"The development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived."
Describes the types of food and crops grown, livestock raised, cooking methods, and eating habits of ancient societies.
Domestication of plants: The process by which wild plants were cultivated and bred over time to become the crops we know today.
Domestication of animals: The process by which wild animals were tamed and bred over time to become the livestock we know today.
Agricultural revolution: The historic shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the dominant mode of food production.
Crop rotation: The practice of changing the type of crop grown in a field each year to improve soil fertility and crop yields.
Irrigation systems: The methods used to transport water to crop fields, including canals, ditches, and wells.
Harvesting techniques: The methods used to gather crops, including hand harvesting and the use of tools like scythes and sickles.
Storage and preservation methods: The techniques used to store and preserve crops, including drying, curing, and canning.
Food preparation and cooking methods: The techniques used to prepare and cook food, including boiling, roasting, and grilling.
Cultural traditions surrounding food: The customs, rituals, and beliefs associated with food and agriculture in different cultures.
Trade and exchange of food: The movement of foods and agricultural products across different regions and cultures throughout history.
Farming: The cultivation of crops such as grains, vegetables, fruits, and plants for fibers, spices, and medicinal purposes.
Hunting and Gathering: The practice of hunting animals and gathering edible plants, fruits, nuts, and other food sources from the natural environment.
Fishing: The practice of catching fish and other aquatic animals from rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans for food and trade.
Livestock Rearing: The practice of raising domesticated animals like cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, and horses for meat, milk, eggs, and transportation.
Beekeeping: The practice of domesticating and managing bees to produce honey, beeswax, and other products like propolis and royal jelly for medicinal purposes.
Aquaculture: The practice of cultivating fish, shellfish, and other aquatic organisms in controlled environments like ponds, tanks, and artificial lakes.
Brewing: The practice of making beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages from fermented grains, fruits, or honey.
baking: The practice of preparing bread, cakes, and other baked goods by combining flour, water, yeast, and other ingredients.
Food preservation: The practice of preserving food to extend its shelf-life by drying, smoking, salting, pickling, or canning.
Kitchen gardens: The practice of growing herbs, vegetables, and fruits in small home gardens for personal consumption and medicinal purposes.
"They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming."
"The earliest evidence of small-scale cultivation of edible grasses is from around 21,000 BC with the Ohalo II people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee."
"The eight Neolithic founder crops were emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax."
"Rice was domesticated in China by 6200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5700 BC."
"Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 11,000 years ago."
"Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 3000 BC."
"In the Andes of South America, the potato, beans, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs were domesticated."
"Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC."
"Evidence of agriculture in the Eastern United States dates to about 3000 BCE."
"Bananas were cultivated and hybridized in the same period in Papua New Guinea."
"The Bronze Age, from c. 3300 BC, witnessed the intensification of agriculture in civilizations such as Mesopotamian Sumer, ancient Egypt, ancient Sudan, the Indus Valley civilization of the Indian subcontinent, ancient China, and ancient Greece."
"In the Middle Ages, both in Europe and in the Islamic world, agriculture was transformed with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants."
"After the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Columbian exchange brought New World crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and manioc to Europe."
"Since 1900, agriculture in the developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as human labor has been replaced by mechanization and assisted by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and selective breeding."
"The Haber-Bosch process allowed the synthesis of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing crop yields."
"Modern agriculture has raised social, political, and environmental issues, including overpopulation, water pollution, biofuels, genetically modified organisms, tariffs, and farm subsidies."
"In response, organic farming developed in the twentieth century as an alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides."