Editing Environmental determinism (section)

==== The effect of disease environments ====
{{further|Tsetse fly#Societal impact}}

[[Marcella Alsan|Dr. Marcella Alsan]] argues the prevalence of the [[tsetse fly]] hampered early state formation in [[Africa]].<ref name="Alsan">{{cite journal | last=Alsan | first=Marcella | date=January 2015 | title=The effect of the Tsetse fly on African development | url=https://fsi.stanford.edu/publications/the_effect_of_the_tsetse_fly_on_african_development | journal=American Economic Review | volume=105 | pages=382–410 | doi=10.1257/aer.20130604}}</ref> Because the tsetse virus was lethal to cows and horses, communities afflicted by the insect could not rely on the agricultural benefits provided by [[livestock]]. African communities were prevented from stockpiling agricultural surplus, working the land, or eating meat. Because the disease environment hindered the formation of farming communities, early African societies resembled small [[hunter-gatherer]] groups and not centralized states.<ref name="Alsan" />

The relative availability of livestock animals enabled European societies to form centralized institutions, develop advanced technologies, and create an agricultural network.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Overton | first1=Mark | title=Agricultural revolution in England: The transformation of the agrarian economy 1500–1850 | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521568593 | url-access=registration | date=18 April 1996 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521568593/page/1 1]}}</ref> They could rely on their livestock to reduce the need for manual labor. Livestock also diminished the [[comparative advantage]] of owning [[slaves]]. African societies relied on the use of rival tribesman as slave labor where the fly was prevalent, which impeded long-term societal cooperation.<ref name="Alsan" />

Alsan argues that her findings support the view of [[Kenneth Sokoloff]] and [[Stanley Engerman]] that factor endowments shape state institutions.<ref name="Alsan" />