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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