Frogboy brought up a good point - look at our own history. Some tribes were still hunters and gatherers while others had gunpowder and powerful ships capable of transiting the high seas. Actually, a whole book has tried to explain that situation - essentially why Native Americans were conquered by the technologically superior Europeans and not the other way around. I mean, Native Americans were on North America at least as long as Europeans were on Europe right? Why indeed didn't Native Americans build powerful sailing ships with guns and enslave Europeans? Why didn't African Americans develop powerful technology and Enslave Whites? Could history have been rewritten? Could we be fighting for white rights instead of black rights if African Americans had managed to tame zebras, smith metal swords and guns, and led an assualt on Europe??? A major reason why Europeans developed advanced technology is because they were able to domesticate and use animal power much more so than in other civilizations. Horses are easier to tame than rhinos, lions, and zebras - plain and simple. Tamed armored rhinos would be infintely more dangerous in medevil warfare than tamed armored horse knights...... If only zebras or rhinos could have been tamed....
That book is called "Guns, Germs, and Steel". An excellent book.
It is indeed an excellent, thought provoking and informative book. I had no idea that the tribes of New Guinea independently invented agriculture. However, thanks to terrain and isolation, they never really did anything *with* it like in the Middle East and China.
I second the recommendation.
