Summary Of Collapse By Jared Diamond

The purpose of this book report is to examine Jared Diamond’s international bestseller Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. The book is captured in four parts where the author uses both personal experience and impeccable research to describe past and modern society with similar environment and resources. According to Diamond, there are eight categories where past societies have undermined themselves by damaging their environment: deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses), water management problems, overhunting, overfishing, effects of introduced species on native species, human population growth, and increase per capita impact of people. This essay will use examples from the book to examine how historical resources were used negatively in past societies which cause their collapse.
Water management and human population growth has played a major role in the collapse of societies dating …show more content…
The environment allowed farming dependent of local rainfall in some areas and high rate of soil renewal from the runoff. The attraction of the big structures and farming made the Chaco Canyon a desirable place for people to live and in return the population increased. The rise in construction and decades of consistent rainfall allowed the farmer to grow crops to support the growing population migrating to the area. The growing population relied greatly on the corn, squash, beans and pinyons nuts. Archaeologists suggest the Chaco Canyon population grew greater than 5,000 based on the building sizes and post holes that held the construction. Chaco Canyon society turned into a small kingdom, divided between a well-fed elite living in luxury and a less fed peasantry doing the labor and nurturing the