In Guns, Germs and Steel Jared Diamond wants to know why wealthy, technologically sophisticated, industrialized societies developed first in Europe rather than in other parts of the world. Yali, a New Guinean friend of his, put the question like this: "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" Variations on this question have been explored by scholars for the last two centuries with various answers being put forward. These answers include the superiority of European genetics, the influence of the Graeco-Roman tradition, the impact of the Judaeo-Christian tradition (or sometimes specifically the Protestant tradition), and the relatively plural societies of the west. Diamond largely rejects many of these answers in favor of geographic and ecological factors. This question is important because of the impact the development of guns, germs and steel had on the global imperialism practiced by several European states.
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