Bertrand Russell

1. “With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed from by the beneficent operation of the machine.” E. Napp Bertrand Russell

2. The Neolithic Revolution E. Napp

3. Beginning around 12,000 years ago • Domestication of plants and animals • Growing populations • Permanent settlements • New diseases from close proximity to animals • Cities, states, and sometimes empires • Increased impact on environment • More food and resources from much smaller areas of land E. Napp

4. Global warming that began 16,000 years ago • Around 11,000 years ago, Ice Age was over • Migration of Homo sapiens across planet • New conditions for agriculture - Natural flourishing of wild plants, especially cereal grasses - Extinction of some large mammals E. Napp

5. Locations: occurring separately and independently Fertile Crescent • Present-day Iraq, Syria, Israel, and southern Turkey • Variety of plants and animals for domestication • After 9,000 BCE, figs, wheat, barley, rye, peas, lentils, sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle domesticated • Use of sun-dried mud bricks and more sophisticated tools E. Napp

6. Eastern part of Sahara, present-day Sudan • Between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, Sahara desert did not exist • Cattle domesticated • Donkey domesticated • Sub-Saharan Africa experienced widely scattered farming practices - Sorghum, teff, yams, oil palm trees, okra, and kola nuts • Scattered locations of domestication generated less productive agriculture E. Napp

7. Americas • Coastal Andean regions, Mesoamerica, Mississippi Valley, Amazon basin • Absence of animals that could be domesticated • Only one (llama/alpaca) large mammal could be domesticated • Lacked sources of protein, manure, and power that domesticated animals provided • Lacked rich cereal grains • Had maize or corn, first domesticated in southern Mexico by 4000 to 3000 BCE • North/South Orientation of Americas impacted progress of Agricultural Revolution • Distinct climatic and vegetation zones • Agricultural practices had to adapt E. Napp

8. Globalization of Agriculture • Extension of farming in two ways: • Gradual spread of agricultural techniques without extensive movement of agricultural people • Slow colonization or migration of agricultural peoples - Conquest, absorption, or displacement of earlier gatherers and hunters E. Napp

9. Agriculture spread from Southwest Asia into Europe, Central Asia, Egypt, and North Africa between 6500 and 4000 BCE • Indo-European languages, probably originated in Turkey and widely spoken from India to Europe • Movement of culture associated with spread of agriculture E. Napp

10. In what is now southern Nigeria or Cameroon around 3000 BCE, Bantu-speaking people moved east and south - Spread agriculture, cattle-raising, later iron-working skills, and languages • Austronesian-speaking people, from Southern China, to Philippines and Indonesia E. Napp

11. The Culture of Agriculture • An increase in human population • Greater productivity of agriculture supported more people - Example: agricultural settlement uncovered near Jericho in present-day Israel had approximately 2,000 people • Living close to animals subjected humans to new diseases • Smallpox, flu, measles, chicken pox, malaria, tuberculosis, rabies • Permanent settlements • An explosion of technological innovation E. Napp

12. Secondary products revolution” - Beginning around 4000 BCE - Involved new uses for domesticated animals - Milk their animals, harvest their wool, enrich their soil with manure • Growing impact on the environment • Soil erosion and deforestation in some areas • New social hierarchies • Class divisions and patriarchal systems E. Napp

13. Variations • Pastoral Societies - Depend far more extensively on animals - Herders • Agricultural Village Societies - Retained equality and freedom - Without kings or aristocracies Example: Catalhoyuk, an early agricultural village in southern Turkey, was home to several thousand people but had few signs of inherited social inequality - Organized around kinship groups • Chiefdoms - Inherited positions of power and privilege introduced a more distinct element of inequality - Chiefs could seldom use force to compel obedience E. Napp

14. Strayer Questions • What accounts for the emergence of agriculture after countless millennia of human life without it? • In what different ways did the Agricultural Revolution take shape in various parts of the world? • In what ways did agriculture spread? Where and why was it sometimes resisted? • What was revolutionary about the Agricultural Revolution? • What different kinds of societies emerged out of the Agricultural Revolution? E. Napp

15. World Historians recognize three distinct phases in the human journey: • The Paleolithic Era: • Literally means “Old Stone Age” • Gathering and hunting way of life • Represents over 95% of the human journey • The Neolithic Era: • About 12,000 years ago, agriculture was introduced • into some communities • Permanent settlements and specialization developed • The Industrial Era: • Beginning in England around 1750 • The mechanization of agriculture and industry E. Napp

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17. Questions: • Why is it important to consider Cosmic History when studying the human journey? • What are three critical phases of the human journey? • What were the beneficial aspects of gathering and hunting societies? • How did the introduction of agriculture transform societies? • Why did agriculture spread if it was associated with obvious disadvantages? • Assess the impact of industrialization. Why has industrialization spread despite its disadvantages? E. Napp

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