Analysis Of Spacious Skies And Tilted Axes

The geography of early Western civilizations greatly affected their development economically, politically, and socially. There are a Number of different first wave and second wave civilizations. The ones that I will be discussing include Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Each of these civilizations proved a number of different ways that their geography affected their development.

Many geographers have attempted creating a unified theory explaining why cultures advance much more readily than others. Very few have actually reached mainstream society and even fewer seem reasonable. However, Jared Diamond shines where most do not. His book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, proposes an idea that has long been established called environmental determinism. Most view environmental determinism as a racist theory attributing a peoples’ intelligence only to their oppressive climates and geographical barriers. Diamond instead has created a theory that applies environmental determinism to only a peoples’ technology—not the people themselves. This has given researchers valuable tools that allow them to explain why some nations have

This linkage gave a rise to mutually dependent and unity around the globe.  One of the long-term effects of European linking Afro-Eurasia with the America introduces the wide diffusion of technology (Bentley 376).  These technologies was an advantage to because most of the technology affect to warfare worldwide. Another thing that was considered as a long term effect was the technology of transportation. During the time, the widespread diffusion of technology enriched the animal and maritime transportation. In which, induced both more trade and industry integration through long distances as well as more financial growth. (Bentley 377). These technologies was an enormous plus to because some of the technology pertain to warfare and the economic growth and transportation that help increase military power and

Jared Diamond discusses the reasons why geographical and environmental factors lead to a more rapid progression of certain civilizations throughout history. The book Guns, Germs and Steel portrays an argument that due to some societies’ access to an area witch contains sufficient amounts of wildlife and climates that are easily inhabitable, these societies developed into more advanced ways of living much easier and also earlier than societies who lacked these geographical attributes. These beneficial geographical attributes promoted the growth of technological improvements in weapons, religion, and farming.

In this part he explains how the increase in food production enabled people to increase in population and create specialized jobs while the domestication of animals helped them with the production of tools, animal labor during farming (pulling wagons) and war (horses used for battle), warmth (leather and wool), transportation, food (meat and milk), and fertilizer. Then he explains the decision of people to move to farming. This decision was influenced by different factors in different parts of the world such a decrease in wild games’ population, more domestic plants, development of technologies for food producing, and human population vs food production. Then he explains how the environmental advantages such as biological, ecological, and geographical diversity allowed for a variety of crops. For example, the plants in the Fertile Crescent were self-pollinating which allowed an increase in crop production. He further explains how geography contributed to the domestication of animals. He states that “the wild ancestors of 13 of the Ancient Fourteen… were confined to Eurasia,” (Diamond 161) which shows the geographic advantage Eurasians had since most of the ancient 14 domestic animals were in Eurasia. Additionally, Eurasia had the least amount of extinction in the last 40,000 years along with more readily domestic animals who has a faster growth rate, diet, no problem breeding in captivity, and etc. Another geographical advantage Eurasians had was the axes of the continents. Since Eurasia has west-east axes, it was easier for Eurasians to transport food production such as crops due to the same latitude which resulted in the same climate, same day length and diseases. However, Africa and the Americas has a north-south axes which made transportation of food production difficult due to

Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the importance of geography in the ways ancient civilizations grew and spread and how some areas were more advanced than others. He began his research when he was asked a question by a Papua New Guinea residence, Yali. Yali had asked Diamond “[w]hy you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” At that point Diamond had no answer and he was curious to find out why Eurasia had a head start in civilizing people meanwhile the other continents were behind. As a result, several differences were made between countries that did not have the same resources as those who were advanced. Some of the developing countries were poor and they had to rely on whatever was given to them through nature. When Diamond went to Papua New Guinea, he discovered that the residences of the island had the same routine as those in the ancient civilizations of Eurasia. They would often hunt for animals and used stone weapons instead of metal.

Differences in axis orientation affected the diffusion of both food production and inventions by altering the rate that crops and livestock spread. The major axis of the Americas is north-south, while the major axis of Eurasia is east-west. According to Diamond, a continent with a long east-west axis has an advantage over a continent with a long north-south axis. A crop that has developed in one place can spread east to west rather easily, but it would have difficulty spreading north to south because some areas are more ecologically suitable for the origins of food production.

