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Jared Diamond Research Paper

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Why is there so much inequality in the world, where some societies have so much, while others have so little? Jared Diamond, a UCLA professor, spent 30 years trying to answer this question. During this time, he traveled around the world in learning new things about countries that led to his answer; geography. During one of his expeditions to what he calls his second home, New Guinea, he met a man named Yali who asked him a question that has puzzled him for years. Yali’s question was, “Why is that you white people developed much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" Diamond dedicated his life to these questions and when he came to an answer, he said, “History followed different courses for different …show more content…

Germs have helped and hurt people around the world. They damaged many societies by killing thousands of people and animals mostly in South Africa. This was helped the Europeans by spreading infectious germs like smallpox which wiped out an entire empire for them. For instance, connecting back to when the Europeans conquered native populations in America and South Africa, they were very successful mainly because of the diseases that their domesticated animals spread to humans. The main sickness during this time was smallpox. Millions died because of this as the animals infected people during the time that the Europeans traveled around the world conquering one country after another. The role of germs in conquest is that people can use them to their advantage. If their enemies are caught on with a disease and people start dying, this can make their work easier. Not only were germs horrible back then, but they still affect modern Africa today. For example, today, many people have vaccines to protect themselves from the harmful infections and diseases but some don’t like Zambia. It has become almost normal to them to see kids die every day. The number one health problem in Zambia is Malaria. Forty-five percent of the children have malaria and it is the #1 killer of African children younger than 5. The death rate for children has grown dramatically over the last few years and they hope to change that. Unlike Zambia, Malaysia and Singapore have developed rich economies despite having many of the same geographical and health problems faced by African nations. They did they by understanding their environment and through tremendous amounts of effort, they were able to almost completely wipe out malaria and transform their lives. This is exactly when Zambia hopes to do as time goes

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