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

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