According to archaeological data, the domestication of animals and plants occurred at different times independently in 7-8 regions. The earliest center of the Neolithic revolution is considered to be the Middle East, where domestication began no later than 10 thousand years ago. years ago. In the central regions of the World System, the transformation or replacement of hunting-gathering societies by agrarian ones dates back to a wide time range from the X to the 3rd millennium BC; in most peripheral regions the transition to a productive economy was completed much later.

Child examined the transition to agriculture using the example of only one, Western Asian, focus, but considered it within wide boundaries - from Egypt to Southern Turkmenistan. Following him, many modern authors consider the area designated by Child to be a standard for the study of the “Neolithic Revolution.” Until recently this had some justification. The fact is that in other regions of the world these processes remained unstudied, although it was assumed that they could have had their own old, early agricultural centers.

In the twenties and thirties of the 20th century, the outstanding Soviet botanist N.I. Vavilov and his colleagues managed to outline the boundaries of a number of primary centers of world agriculture. But this was only the first step towards knowledge. It was necessary to clarify their boundaries and identify cultural and historical specifics. A lot has been done in recent decades. The locations of most of the primary and secondary early agricultural centers are now known, their boundaries have been outlined, and a chronology has been developed - it is known how agriculture spread across the globe over time. Of course, discussions are still ongoing on all these issues, and many things will gradually become more and more clarified.

I think it would be useful to clarify the idea of ​​primary and secondary foci. Primary agricultural centers are fairly large areas, areas where a whole complex of cultivated plants gradually developed. This is very important, because it was this complex that served as the basis for the transition to an agricultural way of life. Usually these outbreaks had a noticeable impact on the surrounding areas. For neighboring tribes who were ready to accept such forms of management, this was an excellent example and incentive. Of course, such powerful outbreaks did not arise immediately. This was probably the result of quite a long interaction between several primary microfoci, where the domestication of individual wild plants took place. In other words, the appearance of only individual cultivated plants was associated with microfoci, and entire complexes of such plants were associated with the foci. And then it is clear that microfoci should have arisen at the time that we called stage B, and foci - at the third, final stage B.

There were probably microfoci that did not become the basis for the formation of large foci, or at least did not play a big role in this. Some could, for one reason or another, die out, others could merge into larger, secondary centers that arose under the strong influence of neighboring more powerful agricultural centers.

With secondary foci, everything is also ambiguous. Of course, these are the areas where agriculture was finally formed after the penetration of cultivated plants from other areas. But it is likely that there were important prerequisites that contributed to the success of borrowing, that is, a situation typical of stage A developed. But there could also have been a micro-focus of early agriculture here (stage B), as, for example, in some eastern regions of what is now the United States . In addition, in new natural conditions, the primary complex of cultivated plants could change greatly; it is quite natural to assume that new species, unknown in the primary focus, were introduced in the number of cultivated plants. Finally, under favorable conditions, secondary outbreaks became even more significant than the primary ones, and, obviously, had the opposite effect on those who gave birth to them. It is known that the first civilizations often developed on the basis of secondary agricultural centers - Sumer, Egypt, ancient Indian civilization, Mayan city-states.

Now we can distinguish seven primary and about twenty secondary early agricultural centers. And yet it is absolutely necessary to talk about the main features. These features were the reason for the completely ambiguous, multivariate transition to an agricultural way of life. The yield of tuber crops is approximately ten times higher than that of cereals and legumes. This means that in order to obtain equally high yields of cereals and legumes, it was necessary to cultivate an area ten times larger, which naturally required much greater labor costs. Growing grains and legumes depleted the land more quickly than growing tubers, and this also added to the difficulties. And it was easier to work with tuberous plants; for example, they did not need to be protected as carefully as cereals and legumes. And it was easier to remove them - less people and their efforts were required: ripe tubers could be stored in the ground for months, and cereals and legumes had to be harvested in a short time.

But grains and legumes gave people a more balanced, so to speak, diet. With such a diet, as a rule, people were more likely to abandon the lifestyle dictated by hunting and gathering. More likely than those who grew root crops.

