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