Guns, Germs, and Steel

Much of this book is devoted to the transition from hunting and gathering to food production, and the wider ramifications of this transition. Hunting and gathering has long been practiced by tribes who relied on wild plants and animals as a source of food. However, food production began in some suitable climates such as that of the Fertile Crescent. It was not always the case that farming began as a conscious choice though: in some cases, people would gather wild plants and unwittingly spill or otherwise deposit their seeds. Once they had observed the growth of new plants, this suggested the possibility of deliberately planting these seeds and tending to the ensuing crops.

Some areas had access to suitable domestic plants and animals, which meant that they could develop food production independently. However, many areas relied on imports to begin with, which were known as founder crops. Geography is again a relevant factor here, as the diffusion of animals and crops could be aided or hindered by terrain, climate, and other associated factors. So, in the same way that some areas were luckier than others in their domestic suite of plants and animals, some were more fortunate in their access to imports.

Wherever food production took hold, hunter-gatherers were faced with the choice of adopting food production in its entirety, adopting some aspects of it but not others, or remaining hunter-gatherers. It was not always the case that food production exercised an immediate stronghold—it sometimes occurred as a more gradual, piecemeal transition. Indeed, the division between hunting-gathering and sedentary food production has not always been as rigid as one might imagine. Hunter-gatherers in some proactive areas became sedentary but did not become food producers, while others became sedentary and took up food production later on. Also, hunter-gatherers were not always mere collectors of wild produce but could actively manage their land. By the same token, some herding peoples shift camp to take advantage of predictable seasonal changes. Hunting-gathering and food production are therefore not always synonymous with either nomadic or sedentary living.

Despite all this, hunter-gatherers found themselves at risk of being displaced or otherwise conquered as food production became more prominent. One reason for this was that food production opened the door to further advancements: where food producers were sedentary--as they commonly were—they were not restricted in the number of goods and innovations that they could accumulate. This was in contrast to peoples who were nomadic and, for practical reasons, could only carry smaller items and necessities.

Even more importantly, food production both fostered population density and was required to feed these increasingly dense populations. More structured, politically centralized societies started to emerge as a result, culminating in the fully-fledged states that are so prevalent today. Even before this point, food producing societies were developing more advanced technology, and the germs carried by livestock proved useful in the long term as well: while epidemics could be devastating initially, those who survived developed resistance. Not only this, where food producers sought to conquer other regions, they could bring with them epidemics to which they had developed immunity but the people of other regions had not.

Ultimately, then, the hunting-gathering lifestyle was supplanted by food production in many areas, and even those hunter-gatherers who had initially resisted food production eventually succumbed. It was also often the case that people had no choice—given their lack of technology, weaponry, and germs, hunter-gathers had limited means of attack or defense when confronted by invading food producers. Hunting and gathering therefore dwindled, though it continued to be practiced in areas that were unsuitable for food production. Food production, meanwhile, served as a prerequisite for further developments. This leads Diamond to conclude that “geographic variation in whether, or when, the peoples of different continents became farmers and herders explains to a large extent their subsequent contrasting fates” (86).

Writing is a major form of communication throughout the developed world today, but this has not always been the case. The oldest known writing system is Sumerian cuneiform, which was developed by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia prior to 3000 BCE. While the ancient Egyptians had communicated via hieroglyphs, the Sumerians introduced phonetic representation, and Diamond cites this as the most important event in the history of writing.

Independent forms of writing have occasionally arisen in other areas since then—in the Native American societies of Mesoamerica, for example—but inventing a writing system is a complex task. Indeed, it took hundreds, possibly thousands, of years for Sumerian writing to develop. It is therefore unsurprising that most systems have been adaptations of existing templates. Where this has been the case, there were two options available: “blueprint copying,” which entails copying or modifying an available blueprint; and “idea diffusion,” in which only a basic idea is available, meaning that the details have to be reinvented. The Roman alphabet emerged following a long sequence of blueprint copying that stemmed from Egyptian hieroglyphics, which included 24 signs for 24 consonants. From around 1700 BCE, the Semites started experimenting with this system, using words instead of hieroglyphs, and all subsequent alphabets have descended from this model.

While inventing a writing system was a complex task, those systems that were invented (or modified) typically went on to spread rapidly. Even so, writing was not always as commonplace as it is today. Instead, it was confined to a small number of individuals in complex, stratified societies (states), such as professional scribes and temple bureaucrats who used it for practical purposes. In ancient Sumer, for instance, writing was used as means of recordkeeping—it was not intended for the masses, nor was it exercised for the purposes of creativity. The same is true of all inventions and early adaptations of writing, which were intended to serve political institutions. Diamond explains that it was only when the Sumerians moved from logograms—where a symbol represents a complete word/phrase—to phonetic writing, that they started to produce prose narratives, including propaganda and myths.

Diamond notes that the Mycenaean Greeks did not even reach this stage, with their writing system—Linear B—being incomprehensible to all but the few palace accountants who used it for recordkeeping purposes. Indeed, it is notable that two of the most esteemed Greek works, The Iliad and The Odyssey, were initially composed and transmitted verbally. It was only with the development of the Greek alphabet hundreds of years later that they were committed to writing.

When Mycenaean Greek civilization fell, the Greeks returned to a phase of pre-literacy until the eighth century BCE. At that point, the alphabet started to emerge, as did the use of writing for poetry, humor, and private communication. In fact, it was not until later that the alphabet was used for public or bureaucratic purposes, with Diamond remarking that “the developmental sequence of uses for alphabetic writing was the reverse of that for the earlier systems of logograms and syllabaries” (236).

Food production is relevant to the evolution of writing in that, like germs and technology, it developed as part of the overall progression from early agricultural societies to modern, politically centralized societies. However, it did not develop at a uniform rate, with some more geographically isolated societies not adopting writing until much later than others. So, as with food production in general, some peoples were more fortunate than others.

Diamond makes this especially clear by providing examples of historical conquests. For example, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and his army belonged to a literate tradition, which enabled the transmission of information. This meant that they were well-prepared when they attacked the Inca emperor, Atahuallpa, and his army. In the New World, however, literacy was confined to small elites in regions far north of the Inca Empire, and the Incas suffered from verbal miscommunication and confusion. Writing was therefore useful in issuing commands, transmitting information, facilitating communication, and providing motivation and guidance.