Guns, Germs and Steel discussion

I am intrigued to the point of madness with this book. I am simply reading it because as a Western Civ teacher I get this question asked CONSTANTLY.

Why did the Europeans and not the 'Americans' have guns and steel?

My educated guess theory was that the Americans did not need them, there was not that competitive thrust that characterized close-knit European populations and limited resources. I am realizing that it is so much more.

Anyone?

Well, steel comes after division of labor which comes after agriculture and pastoralism in the tech tree. By chance the old world had flora and fauna much better suited for domestication. I think the author makes the case that the old world's geography was favourable as well (trade, balkanization, competetion). Wikipedia has an interesting discussion at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_ge...

The American Indians clearly did need firearms as demonstrated by their taking up the use of the gun when faced with invasion. There is an issue of practicality that prevented muskets from seeing wide use among eastern Indian nations. The French Indian War is a good example of how American Indians influenced modern small unit tactics, and often how to fight close quarters against a technologically superior force.

Emanuel Landeholm also is correct about prerequisite developments in civilization. At one time making a steel sword could take up to a year and by a "white smith" who had specialized in sword making. Part of the reason the Norse didn't use as many swords is it used up more iron than they could easily get from bogs, and so spears and axes with iron and steel heads became more economical.

If you look at Diamond's explanation for the ratio of food producers in a society you'll get a good gauge of what inhibits specialization of profession. When upto 90 to 95% of the society is involved in producing food that leaves only 5 to 10% for other work. Among the first of those is leadership just complex enough to manage the society and, eventually, specialized people to defend it [the distinction between soldier and warrior].

Then those professions need material support other than food, and so on and so forth.

The American Indian civilizations that arrise do take up agriculture and some raising of animals, but the mainstay of the Northern American civilizations is eco-management. This is where they still engage in hunting and gathering, but they increase the land's productivity with certain activities, like setting fires to clear old and dead growth. This then speeds of soil renewal and nutrient enrichment. However, the technologies to perform those operations isn't demanding, and so there's not as much push for innovation.