Agriculture

"Cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken; for dust you are, and unto dust you shall return." -Genesi

10000 years ago, 5000000-10000000 estimated people inhabited the Earth and no more. Mans technological innovations have gotten them far but they had no idea of how much they would change the world in the future. Humans stood on the verge of over-running the Earth with its vast numbers, But, something had to support such a large poulation. Agriculture, the ability for people to produce their own food supply. The agricultural revolution had two parts: The domestication of plants and the domestication of animals.

It all started in Mesopotamia in Eurasia because environmental factors favored this specific region as the birthplace of agriculture. Firstly, the middle east has hot dry summers, and cool rainy winters encouraging plants such as cereals to develop large seeds for fast growing in a shortened period of time. This results in moderately small plants with woody stems, which in turn lead to cereals with large seeds(ie., more food) that are easy to harvest. Second, most plants are self-pollinating and thus make it easier to harvest. Along with the spread of agriculture was the spread of new ideas and cultures.

Two other main factors led to the domestication of plants in Mesopotamia. First, better hunting and gathering technology resulted in a more stable food supply. Second, warmer, wetter conditions at the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago led to the spread of cereal grains. Together these provided a stable food supply which allowed people to settle down in more permanent homes. Villages produced some different effects that led to the triumph of agriculture.

Settled villages gave people the oppurtunity to watch a seed grow over a long period of time, and notice how the seeds grow into plants. The evolution of this taking place was probably very gradual. An example is someone finding some seeds near a stream and seeing its growth process from seed to plant.

The transition to settled agricultural life was also very gradual. Some later civilizations would see it as a gift of the gods, some would think it a curse, such as the early Hebrews, a hunting and gathering people, quoted above, thought it went against their traditions of life and had taken too much work. Today, tradition today is usually shoved aside and scorned, but then, early humans weren't accustom to change as much as we are now and it disrupted the fragile stability of their lives. So why did people adopt agriculture?

The best explanation was that they had too. After the founding of agriculture most people would primarily hunt and gather with a bit of casual agriculture. This increased the food supply and thus drastically increasing the poulation. However these extra people put a strain on the environments ability to feed them so the result was an expansion of the agriculture. this would increase the poulation again and the cycle would keep going. Eventually men and women would both have to settle down and become full-time farmers.

Settled agricultural life had two dramatic effects on human society and the environment. First Agricultural life style required less sharing and cooperation than hunting and gathering did. Since there was no private property or land to fight over, hunting and gathering was relatively harmonious and peaceful. With agriculture, owning land made more conflict between social classes, or rich and poor.

Later in time, new techniques would be found for farming and would increase the food stability which in turn, increased the poulation which required a bigger agriculture and the cycle would repeat itself for as long as it has to go until a new technology obsoletes agriculture.

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