The sociocultural situation in which the transition to agriculture took place was also different in different centers. And this also influenced the pace and features of the transition. In the mountains of Mexico and South America, agriculture arose among itinerant hunters and gatherers; in Syria and Palestine, it arose among highly developed semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers; and in Southeast Asia and the Sahara-Sudan region, among highly developed tribes of fishermen. In many Asian centers, the development of agriculture was accompanied by the domestication of animals, and in many areas of the New World (except Central Andean), with the exception of dogs and birds, there were no domestic animals at all. Obviously, the introduction of cereals and legumes into the economy and the emergence of cattle breeding shortened the time of stage B.

These processes also progressed faster when agriculture gained strength among highly developed tribes of hunters, fishermen and gatherers. That is why agriculture gained dominance especially quickly in Western Asia, and more slowly in the mountains of Mexico. In the first case, this process took place in the VIII-VII millennia BC, and in the second, it lasted from the VIII-VI until the III-II millennia BC.

And one more important feature. If the emergence of agriculture occurred among a population with a highly efficient appropriating economy, its introduction did not lead to a fundamental change in existing social relations, but only intensified previously emerging trends.

In the pre-agricultural period, as in the early agricultural period, such societies had a developed tribal system, and early social differentiation existed. This appropriative economy, which was not much inferior to early agriculture in terms of labor productivity, contributed to this. For sago pickers and Papuan farmers, for example, it took 80-600 man-hours to obtain one million calories (for the former - 80-180), and for wandering hunters and gatherers - more than one thousand. At the same time, in terms of the complexity of their social structure, sago pickers sometimes even outstripped their neighboring farmers, and in New Guinea there are cases when they switched from engaging primarily in agriculture to sago mining, and at the same time the social organization became more complex. Something similar can be noticed between developed hunters, fishermen and gatherers, on the one hand, and early farmers, on the other, according to a number of demographic parameters - population growth and density, its age and sex structure, and so on.

The formation of a producing economy turned out to be more complex and more diverse. In different areas, this process occurred at different speeds and with ambiguous socio-economic consequences - in some cases the social organization did not change significantly, in others it changed quite radically. Something similar happened in the demographic sphere: on the one hand, conditions appeared for population growth, and on the other, the epidemiological situation worsened, and this, of course, adversely affected the health of ancient people and led to greater mortality. The complexity and ambiguity also lies in the fact that in highly developed societies of sedentary or semi-sedentary hunters, fishermen and gatherers, processes took place that were in many ways reminiscent of those that we record among early farmers.

neolithic civilization agriculture

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Page 22 of 27

Hearths of ancient agriculture

The combination of all the above considerations provides an explanation for a number of strange features identified by the Soviet scientist Nikolai Vavilov during his study of the centers of ancient agriculture. For example, according to his research, wheat did not originate from one center, as historians claim, but has three independent places of origin for this culture. Syria and Palestine turned out to be the birthplace of “wild” wheat and einkorn wheat; Abyssinia (Ethiopia) is the birthplace of durum wheat; and the foothills of the Western Himalayas are the center of origin of soft varieties.

Rice. 68. Homeland of wheat according to N.I. Vavilov

1 – “wild” wheat and einkorn wheat;

2 – durum wheat varieties; 3 – soft wheat varieties.

Moreover, it turned out that “wild” does not mean “ancestor” at all!..

“Contrary to usual assumptions, the main bases of the nearest wild species... are not directly adjacent to the centers of concentration... of cultivated wheat, but are located at a considerable distance from them. Wild types of wheat, as research shows, are separated from cultivated wheat by the difficulty of crossing. These are undoubtedly special... species” (N. Vavilov, “Geographical localization of wheat genes on the globe”).

But his research was not limited to this most important result!.. In their process, it was discovered that the difference between wheat species lies at the deepest level: einkorn wheat has 14 chromosomes; “wild” and durum wheat – 28 chromosomes; soft wheat has 42 chromosomes. However, even between “wild” wheat and durum varieties with the same number of chromosomes there was a whole abyss.

