Got Food? - the Scientia Review

and science. In a similar way, knowledge of plant cultivation exploded across Europe around this time,
and evidence suggests the presence of farming as far west as Ireland by the mid-sixth millennium BC
(Diamond, 1991). Because the Eurasian landmass exists primarily on an east-west axis with relatively
consistent latitude and climate, early plant domesticates required little modification to spread throughout
the two continents (Diamond, 1999). Consequently, within a few millennia, nearly all of Europe and
western Asia had succumbed to the agricultural revolution.
Plant domestication also appears to have independently originated in China. By 7500 BC, the rich
loess of the Yangtze and Huang He Rivers had provided the requisite material to cultivate millet, rice, and
soy and mung beans. Surrounded by tall mountains and inhospitable deserts, the Neolithic Chinese were
entirely geographically isolated from the rest of Eurasia, leading to this difference in agricultural fare.
Furthermore, the East Asian land proved fertile enough to allow early Chinese to overcome this isolation
and consequently develop civilization of a complexity on par with their European relatives (Mazoyer &
Rudart, 2006).
Agriculture likewise developed independently in several other locales around the world. By 5000
BC, the Sahel zone in Africa boasted domesticated rice and sorghum, and the peoples of the New Guinea
had been farming sugar cane and bananas in gardens for two thousand years. The Amerindians, too,
began to domesticate a number of plants within a few millennia. In Mesoamerica, the familiar trio of
maize, beans, and squash took hold in the mid-third millennium. At the same time, early Andeans had
domesticated manioc, quinoa, and the potato, and groups in the Eastern United States had begun growing
sunflower and goosefoot. The Americas, unlike Eurasia, are situated on a north-south axis; there is great
latitudinal and climatic variation on the landmass (Diamond, 1999). Species of plants suited for one area
thus could not be grown in others. The spread of agriculture was therefore much slower for aboriginal
Americans than for their European counterparts. In many cases, however, distribution was altogether
impossible, meaning that many Native American groups remained hunters and gatherers.
This map identifies the major continental axes for Eurasia, the Americas, and Africa.
The north-south orientation of both the Americas and Africa seriously hindered
propagation of crops throughout the landmasses.
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