part 2. The Classical Era in World History, 500 B.C.E to 500 C.E.

In the second chapter of the book, Ways of the World, the author discusses the incredible transformation of our species due to, what's called, the Agricultural Revolution.

It makes sense that with the retreating ice sheets, from the most recent cyclical "ice age",  around 16,000 to 11,000 years ago, that man, "homo-sapiens",  settled in areas that had an abundant water supply and/or rainfall. These new farming societies also included the domestication of animals. For the first time man was "directing" his own future, not merely reacting to weather patterns or animal migration. The more stable a person is, in terms of moving geographically, the more productive a person becomes. Also, if the majority of a person's day is not pre-occupied with obtaining the day's food, he/she is free to do other things. This gave "man" the ability to store a surplus of food. Arguably, this is one of the main reasons small societies grew into "civilizations"; now, having  the time to develop all the high, brain-functioning attributes like tool making,  writing, art, literature, science, engineering, astronomy etc. 

There also evolved new ways of high yield farming , or Horticulture. This innovation gave "man" the ability to grow a surplus of food stuffs, and to increase it's nutritional value. Corn, for example looks vastly different from it's ancestor the 1 inch cob.

The once rudimentary stick, and stone tools were replaced with metallurgy, thus,  making tools, jewelry and weapons using gold, copper and bronze. The other side of the coin is that it also developed, in some "Chief-dom and King-dom societies", centralized power and, at its worst,  a system of inequality that manifested itself in war, violence, diseases, colonizations and slavery.

For the most part,  this agricultural revolution occurred throughout the planet in three broad patterns. The African Pattern, The Fertile Crescent Pattern and the America's Pattern. There were differences due to climate which yielded different veges, fruits and grains; for example: potatoes were found in the Andes but not Africa or Asia; long grain grasses like wheat and wild pigs were plentiful in the Middle East, but not in the Americas. There were also differences in the use of animals. For example: sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and horses were domesticated throughout the Middle East (Fertile Crescent)  and Africa. However in the America's there was a lack of these animals. Especially the kind of animals that could pull a plow or haul heavy objects. Therefore, those societies developed slower as a result, and they relied more on hunting and fishing for their protein source.

The globalization of agriculture took approximately 10,000 years. This is a relatively short period when viewed geologically where time is  measured in 250,000 year chunks. By the beginning of the C.E. (common era)  period, the vast majority of the planet's populations were  organized in these Agricultural Societies, like the Catalhuyuk, in Turkey,  and less and less from the "gatherer hunter" of the Paleolithic .