A Networks Model of the Pre-colonial World
In his book Pulitzer winning book “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Jared Diamond explores why Eurasian civilizations were colonizers and why the colonized civilizations lagged behind in technology. He proposes that gaps in technological and political advancements are due to geographic and environmental differences.
If we were to think about the pre-colonial world in terms of networks, the network of humans around the world would have been divided into several disconnected components, representing various civilizations. If each node had a location in the world map, each disconnected component might have been on a distinct landmass. In these terms, colonization was the result of a sudden connection between previously disconnected components of a network. The end-nodes of a bridge connecting these components must contain voyagers like Christopher Columbus, who stumbles upon a landmass previously unknown to his own component.
This interaction in the form of a bridge could have been amicable or hostile. From history, we know that the impact was largely positive for one component and negative for the others. The European colonizing powers were far more technologically advanced than those who were colonized as a result. In “Guns, Germs and Steel”, Diamond explores the environmental factors that caused this gap in technology. A networks model of the pre-colonial world could answer this question in a more intuitive way.
Consider a network where nodes depict major cities and towns or inhabited regions and contain information about the resources available there. The nodes are linked to each other if they were geographically accessible – a strong link if easily accessed and a weak link if difficult but possible to access. This network could be coupled with the network of the world population, as discussed in the beginning. It helps visualize Diamond’s arguments and the radical effects of connecting two independently developed components of a network.
Even in our modern “it’s a small world” society, there are a few uncontacted tribes which have developed independent of the rest of the world. Supposedly, some tribes still have a paleolithic lifestyle. Although these tribes are still disconnected components of the modern human network, we are well aware of their existence, which deems any future interaction lopsided. Drawing from history, it may be devastating for the tribes to connect to the rest of the world now.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/reviews/970615.15shreevt.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/12/theobserver.worldnews12