HIST 223 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: John Cabot, Yellow Earth, Steamboat

• School: McGill University
• Department: History
• Course: HIST 223
• Professor: Allan Greer

Document Summary

Hist 223 class notes oct 12 2016. Right there on the spot to deter(cid:373)i(cid:374)e the (cid:271)est (cid:272)rops, (cid:272)hose (cid:374)e(cid:454)t (cid:455)ear"s seeds based on best: happens over course of 1000 years. Benefitted from domestication of other crops: mississippian societies, 700- c. 1500 ad (depended on corn, does(cid:374)"t qualify as cities, since they did(cid:374)"t have large density of houses, constructions are religious, and maybe political. Not permanent agglomerations of large populations: due to size, had to have a lot of people to do work. Either slavery or some kind of labor system. Had to have a lot of people and be coordinated: cahokia. Cold, dry: grow corn in protected river valleys effectively. There was violence between french but not fullscale war. Ca(cid:374)"t be only factor: climate warmed, brought corn north, then came back down, corn failed. Corn lived so close to the limit that when climate dropped even a little it (cid:272)ould(cid:374)"t keep growing.