GBK History 10H
Mr. Campbell
Name:__________________
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Study Guide
This study guide is due the first day of school, August 27th. You will be asked to write a formal
essay applying Diamond’s argument to the European colonization of the New World, so be sure
to carefully read and annotate the book.
I would suggest underlining, using sticky notes or in some way demarcating important passages
you may deem supportive of your analysis of the text. Additionally, be sure to take good notes,
either in the margins of the book or on this study guide, and to utilize this study guide to the
fullest extent by completely and clearly answering all of the questions below.
Answers will vary in length, but 3-4 well-crafted sentences should suffice, in addition to your
annotations and notes.
Please read the entire chapter unless page numbers are specifically indicated.
Prologue (pp. 13-28 only)
1.What is the overarching question (“Yali’s question”) that Guns, Germs, and Steel seeks to
answer? Please state the question in your own words - don’t quote from the book.
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2. Briefly identify and discuss two other ways in which Yali’s question has been answered in the
past (either from your own recollection or from Diamond’s book). According to Diamond, why
are these explanations unsatisfying?
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3. In your own words, summarize Diamond’s “one-sentence answer” to the main question of
Guns, Germs, and Steel (which you will find on p. 25).
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Chapter 1
1. What was the “Great Leap Forward”? When did it occur, and what is our evidence that it did
occur?
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2.Archaeological records from many continents around the world show a consistent pattern:
whenever human beings come to occupy a new territory (e.g.,Australia/New Guinea 30-40,000
years ago), the large mammals in that region tend to die off. (41-44) According to Diamond,
what explains this pattern, and why might it have important consequences for human history?
Why is the history of the interaction of human beings and large mammals different in Eurasia?
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3.When were the Americas first ‘colonized’ by human beings? What is our evidence for these
dates? So far as we know, how was that settlement accomplished?
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4. Does the archaeological record of the Americas reflect the familiar pattern of the extinction of
large mammals following human settlement?
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Chapter 3
The subject of this chapter is the ‘Collision at Cajamarca’ in which 168 Spaniards, led by
Francisco Pizzaro, somehow overwhelmed an Incan army that may have numbered as many as
80,000. In the spaces below, explain the significance (according to Diamond) of each of the
following factors in accounting for the unlikely success of the European invaders.
a. Guns and Steel (i.e., advantages of military technology and techniques, including the use of
horses).
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b. Germs
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c. Literacy
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2.To what extent do you think Diamond has supplied an accurate account of the causes of the
Spanish victory over the Inca? Do you think there are important explanatory factors whose
significance he omits or underestimates?
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Chapter 4
This chapter (especially the chart on p. 87) summarizes the heart of Diamond’s argument. Please
pay special attention to his articulation of the connections between the different steps of the
development of human civilization. Be sure to define proximal and ultimate.
1.Why does it matter when a civilization or region of the world learned to domesticate plant
species and thus become farmers? Why are agricultural peoples generally able to sustain larger
populations than hunter-gatherers?
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2.Why are domesticated animals such an important aspect in the development of human
civilization? Please include discussion of the impact of germ infections caused by farm animals.
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3.What is the connection between the capacity of a people to sustain a food surplus and the
development of what Diamond calls “large, dense, sedentary, stratified societies”? (87)
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Chapter 5 (pp. 98-103 only)
1. In which regions of the world are we relatively certain that food production arose
independently (i.e., not because of already domesticated crops being brought to that region by
neighboring peoples)? Which regions of the world witnessed the earliest plant domestication?
How do Mesoamerica and the Andes region compare to the Fertile Crescent?
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2. How and when did food production first arise in Europe?
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Chapter 8 (pp. 131-142 only)
1.Why did the Fertile Crescent region have such important advantages in its combination of
useful plant species? What plant species were available, and what were the specific advantages
of each?
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2. How does the Mesoamerican region compare to the Fertile Crescent in terms of its useful plant
species? According to Diamond, what consequences might follow from this difference?
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Chapter 9
1.What is the difference between an animal that has been tamed and one that has been
domesticated? Why is this difference important in terms of the usefulness of particular animals
for human communities?
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2.Which animal species have been most important to the development of human civilization, and
for what reasons? Which regions of the world were especially well endowed with members of
these groups?
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3. What is his evidence for the claim that the failure to domesticate a promising species must be
due to the problematic nature of that species and not to failures in the ingenuity of the human
beings living in proximity to that animal? Do you find it convincing?
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Chapter 10
1.When botanists study the history of Eurasia, they generally see patterns that indicate the rapid
spread of a domesticated plant species across a wide area. In Africa and the Americas, however,
the story is very different: the same plant species is more often domesticated independently in
two different regions, and evidence for the spread of domesticated species is more scarce.
What are some of the environmental factors that account for this difference (discuss at least 3
separate factors)? Why did domesticated species spread more easily in Eurasia than in the
Americas?
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Chapter 11 (205-213 only)
1.What is the connection between domestication of animals and the development of highly
infectious crowd diseases such as smallpox?
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2.According to Diamond, what special role did smallpox play in Cortes’ conquest of
Tenochtitlán?
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3. If the civilizations of the Americas contained huge human populations - estimates of 20
million are quite common - why didn’t the ‘New World’ contribute very many (or any) terrible
contagions to the ‘Old World’?
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Chapter 14
1. How does Diamond explain the relationship between governments and religion? Do you
agree?
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2. Explain the difference between egalitarian and “kelptocratic” societies. What does Diamond
offer as the four ways in which elites garner support for their rule?
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3. According to Diamond, is the most “fundamentally correct” explanation of the creation of
complex states?
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4. Food production creates the conditions by which population densities can grow and thus
necessitate larger social systems. What are the four “obvious” reasons that large societies
necessarily adopt complex central organization? Provide a brief summary of each reason.
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5. How does Diamond view the role of organized religion in the maintenance of civil society?
Do you agree with his view? Why or why not?
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Chapter 18
In skipping to the end of the story of the European conquest of the Americas, we are omitting
three important issues: the development of writing, technological progress, and the evolution of
modern political structures. Diamond’s argument is that these things develop naturally as a result
of the original environmental advantages that made one land more prosperous and thus better
able to support “large, sedentary, stratified societies.” The summary provided in this
chapter should give you a sense of how these pieces fit into Diamond’s argument.
1.According to Diamond, which was ultimately more important in accounting for the disparity
between European and American development by 1492: differences in domesticable plants or
domesticable animals? Why?
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2.As you investigate the very important table (18.1) on p. 362, please pay special attention to the
difference between the Fertile Crescent and Mesoamerica. What are the most important
differences you observe?
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3. In what way does the more fragmented history of language groups in the Americas
substantiate the main claims of Diamond’s book?
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Reflection
In the space below, please briefly identify and discuss two points you would like to make about
Diamond’s argument. These points can take the form of questions about parts of the book you
find unclear or incomplete, or criticisms about parts of the argument that you find unconvincing.
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