A book to understand how the idea of cultural dominance began, can’t remember the title.

My brother lent me a book in the early 2000s that started out with the author visiting Australia and observing how the white population viewed the indigenous people. It then went through the origins of humanity from it's beginning and to each continent explaining how the natural environment shaped the culture and technology. Specifically, I think it talked about how areas with plants and animals which were more easily domesticated developed sedentary lifestyles and cultures with ownership of land and goods, which then made them develop weapons to protect their land and goods. At least I think that's how it went. It was an enormous book, and took me a long time to read because of how in depth it went. I would love to read it again but can't remember the title.