Overview - Guns, Germs and Steel

What are the 4 layers of History?

Food production,

Technology,

Resistance to disease,

Geographical Location

What is a hunter gatherer?

A human living in society in which most or all food is gained by foraging (hunting wild animals or collecting wild plants)

Agricultural Society

A society where people obtain food through farming crops and animals

What is the Fertile Crescent?

The fertile crescent is a part of the middle east where some of the world’s first civilisation’s began. The area is in a crrscent moon shape hence the name

Where is the Fertile crescent?

The fertile crescent stretches in a crescent shape from SouthEast Elam, going through Assyria and Palestine, all the way to The Nile River Valley near the first Cataract.

Early civilisations on the Fertile Crescent

The people of mesopotamia (Iraq) settled in village from as long as 8000 BCE. They farmed land near Tigrates and Euphrates rivers. By about 3500 BCE, they might have built cities. They also developed governments, laws, writing, therefore being described by historians as civilised. Egypt, another early civilisation, was raising crops using water

How has human society bettered itself?

Human society has become more advanced through the inventions of new technology. Some have allowed civilisation to thrive whilst others have been a less successful.

Example of invention.

Before military planes were powerful enough to caaru tanks to their destinations, people had a great idea. They put wings on the tanks so they could fly to their destinations themselves. However, even though the initial tests were successful, better planes that could carry tanks were developed sn these winged tank never made it into popular use

3 examples of technology that helped civilisation.

The wheel, The sailing ship, The printing press

Effect of resistance to disease.

Resistance to disease has played a key oart in history as it has ultimately controlled population, gave way to new medicinal advances, and even turned the tides of war in some cases.

An example of the effect of resistance to disease

In February 1519, Hernán Cortés set sail from Cuba to explore and colonize Aztec Civilisation in Mexico. In just 2 years, the Aztec ruler was dead and the capital city of Tenochtitlan was captured, and Cortés claimed the Aztec empire for Spain. Spanish weaponry and tactics played a role but the lack of resistance to disease in mexico played a large part in Cortés’ victory.

Geographical location

Geographical location plays a large part in history since it is a major cause in the development of countries. E.g. An island with no communication to other countries would develop differently to a place surrounded by countries and advancements.