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Moreover, Diamond argues that the reason that Native Americans were largely killed due to disease rather than Europeans was because of the much broader range of
by antognini 9y ago
Moreover, Diamond argues that the reason that Native Americans were largely killed due to disease rather than Europeans was because of the much broader range of domesticated animals in Eurasia. Most of these pandemic diseases hopped from livestock to humans and were able to evolve into especially virulent forms due to the high population density. The Americas didn't have the range of animals that could be domesticated, (or the range of plants that could support the high population densities of Eurasia) so similar diseases never evolved there.
- soperj 9y agoThey did have a large range of animals that could be domesticated... they just didn't domesticate them.
- antognini 9y agoI'm not an expert, but the argument that Diamond made was that by 1492, every animal on the planet that could be domesticated had already been. It takes a very special combination of traits to make it possible to domesticate an animal and the vast majority of large mammal species do not possess those traits. Bison, for instance, have never been domesticated, nor have deer, even in modern times.
- soperj 9y agoBased on what definition of domestication? There are both deer and bison farms. Also wasn't the Turkey domesticated soon after the arrival of Europeans?
- dmckeon 9y ago> domesticated animals that are useful in agriculture for tilling fields One key trait that Diamond mentions is whether a species is susceptible to dominance - horses evolved with a herd dominance order, zebra did not; thus horses can be domesticated and put to the cart or plow, while zebra cannot (modulo a few feral zebra which have been tamed & trained). The book is well worth reading, and contains a great deal of content which the margin of this reply is too small to contain.
- soperj 9y agoI've read the book. And afterwards I felt very compelled to believe what he had to say, but overtime, more and more examples start pointing to an over simplification of what is possible. Horses may have herd dominance, but what about the ox? or the donkey? or the water buffalo? or the yak?
- greglindahl 9y ago> or the range of plants that could support the high population densities of Eurasia A bit entertaining, because maize (corn) and potatoes come from the Americas, and were adopted over much of Europe (and in northern China) because they were needed to support high population densities.