Part one in Ways of the World by Robert W. Strayer--It is quite interesting that a thirty page chapter has a lot of facts that I sort of knew but didn't. First the spread of agriculture amazed me of how it all started and the story of Ishi opened my mind to be more understanding of the past.
The "Spread of Agriculture and Pastrolism.." map caught my attention because of the coincidence of "the migration of Homo sapiens across the planet and created new conditions that made agriculture more possible (28)." In some way makes sense--with our global warming and change of agriculture we (as human) move to where the resources are and how it will benefit our existence/livelihood.
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| The Global Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism |
Even with the migration to new places, exploitation of resources, creating new technologies and domestication of plant species (I was amazed amazed that there are 200,000 plant species--and only "several hundred have been domisticated..(31).")--I was more intrigued with the story of Ishi. The last Paleolithic man/ last man of the Yahi tribe. He's world/culture disappeared when the American Gold Rush brought huge amount of "settlers, miners, and farmers (37)." This story brought some mixed feelings of our time colliding with the "old times." Anyways, this youtube- link is an hour documentary about Ishi.
Overall, this chapter opened my eyes/mind to the past that I haven't really understood and the thought that we started off as an "egalitarian" society. Which world would I choose...well, I don't know yet. I'm looking forward to learning more about the past.
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