OpenTube

Why did white men conquer the world? | Elephants in Rooms - Ken LaCorte | History Teacher Reacts

Mr. Terry History

32,171 views

Check out my new original content channel! @mrterryoriginals

In this video, Ken LaCorte ‪@ElephantsInRooms‬ summarizes the core arguments of Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs, and Steel, positing that European global dominance was the result of a "geographic lottery" rather than biological or intellectual superiority. This advantage began with the availability of a wide array of easily domesticable plants and animals in the Fertile Crescent, which allowed Eurasian societies to transition from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settled agriculture thousands of years before other regions. These food surpluses fostered specialized labor, leading to the development of steel, guns, and centralized governments. Additionally, the east-west orientation of the Eurasian continent allowed crops and innovations to spread rapidly across similar climates, while the north-south axes of Africa and the Americas created significant geographic barriers to such progress. Ultimately, centuries of living in close proximity to livestock gave Eurasians a unique resistance to "crowd diseases" like smallpox, which unintentionally acted as a devastating biological weapon that wiped out the vast majority of indigenous populations upon contact. Mr. Terry has plenty to add.

Original Video: https://gemini.google.com/app/0f1c618...

Join my channel to get early-access to new videos!
@mrterry

Links:
Gaming channel: mrterrygaming
Discord: Discord: discord
Twitter: Twitter: mrterryhistory
Merch - https://mrterry-shop.fourthwall.com/
Twitch: Twitch: mrterryhistory
Patreon - Patreon: MrTerry
Tik Tok: TikTok: mrterryhistory
Instagram: Instagram: mrterryhistory
Facebook - Facebook: Mr-Terry-History-109138461571454
Streamlabs - https://streamlabs.com/mrterry2
PayPal - https://paypal.me/mrterryhistory

For all business and collaboration inquiries: mrterryhistory@gmail.com

#history #reaction #imperialism #geography #agriculture

20 Comments

@MrTerry Creator 7 months ago Pinned

What other factors should be considered for the success of European imperialism?

@Chamomileable 6 months ago

His video about Africa is definitely worth watching. It's maybe one of the BIGGEST elephants in the room.

@mikeg2306 6 months ago (edited)

Germs did not only help Europeans conquer the Americas. African germs also kept Europeans out of the interior of Africa until the advent of railroads and modern medicine in the 1800’s.

@iamjackscompletelackofsurp9606 5 months ago

Keep in mind the Indus Valley civilization had indoor toilets and sewer systems back in 2500 BCE.
In the mid 1800s Londoners were still tossing their waste onto the streets.

@marybicanic3093 7 months ago

Sooo glad I watched your video! I've been thinking about Diamoni book, remembering the impact it had on people. Also I think a PBS presentation was televised (years ago). I couldn't recall the names of author nor book and now I have both! Thanks and love your oversimplified reaction, too!

@autographfisherman 7 months ago

great one

@joebombero1 7 months ago

France conquered North Africa to end the Barbary Pirate raids on Europe (one example, a whole village in Iceland was mass-kidnapped and sold into slavery. One of the survivors wrote a book after being rescued). England conquered much of Africa to try to build a railroad connecting South Africa with Egypt. Nobody conquered Japan or Siam, as these were already well developed societies in their own right. Parts of India also remained independent for the same reason. The Americas were ripe for the taking after being depopulated from disease and constant warfare among themselves.

@shotti50 6 months ago

Actually watched this video the one we looking at by our guy Ken I like this 👍 interesting content my boys

@briandix4633 7 months ago

@19:50 talking about domesticating wolves and ending up with domestic dogs, I've read(years ago) and don't know how true it is, that the German Shepherd Dog is genetically the closest relative to wild wolves. You can see it in the pack instinct, their human is part of the pack, and they will do whatever it takes to protect the pack.

@SociallyTriggered 6 months ago

He fails because there are more differences between the people's than just skin color. Guns, Germs and Steel tries too hard to ignore the differences between populations. Something needs to be appreciated is how the environments not only impacted the technologies people create but the behavior, IQ, resistance, health, culture etc.

@WaqasWritesStories 6 months ago

mehargarh in pakistan had dentistry, pottery, sweage systems and agriculture 7000 years ago.... yet they never really developed an army or became militaristic... interesting part of human history worth looking into...

@danz1182 6 months ago

One other point that was sort of touched on by Mr. Terry from the opposite direction is that Europe is resource poor compared to China and India which put greater pressure on Europe to expand. China and also India were capable of conquest far and wide, but just did not need to do it. China and India also were less vulnerable to outside invasion in the pre-Industrial era. Europe especially was wide open to the central Eurasian hordelands and was constantly fighting off external threats which also drove innovation.

@markokrasa3584 6 months ago

This whole video can be summed up with the fact that living through winter requires planning and innovation.

@justinweatherford8129 6 months ago

The advertisement for investing in gold reminds me of the scam a few years ago where a company was convincing people to invest in gold certificates, but didn’t have the gold to back those certificates.

@perez2419 4 months ago

Zebras are tough. I know a zoo keeper who was almost kicked to death by an angry zebra who wasn't ready to go inside for the night.

@scottemmons6409 6 months ago

I think they seem to forget that other races did in fact try to colonize Europe some of them partially successful and were stopped by white men.they had the same steel and level of technology.

@gbgasser 6 months ago

As I understand it almost all writing systems were developed as accounting systems. iOW as ways to keep track of economic activity. This is only needed when you’ve reached a certain size and stratification level where you have people whose job it is to keep track of surpluses and deficits of universally necessary goods.

@mambaclaud 6 months ago

yes do the Africa vid

@MamaEliseLockwood 5 months ago

From what I understand about birth spacing, it's not exactly a choice, but when women breastfeed long-term and don't have access to as many calories (as you do with agriculture) the body just does not start menstruation again till about 4 years later. So it's natural spacing.