By Jared Diamond
Published in 1999 by W.W. Norton and Company
New York, New York
Today’s Assigned Reading: Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 8 (p85 to 113, and p131 to 156)
In these four chapters, Diamond clearly explains what factors allowed hunter-gatherers to begin an agricultural life, why they did so, and what effect agriculture had upon societies throughout the world. He also explains why societies with agriculture and domestic animals have historically dominated those without, and how the development of agriculture leads to the development of complex societies, increased population, and higher technologies.
Basically, the development of farming in any area depended greatly upon what plants were around and to what extent they provided adequate nutrition, protein, and calories. If the native plants did not provide a balanced diet or not enough calories – as was the case in New Guinea (p149) or the Eastern United States (p151) – agriculture did not fully develop. But, on the other hand, if the wild plants provided abundant calories, a complete diet, and were more rewarding that hunter-gathering (as was the case in the Fertile Crescent (p146)), agriculture took off!
Cool, eh? It sure explains why there was a population explosion in Europe, thus leading to the eventual colonization (or should I say, invasion) of the rest of the world – and explains why I’m sitting here in Canada, typing away on my computer.
Now Lyn, please don’t get mad… here is where I will make a brief departure from the incredible world of plants to the amazing world of animals. I just want to point out something amusing here – all the large animals that have been domesticated by people around the world have been herbivores. Sure, dogs and cats are carnivores and pigs are omnivores, but they are pretty small.
So why then, are there are no large domestic carnivores – say comparable to the size of a cow or donkey? Who wouldn’t want a large carnivorous cow!?
Well, with regards to domestication, Diamond makes the point that first, the species present in a given area (be they animal or vegetable) had to be domesticatable and secondly, that domesticating them would provide benefits than outweighed continued hunter-gathering.
Well, our two most common animal companions represent the successful domestication of carnivorous species – dogs from wolves and cats from Egypt. So it is possible to domesticate carnivores, and there are benefits associated with them. Granted, dogs and cats are not farm animals and we don’t eat either species (er… at least not in Canada)... but they’ve been around for several thousand years so there’s gotta be a reason why we’ve kept them, right? The prevalence of cats cannot all be due to crazy cat ladies…
But seriously, why are there not any large domestic carnivorous critters – say lions or tigers or bears? In terms of availability, there are certainly large carnivores located throughout most of the globe.
Historically, any domestic animals larger than a dog – say bigger than a donkey – have all been herbivores. I mean, aside from the obvious use of these animals, I’m sure some ingenious indigenous person could figure out how to harness a bear or cougar to a plow…
But seriously, let’s first consider if this is a good idea!
Consider this – when plowing your field with your friendly pair of oxen, do you every think they might turn and EAT you? No, you don’t. Why? Because they’re herbivores. They cannot eat you (well, they may try, and oxen sure can bite, but they are not effective eaters of meat and certainly don’t see you as “dinner”).
Or, when you’re done plowing your field, you’d lead your animals to your barn or stable and feed and water them. Then you go into your house and eat your dinner, and go to sleep. But – would you wake up in the middle of the night worrying that your horses will get tired of being cooped up and may start to eat each other? NO! Because horses are herbivores and while they can kick and fight dirty, they do not do so out of a desire to eat meat.
So… that’s probably why there have not been any large domestic carnivores – they by definition eat meat and therefore are very hard for a walking dinner (i.e. a human) to control or domesticate!
And also you’d need meat to feed them, which means you’d have to raise up herbivorous critters to then feed to your carnivores… which would require far more food stuffs than one large herbivore would on its own.
But imagine, a tame bear pulling a plow…
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