- Scholars disagree on distinguishing imperialism from colonialism/colonization. Colonialism often involves economic exploitation and physical presence, while imperialism includes exploitation without presence. - Opinions on Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel vary widely. It takes a broad, scientific view of history but lacks specificity. While influential, its geographic determinism is incomplete and it is criticized for disparaging previous scholarship. Its usefulness in the classroom depends on how it is taught.

1. Imperialism v. Colonialism/
Colonization

2. Question
• What is the difference between imperialism and
colonialism/colonization?

3. The Answer
• Scholarly agreement does not exist about the
distinctions between these two terms, and they
are often used in different ways by different
authors or even interchangeably.

4. Definitions
• Colonialism or colonization may be part of an imperialistic
enterprise, but it is not identical to it.
▫ Philip Marshall Brown (The American Journal of International Law) –
“In its origins imperialism meant in the strictest sense the attempt of any
nation to extend its control for purposes of exploitation over other
peoples not at the moment included in the metropolitan area.” (i.e.
Rome, Great Britain, Portugal, Holland, etc.)
▫ Webster’s: Colonialism is “control by one country over another area and
its people.”
• Conclusion: Colonialism most often involves some kind of economic
exploitation and physical presence, whereas imperialism includes
many other types of exploitation and influence without necessarily
establishing a physical presence.

5. Other Scholarly Opinions
• One teacher at Rutgers put it this way, “The term colonialism is
frequently used to describe the settlement of places that were
controlled by a large population of permanent… residents. The term
imperialism often describes cases in which a foreign government
administers a territory without significant settlement.” More
specifically they wrote, “Though colonialism is often used
interchangeably with imperialism, the latter is broader as it covers
control exercised informally (via influence) as well as formally.”
• Amardeep Singh from Lehigh University helpfully comments, “The
simple way to distinguish these two is to think of colonialism as
practice and imperialism as the idea driving the practice.”

6. Summary
Imperialism Colonialism
• Brown – Exploitation over
peoples not in the
metropolitan area
• Rutgers – control without
necessary permanent
settlement
• Singh – Idea driving the
practice of colonialism
• Webster’s – simple control of
one country over another
• Rutgers – control includes
permanent settlement by the
controlling power
• Singh – practice of
imperialistic policy

7. Jared Diamond – Guns, Germs,
and Steel

8. Extremes of Opinion
• Pro: Jared Diamond’s book is a remarkable
example of how to actually do world history,
introducing a coherent presentation of how and
why the world’s power structure has developed
as it has.
• Con: Jared Diamond’s non-historical,
macrohistory approach to the world presents a
picture that is too broad and ahistorical to
explain why the world developed the way that it
has and has no place in academic communities.

9. Breaking It Down
• 1. It looks at the big picture
• 2. It argues that history is scientific
• 3. Jared Diamond is not a historian

10. The Big Picture
Pros Cons
• He gives a relatively well-
reasoned answer to one of the
most difficult questions in
history: Why Europe?
• He has found a way to do
world history
• Historians often find these
works to be ahistorical and
miss important specifics that
cannot be captured in such a
broad approach.

11. Scientific History
Pros Cons
• Gives a definitive answer to
the age-old question of
whether history is an art or a
science, arguing that history
should be a science.
• The geographical focus of
Diamond’s argument is neither
new nor competent to
completely explain Europe’s
rise to power (geographic
determinism).

12. Non-Historians Doing History
Pros Cons
• Provides an outside
perspective that can help get
historians out of some of the
ruts they fall into
• Diamond is a
physiologist/evolutionary
biologist who has no business
doing history.

13. Scholars’ Opinions
• McNeill believes that most of Diamond’s book is
wonderful (says it is consistently reviewed as his classes’
favorite assignment) but that he has taken it too far into
geographic determinism
• David Frum calls Diamond’s book, “A good example of a
bad genre.” He believes it is an important book to read
but one that is too apologetic in nature and disparages
previous scholarship to an undue amount.
• Anthropologist Brian Ferguson praises its breadth and
yet finds Diamond’s conclusions unconvincing.
• African historian Daniel McCall calls it, “as a whole…
admirable for a global perspective.”

14. Should we use it in the Classroom?
• Is macrohistory worthwhile?
• Conclusion: Jared Diamond’s work has been
highly influential and thus is important to cover,
but be careful how you do it.

15. Bibliography
• Brown, Philip Marshall. “Imperialism.” The American Journal of International Law 39 (1945): 84-86.
• Ferguson, Brian. “Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.” American Anthropologist 101
(1999): 900-901.
• Frum, David. “Review: How the West Was Won: History that Feels Good Usually Isn’t.” Foreign
Affairs 77 (1998): 132-135.
• McCall, Daniel. “Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared
Diamond.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 32 (1999): 453-454.
• McNeill, J.R. “The World According to Jared Diamond.” The History Teacher 34 (2001): 165-174.
• Rutgers. “Unit Four: Imperialism and African Colonies, 19th-20th Centuries.” Accessed June 24, 2015.
http://civiced.rutgers.edu/files/africa/unit4.pdf.
• Singh, Amardeep. Lehigh University. “Fall 2001 Lehigh University.” Accessed June 24, 2015.
http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/eng-11-globalization.htm.
• Webster’s New World College Dictionary. 4th ed. Cleveland: Webster’s New World, 2001.