essay

            Guns, Germs, and Steel written by Jared Diamond and Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe both share key similarities and differences between how a civilization could be affected by outside influences. Diamond’s work focuses upon the ultimate factors that lead to Eurasia’s dominance over the modern world. Going back over 13,000 years Guns Germs, and Steel emphasizes that geographic factors, continental differences, and rates of diffusion lead to Eurasia’s dominance over other cultures. In Things Fall Apart, evidence from Diamond’s work can be seen played out on a smaller scale. A lower Nigerian tribe that is connected to several villages is dominated, and desecrated by an enlarging Christian influence. The Nigerian culture is dominated by a diffusion of the Christian religion. While, diffusion lays a common ground between these two books, the authors’ intentions and values waver based upon the culture they came from. Thus, providing some different views.

            In Guns, Germs, and Steel Eurasia came to dominate the modern world because of the diffusion of food producing packages from the Fertile Crescent, and a few strokes of luck. “The rise of food production in the Fertile Crescent was facilitated by the Mediterranean climate favoring non-woody annuals, a large number of larger-seeded annuals, hermaphroditic self-pollinators, a high percentage of plants suitable for domestication, a high number of prized large grass seeds (e.g., barley and emmer wheat), multiple usable domestic able mammals, the early domestication of eight founder crops, etc.” While the Fertile Crescent and Eurasia, were equally on the same foot geographically, the Fertile Crescent soon fell behind because the once fertile area underwent desertification, and eroded. With its advanced agriculture and land, Eurasia was then able to begin conquering other cultures, and inventing new technologies. In Things Fall Apart, the Nigerian tribe can relate the Christians that polluted their culture largely with the Eurasians in Diamond’s writing. Six missionaries arrive to Mbanta and try to convert the people of the Nigerian tribe. Also, the District Commissioner of the white colonial government begins to take over and pollute the Nigerians culture because he believes he knows everything about them. The white colonial government is a lot like the conquering Eurasians, taking everything with their superior technology when the author states, “Does the white man understand our custom about land?" "How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." Although, religion was never a major factor in Eurasia’s appeal to conquering territories, therefore religious diffusion didn’t play a large role in Eurasia coming to dominate. The authors of these two books must have differing religious opinions.

            In Guns, Germs, and Steel rates of diffusion, geographic factors, and continental differences are the ultimate cause for Eurasia to become the world power. While trying to base his work off of these ultimate factors, Diamond has had to experience intensive studying with different cultures as to try and understand the reasons why Eurasia became dominant. Being a product of American societies, he has done extensive fieldwork in New Guinea, with the nomadic tribes that reside there. In an effort to extinguish any bias from his work, Diamond focuses on unapparent cultures in his writing instead of a Euro-centric viewpoint, which would solely base his conclusion off of European culture. Studying with the New Guineans allows for Diamond to come as close as possible to experiencing the nomadic life. As in Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe is Nigerian and is writing from the viewpoint of his people. Diamond and Achebe can relate in many of their experiences as they both have lived and studied in the same setting for an extended period of time. Achebe’s writing is different from Diamond’s because an emotional element can be seen. Because of his cultural ties to Nigeria, Achebe writes with a different tone and a more emotional point of view. Because, of his emotional attachment to his topic, Things Fall Apart, is biased in its views of Christians and white people overall. Also, it is quite possible that because Diamond a Christian himself left out religious diffusion because of its negative connotation. Making his religion out to sound like conquerors wouldn’t be the most self-sufficient thing to do. Although Diamond was correct with his ultimate factor of agriculture, he purposefully left out religious diffusion and influence from his proximate factors. Achebe, whom being Nigerian, had no problem writing about the Christians as bad people who polluted his culture.

            Guns, Germs, and Steel and Things Fall Apart were very similar in that diffusion of some kind played a key role in developing the thesis. Although, certain bias towards religion gave the works some variation. Both authors worked to create non-biased material, and in so doing allowed for very valid arguments. Guns, Germs, and Steel provided one of the first non-euro centric works to date, and Things Fall Apart was important to world history because it showed the degradation of a nomadic culture, upon the arrival of European civilization.