As is known and as professional N. Vavilov confirms, achieving such a change in the number of chromosomes by “simple” selection is not so easy (if not almost impossible). If one chromosome split into two or, conversely, two merged into one, there would be no problems. After all, this is quite common for natural mutations, from the point of view evolutionary theory. But to double and even more so triple everything at once chromosome set we need methods and methods that modern science is not always able to provide, since intervention is needed at the genetic level!..

Rice. 69. Nikolay Vavilov

N. Vavilov comes to the conclusion that theoretically (we emphasize - only theoretically!!!) it is impossible to deny the possible relationship of, say, durum and soft wheat, but for this it is necessary to push back the dates of cultivated agriculture and targeted selection tens of thousands of years ago!!! And there are absolutely no archaeological prerequisites for this, since even the earliest finds do not exceed 15 thousand years in age, but already reveal a “ready-made” variety of wheat species...

However, the entire distribution of wheat varieties around the globe indicates that differences between them existed already at the earliest stages of agriculture! In other words, the most complex work on modifying wheat varieties (and in the shortest possible time!!!) had to be carried out by people with wooden hoes and primitive sickles with stone cutting teeth. Can you imagine the absurdity of such a picture?..

But for a highly developed civilization of gods, which clearly possessed genetic modification technologies (remember at least the legends and traditions about the creation of man using these technologies), obtaining the mentioned characteristics of different varieties of wheat is quite an ordinary matter...

Moreover. Vavilov found that a similar picture of “isolation” of cultivated species from the regions of distribution of their “wild” forms is observed in a number of plants - barley, peas, chickpeas, flax, carrots, etc.

And even more than that. According to the research of N. Vavilov, the overwhelming majority of known cultivated plants originate from only seven very limited areas of the main foci.

Rice. 70. Centers of ancient agriculture according to N.I. Vavilov

(1 – Southern Mexican; 2 – Peruvian; 3 – Abyssinian; 4 – Western Asian; 5 – Central Asian; 6 – Indian; 7 – Chinese)

“The geographic localization of the primary centers of agriculture is very unique. All seven foci are confined primarily to mountainous tropical and subtropical regions. New world foci are confined to the tropical Andes, old world foci - to the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, mountainous Africa, mountainous regions of Mediterranean countries and mountainous China, occupying mainly foothill areas. In essence, only a narrow strip of land on the globe played a major role in the history of world agriculture" (N. Vavilov, The problem of the origin of agriculture in the light of modern research").

For example, in all of North America, the southern Mexican center of ancient agriculture occupies only about 1/40 of the entire territory of the vast continent. The Peruvian outbreak occupies approximately the same area in relation to all of South America. The same can be said about most centers of the Old World. The process of the emergence of agriculture turns out to be downright “unnatural”, since with the exception of this narrow strip, nowhere (!!!) in the world there were even attempts to transition to agriculture!..

And one more important conclusion of Vavilov. His research showed that different centers of ancient agriculture, directly related to the emergence of the first human cultures, appeared virtually independently of each other!..

However, there is still a very strange detail. All these centers, which are, in fact, centers of ancient agriculture, have very similar climatic conditions of the tropics and subtropics. But…

“...tropics and subtropics represent optimal conditions for the development of the speciation process. The maximum species diversity of wild vegetation and fauna clearly gravitates towards the tropics. This can be seen especially clearly in North America, where southern Mexico and Central America, occupying a relatively insignificant area, contain more plant species than the entire vast expanse of Canada, Alaska and the United States taken together (including California)” (ibid.).

This directly contradicts the theory of “scarcity of food supply” as a reason for the development of agriculture, since under these conditions there is not only a multiplicity of species potentially suitable for agriculture and cultivation, but also an abundance of generally edible species that can fully provide for gatherers and hunters. There is a very strange and even paradoxical pattern: agriculture arose precisely in the most abundant regions of the Earth, where there were the least preconditions for famine. And vice versa: in regions where the reduction in the “food supply” could be most noticeable and should (by all logic) be a significant factor influencing human life, no agriculture appeared!..

