History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.Jared Diamond
Technology is usually a consequence of a society's development, rather than its determinant.Jared Diamond
Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.Jared Diamond
In short, Europe’s colonization of Africa had nothing to do with differences between European and African peoples themselves, as white racists assume. Rather, it was due to accidents of geography and biogeography—in particular, to the continents’ different areas, axes, and suites of wild plant and animal species. That is, the different historical trajectories of Africa and Europe stem ultimately from differences in real estate.Jared Diamond
With the rise of chiefdoms around 7,500 years ago, people had to learn, for the first time in history, how to encounter strangers regularly without attempting to kill them.Jared Diamond
Domesticated plants and animals, germs, metals, and writing: those are the four main categories of things that I've found influenced the rise and spread of civilizations on different continents.Jared Diamond
Thus, an observer transported back in time to 11,000 B.C. could not have predicted on which continent human societies would develop most quickly, but could have made a strong case for any of the continents. With hindsight, of course, we know that Eurasia was the one.Jared Diamond
Just as guns and swords of steel or iron triumphed over native Australian hardwood weapons, and just as horses and camels endowed Eurasians with military advantages over New World and African infantry, similar considerations of military technology have deep roots. They trace back to the advantages that proto-Indo-European farmers gained from the possession of domestic animals and cereal crops over rivals lacking them.Jared Diamond
Gunpowder reached the West via the Arabs, around A.D. 1300. By the late 14th century the cannon, originally developed perhaps in Java, had been perfected in Europe to the point where it became the main armament of warships.Jared Diamond
The lives of billions of peoples will be changed, for better or worse, by the choices that we educated people of the Westernized world make or fail to make about our lifestyles.Jared Diamond