Guns, Germs, and Steel

1. Geography has a major impact everything around us. It has affected history, wars, lives, and more. Every country varies in shape, resources, vegetation, work, technology etc. The Europeans were “geographically blessed” according to Jared Diamond. The Spanish were placed in the perfect spot. All around them they had other countries and cultures, which influenced them and helped them grow. Unlike the Europeans, the Incas weren’t so lucky. The Incas were isolated from the rest of the world, because of their geographical location. They Incas didn’t know how to write or read, they had never even seen a book before. They had never been introduced to cuneiform, like the Europeans had. The Europeans became “accidental conquerors” because their success in conquering wasn’t really based on their hard work, but more on luck itself. They were positioned in the middle of everything. Europeans got to take ideas from other countries; they got gun powder from China, and heard about new technologies and weapons from Asia. They were able to conquer natives and obtain gold, because they had things that the natives hadn’t even heard of. This made Europeans seem intimidating when they showed up with guns, horses, and different equipment/clothing.

2. Pizarro had steel while the Incas had bronze. This gave Pizarro and his men a great advantage over the Incas. Steel was much stronger and more advanced than bronze. The Incas made their tools and weapons from bronze, which made them weak compared to the steel swords the Spanish processed. The Spanish had more advanced knowledge and technology, which is why they were able to create steel. It was a long and complicated process, in witch iron was infused with carbon. The Inca didn’t have the sophis

ticated technology the Spanish had, because of their isolated geographical location. The Inca didn't even know there was such a thing as steel, their lack of knowledge was advantageous to the Spanish. This helped Pizarro defeat the Incas and conquer them.

Horses were very important back then, they were similar to our transportation today. Horses weren't just used as a mode of transportation, they had other uses that made the Spanish very powerful. A horse was somewhat of a weapon, Pizarro used it to intimidate others. Pizarro and his men looked powerful, important, and even godly, which scared and intimidated the Incas. The Incas couldn't compete with horses, the only kind of animal they raised were llamas. Llamas are not very useful animals and they were specially no help when it came down to war. The Spanish had an easy victory over the Incas, simply because horses were large and powerful animals, that the natives had never seen before. It wasn't the Incas fault they weren't introduced to the same things the Spanish were introduced to. The Incas lived far away from other civilizations and didn't get to experience the mixture of cultures the Spanish did.

3. Jared Diamond's theory on geography is still relevant today, but not as much as it used to be. Geography still has an affect on some components in our life. Now a day we have the technology to change what was once permanent. We no longer have to be stuck with the resources that surround us, we have certain types of transportation that carry resources from one country to the other, so that everyone has the opportunity to experience different things. Technology is universal, we have computers and the internet which display information that is easy to reach. Traveling is also much easier now that we have cars and airplanes, we can go to different continents in much shorter amounts of time. Where Diamond's theory would apply would be in countries like Africa that suffer from poverty. Countries in poverty don't have the money to pay for technology or resources. The rest of the country has an advantage over these poor counties. In this situation they would be like the Incas, isolated from the rest of us, unable to get what others have. Some children don't get what others have and it's because of their location in the world.

4. In class we have been learning about many important events and ideas. We have done four activities, watched the movie Guns, Germs, and Steel, talked about the legend of El Dorado, read about the Mongols, and took notes and discussed about the Middle Ages that all share one idea. They all share that exploration is at the heart of the human experience. Humans love to explore, it's in our nature, we long to find a way to explain the unexplainable, but the reasons vary from person to person. Some like to explore and seek for competition, excitement, adventure, to find answers, for purpose or a sense of accomplishment. Whatever it is we all have a sense of exploration in our hearts. In the movie Guns, Germs, and Steel, we learned that Pizarro and his men went on an exploration to the new world, and that is how they ended up defeating the Incas. They were seeking for gold and pride. when talking about the legend of El Dorado, We learned that it as based on a true story, it was the search for the city of gold. Once we read about the Mongols we saw that they used exploration to create and expand their huge empire. After taking notes on Middle Ages, we knew that Europe was in the dark age for about 1000 years. They weren't doing so good because the Europeans weren't exploring yet.