Guns, Germs, and Steel Essay #1: Geographic Luck in the European Domination of the World

Have you ever thought about how Europe became such a large empire? Jared Diamond, a UCLA professor, explains on the TV program Guns, Germs, and Steel, that it is due to geographic luck. Geographic luck is the term used to describe the phenomenon of the fact that people in some areas are just luckier than others. For instance, the Fertile Crescent got nutritious wheat and barley while Papua New Guinea got sago palm. However, Professor Diamond has the right idea. Geographic luck shaped the path to European dominance. Firstly, farming, which played a huge role in Europe, came through their good fortune. Second, key roles in Europe’s conquering spree came through their well-placed civilization.  Finally, Europe’s weapons, the finest in the world, came through their good geographic placement. In order to understand geography’s role in Europe’s superiority, farming and agriculture are essential subjects to look at.

Farming was a vital character in Europe’s progressive march towards global dictatorship. According to Jared Diamond, Europe’s domestic animals provided crucial items, such as shelter made from skins, bones for tools, meat, and milk. Using these, they were able to develop more as a society compared to other places without livestock. Domesticated animals helped Europe evolve against smallpox since smallpox was originally a cow’s disease. Over the generations, after the fittest and strongest had been put into the gene pool, the Europeans had become almost completely immune to smallpox. Europe’s livestock were also used for war and to plow land for nutritious foods that Europe’s geographic luck had pulled through for. While the Inca got bad land and the New Guineans got sago, the Europeans got arable land with nourishing wheat and barley to grow in it. As a result, Europeans became a more stable culture than hunter-gatherer nomads. In understanding farming’s benefit to Europe, it is also important to recognize how the Europeans were more developed than the empires they conquered.

Europe was superior to the civilizations they conquered in every way, except in numbers. Disease came to Europeans early, so they could suffer in an unimportant time when they were not fighting. The Inca and the Khoi San were not so lucky. According to Guns, Germs, and Steel, they were mostly killed by smallpox during the heat of war against Europe. Because it was a foreign disease to them, they had no resistance like the Europeans. Europe also had incredible weapons. Soft Incan bronze was no match for European steel. While Europeans frolicked about, defeating empires right and left, their victims had to fight against the most innovative weapons at the time, all while ailing through one of the most deadly diseases in the world. The final area to be examined is Europe’s authority in weaponry.

Weapons, along with Europe’s war power, came to existence only because of Europe’s environment. Europe inherited decades to centuries of metallurgy from the Fertile Crescent and had even longer to perfect it. The level of steel Europe had existed only because their climate was dry enough to create long burning fires required to heat the iron ore. While Europe had strong steel, the Inca were still using soft bronze weapons. In addition to top-notch swords, the Europeans also had guns. Gunpowder came from China. If the two empires were not on the same latitude, gunpowder would not have arrived at Europe for them to perfect the gun. Examining all of these factors, it can be confirmed that Europe was clearly influenced by geographic luck.

As can be seen, geographic luck helped Europe conquer the rest of the world. Farming allowed Europeans to form villages and develop advanced societies. It assisted them to evolve against diseases like smallpox. Farming also let them develop transportation and labor through livestock. Europe’s advancements in society were all due to their geographic location. It was the reason why they conquered other disease-ridden, primitive empires so easily. Plus, weapons and metallurgy were only developed through the good fortune of the European’s placement and climate. As a result, it is obvious that geographic luck paved the way to the Western-dominant present.