Chapter 15 – Yali’s People
The histories of Australia and New Guinea
Chapter 15 uses the development of Australia and New Guinea as an experiment in human evolution. Historical evidence suggests that during the Pleistocene times, connected New Guinea and Australia were both populated by people from Asia, thus making the peoples of the two islands closely related. Australia and New Guinea were then isolated from Asia, and probably from each other.
So why did New Guinea develop, while Australia did not? New Guinea domesticated certain foods independently. This food production allowed them to develop slightly, while the diverse and segmented climate of the mountainous region kept technology from spreading. Meanwhile, the dry and domesticable-less Australia was unable to develop food production and remained hunter-gatherers, unable to develop tools and technology. Australia remained isolated from Asia by water and New Guinea by the flow of information over many islands.
Finally, Europeans were able to make Australia so productive because they removed the isolation. Australia was unable to adopt goods from the surrounding landmasses because Australia’s climate is drastically different from New Guinea’s and Indonesia’s. Europeans brought goods from all over the world to Australia’s fertile regions. It was not that the Australians were resistance to new technology; they simply did not have the environment or resources to develop.
Matt Cialkowski
Colin Comerci
Kelsie Gregory
Brian Ludrof
Shelby Naughton
Lori Schadler
Emily Wasek
-Australia = HG; no wild domesticable plants--> agriculture a nonstarter -->infertile soil--> nomadic --> megafaunal extinction
-variable population based on climactic unpredictability, aridity, isolation = tecbnology regression
Why did Europe colonize NG? Australia?
-oceangoing ships
-compasses
-writing systems + printing presses = charts, maps, administrative paperwork of war
-political institution to administer/enable above technology
-Isolation of Yali’s people: simplified material culture but geography did not permit transmission and/or acquistion of human culture and technology [Strait of Torres]
-Problems: linguistic, cultural, and political fragmentation
EQ: Why do Europeans leave?
-European subsistence methods do poorly in NG
-terrain
-germs
-climate
-altitude
What Yali’s people did not have [FP =>GGS]could not advance them toward GGS without importing what was needed = FP, but location inhibited transmission of founder package.
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