GEO-1400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Shifting Cultivation, Cassava, Nomadic Pastoralism
Document Summary
Before the invention of agriculture, all humans probably obtained the food they needed for survival through hunting, fishing, or gathering plants. Hunters and gatherers lived in small groups of usually fewer than 50 persons. Today, perhaps a quarter-(cid:373)illio(cid:374) people, or less tha(cid:374) 0. 005 per(cid:272)e(cid:374)t of the world"s population, still survive by hunting, gathering, and fishing. The agricultural revolution was the time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals, perhaps around 8,000 b. c. There is no agreement as to the cause of the agricultural revolution ( was it because of environmental or cultural factors or both?) The first domestication of crops and animals coincided with the end of the last ice age. This caused a redistribution of human populations. Over thousands of years, plant cultivation apparently evolved from a combination of accident and deliberate experiment. Preference for permanent settlements rather than nomadic living.
