Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) was one of the largest empires in world history and one of the first of global extent. It reached the peak of its military, political and economic power under the Spanish Habsburgs through most of the 16th and 17th centuries, and its greatest territorial extent under the Bourbons in the 18th century when it was the largest empire in the world. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time, and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets. The empire, administered from Madrid by the Spanish Crown, comprised territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration after the voyages of Christopher Columbus and lasted until the late 19th century. Spain's territorial reach beyond Europe included the Greater Antilles, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America (including present day Mexico, Florida, the Southwestern, the Midwestern United States, and Pacific Coastal regions of the United States), as well as a number of Pacific Ocean archipelagos including the Philippines.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is a 1997 transdisciplinary nonfiction book by Jared Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1998, it won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. A documentary based on the book, and produced by the National Geographic Society, was broadcast on PBS in July 2005.

The book attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations (including North Africa) have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops. When cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example, written language or the development among Eurasians of resistance to endemic diseases), he asserts that these advantages occurred because of the influence of geography on societies and cultures (for example, by facilitating commerce and trade between different cultures) and were not inherent in the Eurasian genomes.