Your Qatar and Japan examples, at least, make his point: the complexity of those cultures reflect the resource conditions in which they developed. Not sure about Venezuela. Japan, in particular, was the only place in the world where hunting and fishing could support large settled populations, if I remember my Jared Diamond correctly.
Japan, in particular, was the only place in the world where hunting and fishing could support large settled populations
Louisiana was more productive than Japan for wild fish and fowl. (Largely destroyed now by bad planning, pollution, and man-made environmental disasters)
