Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today we watched the video Guns, Germs, and Steel. The video was based off of a book written by Jared Diamond. We also took notes on the video while watching it. The video talks about people living in Papua New Guinea and how they are basically living life like they're in the Stone Age. It is a remote, isolated part of an island. It has not advanced very far at all. The question is "Why do you white men have so much cargo, and we New Guineans have so litte?" Why is that? Years ago, white visitors said they were genetically superior and they came to show off their "cargo" (guns and record players). They tried to say white people were just better. Jared Diamond is working on proving that that is false. White people are no smarter or better than the New Guineans. He is just trying to figure out while they are still stuck in the "Stone Age".  In the video we learned that all great civilizations had 3 things in common: advanced technology, large population, and a well-organized work force.  The important food source in Papua New Guinea is "sago". We also learned about Draa. Draa is in the Middle East and it is known as the first permanent settlement that we know of. Eleven-thousand years ago Draa was established. We think this is where the world's first granary was located. A granary is a self-storage place for grain. It is also believed that the first farmers in the world were here at Draa.