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I. The Time Frame

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Facts and Figures

1. Milestones in evolution of humans and agriculture

my: million years
BP: before present
  • 60+ my BP: First Primates
  • 25-5 my BP: Age of the Apes
  • 7 my BP: Forests recede, grasslands and scrub increase
  • 6-4.5 my BP: Oldest bipeds (first "hominids")
  • 2.3 my BP: Earliest Homo species (first stone toolmaker)
  • 1.8 my BP: Homo erectus (first of recent ancestors to travel beyond Africa)
  • 500,000 BP: Archaic Homo sapiens
  • 50,000 BP: Modern humans/blade technology/
    beginning of rapid cultural evolution
  • 11-10,000 BP" First crops and livestock domesticated;
    stimulated (?) by cultural change, population/resource depletion,
    climatic change
  • 10,000-7000 BP: Domestication of plants and animals
    in Centres of Origin
  • 7000-300 BP: Migrations of human populations with domesticates
  • 1900: Beginning of marked crop yield intensification through plant breeding, mechanization, fertilization
  • post-1945: Industrialized agriculture develops
    (widespread use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers; landless livestock production)
  • 1970's: Environmental concerns related to industrialization
    of agriculture begin to influence agricultural practices
  • Post-1980's Biotechnological development
(Sources: Fullick and Fullick, 1997; Evans, 1993, Hodges, 1992)

2. Population

YEAR
Approx. Global Population
(millions)
6000 BC
5
1 AD
250
250 AD
325
500AD
325
1000 AD
275
1500 AD
450
1750 AD
700
1900 AD
1600
1950 AD
2560
2000 AD
6300
(Sources: Desmond, 1964; FAOSTAT)

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    Cited Literature and Links

    • Desmond, A. 1964. How many people have ever lived on the earth? In: S. Mudd (ed).The population crisis and the use of world resources. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague, pp. 26-44. Evans, L.T. 1993. Crop Evolution, Adaptation and Yield. Cambridge Uniersity Press.
    • FAOSTAT
      (http://apps.fao.org/) Food and Agriculture Organization, Spons.(1999, January 1; Viewed 30 Jan. 2001)
    • Fullick, A. and P. Fullick. 1997. The human story. New Scientist 101 (June 7, 1997), Inside Science Section: 1-3.
    • Hodges, J. (ed.). 1992. The Management of Global Animal Genetic Resources. FAO, Rome. Dal. Lib. 1 UN FAO 1.238

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