atlantic Slave Trade, where they took people from Africa who were traditional slaves to other African tribes (meaning they were slaves of wars between tribes—Old World kind of slaves who could earn their freedom easily like the Romans had …
What has Africa been called?
In Kemetic History of Afrika, Dr cheikh Anah Diop writes, “The ancient name of Africa was Alkebulan. Alkebu-lan “mother of mankind” or “garden of Eden”.” Alkebulan is the oldest and the only word of indigenous origin. It was used by the Moors, Nubians, Numidians, Khart-Haddans (Carthagenians), and Ethiopians.