2. The First Agricultural Revolution-
Animal Domestication
• Animals such as goats,
pigs and sheep were
domesticated about
8,000 yrs. ago.
• Domesticated animals in
captivity are very
different from their wild
counterparts.
• Southeast Asia-pigs,
water buffalo, chickens,
ducks and geese were
domesticated.
3.
4. • South Asia-cattle,
elephants-but never bred
in captivity,
• Southwest Asia-goats,
sheep and camel
• Central Asia-yak, horse,
goats, sheep and
reindeer
• Meso America and
South America-llama,
alpaca, pig and turkey
• Africa-guinea fowl-only
became herders after
cattle were brought in
from SW Asia
• Total-only about 40
5.
6. World Areas of Agricultural Innovations
Carl Sauer identified 11 areas where agricultural
innovations occurred.
8. • World-wide most farmers
are subsistence-growing Subsistence Farming
just enough to feed their
families.
• They find building
material and fuel in the
natural environment-no
cash economy
• Small fields-intensive
farming on land they
often don’t own.
• Methods and tools used
are generally very low
tech.
• Found in South &
Central America, Africa,
South Asia, and South
9. On the Greek island of Crete, a peasant plows a field with a donkey
10.
11.
12. Shifting Agriculture-Slash & Burn, Patch or
Milpa
• Tropical areas-red soil is
heavily leached.
• Plot of land is cleared by
burning-ash replenishes
soil.
• A type of crop rotation-
tubers in warm tropics,
grains in humid subtropics,
fruit in cooler regions.
• Not nomadic-central village
with parcels of land worked
in succession
• Conserves forests & soil,
13. • Intertillage spreads
food production over
the farming season
• It reduces the loss from
disease or pests or
drought.
• It helps control soil
erosion and soil
depletion.
• Hill planted crops have
deeper root systems
and tall stalks while flat
earth crops are
spreaders.
• No expensive fertilizer,
14. • Agricultural Societies are classified as:
– Subsistence or Primitive
– Intermediate or Traditional
– Developed or Modern
• Colonial Powers-Bad Points
– Tried to compel subsistence farmers to modernize
by charging them taxes
– Made them devote valuable land to cash crops
like cotton
• Colonial Powers-Good Points
– Conducted soil surveys
– Built irrigation systems
– Established lending agencies to loan money to
farmers
Editor's Notes
With sedentary communities wild animals kept as pets or ceremonial sacrifices-some wild animals hung around as scavengers of food and gradually were kept as protection against other predators or to aid in the hunt. Even today-in African Wildlife Preserves-wild animals hang around camps at night and scatter by day.
Top-Zebu Cattle in India Horse drawing a hay rake
About 8,000 BC man began to select, breed and domesticate and cultivate various species of plants and animals It was a slow, gradual process that occurred at different times in various places-due to climate or soil limitations it did not spread all over the world. World Population increased X16 between 8,000 BC and 4,000 BC due to increased and reliable food supply.
Iranian farmer harrowing a field with mules
Crete-a peasant plows a field with a donkey
Various kinds of maize Oxen pull a plow in Portugal
Definitions of subsistence vary-Indian and China are not shaded because farmers sell some produce in markets. In equatorial Africa and South America, subsistence allows little of this
Shifting Cultivation is usually practiced in tropical areas with poor soils-soil fertility is maintained by rotating fields-note burned stumps with corn and beans interplanted. (land cleared is called Swidden) Requires less intense farming or work-but supports a lower population density than traditional farming. To outsiders Slash and Burn appears to be destructive, wasteful and disorganized- there are no neat rows of monocrops-no carefully plowed soil- Instead there are a variety of crops grown next to each other in what appears to be a jumble.
Not only are crops interplanted, but they are planted at different times, assuring harvest over a long period of time. The variety of crops ensures that there won’t be a catastrophic loss to disease, pest or drought.
