Essay

                For this essay, I am going to take what I learned in class and analyze and summarize Jared Diamond’s theory. I am going to talk about what his theory is all about and at the end I am going to say what I think of his theory. Because his theory is based off of where he lived in Papua New Guinea, it’s a pretty one sided answer. After hearing his story, I had no idea that Papua New Guinea had a twenty-first century life anywhere on its island. Jared Diamond’s theory is a very simple thought for such a big debate, and some might say it is too simple.

                His theory all started off when a New Guinean man asked him why white men had so much more cargo than the rest of the island. Jared wondered the same thing considering that Papua New Guinea has been a civilization for over 40,000 years and recently stopped using stone tools. He came to find that New Guineans are used to us having so much stuff also known as cargo that they think it is powerful and they are just simply used to us having more of it. Then, Jared knew that there was more of an explanation that that, so he took his research “back in time” to 13,000 years ago. He came to find that there were a lot of forest, trees, and plants which were easy to hunt and gather. That is just what they did; people back then would go around in small groups and hunt and gather plants, animals, and fruits. Jared realized that this is how some of the New Guineans are still living today. This was an issue because hunting was unreliable and inconsistent. People in the Middle East could just plant wheat and barley and would last for a long time, creating a surplus, and it was easy to plant unlike Papua New Guineas sago tree. This tree lasted only about seven days, was not nearly nutritious as wheat and barley, and it takes so much more time to plant. After Jared learned a little about plant history of Papua New Guinea and the Middle East he moved to animals. 9,000 years ago, the interactions between people and animals changed. People began to have a more controlling title over animals and would domesticate them for their meat and fur. Jared realized that this was another reason why New Guinea was suffering. New Guinea didn’t have native animals like: pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, camels (two types), water buffalo, donkeys, llamas, reindeer, yaks, methane, and cattle. All they had were pigs that they imported from a different country. This was another one of the issues New Guinea had with development. Jared purposed that New Guinea was simply not geologically lucky. They had all the smarts and brain power, but they didn’t have the supplies they needed to prosper like the world around them.

                Could this simple explanation be the reason for such a slow productive area? Well, after we took a further look into Papua New Guinea I think it is partially true. Finding that New Guinea has things like gold and coffee, I find it hard to believe that this is why they are so far behind. In a while, I think that the highlands of New Guinea will soon realize what they need to become like the world around them. I think that they will soon begin to import more animals and crops from the Middle East, and from the main part of Papua New Guinea. Because I think this solution only applies to the highlands of Papua New Guinea, I can’t fully agree with Jared Diamonds answer.