Hovhannisyan

Geography v. People

        Throughout the course of human history, some societies developed more advanced civilizations and were more successful than others. A challenging task for historians and other scientists alike is finding a valid reason or an examination for the uneven advancement of societies. Jared Diamond, a renowned professor at UCLA, after years of study and fieldwork has given the explanation that geography is the key to the success of civilizations. That is, the location of a society and the available resources to it determine its advancement or collapse. However, his conclusion is faulty and cannot explain such facts as Greek and Macedonian triumph over the powerful Persian Empire.  

        Before the discussion of the alternative reasons for the success of some civilizations over others and the inconsistency of Diamond’s position with the Greek and Macedonian victory over the vast Persian Empire, a brief introduction to Diamond’s study is appropriate. According to the documentary “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by PBS, Jared Diamond started his research after a man in Papua New Guinea asked him: “Why do white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” Diamond’s study primarily centers on the development of complex civilizations in Mesopotamia and the tribal societies in Papua New Guinea. Diamond argues that the fertile land and the cattle, which provided a constant source of protein, in the Mesopotamian region allowed its people to grow in numbers and power, while the jungle covered landscape of Papua New Guinea and the remoteness of cattle from the island hindered the islanders to develop at the rate of Mesopotamians. Additionally, the kind of crops planted in these regions played an important role because of their nutritional values. Crops like wheat and barley native to Mesopotamian societies provided them with durable sources of food and are some of the most productive. As it is known, most productive crops yield most productive farms. On the other hand, New Guinean agricultural crops had to be planted one by one and were low in nutritional value. Basically, Diamond states that it is the geography of Mesopotamia that promoted the advancement of civilizations.

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        Now, geography itself does not account for the advancement of societies. For example, if the success of a civilization is based on its geography, than how come the mighty Persian Empire with its plentiful resources that could support enormous armies was defeated multiple times by the small city states of Greece in the Mediterranean and later completely conquered by the Macedonians? In agreement with Jared Diamond’s logic, the Persians should have been victorious by a landslide; after all, the great majority of the most productive lands in the ancient world were under their domain, there was no shortage of domesticated ...

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