In this regard, it was funny in Mexico - where one of the centers of ancient agriculture is located - to listen to the guides talk about what different parts of local edible cacti are used for. In addition to the possibility of preparing a lot of all kinds of dishes from these cacti (very tasty, by the way), from them you can extract (not even make, but just extract) something like paper, get needles for household needs, squeeze out nutritious juice from which local mash is prepared , And so on and so forth. You can simply live among these cacti, which require virtually no care, and not waste any time on the very troublesome cultivation of maize (i.e. corn) - a local grain crop, which, by the way, is also the result of very non-trivial selection and manipulation with the genes of their wild ancestors...

Rice. 71. Plantation of edible cacti

In the light of the considered features of the biochemistry of the gods, one can find a very rational, but also very prosaic explanation for both the fact that the centers of ancient agriculture were concentrated in a very narrow band, and the similarity of conditions in these centers. Of all the regions of the Earth, only in these centers there is a set of conditions that are optimal for the gods - representatives of an alien civilization.

Firstly. All centers of ancient agriculture are concentrated in the foothills, where the atmospheric pressure is obviously lower than on the low plains (note that, according to N. Vavilov’s conclusions, there are only secondary centers in the Nile Delta and Mesopotamia).

Secondly. The centers of ancient agriculture have the most favorable climatic conditions for harvest, which completely contradicts the official version of the transition of man to agriculture due to the need to provide food, since these regions are already the most abundant. But it ensures a high harvest of crops necessary for the gods.

And thirdly. It is in these hotbeds chemical composition soils are most favorable for plant organisms rich in copper and poor in iron. For example, all zones of podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils of the Northern Hemisphere, stretching across all of Eurasia, are characterized by increased acidity, which contributes to the strong leaching of copper ions, as a result of which these soils are greatly depleted in this element. And in these zones there is not a single (!) center of ancient agriculture. On the other hand, even the chernozem zone, rich in all the elements necessary for plants, was not included in the list of these centers - it is located in a low-lying area, that is, in an area of ​​​​higher atmospheric pressure...

The World History. Volume 1. Stone Age Badak Alexander Nikolaevich

The emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding

For the tribes that, back in the Stone Age, using the favorable natural conditions surrounding them, moved from gathering to agriculture and from hunting wild animals to cattle breeding, life turned out completely differently. New forms of economy soon radically changed the conditions of existence of these tribes and moved them far ahead in comparison with hunters, gatherers and fishermen.

Of course, these tribes experienced the cruel consequences of the vagaries of nature. And it is not surprising, because they still did not know metal, and were still limited in their technology to Mesolithic and Neolithic techniques for processing stone and bone. Often they did not even know how to make clay pots.

But of fundamental importance for their lives was the fact that they could already look ahead, think about the future and provide themselves with sources of subsistence in advance, and produce their own food.

Undoubtedly, this was the most important step of primitive man along the path from powerlessness in the fight against nature to power over its forces. This was the impetus for many other progressive changes, causing profound changes in a person’s lifestyle, in his worldview and psyche, in the development of social relations.

The work of the first farmers was very hard. To be convinced of this, it is enough to look at those crude tools that were discovered in the most ancient agricultural settlements. They speak convincingly of how much physical effort, how much grueling labor was required to dig up the ground with simple wooden sticks or heavy hoes, to cut the tough stalks of cereals - ear after ear, bunch after bunch - with sickles and flint blades, so that, finally, grind the grains on a stone slab - a grain grater.

However, this work was necessary, it was compensated by its results. Moreover, the scope of work activity has expanded over time, and its very nature has changed qualitatively.

It is especially necessary to note that the enormous achievement of mankind during the period of the primitive communal system was the development of almost all currently known agricultural crops and the domestication of the most important animal species.

As mentioned above, the first animal that man managed to domesticate was a dog. Its domestication most likely occurred during the Upper Paleolithic period and was associated with the development of hunting.

When agriculture began to develop, man tamed sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. Later, man domesticated the horse and camel.

Unfortunately, the oldest traces of livestock breeding can only be established with great difficulty, and even then very conditionally.

The most important source for studying the issue is bone remains, but a lot of time had to pass before, as a result of changes in living conditions, the structure of the skeleton of domesticated animals, in contrast to wild ones, would change noticeably.

