Also, most of them concentrate heavily on the history of Western Civilisation, with other developed civilisations discussed quite briefly and, at best, a few pages about areas and periods without written records. Indeed, the only event really discussed is the encounter of the Conquistador Francisco Pizarro and the Inca Emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca. Jared Diamond describes how Pizarro, with 168 ragtag soldiers managed to conquer the largest empire of the Americas, and by extension, how the Europeans managed to conquer the native Americans and many other peoples in the world. The author then asks for the reasons how this could happen. Moreover, European diseases such as smallpox, measles and typhus decimated the American Indians, often reaching them before their first direct contact with the white man.
Most inquiries stop there.
The Incas, Mayas and Aztecs had quite developed civilizations. But other areas were even less developed. New Guineans were still stone age farmers in the 20 th century. And the author sets out to answer this question. With his academic background, he is perhaps uniquely endowed to produce such a synthesis.