Panama Domestication

Early farmers in Europe and elsewhere practiced shifting cultivation, also known as swidden agriculture.Although the lands around the Mediterranean seem to have shared a complex of crops and farming techniques, geographical barriers blocked the spread elsewhere. Rainfall patterns south of the Sahara favored locally domesticated grains—sorghums, millets, and (in Ethiopia) teff—over wheat and barley. In the Americas a decline of game animals in the Tehuacán° Valley of Mexico after 8000 B.C.E. increased people’s dependence on wild plants. Agriculture based on maize (corn) developed there about 3000 B.C.E. and gradually spread. The first domesticated animal, the dog, may have helped hunters track game well before the Neolithic period. Later, animals initially provided meat but eventually supplied milk, wool, and energy as well.Meat eating did not decline during the revolution.

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

The Columbian Exchange brought direct changed that modified the cultural characteristics of many people. Though religion was a weapon of domination, it was food that created a great cultural impact. This paper will focus on the cultural impact that food had in the world, and how much Native American food contributed to the economy and culture of the entire planet.

(THE PLACE OF CULTURE AND THE CULTURE OF PLACE: PRACTICES AND KNOWLEDGE OF CAMELID BREEDERS FROM SOUTHERN PERU)In fact, defining Peru’s culture is a challenge since many of the original traditions drastically changed in 1532 when the Spaniard arrived to colonize the region. As you look through Peru’s diverse cultures you see the Spanish influence everywhere. This fusion culture that is reminiscent of America’s Salad theory (Melting Pot or Salad Bowl, n.d.) where each culture is semi-independent but also highly influenced by the dominant culture which in this case is the white Spaniard European

Mesoamerica have been connected the North and South America culturally and geographically throughout the history. Mesoamerican culture and aspects heavily influenced southwestern United States, being the frontier borderline between North America and Mesoamerica. It is very important to study the relationship between the Mesoamerica and American Southwest because American Southwest contains various elements of Mesoamerican culture and this provides fundamental information about human behaviors, history, interactions, and tradition in America. Our group has selected Agriculture, Architecture, Religion, and Trade as our categories to analyze the relationship between American southwest and Mesoamerica. Fair trade, we will focus on scarlet macaws and how it got traded from Mesoamerica in the American southwest and its significance. For architecture, we will compare the ball courts of Hohokam and that of Mesoamerica. Significance of ball courts and how it got introduced into the American southwest from Mesoamerica will be discussed as well. Religion will be analyzed by focusing on the cosmological beliefs of both groups and the similarities and differences between Mesoamerican cosmology and American southwest cosmology.

By 1491, Europeans already were growing grains such as rye, wheat, barley. They used wind and water as power sources, and had a lot of domesticated animals. Horses in Europe were plowing soil, and pigs were used as a source of protein and leather was made from their skin. Also, they had sheep and cows, so they could drink milk and make butter. In contrast, on American continent, natives were only growing corn, and in South America only potato was growing at that time. In America only lamas were present who could not pull a plow nor give milk. In North America Ice age and hunting put animals at levels of extinction.

In the Middle East they ate wild grains with the helps of sickles. In the Amazon they had learned to cut back on some to plants to encourage growth of favored ones. Horticulture varied from each region .

As more and more ships of people began to migrate to the New World, they brought with them plants such as bananas, citrus fruit, coffee beans, grapes, onion, peaches, rice, sugarcane, and wheat. The reason that these plants were brought to the New World is because people from the Old World thought that they would grow well here. At first, none of the crops were successful, but after a few years of being planted, each crop grew extremely well. In fact, sugarcane was growing so well in the Caribbean that it became the number one cash crop. Animals such as goats, pigs, cows, horses, and chickens were brought to the New World because they had proven to be so useful in the Old World that they should be useful in the New World too, right? Yes, these animals because more useful and poplar than anyone could have guesses. Native Americans gladly accepted the horses that

The Aztecs lived next to a lake which helped them with agriculture. The Aztecs grew corn, squash, peppers, tomatoes, and chinampas.

Through the Colombian Exchange there was an uneven exchange between those things brought from Europe to the Americas than from the Americas to Europe. One of the many things that the Europeans brought with them were the abundance of animals that were not known to those in the Americas. The horses and cows were both a positive in that they brought new ways of transportation in horses and cows were a new meat as well as providing milk and were both used for agriculture and farming. Though there were positive with the new animals there were negatives as well. These animals increased in numbers and would takeover the land and change the way landscapes looked.

Food is one of the many factors that determine a population. The use of big, domesticated animals helped in the production of food and while Eurasia had 13 of the 14 main species, the Americas only had one (llamas and apachas). In addition to having most of the main animal species, the geographic location of Eurasia (west to east) had helped in the expansion of the domesticating of animals and plants because of the similar environment and climate where in the Americas (north to south), the climate and environment made it hard to move the animals and plants for domestication. Already in the lead with having the most species and their location, domestic animals in Eurasia provided labor; plowing and manure which helped produced faster and more crops. In the Americas though, the llama/apacha could not be used for labor. The rate of food production In the Americas was a much more painful and slow process because it was picked and planted by hand while Eurasia had machinery and animals to help increase food production. For the production of plant food crops, both Eurasia and the Americas had widespread agriculture but Eurasia had more farmers and land so they could tend to the farms, whereas the Americas had limited land (due to environment and barrier issues) and more hunter-gatherers. Because of their easier and faster labor system, the

Highlands and lowlands in Southern Guatemala, Belize, Mexico. Highlands contained many minerals. Some areas had rainforests with hot, humid climates. The Mayans were able to grow crops such as chili peppers, beans, squash, avocados, pineapples, and the cacao bean/plant. Since the Mayans rainforests had hot, humid climates, the tropical plants probably wouldn’t have needed good fertilized soil. Because of this, the Mayans used a slash and burn method which burned down tropical plants such as trees, and the ash from the fires were used to grow specific plants like cacao which was used for making chocolate.

This article Neandertal Chef’s Spiced up Their Diet debates what Neandertals ate in their daily life. Karen Hardy with the University of Barcelona found remnants of camomile in the teeth of a 50,000 year old skeleton in Spain. She debates whether the herbs in the teeth eaten were consumed for medicinal properties. Animals eat plants for medicinal properties and researchers gather that it is likely that Neandertals shared these traits. During her observational in Uganda, Sabrina Krief alludes that humans like chimps consume leaves together and the possibility that all chimp’s need the for same medicinal properties is very unlikely. She also notices that different leaves are used for different tribes. Given this ability that the chimps have, Krief claims that it is highly likely that Neandertals used herbs to flavor their foods. Neandertal’s cooking sites also had hearths, and are less meat eaters than thought. The article wraps up the discussion with presenting evidence that Neandertals also cooked their food. This article is intended for the everyday person and is an engaging read.

The South American people hunted and gathered, hunting took up so much time that when it came down to their meals they rarely had any meat or protein because all they really ate were grains. Down the road they figured out how to domesticate crops to make them bigger, better, and tastier. Once they figured out how to domesticate the

In this chapter, Diamond explains why the domestication of plants and animals is important in history. It wasn’t until 11,000 years ago did people first domesticate plants and animals leading to the slow disappearance of hunter-gatherers and the increase of farming communities. One aspect that Diamond considers is that more calories available allow more people to be fed. Since most organisms can’t be used as food, domesticating plants provide us a constant supply of food to eat. Domesticated animals also provide us with food by providing meat, milk, fertilizer to increase crop yield, and clearing more land for farming. Another aspect is the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Farmers have higher birth rates due to not being constrained by the