Chapter 14, Accidental Conquerors Summary and Analysis

Around 10,000 BCE the world's human population was approximately 10 million; today the human population easily exceeds five billion - a five-hundred-fold increase. This population explosion was enabled by agriculture and resulted in massive emigrations and displacements of native peoples. A huge amount of this expansion was conducted by European peoples, who displaced, for example, Native American and Native Australian populations. Europeans were enabled to pursue their conquests because they carried social diseases, had better technology, used advanced writing, and featured large-scale political organizations. These features arose in Europe for several geographical reasons and are not considered evidence of superiority in intelligence or capability.

European animals included numerous species of large-bodied herding animals, which were domesticated. Asia features several similar animal species. These animals performed work and revolutionized warfare. Similar domesticated animals did not occur in the Americas, Australia...