In July 1972 I was studying bird evolution on the tropical island of New Guinea. I started talking to a remarkable local politician named Yali as we walked together. Yali asked me, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”
Yali’s question was only about New Guineans and European whites.25 Still, it points to a larger set of contrasts in our modern world:
Peoples of Eurasian origin dominate the modern world. They have the most wealth and power. Other peoples have defeated European colo- nialism. Yet, they still remain far behind in wealth and power. Still
30 other peoples, such as aboriginals in Australia, have been dominated by European colonialists. Others have even been destroyed.
Our question is this: Why did wealth and power become distributed as
they now are? Why didn’t things turn out some other way? For instance,35 why weren’t Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians
the ones who dominated Europeans and Asians?
Another excerpt from Jared Diamond's actual book.
Peoples of Eurasian origin dominate the modern world. They have the most wealth and power. Other peoples have defeated European colo- nialism. Yet, they still remain far behind in wealth and power. Still
30 other peoples, such as aboriginals in Australia, have been dominated by European colonialists. Others have even been destroyed.
Our question is this: Why did wealth and power become distributed as
they now are? Why didn’t things turn out some other way? For instance,35 why weren’t Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians
the ones who dominated Europeans and Asians?
Another excerpt from Jared Diamond's actual book.
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