And yet, it can be considered proven that cows, sheep, goats, pigs were bred in Neolithic Egypt (VI-V millennium BC), the Anterior and Central Asia, as well as in India (V–IV millennium BC), in China, as well as in Europe (III millennium BC). Much later, reindeer were tamed on the Sayan-Altai Highlands (around the beginning of our era ), as well as the llama (guanaco) in Central America, where, apart from this animal and the dog, which appeared here along with all the settlers from Asia, there were no other animals suitable for domestication.

Along with domesticated animals, domesticated animals continued to play a certain role in the economy and life - for example, elephants.

As a rule, the first farmers of Asia, Europe, and Africa initially used meat, skins and wool of domestic animals. After some time, they began to use milk.

After some time, animals began to be used as pack and horse-drawn transport, as well as draft power in plow farming.

Thus, the development of cattle breeding in turn contributed to progress in agriculture.

However, that's not all. It should be noted that the introduction of agriculture and cattle breeding contributed to population growth. After all, now a person could expand his sources of livelihood, using the developed lands more and more efficiently and developing more and more of its spaces.

From the book History of the Ancient World. Volume 1. Early antiquity [various. auto edited by THEM. Dyakonova] author Sventsitskaya Irina Sergeevna

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21-03-2014, 06:23

Agriculture originated in the depths of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, that is, about 10-12 thousand years BC. Scientists learn about how the transition from simply collecting naturally growing fruits to their cultivation took place mainly from archaeological finds and rock paintings of ancient people. This is also helped by studying the lifestyle of modern tribes in America, Africa and Australia. Even in the 19th and even in the 20th centuries, such tribes remained at the level of the Stone Age in their development. Summarizing all this information allows us to judge the features of early agriculture.
The development of agriculture has always depended on the climatic conditions of the area. The tropical and subtropical zones of the Earth were not subject to glaciation; here at all times there was a warm climate and the best conditions were created for the development of a diverse flora and fauna. Therefore, it was in these regions of our planet that the first centers of human life arose, agriculture and cattle breeding arose, and the first states were formed.
The study of the world's flora, both cultivated and wild, has provided invaluable material for reconstructing the process of agricultural development. Based on this information, the outstanding biologist of our time Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov created a polycentric theory of the origin of agriculture.

N.I. Vavilov showed that there were primary foci of cultivated plants, or “centers of gene concentration” (Fig. 43). Archaeological and paleobotanical research in recent decades has confirmed and clarified Vavilov’s conclusions about the time and place of the origin of agriculture and cattle breeding.

The centers of origin of agriculture and cattle breeding recognized today largely coincide with the “Vavilov centers.” In the Old World, these are the Western, Eastern and African areas of ancient agriculture (Fig. 44).