This is a very important statement, because this statement is essentially Diamond’s answer to Yali’s question as to why “white people” came to dominate the rest of the world. However, I want to start off with what an average humans needs in order to survive; shelter, food, and water. Shelter was an important issue Diamond skipped over. Although is seems insignificant, without shelter, there’s no way agriculture can be established. There must be a place built in order to protect our ancestors from the elements, or else no matter how great agriculture is, one will die if exposed too long to extreme weather conditions. About food and water, Diamond argues how well the land of the Eurasians was so fertile, meaning water must also be available as well. So, with this fertile land, agriculture was successful and gave Eurasians the upper hand in population growth. This is a good point as Diamond covers all his bases as to why Eurasians had the better land. Eurasia’s large landmass and similar climate throughout allowed the exchange of crops and the successful use of them in different parts of Eurasia. This gave rise to successful agriculture and surplus of resources throughout

The argument begins with a brief summarization of Diamond’s theory. The main point being that the distribution of wealth or success to countries or continents is decided geographically. And within the geographic category is the importance of farming and domestication of animals. Diamond says Eurasia’s advancement happened because of their

Areas would have to keep up with the competition or they would be taken out by neighboring nomads like the mongols. Asia realized that they had the geological advantage and used this to grow crops that other areas were not able to. It was so much of an advantage that Europeans went all the way to America or the new world to grow crops like sugarcane so they could make money and sell it were they came from were it was hard to make. It happened because if you could not keep up with the neighboring areas you taken over or you would be paying tribute to others until you ran out of things to give

Diamond states “Technology, in the form of weapons and transport, provides the direct means by which certain peoples have expanded their realms and conquered other peoples.” Most significant inventions in this field (firearms, ships, steel equipment, printing presses, glass, and steam engines, to name a few) were all of Eurasian invention. Diffusion, the author argues, either didn’t exist or didn’t unfold as quickly or efficiently as other areas. Geography, the main factor Diamond argues about history’s development, is included here in the fact that Eurasia is continuous and Europe/Asia is easily accessible to its included North African region through the Suez Canal. The Americas don’t apply in this situation as the connect between the two, the Isthmus of Panama, forty miles wide, “virtually transects the Americas geographically”, and ecologically the Isthmus separates the Darien rainforests of South America and the northern Mexican desert, Diamond explains. The lack of continuity in this case does not allow for a fast, fluid spread of ideas and communication for obvious reasons. Australia, for example, as the most isolated continent, and located so the weather pattern doesn’t allow for proper support of large populations, is why Australia is “the sole continent still without metal artifacts in modern times.” Additionally, Johann Gutenburg’s invention of the

There is a saying that “Geography is destiny”. For early civilizations, geography was an obstacle when it came to survival. As people settled in permanent locations, they relied on the local geographical features to sustain themselves. As people relied on geography, it helped shape the development of early civilizations, such as to provide many natural barriers, trade routes, and fertile land. China, for example, was able to develop and prosper due to its natural barriers.

In An Uninterrupted View of the Sky by Melanie Crowder, Francisco is living a life of school and soccer and is planning to create a shop with his friend Reynaldo. Everything turns around when his father was falsely accused of making cocaine and is sent to prison with their mother leaving him and his little sister in the prison. Francisco had no choice, but to stay in the prison with his little sister to survive. In the prison, they are aware of being judged by their skin. Prejudice based on skin tone generates discrimination and racism.

Having now roughly outlined the various kinds of frontiers and their modes of advance, chiefly from the point of view of the frontier itself, we may next inquire what were the influences on the East and on the Old World. A rapid enumeration of some of the more noteworthy effects is all that I have time for.

For millennia, civilizations on either side of the Eurasian Continent exchanged both products and ideas through the complex networks of the Silk Route. Central Asia, given its strategic position on this route, long served a critical role at the crossroads between East and West. However, while cultures on both ends of the networks have by and large been extensively researched, Central Asia — despite its centrality — is frequently ignored or marginalized; rather than claiming a separate area of study, it oftentimes retreats to the peripheries of a larger grouping, whether the Islamic world, the Sinosphere, or the Russian Empire. Yuri Bregel, on the other hand, proposes an alternative perception of the region. He contends that Central Asia