This Fleeting World

52 This Fleeting World
A sixteenth-century
Native American
agricultural village
as depicted by early
English settlers
in Virginia.
parts of North America, too, farming communities emerged in regions
such as the Ohio River valley, where they cultivated local plants such as
sunflowers. Even in Australia foraging communities intensified production
and settled in denser communities, particularly along the coasts.
Agricultural Societies
on the Eve of the Modern
Revolution: 1000–1750
During the last period of the agrarian era, from 1000 to 1750, earlier
trends continued, but fundamental changes also hinted at the imminent
changes of the modern era.
Agriculture spread into previously marginal regions such as North
America, southern Africa, and western China. Often migrant farmers set-