nomads. Once people began to settle in villages and hamlets
that were surrounded by their farming plots, cities began to
grow. Th e growth of cities, in turn, gave rise to governments,
institutionalized churches, art and architecture, trade and
manufacture, and all the other characteristics of more mod-
ern civilizations.
Moreover, because farmers in outlying regions could
produce a surplus of food, not everyone in the community
had to be involved in agriculture. Surplus food meant that the
community could support a class of civil servants, architects,
engineers, soldiers, priests, artists, poets, and craft s workers,
all of whom provided goods and services that enhanced the
quality of life for their neighbors. As people gathered in larger
towns and cities, they developed a sense of community and
were able to bring individual points of view to public discus-
sion, leading to more formalized belief systems, systems of
government, economic and trade networks, public works,
and the like. None of this would have been possible without
the development of agriculture.
Agriculture, though, was not just a matter of sticking
seeds into the ground and waiting for food to appear on the
table. As agricultural systems became more complex and as
the number of mouths to feed grew, people looked for ways
to control their environment in order to maximize their food
output. In many parts of the world, for example, rainy sea-
sons were followed by drought, and the annual fl ooding of
rivers was followed by a period of receding waters. In some
parts of the world, particularly around the equator, the cli-
mate was desertlike.
As a result, humans put their ingenuity to work to de-
velop dams, canals, sluices, waterwheels, and other engineer-
ing feats that enabled them to control and store water for use
during the dry season. In turn, the ability to control water
gave rise to systems for supplying drinking water and sew-
age systems for cities. Some people turned their attention to
experimenting with diff erent types of seeds to increase the
variety and yield of their crops, in eff ect becoming the world’s
fi rst experimental scientists. Still others focused their atten-
tion on developing tools that made agriculture more effi cient.
Early tools consisted of such items as simple wooden blades
for cutting and stones for grinding grain. In time, agricul-
turalists developed more sophisticated cutting and grinding
tools that enabled them to increase their output. Develop-
ment of these tools provided the technology for tools used in
other endeavors, such as the construction of palaces, temples,
and other public buildings.
AFRICA
BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL
Agriculture arose independently in many locations throughout
the world, and each time it was the result of people’s manipu-
lating plants and animals that already lived around them. In
Africa t his process happened numerous times in diff erent loca-
tions. Africa’s geography prevented the smooth transmission
of crops and livestock from place to place. As a result, people
on the continent never had the chance to develop large agricul-
tural civilizations such as those in Mesopotamia.
Egypt was the fi rst place agriculture appeared in Africa,
arising about 6000 b.c.e. as traders from the Near East ven-
tured into the Nile River valley, bringing crops with them.
Near Eastern agriculture traveled as far as the Ethiopian
highlands but could not move farther into the continent, ow-
ing to geographical and climatic barriers. Hunter-gatherers
in the area just south of the Sahara domesticated livestock
starting about 3000 b.c.e. but did not begin growing crops for
another thousand years or so. Between 2000 b.c.e. and 1 c.e.
people living south of the Sahara developed several diff erent
kinds of crops, depending on climatic conditions; people in
West Africa grew rice and yams, while people in the Sahel
grew drought-resistant grains.
Farming and herding did not travel south of the Seren-
geti until about 1 c.e.; eastern Africa around Kenya and
Tanzania was home to the tsetse fl y, wh ich c aused sleep-
ing sickness, deadly to both humans and cattle. As cattle
evolved resistance to the disease, farmers and herders began
moving south into southeastern Africa, bringing African
crops with them. People in this area gradually adopted some
Asian crops as well, importing them from Indian traders.
Th e southward progress of agriculture continued to be very
slow; domesticated crops did not arrive in South Africa un-
til the 17th century, and they came with European sailors,
not overland.AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY: AN OBSTACLE TO
agriculture
Africa’s geography presented a major obstacle to the spread
of agriculture. Africa is a large continent with a wide range
of climatic conditions. Its longest axis runs from north to
south and crosses the equator, which means the various parts
of Africa are very diff erent from one another. Th e length of
days varies depending on distance from the equator; this is
important, because many plants grow well only in days of a
particular length. For example, at the equator days are about
the same length year-round. Far south of the equator, in
South Africa, days are long in summer and short in winter.
Plants that thrive at the equator may not succeed in South
Africa. Seasons are diff erent in diff erent places as well; sum-
mer in North Africa is winter in South Africa. Tropical east-
ern Africa experiences the monsoons of the Indian Ocean.
Rwanda is mountainous and has its own climate. By contrast,
agriculture spread quickly through the Middle East and Asia
because the Eurasian continent stretches from east to west on
roughly the same latitude. Plants that grow in southeastern
Turkey will also grow in Spain or Iran. Rice that grows in
western China will also grow in Japan and India.
Th e Near East is close to Africa, so it would seem that
agriculture would have quickly moved from there to Egypt,
but in fact agriculture entered Africa a good 1,000 years aft er
it traveled to Europe around 6000 b.c.e. Th e Sinai desert was16 agriculture: Africa