Anuttra Chandran

Mr. Srini
Geography
23/04/2014
History of Disparity in Population Development Essay
The documentary made by the National Geographic society based on the book Guns, Germs
and Steel by Jared Diamonds tries to debunk the generally held theory of racial superiority
of Europeans for their domination of the world. It shows on the other hand, how the pre-
existing geographical advantages such as a temperate climate, flora and fauna shaped the
European civilization that led to its expansion all over the world. The human genome project,
undertaken much after the book written by the author, in a way, supports this theory by
concluding scientifically that that all human beings originated from the same racial stock and
dispersed to different geographies at different periods of time and developed traits linked to
local necessities. The fact that geographical factors play an important role in the development
of civilizations is well documented with reference to histories of different countries. But what
makes Jareds theory convincing is the multi-disciplinary approach that he brings in, to
support his arguments.
Jared traces the genesis of superiority of Eurasian civilizations over Polynesian civilizations
due to the conducive nature of Eurasia which had all the ingredients such as wheat and barley
containing high carbohydrates, pasture lands supporting live stock providing opportunities for
the growth and continuous sustenance of great civilizations in that part of the world. Whereas
the difficult terrain of Papua New Guinea whereas the difficult terrain of Papua New Guinea
sapped the energies of the people living there hardly giving them time for development. The
unconsumed wheat and barley was used as feed stock for cows, thereby giving them less
labour and freer time which gave them opportunity to enhance their living standards. One
thing led to the other in a chain of activity giving rise to a settled life. The men started living
as an interdependent society. The animals like cows, sheep and goats which were found in
this area were conducive for domestication, for sourcing milk and meat. The population grew
because of longevity obtained through nutritious food. This put pressure on existing food
stock. So they felt the need to develop agriculture. They needed food in times of non-
availability and developed techniques to store them for the future use by building granaries.
Papua New Guinea did not have these ingredients and people there relied on hunting and
gathering. Hunting being not always successful while gathering taking lions share of time,
they remained occupied with unproductive work most of their conscious time. They spent
more energy on collecting food than what they consumed as the food had less nutrition and
energy. The only animal they found and reared was pig which could only be used for meat
not for draught power. This deprived them of opportunities to enhance their living standards
much the same ways as Eurasians.
Histories of China and India show clearly the hand of geography in shaping them. The great
Chinese civilization developed around bounties of nature. The invention of silk, paper,
gunpowder, ship building attributed to China was because of the availability of the materials
in that part of the world due to geography. The absence of nation states among the Chinese
due to centralised structure which developed again due to geographical factors led to
complacency and uncompetitiveness which proved to be the nemesis to the Chinese empire.
Anuttra Chandran
Mr. Srini
Geography
23/04/2014
India was bounded by sea and impenetrable Himalayas and was blessed with fertile lands
watered by perennial rivers. So India for most of its history remained peaceful. It was also
spared of natural calamities and harsh climate. This provided a conducive climate for growth
of art and literature, intellectual, philosophical and spiritual thoughts unparalleled in history.
On the down side, this also led to uncaring attitude towards life, attracting invasions from its
unprotected North West flank. (K.M. Panikkar)

Situated in the middle of battle lines, people in Afghanistan, for example, became hardy
fighters. North America and Australia did not have any great civilization due to Eurasian type
geography.

In conclusion, people in different countries have their own distinct character due to years of
evolution of mankind depending on the geographies they are found. The theory of natural
selection follows geographical factors. The study of mankind is no more confined to
anthropology but various other disciplines coming together hinging fundamentally on
geography. The revelation that it is not the racial factor which decides the superiority of
mankind but the geographical factor will lead to harmony, peace and betterment of the world.
Bibliography:
Geographical Factors in Indian history by K.M Panikkar, published by: Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, 1955.