Book Review: Gun Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Recently, a Facebook page with nearly a million followers asked a mocking question "How is it that Europeans conquered Africans despite not having the endurance to run long races?"

Recently, a Facebook page with nearly a million followers asked a mocking question "How is it that Europeans conquered Africans despite not having the endurance to run long races?"

For most of 2019, this was the question that occupied my reading. If you love history, eventually, you will begin to ask this question. It is inevitable.

At first, it will look like an easy answer. But lazy answers do not cut it. Britain is a small island nation that once controlled more than half of the world. Today, more than half of all the nations in the world celebrate Independence Day, and all of them were colonized by small countries in Europe. Big India was colonized by small Britain. Big China was conquered by small Japan. At the peak of Belgium's colonial escapades in DR Congo, Congo was more than ten times the size of Belgium and had nearly ten times the population of Belgium.

Whatever was going on in history, there had to be an explanation. Just saying, "Intelligence. Or institutions. Or knowledge,” etc., does not cut it. There has to be more nuanced than we are willing to accept.

In my experience, all those I've asked this specific have had two types of answers, the easy one, which contains one thing as the main reason, and the difficult one, which goes further than just one thing. None of them often takes the time to peel the layers deeper. That is exactly what Jared Diamond has done with this book.

He peels the layers back further and helps you see what caused some regions to have the edge over others. His book contains so many small details that it can make you miss the big picture of his argument. For instance, he uses biology to explain how certain plants developed or why certain animals were domesticated in certain regions. These little details could be useless, but if you realize their impact, you will see that small changes matter in big ways. You will see that the small details of history have determined the destiny of the whole continent.

Think of the domestication of animals such as dogs or goats. They provide proteins to the body, which help build and repair body tissues. Whenever there is a war, if a region has domesticated these animals, anyone in this region has a higher chance of healing and surviving after an injury. If you are born in a region where none of these animals has been domesticated, there is no chance that you will that fast. So, by providence or by coincidence, your whole life has been determined by a factor you can't control, a simple phenomenon that someone else in another region is enjoying. Here's the irony, some regions are so cold that some animals cannot survive there; hence there was no chance that any of the animals could even be domesticated. A simple phenomenon has altered the life span of a region.

It is little details like this that Jared Diamond follows. Following his evidence, you will be able to realize that, indeed, some regions had a headstart in developing certain things at certain times; hence they were just ahead not because of any human intelligence or influence, just geography having its effect.

So the domestication of wheat influences who develops a community group of more than one family. A community can go ahead to develop specializations. Specializations lead to a sophisticated government. A sophisticated government leads to a sophisticated civilization. A sophisticated civilization leads to better weapons. Better weapons lead to more life expectancy. More life expectancy leads to more discoveries and development. Thousands of years later, when the Native Americans encountered Europeans, the Europeans had guns while the natives had bows and arrows. When Europeans encountered Africans, the Europeans had tools to protect against diseases. Guns, germs, and steel have won in the history of humanity.

One accusation that has been thrown at this book is that it is guilty of geographical determinism. I think this is one of the laziest accusations ever. It will be impossible to describe the development of the world without factoring in geographical factors. Moreso, for all the years that Jared Diamond was writing, geography, more than anything else, was influential. Today we have the privilege of various technologies that have connected the world but rewind 500 years ago; you will be stunned at how people in Nigeria didn't know about people in Japan. (In fact, 500 years ago, most citizens of the most developed country in the world at that time, China, believed that China was the Middle Kingdom, the center of the whole of human civilization. Apart from top Chinese diplomats, very few have had the experience of encountering others from other parts of the world. Geography had sealed them in one place.)

To see the impact of geography on history, I don't even need to think far; my village provides an answer. I am from Kanke, a region in Plateau State, Nigeria. Kanke is a rocky area. It has more rocks than flat lands. The implication is that my people plant on rocks. Now, compare that with Bassa, another region in Plateau State, Nigeria. It has some rocks, but with much more flat ground. Bassa can cultivate more plants that can go deep into the soil far more than Kanke. The accusation thrown at this book does not want such things to be said. How foolish.

Another example of the impact of geography is the oil-producing states of Nigeria and non-oil-producing states regions. Some states have crude oil that has been mined over the years. No matter how hard we try, some states simply do not have crude oil. Stating either of these is not geographical determinism.

Jared Diamond does an excellent work of explaining how the forces of geography, biology, agriculture etc. played a role in how human societies develop. We are lucky today; technology and tremendous advancement have offered us big ways that any society anywhere can catch up in terms of development. This is why China, without any natural resources, has developed. Singapore, a small island nation with almost nothing to its name, has also developed. Unlike in previous centuries, when geography could be a limitation, it is not anymore.

Every nation has a chance.

This book helps you put things in perspective. It helps you develop respect for the long history of human societies.

If you want to understand why Europeans conquered Africa, not the other way around, this is a recommended book.