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Life Sciences
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Research Paper
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Guns Germs and Steel. Life Sciences. Research Paper

Research Paper Instructions:

"Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jarod Diamond is a New York Times bestselling book that has won a Pulitzer Prize. Some individuals highly praise it for explaining how Europeans were able to colonize the world without invoking racial superiority. Instead, the book looks at how geography impacted human history and facilitated European imperialism. However, the book is also highly criticized by scholars as overly simplistic and a reiteration of environmental determinism.

For this project, you are asked to write a paper discussing the ideas put forth by Jarod Diamond in "Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" from a critical perspective. To accomplish this, you will need first to watch the three-part documentary series, linked below:
Part 1: https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=i885hopsw6E
Part 2: https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=dCBod2jFFyQ
Part 3: https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=aJ9espgY-Po

This will take a significant amount of time, and we will have over a week of lecture dedicated to it. If the class were face to face, we would be watching it in the classroom. However, as the course is now in an online format, it will be vital for you to take the initiative and watch the documentary early so you are not overwhelmed at the end of the semester. Once you've finished this, summarize the ideas in the documentary, making sure to answer the following questions
What is the question that Jarod Diamond was trying to address? Who asked him?
How did guns, germs, and steel impact European colonialism? Give an example of each.
Why did European settlers fail when moving into the tropics of Africa?
How does Jarod Diamond attribute these factors to Geography?

Then, read the short journal article "The World According to Jared Diamond" by J.R. McNeill (attached below and and under the "Course Content" link on HuskyCT). This article presents some criticism to Jarod Diamond's work while agreeing with others.
What does the author agree with in "Guns Germs and Steel?"
What do they disagree with?
Next, review the textbooks, particularly pages 90 to 104 in "Geography A Very Short Introduction" (pay special attention to figure 16) and 463 to 466 in "Introduction to Geography." Answer the following questions:
How do the ideas put forth in the books support or refute "Guns Germs and Steel?"
Which of the three models of Human environment interaction in "Geography A Very Short Introduction" do you think Diamond's work falls into?
What are the criticisms, if any, of that model?

Finally, answer the following questions.

what do you think of "Guns Germs and Steel?"
Do you think it does a good job of answering the question it set forth to answer, or do you think it falls short? (Cite sources to support your opinion.)
Why is it important to look at multiple perspectives and sources when thinking of topics like this?

The total paper should be at least 1,000 words (excluding references), double spaced with 12-pt Times New Roman font. Points will be deducted if the paper is under 1,000 words. Please submit your paper as .pdf or .docx file. The term paper has a due date at 11:59 PM on April 24th. Projects are accepted for partial credit after the deadline, but after a 24 hour grace period, there is a penalty of 10% per day late. Projects turned in 6 or more days past the due date will receive a maximum of 50%.

You must use and cite at least five sources (this can include the textbooks, the documentary, the provided journal article, other peer-reviewed articles, monographs, etc.). Do not simply quote materials in the text and the source, but paraphrase using your own words. The text or the outside source must be cited using a standard citation style (e.g. APA, MLA). Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and you will lose points for citing Wikipedia.

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:
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Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
The Question answered
In the book "Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” Jared Diamond answers Yali’s question that was posed to him when they met in New Guinea on why the white people developed so much cargo and brought to the country contrary to the black people having their own (Jared 14). At the same time in the prologue, Yali still asks the reason as to why there exists technological gaps in civilizations and why there are differences in technological advancements between civilizations. In this case, Jared Diamond addresses the fact that many countries of the world acquired riches and became powerful due to opportunity provided by their locations within the geographical map. The riches and power were not as a result of racial as well as cultural reasons neither did they acquire such due to superiority complex.
How guns, germs, and steel impact European colonialism
Diamond in his book argues that the Europeans had the favor of conquest due to their power of geography. In this case, their geography gave them the power of utilizing their productive lands to produce crops alongside animals, which eventually enabled them to develop guns, germs as well as steel. These made some of the great forces of conquest that ultimately shaped the history of humanity (Jared 32). The power of guns, steel, and germs enabled the expansion of European conquest through the building of railroads and the development of societies modeled on the European culture. The first aspect of colonialism started with European settlers who began as farmers with them having the abundance of domestic plants as well as animals that provided a huge advantage towards the development of cities and colonies. The concept of having domestic animals gave the Europeans the advantage since living in such proximity with livestock made it easy for the infection with viruses and germs from the animals. Such invasion by these pathogens later evolved into diseases that killed human beings. However, their exposure to these infections over centuries enabled them to develop resistance. This enabled the Europeans to conquer the people who never possessed such immunity to diseases such as smallpox. Therefore, farming and germs ensured that they had a strong foothold within their respective colonies. The weapons, guns gave them the courage since they had faith that the weapon could enable them to overcome any obstacle as they pushed into nations. The European steel industry had evolved over decades that enabled them to have experience of heating iron ore into strong steel that produced top-notch swords (Jared 44).
Why European settlers fail when moving into the tropics of Africa
In the tropical region of Africa, the Europeans failed due to encounter with harsh climate that infected them with strange diseases. In this case, the disease advantage was reversed the locals were the carriers of diseases that wiped out the Europeans.
How Jared Diamond attribute these factors to Geography
According to Diamond European advancement was all attributed to geographical location. The development of the germs, guns and steel were due to the good fortu...
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