The Agricultural Revolution
The lives of human beings have changed from being hunters and gatherers to being able to learn online and space travel. How and why did these changes occur? How has society, politics, the environment, culture, and the economy changed due to innovations? This class aims to make sense of those changes. World History will allow you to understand the impact that the past has on your life today. This knowledge will allow you to be ready for the roles they will inevitably play as citizens of both United States and the world.
The first change we will look at is the Agricultural Revolution that occurred around 10,000 BCE. That change was agriculture. Along with Agriculture, nomadic pastoralists would play a huge part in human civilization until the early modern period. Watch the videos below and analyze the maps to understand and evaluate those changes.
The first change we will look at is the Agricultural Revolution that occurred around 10,000 BCE. That change was agriculture. Along with Agriculture, nomadic pastoralists would play a huge part in human civilization until the early modern period. Watch the videos below and analyze the maps to understand and evaluate those changes.
Objective: Understand the causes and consequences of the Neolithic Revolution
Reading Questions:
- Why did hunter gatherer societies focus mainly on subsistence labor?
- Why was there a lot of migrating?
- What was society like for hunter-gatherer people?
- What allowed people to have an agricultural surplus?
- What are staple crops?
- What is nomadic pastoralism?
- What is specialization of labor?
- What is urbanization?
- What is social stratification?
- What is patriarchy?
Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-gatherer societies depended on subsistence labor. That means they worked mostly to survive and NOT to sell or trade their food. Men hunted wild animals and women gathered or forage wild, edible plants. Some tribe members created stone tools, bows & arrows, spears, baskets, statues, etc. There was some local trading but mostly people tried to gather food to survive or subsist.
There was a lot of migrating or moving around from place to place. The food supply was unstable because the trees would run out of fruit and other berries and nuts would also run out. Wild game would move or run out. That meant people also had to move. Due to the unstable food supply, tribes were usually under 100 people. |
The society was relatively egalitarian (Relatively Equal). Nomadic lifestyle discourages the accumulation of land, objects and wealth. Without a wealthy class, no person or group becomes too powerful over the population. Although women did do most of the child rearing and men had other responsibilities, because both men and women contributed to the survival of the family and clan, men and women are relatively equal.
The Agricultural Revolution or Neolithic Revolution
|
Around 10,000 years ago, or about 8000 BCE, the climate was warming up from the last Ice Age. As it did, humans began to domesticate, or tame and control, the plants and animals. The Agricultural Revolution first began in the Middle East but eventually happened in most parts of the world over the course of thousands of years. Farmers developed new tactics to create an agricultural surplus, meaning the production more food (usually crops like grains, vegetables, fruits, etc.) than what is needed to feed the population. Farmers achieved agricultural surplus by growing crops in rows, using effective tools like the plow or irrigation, selectively breeding crops that produced high yields , and growing mostly staple crops. Staple crops are foods that are produced in high quantities and take a dominant portion of the people’s diet. These crops are typically inexpensive and have enough nutrition for survival, and can be grown in large amounts. Examples of staple crops are barley and wheat in the Middle East, rice in Africa and East Asia, and maize (corn) in the Americas.
|
For the first time in human history, one part of the population produced enough food to feed the rest. With less need for agricultural workers, the remaining population to focus in non-food producing activities. Some became artisans, people who made objects and goods people wanted, such as woven cloth, pottery and tools. Others became merchants, people who buy and sell goods for a living. Other became soldiers, religious leaders, politicians, and so on. This process of allowing people to focus on limited tasks is called specialization of labor. Agricultural surplus and the specialization changes transformed every aspect of human life, causing innovations and trends that have never existed before and continue to this today.
As people specialized their labor more diversely, people began to create new technological innovations that greatly impacted societies. Farmers developed the plow that allows large animals to cultivate the land more efficiently, increasing food production. Artisans that specialize in clothing made the loom, a device that speeds up the process of weaving textiles. People gradually learned metallurgy, the study of making metals like copper and steel. With metallurgy, new weapons like the chariot were produced for the military. Government officials and merchants developed writing to help keep records about trade in the markets.
One of the big changes after the Agricultural Revolution was urbanization, or the growth of cities and towns. The agricultural surplus caused a growth in population and an opportunity to do work not related to producing food. Permanent households and villages multiplied as people abandoned their nomadic lifestyles and over time, cities emerged. While living in cities caused ideas to spread, trade to prosper, and new opportunities for work, diseases often spread quickly within urban cities.
|
The surplus of food also led to the creation of governments, or states. People had to work together to clear the land for agriculture and, in many places, provide irrigation to water the crops. To coordinate these efforts required a government. And if the community produced a surplus, powerful families were required to supervise how it was used, and soldiers to protect it from other groups. The government forced people to pay taxes in order to pay for the government’s expenses. The desire to keep records about trade and taxes led to the invention of writing.
The emergence of specialized labor and food surplus led to social stratification. This means societies are being divided into a social hierarchy based on economic inequality or lack of power. First, urban cities developed economic classes, the most common being the upper classes for the political elite and the land-owning families, the middle classes for the artisans, merchants, and other government officials, and the lower classes for the servants, farmers, and peasants. At the very bottom were the slaves, as the practice of “people owning people” flourished on a large-scale in the urban cities and often regulated by the state.
|
In addition to the creation of political and economic inequality, gender inequality was also an effect of the Agricultural Revolution. In hunter-gatherer societies, genders were treated relatively equal and women’s role with gathering food was essential to their survival. But with the use of large animals and technology to farm, women were no longer necessary for food production. This led to patriarchy, the social system where men dominate and control society politically, economically, and culturally while women have restrictions to their role in society, often limited to the role of wife and mother in a family. Women were often excluded from any political power and have fewer opportunities for work compared to men. Overtime, cultures were used to help justify gender inequality as well as establish the norms on how each gender should act and behave in society and at home.
|
It’s important to note that not every human being became part of an “civilized” society after the Agricultural Revolution. Some continued their hunter-gatherer lifestyles, even to this day. Others became nomadic pastoralists. Before the days of factory farming, nomads raised animals like horses, camels, goats, or sheep out in open pastures, far away from the urban cities. They would move their herd of livestock from pasture to pasture before traveling to cities to sell their animals. Nomadic pastoralists were skilled equestrians (horseback riders) and archers, making them deadly warriors. However, since these nomadic pastoralists migrate with their herds of animals, they often encounter and protect traveling merchants and religious missionaries.
|
|