Enjoy reading the geographical terms & concepts together
Many people do not have the opportunity to travel widely, but everyone can and should feel the wonder of learning about the earth and its peoples.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the art or science of cultivating the soil, growing crops, and raising livestock. It can include activities such as the preparation of plant and animal products for human use and their distribution to markets. These products, as well as the agricultural methods people use, may vary from one part of the world to another.
Before agriculture became widespread, people were mostly hunters and food-gatherers. About 10,000 years ago, people gradually began learning how to cultivate cereal and root crops, and slowly settled down to a life based on farming. Scholars are not sure why this shift to a settled existence took place. It may have happened because of an increase in population, changes in climate, or a variety of other changing circumstances. People also began herding and breeding wild animals. Adapting wild plants and animals to human use is called domestication. The first domesticated animals were dogs used in hunting. Sheep and goats were probably domesticated next.
Major developments in agriculture
The Timeline from 9000 BC to the present
Asia
In southwestern Asia, wheat and barley were cultivated, and sheep and goats were domesticated. Dogs had been domesticated in Europe by about 10,000 в.с.
South America
Agriculture developed in parts of the Americas. Domesticated crops included beans, corn (maize), cassavas, squashes, potatoes, and peppers.
China
The Huang (Yellow) River Valley was an area of early farming in northern China. Millet was a staple crop there. Rice, which may have originated in India, was cultivated throughout much of Asia by 5000 в.с.
Grain
Grain cultivation began in Egypt – 7000 BC. Grain agriculture formed the basis of Indus Valley Civilization – 2500 BC
Simple Irrigation
In Mesopotamia simple irrigation began and led to increase production eventually leading to rise of cities.
Cattle
Cattle were domesticated in Greece – 6500 BC. The water buffalo was domesticated in India and became an important draft animal – 3000 BC
Innovations
in 1701 Jethro Tull introduced the seed drill and in 1842 Sir John Bennet Lawes founded the first factory to manufacture superphosphate in England
Technology
in
Agriculture
Air Mass
An air mass is a large volume of air that is mostly constant in temperature and humidity. They form over large surfaces with uniform temperatures and humidity, called source regions. These are usually associated with the anticyclonic flow of the polar and subtropical high pressure regions.