Citations

Diamond, Jared M. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W Norton &, 1998. Print.

"Carthage." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.

"Battle of Plataea" World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.

"Battle of Salamis." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.

"Battle of Thermopylae." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.

Jackson, Peter. " Mongols." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 30 May 2012.

In conclusion we see how the fertility of land has actually affected the expansion and development of Ancient Europe. We come to this conclusion after examining ancient Greece, ancient Rome, the Mongols; a barbarian tribe, and even modern day Papua New Guinea. By comparing all of these places other than Papua New Guinea we notice that they were all extremely successful and had an amazing military or trading partnership, which lead to their development as a more sustainable empire. These places did not only have to rely on their soil they had to learn how to rely on each other and start to have business oriented minds while trading and tactical minds while dealing with their military. Also by not having to rely on solely on their soil it gave them times to experience other ways of life. In Papua New Guinea since they had some fertile land at the time they did not expand their thinking into a more developed modern way of life. If they had done this some feel as though they would have become a dominant force due to their high intelligence, unfortunately their lack of opportunity paved them into the way of life they are living now. They struggle for the daily necessities while living on that island. If they would have started up a government, military, and gained possible trading partners would they still in the daily struggle they are today?

Map of Papua New Guinea 

Papua New Guinea


Some people you talk to might believe that the New Guineans are unintelligent but in fact they are the complete opposite. The New Guineans are probably some of the smartest people in the world unfortunately they were held back while others learned about new ways of life and evolved into more efficient and sustainable places. In Papua New Guinea they had fertile land for farming wheat. They have drier highlands in the central part of this island where they farm wild root crop; yams and taro, if you go even more inland they can farm sago, bananas, and sugar cane. Unfortunately none of these crops are very nutritious but the New Guineans were persistent and were able to live and survive for many years off of these crops and still do today. Nevertheless by the New Guineans solely focusing on farming and being able to have a sustainable amount of food for the community they did not broaden their horizons and discover more efficient ways of living. With the intelligence the New Guineans have they could have become a dominant and easily, efficient country.  If Papua New Guinea had not focused so much on farming and focused more on trading or their military they would have been able to develop into a higher functioning society like the one we live in today.

The Mongol Empire

Map of what Ancient Rome looked like with all of it's colonies 

A map of Ancient Greece with all of it colonies