Early Agriculture and the Rise of Civilization
Overview
People began farming at different times in different parts of the world. Around 8500 B.C. hunter-gatherers in the area of southwest Asia known as the Fertile Crescent began to cultivate wild grains and domesticate animals. One thousand years later, people in northern and southern China were growing rice and millet and raising pigs. Archeological evidence shows that crops were planted in Central America as early as 7000 B.C., and around 3500 B.C. in the Andes mountains and Amazon river basin of South America. Farmers in Africa began growing crops around 5000 B.C. Three thousand years later, native Americans in the eastern United States planted a few crops, but still depended on hunting and gathering. As agriculture evolved in these locations, so did the social, economic, and cultural practices that led to what is known as civilization.
Background
The shift from hunting and gathering to farming was a gradual process that happened 10,000 years ago in some parts of the world, 5,000 years ago in others, and never in still others. These disparities are due not to human differences from place to place, but to differences in indigenous plants and animals and local climate and geography.
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