Western range includes the South-West Asian (Foremost Asian) and Mediterranean centers (according to N. I. Vavilov). Historically they are closely related.
South-West Asian Geographical Center covers the interior of Turkey, Northern Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Central Asian Republics and Pakistan. This center is one of the oldest centers where the first experiments in the cultivation of plants and domestication of animals were made 10-12 thousand years ago.
N.I. Vavilov established that this center gave rise to many types of cultivated plants - einkorn and soft wheat, naked barley, small-seeded flax, lentils, peas, chickpeas, vegetable plants - cabbage, carrots. Here is also the birthplace of Asian cotton plants, fruit crops - apple trees, cherries, figs, pomegranates, almonds, grapes, persimmons and other cultivated plants.
The ancestors of domestic animals live in the same center - bezoar goats, Asian mouflons, aurochs and pigs.
Mediterranean center covers the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, the islands of the Aegean Sea, the shores of North Africa and the Lower Nile Valley. Agriculture in this area began no later than 6 thousand years ago.
Here are concentrated centers for the cultivation of einkorn wheat and many varieties of einkorn wheat, oats, large-seeded flax, olives, large-fruited peas, fava beans, and vegetable plants (garlic, lettuce). The domestication of cattle, sheep and goats probably occurred in the Mediterranean center.
The South-West Asian and Mediterranean areas of ancient agriculture essentially represent a single historical and cultural region. The earliest monuments of settled farmers are located here - Jericho in Palestine, Catal Yuyuk in Anatolia, Hea Nicomedia in Greece and others.
The scientists' findings showed that the transition from the gathering stage to regular agriculture and the cultivation of cereals took place almost simultaneously throughout the range in three or four microfoci. The most ancient farmers used local species of wild cereals and other useful plants, adapted to the peculiarities of climate, soil, topography, river network, seasonal phenomena (precipitation, floods of rivers, lakes, etc.).
In 6-4 millennia BC. e. The culture of agriculture and cattle breeding is gradually spreading from these ancient centers to South-Eastern, Central and Western Europe, penetrating the Caucasus and the south of the European part of Russia.
Eastern range includes two large geographical centers discovered by N. I. Vavilov - South Asian tropical and East Asian. These centers are closely linked historically. They have much in common in the nature of cultivated plants and the spread of farming skills. The earliest finds in these areas are dated by scientists to the 7-8 millennia BC. e.
In this area, the cultivation of rice, millet, buckwheat, soybeans, plums, citrus fruits, bananas, Indian almonds, vegetable plants - Chinese cabbage, radish, cucumber, pepper, gourd and others took place.
The main food crop of Asia is rice, which still feeds half of humanity. The original areas of rice cultivation are associated with the slopes of the Eastern Himalayas and the swampy plains of Indochina. Rice culture in many areas of this region was preceded by tropical garden farming with the cultivation of root and tuber crops. It is likely that wild rice originally appeared as a weed in agricultural areas and was later introduced into cultivation.
African range ancient agriculture covers areas of Northern and Equatorial Africa. The origin of agriculture and cattle breeding in the Sahara is due to the fact that this region in ancient times had a more humid climate than it does now.
It is known that more than 2 thousand years ago, the Carthaginian commander Hannibal brought war elephants from North Africa to conquer Rome. They were then found in the forests that grew on the site of the modern Sahara. Later, the former Roman province of Africa, the granary of Ancient Rome, turned into a barren desert, not without human intervention.
In Western and Central Sudan, varieties of sorghum, black millet (Pencillaria), and some vegetables and root crops were introduced into cultivation.
Ethiopian Center(according to N.I. Vavilov) is the birthplace of the teff cereal, the noug oil plant, certain types of bananas, grain sorghum, and the coffee tree.
According to scientists, barley and wheat were brought to the interior of Africa later from Western Asia and South Arabia. The advancement of agriculture deep into the tropical forests and savannas of Eastern and Southern Africa led to the appearance of East Asian root crops in these areas. In the first centuries AD, Asian crops, in particular rice, were brought to Africa from Indonesia.
Man appeared in the New World approximately 20-30 thousand years ago, long before the emergence of agriculture at the stage of hunting, fishing and gathering. Therefore, the inhabitants of America went through approximately the same historical path - from appropriating the gifts of nature to their production.
The oldest cultural layers (10-7 thousand years BC) characterize the inhabitants of Mexico as wandering hunters and gatherers. Ho already in 6-5 millennia BC. e. Cultivated plants appear here (nutmeg pumpkin, amaranth, pepper, beans, corn), and irrigated agriculture develops.
N.I. Vavilov identified the following centers of origin of cultivated plants on the American continent. Southern Mexican And Central American (corn, beans, pumpkin, peppers, etc.), South American (potatoes, amaranth, quinoa), Chiloan (potato), Brazilian-Paraguayan (cassava, peanuts, pineapple, etc.).
As archaeological research has shown, there were several microfoci of the origin of ancient agriculture in Central America and Peru, in each of which one or two plants were introduced into culture. A number of plants were cultivated independently: peppers in the Tamaulipas Valley and Peru, beans in Mexico and Peru, corn, and a number of types of pumpkins and beans in Southern Mexico.

About 10 thousand years ago in the history of mankind, the greatest event took place, which received the worthy name of revolution. This “gray-haired” revolution had two important features. Firstly, a person has turned from a simple consumer into a producer (see article ““). Secondly, the duration of the revolution itself is unusual. It lasted for several thousand years!

