Early Population Growth

1
Early Population Growth
2
First Agricultural Revolution

• 8000BC - learned to cultivate crops, domestic
  animals.
• Impact was great - larger numbers of people
  because of more food.
• First in SW Asia? - Mesopotamia, between the
  Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (modern Iraq).
• Rich soil, lots of water.
• Wheat, barley, oats, peas, sheep and goats.

3

• Also occurred in delta areas.
• Social systems evolved society became more
  complex.
• Ideas spread (spatial diffusion)
• into the Nile area,
• south into Africa,
• west along Mediterranean,
• north into Europe,
• east to India,
• eventually China.

4

• Agriculturalists became powerful.
• Hunters and gatherers were restricted to marginal
  lands.
• Six distinct hearth regions emerged.

5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11

• Agriculture led to the rise of complex
  civilizations and social organizations.
• Greek and Roman.
• Population growth soared.
• Other skills emerged - metallurgy, paper,
  gunpowder.

12
Second Agriculture Revolution

• European mainly.
• Coincided with Scientific Revolution at end of
  the Middle Ages.
• Improvements based on science and technology -
  food production boosted.
• eg. clover as a nitrogen fixing crop fens
  (swamps) drained sheep were cross bred for
  desirable characteristics.

13

• Within 100 years population went from 500M to
  about 800M.
• Large urban areas emerged.

14
Industrial Revolution

• Characterized by the application of machines to
  farming, eg., steam powered tractor, threshing
  machines, grist mills, pumps.
• Population soared - from 1750 to 1800 another
  200M people were added to world total.
• By 1850 the total was 1B.

15

• Coal was important and population therefore
  clustered around important coal producing
  regions.
• Eg., Rhine-Ruhr of Germany, Eastern Europe,
  Northern England.
• Population began a dramatic rural to urban shift
  as lifestyles began to change.

16
World Population Growth
Date Population 8000BC 5M 4000BC 87M
1AD 250M 1650 500M 1850 1.1B 1930
2B 1950 2.5B 1970 3.6B 1988 5.1
B 1993 6.5B
17
http//www.sru.edu/depts/artsci/ges/d-3-2.htm