Essay

Cole Bauer

February 10, 2011

Human Geography

Essay

            The transition of hunter-gatherers to farmers really is the turning point in civilization. When people started to learn that you can plant crops, harvest them, and store them, they found that they did not have to worry about where their next meal was from. Long ago the hunter-gatherers had to wake up and go search for food. The women would often gather berries that they knew would not make them sick. They would also go and get things like sago, which is from the center of a tree. The main problem with this is that they had to do a lot of work for such a little surplus of food.

            The hunters would then o and try to kill an animal so that they would provide food. Now there are many problems with hunting as opposed to farming. In hunting you are not guaranteed an animal every time you go out to hunt. Farming, on the other hand allows you to receive food regularly. The moment people started to understand how they get food and how long it takes for something to grow is when their civilization will start to grow.

            People of the Fertile Crescent began to realize this with the crops they had and began to domesticate them. To domesticate a crop means that you can harvest and plant it to fit the needs of humans. People of the Fertile Crescent began to domesticate plants like wheat, barley, and rice. All three of these crops are fairly easy to grow and they can be harvested in a short amount of time. The New Guineans, who had none of these crops, had to rely on crops like taro root and sago. These not only take very long to grow and harvest, but they are low in protein unlike wheat, barley, and rice. As more people realized that they could farm as opposed to hunting and gathering they found their civilization expand in many ways.