Introduction
The cultures, politics, cults, and commercial development of corporations and civilizations all across the world are discussed in this review of world history from 1500 CE. According to Bulliet et al., “the earliest complex societies arose in the great river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Pakistan, and northern China” (3). The CE dendrochronology system was first used in the 17th century and has possibly been applied since in educated periodicals read by humans of all religions and cultures in an attempt to be comprehensive. The different regions of Eurasia, also the Saharan continent, became more totally related in the time of that season than at any other while in the past. The sea liners that went over the Eastern Hemisphere’s huge sea basins bore a greater part as well as a variety of products than those that had preceded them all. Moreover, the chain of seas that expanded over the hemisphere has shaped a single-linked maritime trade grid. However, at the base of all discoveries lies communal labor that allowed humanity to spread over the planet and develop societies.
Civilization
All civilizations of the Ancient World went through approximately the same cycle of development – birth, strengthening, prosperity, and then decline and death. However, the societies that came after they were already armed with their experience, so humanity continued to evolve. Dong et al. state that “major technological innovations and their dispersion lasting for centuries and even millennia are major catalysts for population growth and social development” (2067). Each of the ancient civilizations in some way influenced the way the world has become today. For example, China had a growth of technological innovation, commercialization, and urbanization, converting it into the Earth’s largest economy. Meanwhile, Western, as well as central Europe, developed into a renewed hub of Christian civilization, enlarging rural manufacturing, populace, business, as well as armed force capability.
Hunters and Gatherers
Agriculture was concocted up 13 thousand years ago which means that for the huge majority of humanity’s past, nutrition was most presumably gained by gathering over pursuing. Australopithecines, Homo habilis, as well as Homo erectus, were the first hominids to eat vegetarian meals. Mankind advanced in its development as it started going fishing with hooks as well as, more lately, nets, along with taking advantage of pebble rubbing devices to make flour. To avoid resource depletion, modern individuals became adaptable; the whole population began to disperse and spread their agriculture and hunting techniques further. Lipson et al. add that “the first mix was between local hunter-gatherers and incoming farmers associated with the Neolithic spreading from South China” (92). Hominids have been cutting through beast skin for millions of years using fragments of volcanic rock and scalpels. The knives were often located close together, suggesting that early hominids had split their responsibilities in managing the prey.
Migration
Migrations occurred at various times during human societies’ development; mostly due to the lack of resources and land. Schlebusch and Jacobsson state that “anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa roughly 250-350 thousand years before present and subsequently migrated to other parts of the world” (405). Studies consider that about 130 thousand years ago, the first wave of migration to East Africa occurred as constant rains provided better vegetation growth and spread of prey animals. Perhaps, the tribes who migrated to East Africa started herding and farming the land, building societies upon it. A second migration from Africa moved southwest as far as the southern tip of Africa about 110 thousand years ago, while some members of the group were left behind. The South African migrants specialized in gathering and hunting along the coast, as they had the access to the ocean, effectively starting the development of new fishing techniques.
Agriculture
Agriculture since its inception has traditionally been and still is considered the fundamental basis of the viability and sustainability of human development. It is known that throughout the history of the development and existence of mankind, not a single nation has been able to achieve sustainable development of the state economy without first increasing food production. The decrease in the number of prey animals, and the destruction of nature’s bounty urged early men to forge new means of existence, and improve tools and methods of hunting. According to Brevik et al., “major innovations that appeared over the first few thousand years of agricultural production included irrigation, terracing, plows, contour tillage, and soil classification” (1). This marked the beginning of a gradual transition from hunting a wild animal to its domestication and breeding, from collecting fruits to cultivating plants.
Labor was required to make tools, loosen the soil, sow seeds, harvest, and care for animals, and a sedentary lifestyle became a necessity. The cultivation of food plants forced the primitive man to gradually move to an agricultural life, to develop and accumulate skills and knowledge on housekeeping, and pass them on to offspring. Over time, it became the basis for the emergence of agronomy – the scientific foundation for cultivating plants, keeping animals, and housekeeping.
Settlement
The transition from pursuing to picking up to cultivation took place over several eras. Yet, these progressive shifts may have possibly assisted in differentiating a particularly characteristic season of constant settlement in the time of the Neolithic period. Researchers believe that primitive man moved to a settled agricultural life approximately 10 thousand years BC on the territory along the banks of the rivers: Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, Ganges, and Huang He. Around 9600 BCE, raised raindrops meant that the Jordan creek would probably deluge up each year, depositing layers of fruitful soil along its edges. That fruitful land authorized occupants to depend on agriculture as a way of living. Ning et al. report that “the West Liao River region in northeast China played a critical role in the adoption and spread of millet farming across East Asia and beyond” (2). Settled life also made it easier for people to switch to cattle breeding. Hunters have long domesticated some animals, such as dogs and horses.
The rivers served as convenient transport routes, and inexhaustible water reserves made it possible to develop rainfed and irrigated agriculture. The floodplain soils of the valleys were exceptionally fertile, and the subtropical climate made it possible to grow plants all year round. However, during archaeological excavations, it was not possible to find traces of the cultivation of tuberous plants. Thus, archaeologists and historians determine the time of origin and the age of settled agricultural life by finding seeds of cereals and other crops that were originally bred by man.
Conclusion
The agricultural tribes that settled on the fertile floodplain soils of large and small rivers first had to create arable land, for which new interventions were required. Using pre-existing knowledge, people gradually began to study the regimes of river flooding, determine the calendar dates for field work, establish the boundaries of land plots, and develop their tools. The practical solution to these problems led to the emergence of the initial elements of astronomy, mathematics, geometry, the concept of the year, and its division into certain periods. The improvement of labor tools, methods of farming, and the development of fertile floodplain soils laid the foundation for the emergence of civilizations.
Works Cited
Brevik, Eric C., et al. “Soils, Climate, and Ancient Civilizations.” Developments in Soil Science, 2018, pp. 1–28., Web.
Bulliet, Richard W., et al. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. Cengage Learning, 2014.
Dong, GuangHui, et al. “Environmental and Technological Effects on Ancient Social Evolution at Different Spatial Scales.” Science China Earth Sciences, vol. 60, no. 12, 2017, pp. 2067–2077., Web.
Lipson, Mark, et al. “Ancient Genomes Document Multiple Waves of Migration in Southeast Asian Prehistory.” Science, vol. 361, no. 6397, 2018, pp. 92–95., Web.
Ning, Chao, et al. “Ancient Genomes from Northern China Suggest Links between Subsistence Changes and Human Migration.” Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1, 2020, Web.
Schlebusch, Carina M., and Mattias Jakobsson. “Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa.” Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, vol. 19, no. 1, 2018, pp. 405–428., Web.