TK

Humans and The Environment 600-1450

  • Environmental impact increased sue to heavy population growth. The relationship between humans and the environment was shaped by interregional interaction
    • Migrations
    • Large scale migrations were caused by climate change
    • Vikings: the most influential migration people in Europe
      • Built trade route from Novgorod to Constantinople
    • Mongol-Turkic horse pastoralists: migrating people of the Middle East, Central and East Asia
    • Bantu: Sub-saharan Africans who continued continent-wide movements, and bought new agricultural techniques
    • Polynesian migrations: Went on eastward journeys on outrigger canoes
    • Trans-Sharan caravan routes depended on camel-herding expertise of Arabs and Berbers
    • Horsemanship of pastoral peoples in the steppes of Central Asia helped develop the Silk Road
    • The Impact of Industry and Agriculture
    • The environmental impact of urban construction and engineering was heavy due to the importance of cities
    • Mining and metallurgy increased the demand for metals and gems
    • Increased textile production created a greater demand for wool and cotton
    • Agriculture became more efficient and intensive
    • Terrace farming was used in the Americas
    • Mesoamericans used the chinampa technique of growing crops on “floating islands” in lakes
    • The waru waru system arose in the Andes
      • waru waru: interspersing raised seedbeds and ditches
    • Intensive agriculture and water management increased the risk of soil erosion and deforestation
    • Bananas originating in Southeast Asia, spread to the Middle East
    • Citrus also from Southeast Asia spread to the Islamic World and the Mediterranean
    • Sugar from sugarcane plants in New Guinea reached Asia were it was produced in crystallized form by the Gupta empire
    • Cotton cultivation became more common
    • Drought resistant Champa rice increased cultivation in Vietnam
    • The coconut palm spread throughout the Pacific
    • Environmental Forces: Diseases and Climate
    • Smallpox, measles and Bubonic plague moved back and forth throughout Eurasia
    • The deadliest epidemic was the black death
    • The medieval climatic optimum of 800-1300 affected migration patterns, and was followed by the Little Ice Age
    • The wave of peasant uprisings caused a downturn in agricultural production