History Of The World I Six Glasses Analysis

The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications. There is much controversy over whether or not the introduction of

Agriculture has long been the foundation of economy and society, especially during the time as early as in the Middle Ages. As the foundation of agriculture, corn production was the most important agricultural activity at the time.

There are many things that shape the course of history. Powerful rulers, deadly diseases, and influential religions are a few common examples of these. But, one group of influential commodities to shape history that not many people consider is beverages. In particular, beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and cola are six that have significantly shaped the course of history. The nonfiction book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, written by Tom Standage, discusses the significance of these six popular drinks in relation to human culture shaping around their existence.

Describe the major developments of early human and social evolution. Throughout, discuss tool manufacturing, language development, agriculture, social behavior, and population growth.

The start of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution led directly to the beginning of civilization. The Neolithic Revolution, which happened 10,000 years ago, was the shift from hunter-gathers to a food-producing culture meaning humans started to farm and domesticate animals. This was the catalyst to help create civilizations. We know now how to distinguish groups of humans from actual civilization if those groups have certain characteristics. Those characteristics are complex institutions, record keeping, advanced cities, specialized workers, and advanced technology. A result of the Neolithic Revolution is that more people were able to thrive since there was a surplus of food. These early civilizations were able to take advantage of the rivers and create irrigation systems to water their crops.

Agriculture is the main reason we have civilization today, for without food surplus people would spend their days finding food and water constantly. Native Americans started like all other people in the world, doing just that, until over time they turned food production into an art. Without the elaborate specialization of crops over time, people would not have reached the point that they had before the Europeans had arrived. The allowance of food surplus led to the ability to advance culturally, scientifically, and economically.

Many factors contribute to civilization, one being job specialization. Job specialization is a job given based on strengths. Many people abandoned farming completely to make tools and prepare the produce. This not only let people strive in what they do best at, but also provided other people with instruments they needed to execute their personal jobs. Additionally, this instituted trade. It states in Document 2, “they gave them [tools and other goods] food in exchange.” This exchange, hence, started trade. They can vend what they make for food and visa-versa. Document 4 explains, how they “all work together and help one another.” To do this, individuals take on a specific task and participate in a series of exchanges to make the civilization work smoothly. During the Paleolithic Era, they could not trade, merely because they did not have a civilization. Everyone hunted and there was nothing to trade or job to do because it wasn’t

Journal #1. Page 32-“The era of human history when agriculture was the most important of all productive technologies and the foundation for most human societies.”

1B. In the book it says “Some anthropologists have even suggested that beer might have played a central role in the adoption of agriculture, one of the turning points of human history” Since beer led to a boost in agriculture, these cities would now create a food surplus, which let other people to specialize in other products. All of these things led to what was the first civilizations.

As we read The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, we see the massive impact that certain drinks had on history. These drinks could do everything from controlling trade to influencing government. Their power was endless for one sole reason: demand. All three of these commodities caused major shifts in power. Each of the drinks presented a different type of power. Rum influences the pattern of trade, coffee enhanced the power of intellect, and tea worked with politics to create a in shift power. All three of these powers are important in world history and still have an effect on the world today.

Tom Standage’s “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” discusses six drinks that have greatly influenced human history. Many people believe that things similar to a drink are irrelevant in history, however, Standage views the drinks he describes as having “a closer connection to the flow of history than is generally acknowledged, and a greater influence on its course. Understanding the ramifications of who drank what, and why, and where they got it from, requires the traversal of many disparate and otherwise unrelated fields…” The drinks that Standage focuses on include beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and cola. He describes each of the beverages and how each of them managed to alter history in very unique ways. The first three beverages are all alcoholic while the last three are all caffeinated. Coffee heavily impacted the world by influencing modern culture, being used to sharpen the mind and its alertness, and also by advancing the social aspects of society.

Though it might not be apparent at first glace, beverages other than water have played a vital role in the development of our world. In A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Standage sheds light on the vital importance of the six most influential non-water beverages in human history. As he states, “The availability of water constrained and guided humankind’s progress. Drinks have continued to shape human history ever since” (Standage 1). Drinks have influenced every aspect of humanity, from civilization to medicine to trade. Though each of the six beverages discussed in A History of the World in 6 Glasses had vastly different affects, they all influenced humanity in dramatic ways.

The Neolithic Era may be one of the most important eras. It marked the start of agriculture and paved a path for the upcoming civilizations. This generation brought advantages, but it also had its drawbacks. Relatively this era was centered around the upbringing of agriculture. This era contained many shifts throughout the years.

A major driving force towards agriculture was the rapidly increasing population size dilemma that humans faced. Increasing population size was a critical reason why agriculture soon would replace hunting and gathering since that alone would not be able to sustain the growing population size. Thus, agriculture allowed for massive productions of food, resulting in an abundance of food. This abundance of food was stored meaning if one year the cultivation season didn’t produce sufficient nutriment due to any casual factors, the masses would still be able to survive on the food that was produced the year before. Unlike agriculture, hunting and gathering didn’t allow for this to happen since, they only hunted and gathered, as they needed in that specific moment. Additionally, another reason for the beginning of farming is politics. The distribution of food was

Agriculture is a vital part of society, and Agribusiness is of course the business behind it. While agricultural needs were different in ancient times, farming was always necessary. With agriculture came the domestication of plants and animals. This domestication allowed the human civilization to flourish. With time, new technologies and lifestyles changed the course of agriculture.