In Much Of The Rest Of The

Infectious Diseases Introduced With Europeans, Like Smallpox And Measles, Spread From One Indian Tribe To Another, Far In Advance Of Europeans Themselves, And Killed An Estimated 95% Of The New World's Indian Population.

Livestock Adopted In Africa Were Eurasian Species That Came In From The North. Africa's Long Axis, Like That Of The Americas, Is North/south Rather Than East/west. Those Eurasian Domestic Mammals Spread Southward Very Slowly In Africa, Because They Had To Adapt To Different Climate Zones And Different Animal Diseases.

Civilization Originates In Conquest Abroad And Repression At Home.

Why Were There Far More Species Of Domesticated Animals In Eurasia Than In The Americas? The Americas Harbor Over A Thousand Native Wild Mammal Species, So You Might Initially Suppose That The Americas Offered Plenty Of Starting Material For Domestication.

Besides Justifying The Transfer Of Wealth To Kleptocrats, Institutionalized Religion Brings Two Other Important Benefits To Centralized Societies. First, Shared Ideology Or Religion Helps Solve The Problem Of How Unrelated Individuals Are To Live Together Without Killing Each Other—by Providing Them With A Bond Not Based On Kinship. Second, It Gives People A Motive, Other Than Genetic Self-interest, For Sacrificing Their Lives On Behalf Of Others.