The transition to a producing economy became possible thanks to the formation of important prerequisites:

1. By this time, quite advanced tools had appeared. Man has already accumulated quite a lot of knowledge about environment.
2. Plants and animals suitable for domestication were at hand for humans to cultivate.

One of the strongest incentives for the development of the production economy was the change and impoverishment of the environment, which became less and less favorable for traditional hunting (see article ““). By this time, a real “hunting crisis” had arrived.

Thus, the productive economy gave man reliable and abundant sources of food that he himself could control. In return for hunting luck, man’s efforts and knowledge came to serve him. For the first time in history, man had the opportunity to provide himself with guaranteed food, which in turn contributed to an increase in the population and its further settlement around the globe.

Despite all the enormous positive significance of crop production, it also had negative features. Cultivated crop production provided fairly high yields, but plant products contained much less proteins and vitamins compared to animal products.

Where did the first centers of agriculture arise? It would seem that where the best natural conditions are! But in reality it turns out that this is not at all the case. Look at the map of the oldest centers of crop production in the world. It is clearly visible that these are all exclusively mountainous areas! Of course, conditions in the mountains are not better, but much worse, but this was precisely the most important incentive for the development of crop production. Where everything is safe, everything is in abundance, there is no need to invent something new. In the apt expression of K. Marx, “too wasteful nature “leads a person like a child in a leash.” It does not make his own development a natural necessity.”

Most cultivated plants come from species that grew in the mountains, where within a small area there are very large differences in natural conditions (including climatic ones). Not the most favorable conditions prevail, but this turns out to be the most important thing, because... The species growing here are distinguished by their extraordinary stability (“viability”) and great diversity. In addition, mountains, as a rule, provided reliable protection from aggressive neighbors, which “provided opportunities for long-term agricultural experiments.”

Many believe that it was in these foothill areas that the greatest blow to the environment was dealt; it was greatly depleted, that is, man was forced to engage in production, since natural possibilities had already been exhausted.

S. A. Semenov describes the reasons for the emergence of a productive economy in South-West Asia: “The combination of steppe valleys, oak forests and pistachio forests of South-Western Iran with wild wheat, barley, goats and sheep was the prerequisite that led ancient hunters and gatherers to gradual transition to a new type of economy... The era of such a semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral economy with a significant role of hunting and gathering lasted for 3-4 thousand years.”

It was from here that agriculture began to spread in Europe. Figure 10 shows its directions and periods of “coverage” of individual territories.

In the III-II millennium BC. e. in Eurasia and Africa, the emerging “agriculture” was divided into farming and livestock raising.

A sedentary lifestyle brought a person not only relief from everyday worries, but also new and unexpected difficulties. Massive diseases associated with vitamin deficiency and infections poured into people. Settlement has led to a sharp acceleration in deforestation and environmental pollution in general.

Despite the difficulties, the sedentary lifestyle quickly spread and settlements became more and more numerous. Of course, I want to know which settlement was the first. The first agricultural settlement is usually called the Jarmo site, which arose in the 7th millennium BC. e. in the foothills of the northwestern Zagros mountain range (in the northeast of modern Iraq). Of course, this is still the same South-West Asia!

Agriculture and animal husbandry continued to develop, and more and more new species of plants and animals were “domesticated” by humans. The process of establishing early “agricultural production” took several thousand years, and domestication took place throughout it. Figure 12 shows the periods of domestication of individual species of plants and animals, and their areas of origin are indicated. Please note that almost most of the plants come from mountainous areas.

The next few thousand years led to great changes in agricultural production. Truly revolutionary moments include the invention of the plow, which replaced the hand hoe, and the use of draft animals.

The entire history of primary human economic activity can be divided into four stages. The first of them was the birth of future agricultural production and the formation of prerequisites for its development. The second stage is the period of formation of the archaic economy, when there were no special tools, i.e., technology. There was extensive development of the economy through the use of more and more new territories. This is followed by a flourishing stage, when an agricultural and livestock economy took shape, taking a leading position in the world economy of that time. Agriculture is gradually becoming diversified, its different types: slash-and-burn, fallow and irrigated farming, transhumance (nomadic) and “homestead” (i.e. livestock breeding) livestock farming. The heyday stage continued for a long time, until the advent of the industrial era (i.e., until the end of the 18th century). The fourth stage of development of primary human economic activity can be called the “stabilization” stage. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The role of commodity production has sharply increased. The “non-food sector” of the economy developed rapidly. Cities grew rapidly.

