Geographic Determinism
Module 2
Lee Davenport
Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winner for his novel Guns, Germs, and Steel, analyzes human evolution for the last thirteen thousand years based on geography. The question of technological evolution and the different rates of progression/development in different areas of the world are answered by Dr. Diamond with the help of genetics, molecular biology, biogeography, archaeology, and linguistics. He offers steel swords, guns, horses, disease, isolation, and ships as the primary reasons some civilizations were able to easily conquer others. (A Talk by Jared Diamond) In the Americas, I believe there were other additional factors that made possible the conquest by the Spanish, French, and English.
As early as 500 years before Columbus and the Spanish arrived in the Caribbean and set up a base camp, the Norsemen (Vikings from Iceland and Greenland) reached the Western Hemisphere in what is now the North East United States and South East Canada. With them they brought steel swords, horses, diseases unknown to the native peoples, and seafaring technology. Early Explorers Why then did they not conquer the native peoples like the other invading Europeans did? I believe there were many factors (beyond Dr. Diamonds examples) why the Europeans were successful at conquering the Americas; Timing, settled farming communities, native help, and ancient beliefs all helped make possible the history we know today, it could have very easily gone in a different direction.
The union of Isabella and Ferdinand and the victory crusade in Iberia in 1492 led to the formation of the Christian state of Spain. With seasoned warriors, the momentum of victory, and a lust for the fabled riches of the west, the timing was now right for Spain to look westward to expand its empire. (Hine, Faragher P.14) Columbus landed in the Bahamas in October and met the Tainos Indians, a peaceful, welcoming, farming community. With better weapons and the arrogant assumption that their culture was far superior to that of the Tainos, the Spanish conquered them and moved in. The settled farming communities made it possible for the Spanish (as well as later Europeans) to settle with the assurance they would have supplies through the winter. (Hine, Faragher P.7) This would also serve as a base camp for future conquests. Native help for the Europeans came in the form of “common enemies” like that of the Tlaxcalan warriors who were being oppressed by the Aztecs, and individuals like Malintzin who having been treated poorly by here people took sides with the Spanish and Cortes. Montezuma II (the Emperor of the Aztecs) could have wiped out Cortes and his army early on, but an ancient myth* coincided with the timing of the Spanish arrival so Montezuma invited Cortes and his army into the city. The Spanish after being welcomed into Tenochtitlan, attacked the Aztec Nobility and started the conquest of what is now Mexico City. (Hine, Faragher P.21-22)
While I agree with Dr. Jared Diamond that the geography played an important role in technological development, and that in turn helped determine what cultures expanded and took over other lands, I believe in some areas (the Americas for example) that many other factors played just as big of a role in the unfolding of history.
Sources:
John Mack Faragher et al., Out of Many: A History of the American People 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 2006)
Robert V. Hine & John Mack Faragher, The American West: A new interpretive history (Yale University Press, 2000).
Edge, "A Talk by Jared Diamond" [April 23, 1997]http://webct.dvc.edu/SCRIPT/HIST120_5180_FA07/scripts/serve_home
History.com, Encyclopedia: "Early Explorers of the Western Hemisphere"http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=227329
