Technology, Disease and Colonial Conquests, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: Essays Reappraising the Guns and Germs Theories

How did Europeans prevail in conquering the so—called New World and beyond? For several years scholars have seen an answer to that question in the “Guns, Germs, and Steel” theories of experts like Jared Diamond; namely, that because of superior technology and the introduction of catastrophic disease into the Americas, Europeans succeeded in conquering and colonizing the indigenous peoples. But other historians, including the experts in this volume, think the “Guns and Germs” theories too fa...