Diamond in this book explores many different factors that
could account for why some civilisations developed faster than others and moved from
small groups of hunter-gatherers into larger, more organised groups characterised by
bureaucracy and a concentration of numbers. One theory that he explores is that
large-scale irrigation systems necessitated a state system and bureaucracy in order for
them to run successfully. This approach therefore argues that such nations chose to
merge their chiefdoms into one larger group so as to capitalise on the benefits of
large-scale irrigation. However, Diamond does not agree with this
view:
Construction of large-scale irrigation systems
did not accompany the emergence of states but came only significantly later in each of
those areas. In most of the states formed over the Maya area of Mesoamerica and the
Andes, irrigation systems always remained small-scale ones that local communities could
build and maintain
themselves.
Large-scale
irrigation systems did not by themselves cause chiefdoms to develop into larger
civilisations, but were a secondary cause, Diamond argues. Thus he successfully manages
to debunk the myth that large-scale irrigation by itself was what caused development in
early civilisations.
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