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 facile and oversimplified. Noted military historian George Raudzens assembles an international team of scholars in Technology, Disease, and Colonial Conquests, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries to look at the other side of the coin. The “conquered” may actually have had superior technology, including better communication and transportation; and the effects of disease were equally devastating upon the invaders and the invaded. Myriad factors not explained by the Guns and Germs theories contributed to the success of European colonization. This volume keeps an open mind to those.

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