Chapter 5 sequence

We know from Part I that the Agricultural Revolution was the first major achievement of man since he became man.If an observer in space had placed planet Earth under surveillance, reporting regularly on the developments he noticed on Earth, he would describe the emergence of agriculture roughly as follows: Bipedal humans, who had hitherto lived by gathering plants and hunting animals, now began to carefully cultivate certain plants and raise certain animals to produce their own food.The populations of bipedal humans who lived in this new way grew unevenly.They are settling in certain places and building durable shelters there.Usually dozens of shelters are concentrated in one place, which is especially suitable for growing plants and raising animals.

Thousands of years from now, our imaginary observer may notice an entirely new development among these enterprising peoples who inhabit the earth; civilization has arisen among them.In this regard, he will probably report like this: Most bipedal humans still hunt animals and gather food, but the percentage of bipedal humans who grow crops or raise livestock is now rising rapidly.There have also been noteworthy new developments in certain areas; in those areas there are large villages, surrounded by high walls, in which members of biped humans have long lived.Some of them do not produce food, nor do they work in any profession, but coax or force others living with them to produce surplus food and handicrafts in their service.Although this small group does not perform any manual labor, it leads a life of luxury such as no one has enjoyed in the past.

If these reports of human activity continued for thousands of years, fundamental changes not only in the nature but also in the extent of human activity would likely be described.For the achievements of civilization include technological progress, and, as stated in the first chapter, technological progress in turn leads to a corresponding expansion of the sphere of human activity.Food gatherers were confined to their hunting grounds, Neolithic farmers confined to the vicinity of their villages, and civilized man had to expand far from home.In order to protect the water sources of the irrigation system, they extended their control to the upper reaches; in order to obtain wood for builders, copper and tin for metallurgists, gold and silver for artisans, they sent soldiers everywhere. and businessmen.Therefore, the ancient civilization is different from the situation of the primitive commune in the prehistoric period. Its scope of activities is not limited to the vicinity of the source, but continues to expand outwards, until finally the entire large river basin, and even the areas around the basin that produce various raw materials , are also included.