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Essay / Guns, Germs and Steel - 629
Alfred Crosby, Jared Diamond, David Jones and Charles Mann use conflicting theories to analyze the components of disease, geography and environment and their impact on era known as the Columbia Exchange. .” Although each historian reaches different conclusions about the particular environmental factors that most affected the society, culture, and economy of the New World, they all emphasize the unpredictable nature of cultural and biological contact while emphasizing the influence of human interaction with the environment. Although they differ, Crosby, Diamond, Jones, and Mann each attempt to recount and reanalyze the impact of the “Columbian Exchange” that was not shaped by the traditional glorification of the European white man. Specifically, while Crosby argues that disease was the primary agent that allowed European settlers to conquer the natives of the New World, Jones explains how environmental, political, and social factors contributed to the devastation caused by exposure of Native Americans to disease. Diamond infers that geography determines the prosperity of a particular society and attributes a society's success to agriculture and domestic animals, while Mann writes of unintended biological effects, particularly of malaria and tobacco, which favored the homogenocene. Each theory illustrates how human interaction between "old" and "new" environments has produced a multitude of unpredictable consequences such as diseases and invasive plant and animal species. In addition to illustrating how human contact with new climates and cultures had the power to shape history, these theories also attempt to offer alternative historical narratives, free from traditional racial constructs. Crosby hyp... middle of article...... In conclusion, although the theories put forward by Crosby, Diamond, Jones, and Mann make different arguments about the factors that shaped the "Columbia Exchange" era , they have different arguments. approaches to overcoming racist history and using different persuasion techniques, they all highlight the unintended consequences of cultural and biological contacts initiated by human interaction. Whether it's malaria, tobacco, smallpox, or the immune system, every historian recognizes the unforeseen changes that occur when human beings and foreign environments meet. The fact that so many factors - biological, environmental, social, cultural and economic - have the power to destroy civilization, end wars and even lead to slavery, illustrates how globalization and Human interaction between other humans and environments can have far-reaching consequences. results different from those initially expected.