3 ms·
I think his theory on what happened to Easter island has been debunked? I wasn't convinced by guns germs and steel at all. It seemed to ignore the fact that wes
by pipes 3y ago
I think his theory on what happened to Easter island has been debunked?
I wasn't convinced by guns germs and steel at all. It seemed to ignore the fact that western Europe was a cultural backwater for most of known history.
Anyway it was a long time ago that I read it, so I could be remembering it wrong.
- chongli 3y agoNorthern Europe didn't take off until the invention of the moldboard plough. The Romans took advantage of the looser, sandier soils around the Mediterranean which didn't need such a heavy plough to work. To bring the moldboard plough into fruition required the development of better steel and the breeding of heavy horses, something that was just not possible earlier on.
- Manuel_D 3y agoDiamond explicitly calls out the fact that Western Europe was a backwater for most of history until a few hundred years ago in the first dozen pages of the book.