Written by: Julie Dodge on May 9, 2014

In 1952, a young Ernesto Guevera and his friend, Alberto Granado, set off on a transcontinental motorcycle ride from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Caracas, Venezuela. Guevera was a semester shy of completing his medical degree. Both intended to work for a time in a leper colony in Peru as part of their journey. The young men were of Spanish descent, and had middle to upper middle class backgrounds. On their journey they discovered a South America that they did not realize existed. They encountered impoverished indigenous people of many backgrounds, who were unable to work and support their families because, in part, of the exclusion of indigenous people. At one point, while overlooking ruins from an Incan city, Guevera was appalled at how the Europeans (Spanish) could decimate such a brilliant civilization. By the end of their eight month journey, neither man was the same. Granado spoke of peacefully revolutionizing South America. Guevera, however, decided that just as the Europeans had conquered the masses with a few guns, revolution without guns would never work.[i]

Over forty-five years later, Jared Diamond details a broader, yet familiar, theory of how the Europeans came to colonize the world. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, [ii] Diamond argues that the Europeans colonized the world aided by technology of guns and steel, and the germs that they brought with them. Diamond also argues that the development of such technology was set in place thousands of years, even ten thousand years, before the various European nation states rose to power. Diamond describes the times of the hunter-gatherers, and the reality that such survival strategies consumed significant time and energy. It took great effort to produce enough nutrition for just a few people, so social groups remained small.

Until man started to farm. Though several regions in the early world can be identified as origins of food production, the fertile crescent stands out as most significant. The fertile crescent curves, like a crescent moon, from the Persian Gulf, through what is now southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt. Here, man discovered two cereal grains, wheat and barley, that could be planted and harvested. Man also domesticated the first animals here, sheep and goats. Over time, farming was able to sustain larger groups of people, and societies began to form. However, over several thousand years, the land became less productive, and people migrated to other fertile regions, east and west along a similar latitude sharing a similar climate, bringing with them their livestock and agricultural developments.

Farming took less time and energy, allowing people to pursue specialized interests.  Man learned to use fire to forge bronze and then steel tools. Tools became weapons. Written languages were developed. As man spread out through the land, and societies formed and developed, new technologies were encountered and incorporated. Farming also exposed people to new germs and diseases carried by livestock and the rodents that follow livestock. Disease could be disastrous, with unknown numbers dying, but over time, farmers developed higher immunity to the germs to which they were commonly exposed.

Diamond argues that geography laid the pattern for the great social divides in the world. From the fertile crescent, which provided the right environment to begin farming and domesticating animals, man traveled west through the Mediterranean to northern Europe, and east to China. The fertile crescent had grains not found in other places, and animals which could be domesticated also, not commonly found in other places. This created a perfect environment for civilization to form.

Diamond presents his observations as a scientist, following patterns, and giving little consideration to cultural factors that might also influence development. I find it an interesting “coincidence”, however, that the fertile crescent is also the home to Eden, the Israelites, and Jesus.  I would not suggest that God intended for the world to be conquered quite in the way that it was, but at the same time, here in this fertile valley, God planted the seeds for all of the world to hear about the one true God. I would also suggest that it is the origin for the cultural difference that led man to go out into all the world.

Just as farming and technology originated in the fertile crescent, Christianity spread throughout the Roman empire, becoming the state religion. As nation states developed, they formed in partnership with the Catholic church, or after the reformation, created their own church/state partnerships. Pizarro’s expedition to South American contained a mandate to convert the indigenous people to Christianity, as did so many other conquerors. Whether conquistadors or missionaries, the Europeans set out to spread the Word of God.

The problems, however, were multiple. There was no such thing as cultural competence. Just as Pizarro’s priest condemned the Incas as “dogs who reject the things of God”[iii], the Incas thought the Spanish to be foolish, with pots on their head that they didn’t even cook with.[iv]  There was no attempt to understand one another. The mission of the conquistadors was to conquer. Because the Incas did not have a written language, word had not spread to them of the Mexican conquests. Because the Incas did not have steel or guns, they quickly succumbed to more powerful technology. The Europeans viewed all people and societies that were not organized as they were as inferior in intellect and humanity. The people they encountered thought the Europeans were bizarre, but powerful. Christian Europeans and North Americans believed that they were on a mission from God, and that they would be blessed with success and riches if they were successful.

Germs were another story. Europeans used guns and steel to conquer. They were unaware initially of the impact of the germs they brought with them.  People throughout the world who had not lived in close contact with domestic animals and had not developed immunities to animal borne pathogens, were stricken with illness. Most notably, smallpox killed literally millions. Diamond notes that as many as 95% of the indigenous populations in the Americas were killed by disease, not guns.[v]  What started as an accidental encounter, was also used intentionally. Native Americans today still tell about U.S. military giving them  blankets infected with smallpox to increase the infection rate.

The story of how today’s haves and have-nots came to be continues on. Diamond argues that geography gave the people who originated in the fertile crescent an advantage. But culture and values and beliefs also guided the expansion and method of expansion throughout the world. Today the global gap continues to increase. Diamond provides a thorough history and rationale for how this came to be in quite broad strokes. But a question falls back to the church. How can we correct the historical social and economic trauma caused by Christianity and Colonialism? We came and dominated the world. We justified our dominance with rationalizations of superiority and God. Today’s divide is entrenched in this historical trauma, and in systems so deeply established it is challenging to understand how they might be undone. How can we move forward to represent the one true God in a manner which brings Him glory and demonstrates His compassion?

I am reminded of God’s mandate to the Israelites as they set out to take possession of the Promised Land. Perhaps it might guide us now. As they entered the fertile crescent to establish their society, God said:

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. (Deuteronomy 10:16-20)

About the Author

Julie Dodge

Julie loves coffee and warm summer days. She is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Concordia University, Portland, a consultant for non-profit organizations, and a leader at The Trinity Project.