1. Text extracted from Guns Germs and Steel By Jared Diamond, 1997
Agricultural Societies The evolution of Government and Religion From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy
Text extracted from
Guns Germs and Steel
By Jared Diamond, 1997

2. Government and Religion
Descendents of those societies that earliest achieved
centralized government
organized religion
ended up dominating the modern world

4. Government and Religion
4 main forces of history:
Resulting in the broadest patterns
government & religion
germs
writing
technology
Babylon

5. Government and Religion
How did government and religion arise?
How did they become combined?
King Solomon

6. Levels of Social Organization
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
China: early state society

7. Bands Tiny Populations: typically 5-80 people
Most are close relatives by birth or marriage
All humans lived in bands until 40,000 years ago In recent history:
African Pygmies, Bushmen
Australian Aborigines
Eskimos
Bushman

8. Bands Usually nomadic: Land used by whole group No specialization:
live in areas where food is scarce
Land used by whole group
No specialization:
all able-bodied individuals forage for food
Economic system:
Reciprocal Exchange
No laws, police, or treaties to resolve conflicts:
But being closely related helps

9. Bands No stratification into classes Egalitarian leadership based on
 personality
 strength
 intelligence
 fighting skill
Australian Aboriginal

10. Fayu in New Guinea Four clans totaling 400 people
Normally live as single families scattered in swampy area
Come together once or twice a year to negotiate brides
Formerly numbered 2,000
Population reduced by Fayu killing Fayu
Lacked political and social mechanisms to resolve disputes

11. Tribes
Society with hundreds of people, usually settled in many villages
Few left today
Shared language and culture
More than one clan (kinship group)
Land belongs to clans within a tribe
Everyone knows everyone else by name and relationship

12. Tribes Conflicts still solved by being closely related
If two New Guinea Tribesmen were both away from their villages and happened upon one another
They would engage in a long discussion to determine possible family ties
Otherwise, no reason not to kill one another

13. Tribes Social System egalitarian No upper or lower class
Each has debts and obligations to many others
No one can become more wealthy
Government still egalitarian
Decisions are made in a group
“Big Man” would have limited power
may look and live like everyone else
Tribal chief, Brazil

14. Reciprocity
Reciprocity was the Basis of Early Economic Systems

15. Reciprocity Gift giving creates an obligation to return similar gifts
Feasting improves relations, prevents hostility, is an excellent way to “store” food
Reciprocity leads to intermarriage
Villages are connected by multiple ties of kinship
Reciprocity results in food security, balances inequities
Political leadership is bestowed on those that give the most

16. Kerekere in Moala
Moalans live in 1200 scattered villages in Fiji Pacific Islands
Kerekere is a formal request for a good or service
Can only kerekere a relative, but everyone  are relatives
Are duty bound to honor a kerekere if you have what is asked for
This system evens out inequity
Prestige comes from giving more than taking   

17. Hunting and Gathering Societies
Government
Bands and Tribes
Egalitarian
Economy
Ideology
Hunting & Gathering
Nature Religions
Reciprocal Exchange
God and Goddess Worship

18. Chiefdoms Population: several thousand to tens of thousands
Arose about 7,500 years ago with rising populations
In 1492, widespread in
 N. and S. America
 Africa
 Polynesia

19. Chiefdoms No chiefdoms left in 20th century
Prime land taken by larger state societies
Chiefdoms consolidated into states

20. Chiefdoms Usually have Public Architecture Easter Islands Temples
Tombs
Easter Islands

21. Chiefdoms Most people unrelated to others
People don’t know most others by name
For first time in history,
people had to learn how to encounter strangers regularly
without attempting to kill them  

22. Chief Held monopoly on right to use force
Held recognizable, hereditary office
Wore distinguishing clothes: demanded respect

23. Chief Was thought of as a god Centralized authority:
or had a hotline to the gods
Centralized authority:
Monopoly on information
Levels of Bureaucrats work under Chief
Many specialized jobs that can be done by slaves

24. Redistributive Economy
Chief receives food from everyone, then
Throws feast to redistribute
Stores it for later redistribution
Keeps much of it himself (tribute)
Chief also claims labor for construction of public works:
Irrigation,
Lavish Tombs
20,000 workers built the Taj Mahal

25. Redistribution Chief receives foodstuffs, goods from many
because he has power
Chief has power because
he regularly directs a flow of goods to his followers
Early city-states operated on this principle

26. Traders Traders did not make a profit
were agents of the empire
Goods traded on a fixed-price basis
Did not buy low and sell high

27. Luxury Goods Food surpluses generated by common people feed
Chief
Bureaucrats & Priests
Craft Specialists
Luxury Goods reserved for Chiefs

28. Contribution Enforced
In Mesopotamia, police ensured that farmers contributed
Impersonality of city life
ends feelings of obligation of Chief to people
or vice versa

29. Good Chiefdoms
Good chiefdoms used tribute to provide important services to entire society
Irrigation
Religion
Defense
Roman Aqueduct

30. Kleptocracies At worst, chiefdoms were kleptocracies
Transferred net wealth from commoners to upper class

31. Kleptocracies How do kleptocracies keep from being overthrown?
Disarm the populace
arm the elite
Redistribute tribute in popular ways
Use monopoly of force to keep public order
Construct an ideology or religion
that justifies kleptocracy

32. State Religion Provides bond between people not based on kinship
keeps them from killing each other
Gives warriors a motive for sacrificing life in battle:
now much more effective in conquest

33. States Babylon Populations of 50,000 to 1 Billion
Usually literate elites
sometimes literate population
Arose 3,700 BC in Mesopotamia
Later in Mesoamerica, China, Southeast Asia, Andes, West Africa
Babylon

