16 agriculture: Africa nomads Once people began to settle in villages and hamlets that were surrounded by their farming plots, cities began to grow The growth of cities, in turn, gave rise to governments, institutionalized churches, art and architecture, trade and manufacture, and all the other characteristics of more modern civilizations Moreover, because farmers in outlying regions could produce a surplus of food, not everyone in the community had to be involved in agriculture Surplus food meant that the community could support a class of civil servants, architects, engineers, soldiers, priests, artists, poets, and crafts workers, all of whom provided goods and services that enhanced the quality of life for their neighbors As people gathered in larger towns and cities, they developed a sense of community and were able to bring individual points of view to public discussion, leading to more formalized belief systems, systems of government, economic and trade networks, public works, and the like None of this would have been possible without the development of agriculture Agriculture, though, was not just a matter of sticking seeds into the ground and waiting for food to appear on the table As agricultural systems became more complex and as the number of mouths to feed grew, people looked for ways to control their environment in order to maximize their food output In many parts of the world, for example, rainy seasons were followed by drought, and the annual flooding of rivers was followed by a period of receding waters In some parts of the world, particularly around the equator, the climate was desertlike As a result, humans put their ingenuity to work to develop dams, canals, sluices, waterwheels, and other engineering feats that enabled them to control and store water for use during the dry season In turn, the ability to control water gave rise to systems for supplying drinking water and sewage systems for cities Some people turned their attention to experimenting with different types of seeds to increase the variety and yield of their crops, in effect becoming the world’s first experimental scientists Still others focused their attention on developing tools that made agriculture more efficient Early tools consisted of such items as simple wooden blades for cutting and stones for grinding grain In time, agriculturalists developed more sophisticated cutting and grinding tools that enabled them to increase their output Development of these tools provided the technology for tools used in other endeavors, such as the construction of palaces, temples, and other public buildings AFRICA BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL Agriculture arose independently in many locations throughout the world, and each time it was the result of people’s manipulating plants and animals that already lived around them In Africa this process happened numerous times in different locations Africa’s geography prevented the smooth transmission of crops and livestock from place to place As a result, people on the continent never had the chance to develop large agricultural civilizations such as those in Mesopotamia Egypt was the first place agriculture appeared in Africa, arising about 6000 b.c.e as traders from the Near East ventured into the Nile River valley, bringing crops with them Near Eastern agriculture traveled as far as the Ethiopian highlands but could not move farther into the continent, owing to geographical and climatic barriers Hunter-gatherers in the area just south of the Sahara domesticated livestock starting about 3000 b.c.e but did not begin growing crops for another thousand years or so Between 2000 b.c.e and c.e people living south of the Sahara developed several different kinds of crops, depending on climatic conditions; people in West Africa grew rice and yams, while people in the Sahel grew drought-resistant grains Farming and herding did not travel south of the Serengeti until about c.e.; eastern Africa around Kenya and Tanzania was home to the tsetse fly, which caused sleeping sickness, deadly to both humans and cattle As cattle evolved resistance to the disease, farmers and herders began moving south into southeastern Africa, bringing African crops with them People in this area gradually adopted some Asian crops as well, importing them from Indian traders The southward progress of agriculture continued to be very slow; domesticated crops did not arrive in South Africa until the 17th century, and they came with European sailors, not overland AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY: AN OBSTACLE AGRICULTURE TO Africa’s geography presented a major obstacle to the spread of agriculture Africa is a large continent with a wide range of climatic conditions Its longest axis runs from north to south and crosses the equator, which means the various parts of Africa are very different from one another The length of days varies depending on distance from the equator; this is important, because many plants grow well only in days of a particular length For example, at the equator days are about the same length year-round Far south of the equator, in South Africa, days are long in summer and short in winter Plants that thrive at the equator may not succeed in South Africa Seasons are different in different places as well; summer in North Africa is winter in South Africa Tropical eastern Africa experiences the monsoons of the Indian Ocean Rwanda is mountainous and has its own climate By contrast, agriculture spread quickly through the Middle East and Asia because the Eurasian continent stretches from east to west on roughly the same latitude Plants that grow in southeastern Turkey will also grow in Spain or Iran Rice that grows in western China will also grow in Japan and India The Near East is close to Africa, so it would seem that agriculture would have quickly moved from there to Egypt, but in fact agriculture entered Africa a good 1,000 years after it traveled to Europe around 6000 b.c.e The Sinai desert was