Why are some nations rich & others poor - Essay Example

Therefore, new explanations for the success of one nation over another are still forthcoming. Jared Diamond and David S. Landes are two gentlemen offering different explanations for the unequal distribution of wealth around the globe. Jared Diamond is a historical geographer. As such, he offers an explanation for this unequal distribution of wealth that focuses on such realities as the availability of key natural resources. Specifically, he states: …the differences between human societies on different continents seems to me to be attributable to differences among continental environments, and not to biological differences among peoples themselves.

In particular, the availability of wild plant and animal species suitable for domestication…contributed decisively to the varying rates of rise of agriculture and herding, which in turn contributed decisively to the rise of human population numbers, population densities, and food surpluses, which in turn contributed decisively to the development of epidemic infectious diseases, writing, technology and political organization (6). Through the course of his essay, Jared Diamond argues persuasively that this unbroken chain of bioregional realities is what determines the wealth of a group of people.

He offers many examples for each of these determinants, or as he calls them, "proximate reasons" as to why the wealthiest and most powerful on earth are located where they are. Diamond structures his argument as if each "proximate reason" were a link in a chain. The first link in the chain is the domestication of plants and animals. This occurrence resulted in a food surplus that opened the many facets of what we call civilization today. According to Diamond, the geographic structure of the continents had much to do with the creation of this food surplus.

He argues that domestication was more successful and widespread in Eurasia and North America