34. Earliest States

35. States True cities, characterized by Monumental public works
Palaces of rulers
Accumulation of capital from tribute or taxes
Concentration of people other than food producers

36. States Early states: Democracies today:
hereditary leader equivalent to a king
Democracies today:
crucial knowledge still available to only a few
Central control, redistribution of tribute more far-reaching
Even farmers not self-sufficient

37. Mesopotamia Food produced by 4 specialist groups Cereal farmers
Herders
Fishermen
Orchard and Garden growers

38. Mesopotamia State took produce from each farming group
Redistributed necessary supplies
and the other foods not produced
Exchanged wool by long distance trade
for other essential raw materials
Paid food rations to laborers
who maintained irrigation systems for farmers

39. Slavery
Many states adopted slavery on much larger scale than chiefdoms because
More use for slave labor
More economic specialization
More mass production
More public works
Warfare on a larger scale
meant more captives available
Mesopotamian slaves

40. Bureaucracies More complex bureaucracies
Formalized laws, judiciary, police
Laws often written (by literate elite)
Writing not developed until formation of state societies
Mesopotamia
Mesoamerica
Code of Hammurabi, Mesopotamia

41. Religion Early: state religions Many kings divine
standardized temples
Many kings divine
Kings often head of state religion
Mesopotamian Temple was center of
Religion
Economic redistribution
Writing
Crafts technology
Mesopotamian Temple

42. Expansion of Agricultural Societies
Expanded Conquest
Conquest
Land Agriculture Slaves
Food Population Technology
Small Group
Etc.

43. Agricultural Societies
Government
Chiefdoms, States
Kleptocracies, Elites
Kings = Gods
Economy
Ideology
Agriculture
State Religions
Redistribution, Tribute
Central Temple
Conquest, Slavery
Male dominated

44. Agricultural Society Hierarchy
Elite
Conquest
Wealth, Tribute
Food, Resources
Conquered & Exploited: Peasants, Slaves, Workers

45. Wealth and Poverty Wealth: Poverty: Elite
Own land, Well-fed Educated, Health care, Opportunities
Poverty:
Wealth, Tribute
Food, Resources
Landless, hungry, uneducated, unhealthy, no opportunities
Conquered & Exploited: Peasants, Slaves, Workers

46. Organization of States
States organized on political and territorial lines: not kinship and tribe boundaries
States and empires often are multiethnic and multilingual
Bureaucrats selected more on ability than heredity
Modern states have non-hereditary leadership
Roman Empire

47. Why Do States Arise?
More complex societies usually conquer less complex ones
Advantage of weapons, technology, numbers
Centralized decision making more efficient in conquest
Official religions, patriotic fervor
make troops willing to fight suicidially: fanaticism
Arab Muslim Empire

48. How Do Chiefdoms Become States?
Aristotle:
States are  the natural condition of human society.
Knew only Greek Societies of  400 BC
Rousseau:
States formed by a social contract
a rational decision of people based on self interest.
Never happened this way
Small groups do not give up their sovereignty willingly
Aristotle

49. Irrigation Theory Irrigation, Egypt
Major civilizations had large-scale irrigation:
Mesopotamia,
Egypt
China
Mesoamerica
Large-scale irrigation requires centralized bureaucracy for
Construction
Maintenance
Management
Irrigation, Egypt

50. Irrigation Theory Disputed
States formed to create irrigation systems?
But irrigation came after states formed
States did not always have centrally controlled irrigation
Hanging Gardens, Babylon

51. Population Theory Strong correlation between size of population
and complexity of society
Autocatalysis:
population growth leads to social complexity
Social complexity leads to intensified food production
and population growth
Population density

52. Food Production Leads to Social Complexity
Requires seasonal labor. 
After harvest, labor used for
public works,
wars of conquest
Stored surpluses permit economic specialization, social stratification:
feed chiefs, elite, scribes, craftspeople, specialists,
feed farmers while they are working on public works

53. Food Production Leads to Social Complexity
Sedentary living required for:
Possessions
Technology
Crafts
public works
control of people
Mayan Temples, Mexico

54. Large Populations Require Complex Social System
Conflict resolution needed between unrelated people: 
need laws and authority
Communal decisions impossible: 
need structure
Reciprocal economy impossible: 
Need redistributive economy
Density of population must be organized
Argebam, Iran

55. Amalgamation of Smaller Units
Occurs by merger under threat of external force:
40 Cherokee chiefdoms joined together,
American colonies joined together

56. Amalgamation of Smaller Units
Occurs by conquest among chiefdoms
Zulu state
Hawaii, Tahiti
Aztecs, Incas
before Spanish arrived
Rome, Macedonian empire
Etc.
Roman Expansion

57. After Conquest Bands: survivors can move away

58. After Conquest Tribes: Need the land Territory occupied.
No need for slaves
No need for survivors,
except women as wives
Defeated men are killed

59. After Conquest States and Chiefdoms Defeated can be used as slaves
Or defeated can be exploited
left in place to produce food, goods
Deprived of political autonomy
Made to pay taxes, tribute
Amalgamate their society
into victorious state or chiefdom

60. Aztec Tribute
Aztec Empire received tribute from its subjects and had tribute lists
Spanish wanted tribute from Mexico
Interested in Aztec Empire’s tribute lists

61. Aztec Tribute Each year Aztec subjects paid Aztecs: Aztec tribute list
7,000 tons of corn
4,000 tons of amaranth
2,000,000 cotton cloaks
Huge quantities of
Cacao beans
war costumes
Shields
feather headdresses
amber
Aztec tribute list