The history of everybody since 9,000 BC

Open lecture at the House of Literature by Jared Diamond

Date: Friday 12 August 2011
Time: 18:00
Venue: Litteraturhuset, Wergelandsveien 29, Oslo
All are welcome! No pre-registration, but seats are limited.

Jared Diamond has written several award winning books, including "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (1997), that will now be released in Norwegian by Spartacus forlag. Diamond is Professor of Geography at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

 

More on Jared Diamond in Wikipedia.

The lecture "The history of everybody since 9,000 BC" will be followed by a Q&A and discussion session with, in adition to Diamond:

  • Professor and Chair Nils Chr. Stenseth, CEES, Department of Biology, University of Oslo
  • Professor Erling Sverdrup Sandmo, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, The Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo
  • Professor Christopher Prescott from the University of Oslo
  • and Professor Mikael Fortelius from the University of Helsinki
     

Abstract (by Jared Diamond)

The biggest question about world history is to understand the different development of human societies on the different continents since the end of the last Ice Age. Why did most Eurasian peoples end up as farmers with metal tools and writing and state government, while most Native Americans became farmers without those other things, and all Aboriginal Australians remained hunter/gatherers? In the absence of adequate explanations by historians, the public tends to fall back on racist explanations invoking supposed genetic advantages of Europeans. But the real answers turn out to be much more interesting: they have nothing to do with differences among peoples, and everything to do with differences among the continents in their resources and shapes.


The event is organised by Spartacus Forlag, The Faculty of Humanities (UiO) and CEES (Department of Biology, UiO).


Contact information: Tore Wallem
torewall@bio.uio.no, phone +47 22858373 or +47 99709708.


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Published Feb. 3, 2012 3:15 PM - Last modified Nov. 23, 2017 9:21 AM