Vital Location
After reading Jared Diamonds book Guns, Germs, and Steel I could find a large amount of factors that causes food production. For example; access to domesticable plants and animals, proper soil, the need for more food with population growth, and growing seasons are all different factors that exist, but they all fall under the main category of location.(191) “…some regions proved much more suitable than others for the origins of food production, the ease of its spread was also varied greatly around the world.” (177).Without proper location you could not possibly have all of these things. Location is the one most important attribute that will guarantee the rise and spread of domesticables that therefore enables food production. Different locations allow for different chances at enabling food production. The Fertile Crescent and China both had useful and domesticable plant and animal species. These two locations were the first and most successful in food production.
Only certain things can live in certain locations. It would be impossible for a cow to survive in the tundra, what I’m getting at is the success of the farming and herding tribe depends on the location. Supported by Diamond, “Each plant population becomes genetically programmed, through natural selection, to respond appropriately to signals of the season regime under which it evolved…Animals too are adapted to latitude-related features of climate.” (184). The Eurasia had fourteen herbivorous domesticable animals roaming around and had successfully domesticated thirteen. Sub-Saharan Africa had plenty of domesticable animals, fifty one to be exact and they killed them because they were hunter gatherers. (162) Eurasia was just luckier location wise; they had the means of food production right in front of them. To get from domestication of plants and animals to food production you have to think of results. The result of domesticating plants is growing more than what naturally grows, therefore supporting more people, therefore having a population growth, therefore becoming more significant, and developing writing and language. The result of domesticating animals is breeding more, using them to develop technology or tools, eating more and having more left over and then it follows the same pattern that the plant domestication results had.
The east-west axis plays a huge role in the food production process. When a continent has a large east-west axis that means about everyone has about the same climate and growing seasons. When a continent has a large north south axis that means there is a huge range of different climates, growing seasons and even environments. (185) As said by Diamond, “Localities distributed east and west of each other at the same latitude share exactly the same day length and its seasonal variations.” (183).The similarities in the environment allow crops to spread, and be grown in more than one area at a time. It helps tribes become sedentary after observing farmers and herders. It allows them to replicate exactly and develop food production of their own. This proceeds to spread across the entire continent because of its east-west axis and the relevance of good location.
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