IP Blog

If you’ve ever read Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, you know that the most immediate cause of food production was proper location.  Although Diamond presents the readers with a few different causes, I believe location was the most important.  He says, “…around 8500 B.C. in Mediterranean habitats of the Fertile Crescent…, only 3,000 years later in the climatically and structurally similar Mediterranean habitats South Europe…”(104) about the different times in which different locations thrived. To me, this means that certain countries were faster with food production because of where they were located.  The countries that were quickest with the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmer-herders were located so they had the East-West axis as an advantage.  Diamond tells us that, even though E-W axis was important, food production wasn’t necessarily a discovery or invention, but fate(105).  Food production just happened, which leads me to believe that it was location, and not a seemingly less natural cause, like domestication.  I also believe that many of the secondary reasons would be nothing without the benefit of location.  If a country was in a cold, barren land, would domestication be so easy?  Would Food production be so easy?  The answer is no.  I think it is safe to say that location played the biggest part in the rise of food production, though other secondary factors quickened the pace. 

The East-West axis was an interesting, but important factor in food production.  The axis created an indifference in climate between each area on it.  Two countries that shared the axis had virtually the same climate, and therefore the same animals and plants.  This way, trade was easier, and food production was made quicker.  Each E-W axis country could conceivably trade with each other to receive new crops that would work in either climate.  Location was also important for crops.  In some areas, edible plants and fruits were abundant, whereas other places had little plants that could be eaten.  It was all about the luck of the draw.  If a tribe was lucky, they either moved to, or originated in a great location that was easy to domesticate.  Jared Diamond also notes that, with a steady climate, edible plants had a longer growing season(Diamond, 138).  With the axis, hunter gatherers were more likely to settle down, because the land allowed them to have comfortable living situations, with plenty of plants and animals.  “By harvesting those individual wild plants possessing these desirable qualities to an exceptional degree, ancient peoples unconsciously dispersed the plants and set them on the road to domestication”(Diamond, 119).  With this quote, Diamond shows that, for the countries that had the plants due to location, that food production was almost an accident, but it required the hunter gatherers to change into farmer herders. 

Besides the East-West axis, other areas were fertile and easy to inhabit permanently, like the Fertile Crescent, hence the name.  “A third advantage of the Fertile Crescent’s Mediterranean zone is that it provides a wide range of altitudes and topographies within a short distance”(Diamond, 139-140).  This means that the Fertile Crescent had the right location- and by location I mean it is located in a place that allows for good crop growth and animal domestication- to have quick food production.  The diversity that was inside of the Fertile Crescent helped it to have more plants and animals, which allowed for more domestication, along with Eurasia, which was also a location- benefited area.  The location of Eurasia gave it many domesticable animals, which in turn allowed for easier food production.  Once hunter gatherers were able to have domestic animals and plants, they could settle down and become farmer gatherers.  Diamond states that the hunter gatherers learned that some animals were best kept alive, which gave them even more reason to settle down(Diamond, 88).  The location of many areas helped plant and animal domestication, which then helped speed along food production.