Origins[edit]

Main article: Neolithic Revolution

Centres of origin, as numbered by Nikolai Vavilovin the 1930s. Area 3 (gray) is no longer recognised as a
centre of origin, and Papua New Guinea (area P, orange) was identified more recently.[5][6]

The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could
be sustained by hunting and gathering.[7] Agriculture began independently in different parts of the
globe, and included a diverse range of taxa, in at least 11 separate centres of origin.[5] Wild grains
were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago.[8] From around 11,500 years ago, the
eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter
vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Rice was domesticated in China between
11,500 and 6,200 BC with the earliest known cultivation from 5,700 BC,[9] followed
by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and
11,000 years ago.[10] Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey
and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago.[11] Pig production emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East
Asia and Southwest Asia,[12] where wild boar were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago.[13] In
the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago,
along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Sugarcane and some root
vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated
in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years
ago,[14] and was independently domesticated in Eurasia. In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was bred
into maize by 6,000 years ago.[15] Scholars have offered multiple hypotheses to explain the historical
origins of agriculture. Studies of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate
an initial period of intensification and increasing sedentism; examples are the Natufian culture in
the Levant, and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Then, wild stands that had previously been
harvested started to be planted, and gradually came to be domesticated.[16][17]

Civilizations[edit]
Agricultural scenes of threshing, a grain store, harvesting with sickles, digging, tree-cutting and ploughing
from Ancient Egypt. Tomb of Nakht, 15th century BC

In Eurasia, the Sumerians started to live in villages from about 8,000 BC, relying on
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a canal system for irrigation. Ploughs appear
in pictographs around 3,000 BC; seed-ploughs around 2,300 BC. Farmers grew wheat, barley,
vegetables such as lentils and onions, and fruits including dates, grapes, and figs.[18] Ancient
Egyptian agriculture relied on the Nile River and its seasonal flooding. Farming started in the
predynastic period at the end of the Paleolithic, after 10,000 BC. Staple food crops were grains such
as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus.[19][20] In India, wheat, barley
and jujube were domesticated by 9,000 BC, soon followed by sheep and goats.[21] Cattle, sheep and
goats were domesticated in Mehrgarh culture by 8,000–6,000 BC.[22][23][23][24] Cotton was cultivated by
the 5th-4th millennium BC.[25] Archeological evidence indicates an animal-drawn plough from 2,500
BC in the Indus Valley Civilisation.[26] In China, from the 5th century BC there was a
nationwide granary system and widespread silk farming.[27] Water-powered grain mills were in use by
the 1st century BC,[28][29] followed by irrigation.[30] By the late 2nd century, heavy ploughs had been
developed with iron ploughshares and mouldboards.[31][32] These spread westwards across
Eurasia.[33] Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago – depending on the molecular
clock estimate that is used[34] – on the Pearl River in southern China with a single genetic origin from
the wild rice Oryza rufipogon.[35] In Greece and Rome, the major cereals were wheat, emmer, and
barley, alongside vegetables including peas, beans, and olives. Sheep and goats were kept mainly
for dairy products.[36][37]
In the Americas, crops domesticated in Mesoamerica (apart from teosinte) include squash, beans,
and cocoa.[38] Cocoa was being domesticated by the Mayo Chinchipe of the upper Amazon around
3,000 BC.[39] The turkey was probably domesticated in Mexico or the American
Southwest.[40] The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides, fertilized their soil,
and developed chinampas or artificial islands. The Mayas used extensive canal and raised field
systems to farm swampland from 400 BC.[41][42][43][44][45] Coca was domesticated in the Andes, as were
the peanut, tomato, tobacco, and pineapple.[38] Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3,600
BC.[46] Animals including llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs were domesticated there.[47] In North
America, the indigenous people of the East domesticated crops such as sunflower,
tobacco,[48] squash and Chenopodium.[49][50] Wild foods including wild rice and maple sugar were
harvested.[51] The domesticated strawberry is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species,
developed by breeding in Europe and North America.[52] The indigenous people of the Southwest and
the Pacific Northwest practiced forest gardening and fire-stick farming. The natives controlled fire on
a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology that sustained a low-density agriculture in loose
rotation; a sort of "wild" permaculture.[53][54][55][56] A system of companion planting called the Three
Sisters was developed on the Great Plains. The three crops were winter squash, maize, and
climbing beans.[57][58]
Indigenous Australians, long supposed to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers, practised
systematic burning to enhance natural productivity in fire-stick farming.[59]The Gunditjmara and other
groups developed eel farming and fish trapping systems from some 5,000 years ago.[60] There is
evidence of 'intensification' across the whole continent over that period.[61] In two regions of Australia,
the central west coast and eastern central, early farmers cultivated yams, native millet, and bush
onions, possibly in permanent settlements.[62][63]