AP World History Agriculture

What is Agriculture ?

          The practice of farming and domestication of animals provide food , wool , and other products.           Agriculture Revolution refers to the deliberate process of cultivating plants and domesticating specific animals  Domestication means to tame animals and then killing them for meat and other supplies that are useful to the group    Domestication allowed development of food surplus

Agricultural Revolution

what is agriculture? growing plants and domestication of animals for food, wool, milk etc What is the agricultural revolution? deliberate process to cultivate plants( corn growing etc) and domestication of animals  Agricultural Revolution: 1     Replaced hunter gatherer practices in most societies throughout the world (San and Chumash are exceptions because eg San still exist today and were not replaced) 2, Neolithic Agricultural Revolution occurred independently in scattered parts of the world at roughly the same time    Occurred about 12000 - 4000 yrs ago (after the ice age)    Examples : Mesopotamia (Fertile Crescent), Egypt (Nile Rv)  3.

Common Patterns and Practices

 1. The climate changed after Ice Age pushed societies to find new food sources  Warmer weather in wetter areas of the planet allowed for flourishing of cereal plants and grasses    2. Gender roles: Women were main agriculturalists of Neolithic Age , Men were involved with domestication of wild animals :  Domesticated sheep , goat , cattle from Fertile Crescent  and   Domesticated llamas and alpacas from Andes Rice in Asia, Yam in Africa , maize in Mesoamerica ​​​​​​ - women involved here 3.Social stratification occurs 4.variations of Agricultural Revolution  A)Fertile Crescent was the first area where Agricultural Rev occurred. Larger variety of plants/animals - more domestication B)In Africa( in Sahara) : animals were domesticated before plants, everywhere else plants before animals . Thet domesticated cattle even before Middle East and India. Donkey was domesticated near Red Sea.  

common practices continues

 Variations in  Agricultural Revolution .... 5.In Americas  : only animals domesticated were Llama and Alpaca. So had less domestication in americas. -had less large animals for plowing, - continued to rely on hunting to get meat, for 3500 yrs longer than Fertile Crescent - lacked trade and innovative ideas/practices  spread less  

Globalization of Agriculture

  1.  Agriculture started in various regions (Mesopotamia or Yellow River Valley)   2. Spread to the rest of the region and outward 3. Agriculture spread in 2 ways: A) Diffusion: Gradual spread of agricultural techniques, but without the extensive movement of people  B)Colonization or migration of agriculture, spread of moving farmers and their practices, as well as language  and culture   This is often meant that earlier hunter gatherer were displaced, conquered, or absorbed  Places where Agriculture Begins :  Mesopotamia  Egypt Indus River  Yellow River Mesoamerica South America West Africa 

Globalization of Agriculture

 1.New Agriculture communities had to work cooperatively to clear land 2. they created irrigation systems needed for agriculture practices  irrigation= Artificial application of water to land or soil ( water was re-directed from river towards where crops grew) Irrigation helps spread water spread evenly to farmland allowing for more sustained growth of crops 3. Different crops or animals were domesticated in different regions  Depending on weather patterns and local flora (plants) and fauna (animal)  so agriculture was different in Americas vs Fertile Crescent Agricultural practices drastically changed landscape  Over farming had specific and sometimes negative effects on soil; led to soil erosion 

Language and Religion

 1.  Spread of the Indo-European languages along with agriculture; so culture spreads along with food  2.Religions such as Judiasm and Hinduism, spread with trade  3. China spread it's farming practices westward 4.India received agricultural practices from east and west alike  5. Africa :Spread of Agriculture in South Africa due to spread of Bantu language family (There are 400 Bantu languages ) Started in Cameroon and Nigeria and spread south and SE.(about 3000 BCE) Bantu absorbed Paleolithic communities in S. Africa peacefully- not much warfare. This brought diseases from their animals . Natives had no immunity to such diseases.

Bantu Language Family

  Over 400 languages in Bantu Language   Started in S. Nigeria or Cameroon in about 3000 BCE, and spread south and southeast  Bantu absorbed the Paleolithic communities of S. Africa  Bantu had peaceful migrations, little warfare  Brought borne diseases with them, to which the natives had no immunity  Diseases had great affects on natives 

Agricultural Practices

   1. Took 10 000 yrs to spread agricultural practices all over the world.   2. Some places did not get these agricultural practices: SW Africa SW North America Australia Artic