Also, National Geographic Channel has just revealed from their programming: the first gunshot in Americas, that Spanish vs Native American battles weren't always what Spanish chronicles claimed.

They were ALWAYS accompanied by Inca's former enemy states. And the siege of Lima (Puruchuco) in particular reveals that most of the fighting was done between Native Americans and the battle won by Native Americans, not by some sheer overwhelming power of horses and muskets.

So politics plays a very critical role in human history than just purely on physical geographic location, critical though it may be.

I'm also bit miffed at what Diamond said when he gave ancient Greeks as evidence of 'cultivation civilization'.

From what I know, Greek cities (Peloponnese) did have large population with heavy population density, but they weren't too big on farming, mainly because the Greek land is not the most ideal place for farming because it's full of jagged rocks and salty coastlines. They had a big animal herding tradition with goats and sheeps, and probably had a big fishing tradition going on, but not to the extent to feed big cities. Plus, that's not really a diverse diet.

There survived mainly as active traders, who got lot of their material needs from other parts of the world by setting up colonies and establishing trade relations (Mycenae, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Dorians later on). They especially had a very close relation with Egyptians, perhaps because they were the largest providers of wheat at the time. They give them fish and sheep skin, Egyptians give them surplus of wheat.

Anyways overall, Diamond comes up with definitely interesting fresh theories, but also comments on some things that are directly against historic evidence. Like how conquistador's guns and swords were such a large factor, enough to compensate their lack of numbers (which he later corrects as germs), how Greeks flourished because of cultivation or that Sumerian writings had influenced Chinese characters... etc etc.

Like, Huh?

And I also couldn't find anything about smallpox and black plague originating from farm animals. As far as evidence goes, some say bubonic plague started from Ethiopia, where Diamond claim domestication of animals didn't take place... that 13 of 14 farm animals all originated from Middle East, which is another point of doubt (he also contradicts himself from 1st part to 3rd part.. what's going on here).

Oh! and why Europeans happened to be the ones to keep colonizing the world, when Ming and Qing China had plenty of capability to do the same, but never did so?

Oh! and how was conquistadors survive in the tropics? or early American pioneers who were dying by hundreds?

This is why this guy is a biologist, and not a Historian. Stay in your own profession old man!

Stick with the original theory of geographic effect in human history. Discard the rest.

Just a great song.


From Wiki:

Cortez the Killer is a song by Neil Young from his 1975 album, Zuma. It was recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse and ranked #321 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song is about Hernán Cortés, a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 1500s. The song also makes reference to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and other events that occurred in the Spanish conquest of the New World.

The music is typical of the Zuma album — simple, big chords and not much extra. The song repeats the chords Em7, D and Am7 while Young adds his signature solo riffs throughout. It is played in Young's favoured "double dropped D", or "D modal" tuning (DADGBD) — standard guitar tuning with top and bottom strings tuned down a whole tone.

Only after several minutes of this does the lyric start. First it pictures Cortés and his galleons about to arrive, then jumps to the Aztecs, depicting their civilization in somewhat idealized fashion even though explicitly acknowledging, before and after some guitar work, both human sacrifice and the immense human toll of building their pyramids. Instead of describing what happened when Cortez appeared, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps centuries forward to the present day, with elliptical references to a romantic relationship gone bad. Finally after another spell of guitar, Young simply mutters, "Cortez ... what a killer."

Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school. In Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, entitled Shakey, the author asked Neil if his songs were autobiographical. Young replied, "...What the fuck am I doing writing about Aztecs in 'Cortez the Killer' like I was there, wandering around? 'Cause I only read about it in a few books. A lotta shit I just made up because it came to me." Nevertheless, the song was banned in Spain, according to Young's notes for the album Decade.

The simple chord structure lends itself to long jams, and has been covered as such a jam song by many artists. The song has been covered live by the Dave Matthews Band, most notably a performance with Warren Haynes at their concert in Central Park in 2003. The song was also covered by Built to Spill on their 2000 album Live, by The Church on A Box of Birds (1999), and by The Drones. Gov't Mule covered the song on their 1998 album Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortez_the_Killer