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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