Lecture 2 – Agriculture
Market institutions impt. to have complex institutions & eventually more wealth
Differences in the World Today and in A.D. 1492
Technology
Metal tools (eg. steel, guns, military tools) in Eurasia, most of Africa (esp. N Africa); only
starting to come into Andes as bronze- this alone guarantees Eurasia will conquer New World;
N/Central America, S Africa, Australia, New Guinea, etc. all only had stone/wood tools
Political Differences
Some had state govts vs. others only tribes; king
central govt, bureaucrats, social inequality-
again states, empires mostly in Eurasia; Andes (Incan Empire), Africa? Only had tribes? States
only starting to come into W? Africa??
Chiefdoms in E US, SW? In Central/S America, parts of sub-saharan Africa; W N
America/Arctic/S Sth America
Differences in Writing
Can write down details; learn from past etc; only writing in Eurasia, China, Japan, (N) Africa,
small area in Mexico
advantage for these.
Agriculture made possible high pop; permanent cities/settlements/villages etc and technology; in
Eurasia, much of Africa, S/Central America, etc
Did NOT have ag (instead: nomadic cultures): N Eurasia, N N Am (Arctic), S America, Sub-
Saharan Africa?; W US; Australia
Iron sharper, harder, more effective than bronze- thus more valuable; bronze too fragile for some
uses eg. spades
Wheeled land transport in Eurasia, N America- but not in New World/Australia; boats- Eurasia,
China (best) = ocean-going; Polynesian? Had ocean-going canoes? African didn’t have any of
these?
1492- year Christopher Columbus discovered New World- year EPNs really began grand-scale
expansion
What Happened Until 11,000 BC?
Human species arose ~6 bil years ago in Africa- humans spread fr. AF to Eurasia ~ 2 bil yrs ago-
didn’t get to Australia/New Guinea til ? yrs ago, by 12,000 BC ppl in every continent except
Antarctica
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.

This is the end of the preview.
Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.
- Spring '08
- Diamond
- Fertile Crescent, New Guinea
-
Click to edit the document details