Gradually, by the Middle Ages, the production economy spread throughout the globe (except Australia). Slowly, step by step, as if along a chain, there was a transfer of “new technologies” from more economically civilized groups of people to less developed ones.

The chronology of the appearance of the first centers of agriculture and their territorial location makes it possible to see many geographical patterns.

It is clearly seen that all the first centers were located in the foothills and mountains, and only a few thousand years later the river valleys were covered by “agricultural civilization.” Further, also at intervals of several thousand years, agriculture “stepped” onto the coasts of inland seas, and even later, the oceans.

A particularly large role in the history of human culture belongs to the so-called great river civilizations that arose several thousand years BC. e.

What factors contributed to the development of the economy in these territories? A higher level of human development brought into play new factors, which were determined by the presence of:

1. fertile soils (alluvial);
2. natural boundaries that protected new economic centers (mountains, seas);
3. a single relatively compact territory, convenient for internal communications;
4. on the other hand, this same territory made it possible to provide food for a significant population.

In each of these territories a special role was played large rivers, which was their economic “core”, the most powerful unifying force. Specific natural conditions required a huge amount of labor from a person (a typical labor-intensive economy), pooling of efforts and division of labor (to increase its efficiency).

Despite some geographical differences between the great river civilizations, the type of economy that formed in them was very similar.

In agriculture, field cultivation, vegetable gardening and horticulture have received the greatest development; in animal husbandry, the breeding of pedigree and draft animals has received the greatest development.

The development of irrigation required enormous collective efforts (usually the entire community) and even the state.

As during the long subsequent period, trade was mainly external, and it was carried out with the Mediterranean territories. The first metal money appeared in the countries of the East in the form of various coins and bars.

At the turn of the last century and our era, a higher type of civilization emerged in the Mediterranean basin, which was called Mediterranean (it gradually transformed into European). The greatness and dominance of the Mediterranean civilization lasted for about 35 centuries - from the 20th century. BC e. and until the 15th century. n. e., up to the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. A typical Mediterranean civilization developed in Ancient Greece and Rome, although during this long period of history there were the rise of Crete, Byzantium and the city-republics of Northern Italy - Genoa, Florence.

Unlike previous civilizations (mountain and river), it was a typical maritime civilization that formed on the coast of an inland sea. Its formation became possible only when progress was made in navigation (technology, navigation). It is no coincidence that the Mediterranean Sea is called the “cradle of navigation”, because in this inland sea, in “greenhouse” conditions, the development of maritime affairs took place. The name of the sea itself suggests that it is surrounded on all sides by land. The coastline is very indented, which made it possible for ships not to lose sight of the shore while sailing. The sea itself was a good natural barrier from outside raids. There are practically no ebbs and flows in the Mediterranean Sea, which allowed even small ships to moor to the shore at any time.

The nature of the main economic relations within the Mediterranean has become significantly more complex compared to earlier river civilizations. Man became a powerful productive force, actively participating in all processes taking place in this territory.

Thus, the first maritime civilization in human history developed. Indians, Africans and Australian aborigines were rather loosely connected with the sea (with the exception, of course, of Oceania). Arabs, Indians, Chinese and even Japanese (inhabitants of the islands!) did not have such developed navigation as the Europeans. However, Europeans succeeded not only on the seas. During the existence of the Roman Empire, a network of land roads with inns and other transport “infrastructure” was created.

During the Roman Empire (see article ““), the productive economy reached a high level. Various fertilizers were widely used, and crop rotation was introduced into practice. Poultry farming developed in livestock farming, and extensive pastures were developed for livestock and fodder grasses were sown. Much attention was paid to the economic justification of agricultural production. So, in the 2nd century. BC e. The Roman scientist Varro made calculations of the profitability and profitability of the “agricultural sector”. He also spoke a lot about “the spiritual virtues of agriculture, which brings man closer to nature.”