Chapter 8 "Apples or Indians" Summary and Analysis

Diamond, in this chapter, returns to the earlier question of why plant domestication and food production did not develop in some of the ecologically better areas. There are two explanations that can be offered for this. One is that there was some problem with the local people and the other is that there was some problem with the local wild plants available. Given that there are over 200,000 species of wild flowering plants on the planet, the most obvious assumption is that the land in benign climates must have held a variety of species that could be domesticated by ancient farmers. However, the vast majority of wild plants are inedible and/or unsuitable for human consumption and the failure of individuals in modern times to domesticate even a single new plant species indicates that...