Question

one thousand years ago, no one would have guessed that europe—a fractured, resource - poor, and far behind the islamic and chinese empires—would dominate much of the world. the following two sources explore different reasons why europe rose to global prominence by the 15th century. excerpt from jareddiamond.org. diamond is a scientist, historian, and author. one of his best - known works is guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies, published in 1997, which seeks to explain why europeans dominated other groups, like native americans, australians, and others. in the excerpts below, he summarizes some of the arguments from the book. instructions: read source 1 below and answer questions 3 - 6. microbiology played a specific role in the european expansion. one means by which europeans were able to spread at the expense of other peoples was by infecting them (usually unwittingly) with epidemic infectious diseases such as smallpox and measles, to which europeans had evolved some genetic resistance and had acquired much immune (antibody - mediated) resistance through historical and lifetime exposure, while unexposed non - europeans had no such exposure, hence no such resistance. 4. which detail from the text best supports the idea that disease had a greater impact than warfare in the conquest of the americas? a. “microbiology played a specific role in the eurasian expansion.” b. “smallpox killed about 50 percent of the incas in the first epidemic.” c. “it is estimated that 95 percent of native american casualties throughout north and south america were due to disease rather than military conquest.” d. “hence eurasians ended up as disease bearers, and with much resistance themselves to their own diseases.”

Explanation:

Option C provides a broad - scale statistic about Native American casualties, indicating that the vast majority were due to disease rather than warfare, which best supports the idea that disease had a greater impact than warfare in the conquest of the Americas. Option A is too general about microbiology's role in Eurasian expansion. Option B only gives a statistic about the Incas and smallpox. Option D focuses on Eurasians as disease - bearers and their resistance, not on the comparison between disease and warfare impacts.

Answer:

C. "It is estimated that 95 percent of Native American casualties throughout North and South America were due to disease rather than military conquest"