PART ONE: Sign up for Haiku.

MyHaikuClass is a safe, online collaborative classroom social platform. We will use MyHaikuClass to

communicate as a class, submit assignments, and manage course documents. Use the following link: https://www.myhaikuclass.com/prindiville/apworldhistory/signup and enter the code: FBLLX.

PART TWO: Encountering one of the most important books of our time.

The goal of AP World History is to investigate the big ideas, concepts, and trends of history. Instead of

focusing on minor events and occurrences, we will focus on the overarching themes that have shaped history

and our world today.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is perhaps the most important historical work written in the

last two decades. Jared Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize for the book. The book considers the growth of human

civilization across regions and academic disciplines, explaining, for example, why disease impacted the

development of complex societies in both the Americas and China.

The book will help you begin to think about history in the global, world perspective necessary for the course.

The book is available on Amazon for around $10 and also from local libraries for free. You do not need to buy

a copy; we will reference the book later in the year, but you won’t need access to it. The ISBN number is: 978-

0393317558.

St. Patrick Catholic High School

Advanced Placement World History

Summer Assignment

Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

Directions: Read only the chapters listed below. If you feel so moved, you are free to read more. I have selected

the chapters that will help you gain the most from the book, with the least summer reading. As you read,

answer each of the following questions in a typed document. Your answers should be long enough to fully

answer the question. For some questions, a one-sentence response is appropriate, for others, a more detailed, 3-

4 sentence response would be necessary. For the final question, one or two paragraphs is appropriate.

When you finish the assignment, submit it online through our Haiku class in the assignments box on the right

side of the homepage, or under the Assess tab. You should upload your typed document as a Word file to the

Haiku assignment’s Dropbox; do not type your answers into the Haiku assignment page.

Grade Value: The summer assignment will be included as a quiz/project grade in the first quarter grade for AP

World History. Failure to submit the assignment by the deadline merits removal from the course.

Due: The assignment is due on Haiku by 11:59pm on August 3. The assignment will close at midnight and not

re-open. I will not accept the assignment in paper. If you have difficulties, you must email me prior to the

deadline. I recommend you start working on the assignment with ample time.

Prologue: Yali’s Question

1. What is Yali’s Question?

2. What are three considerations Diamond discusses as he ponders Yali’s question?

Part One: From Eden to Cajamarca

Chapter One: Up to the Starting Line

3. What was the “Great Leap Forward”? Which peoples did it impact, and what probably

catalyzed this change?

Chapter Two: A Natural Experiment of History

4. What message is Diamond trying to convey with his focus on the conflict of the Maori and

Moriori people?

5. What were the six environmental factors that contribute to the differences among Polynesian

societies? Of the six, which do you think plays the greatest role in differentiation and why?

Part Two: The Rise and Spread of Food Production

Chapter Four: Farmer Power

6. According to Figure 4.1 what is a prerequisite to the development of technology?

7. In one paragraph or less please summarize how domestication of livestock and farming

changed societies.

Chapter Six: To Farm or Not to Farm

8. What five factors contributed to the transition from hunter-gathering societies to farming?

Chapter Eight: Apples or Indians

9. Identify at least four of the Fertile Crescent’s advantages in terms of food production.

10. Identify New Guinea’s 3 severe limitations.

11. When comparing Eastern United States, New Guinea, and the Fertile Crescent, what caused

such a great difference in production?

12. What happened when more productive crops arrived from elsewhere (p. 153)

13. What two conclusions does Diamond want to exaggerate?

Part 3: From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel

Chapter 11: Lethal Gift of Livestock

14. What are two historically famous epidemics?

15. What are the four common characteristics shared by lethal epidemics?

16. Why did the rise of agriculture launch the evolution of infectious diseases? (In complete

sentences) (page 205)

17. List four diseases that are contracted from an animal.

Part Four: Around the World in Five Chapters

Chapter 16: How China Became Chinese

18. What is Sinification? (look it up online if necessary)

19. How do the Chinese achieve and maintain Sinification?

20. What are some characteristics or accomplishments of the Chinese civilization?

Chapter 18: Hemispheres Colliding

21. Using pages 354-357, make a chart that compares and contrasts Eurasian and Native American

society prior to 1492.

22. Describe the five areas of technology that were contributing factors to Europe’s conquest of the

Americas.

23. Referencing Table 18.1; Which is the earliest developing society? Second earliest? Third?

Which societies never developed writing systems? Which never developed iron tools?

24. What has the Native American population reduced by (%) since 1492?

Chapter 19: How Africa Became Black

25. List the five major human groups in Africa around 1000 CE (AD).

26. How many different language groups exist in the African continent?

27. Describe the characteristics and growth of the Bantus.

28. What does Diamond project actually happened to the vanished Khoisan populations?

Epilogue: The Future of Human History as a Science

29. In paragraph form, explain Diamond’s argument for why Europe rose to be a global leader

instead of China or the Fertile Crescent.