SpaniardsÆ superior abilities and resources that are related to environmental differences. Diamond (68) argues that ôthe factors that result in PizarroÆs seizing Atahuallpa were essentially the same ones that determined the outcome of many similar collisions between colonizers and native peoples elsewhere in the modern world.ö
What were these ôfactorsö to which Diamond refers? They are factors specifically related to environmental and geographical differences among different continents. Continents like Eurasia have an east-west orientation with areas of roughly equal climate across which plants, animals and humans easily travel. Australia, the Americas, and Africa, in contrast, have a north-south orientation with topographical features making such migration cumbersome or impossible. This difference has a significant impact on the evolution, spread, and domestication of plants and animals. The east-west orientation allows for the ease of transfer of knowledge, domesticated plants and animals, technolo
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