Book contents
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Table
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Global developments
- 2 Humans and the environment: tension and co-evolution
- 3 Women, family, gender, and sexuality
- 4 Society: hierarchy and solidarity
- 5 Educational institutions
- 6 Warfare
- Part II Eurasian commonalities
- Part III Growing interactions
- Part IV Expanding religious systems
- Part V State formations
- Index
- References
2 - Humans and the environment: tension and co-evolution
from Part I - Global developments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Table
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Global developments
- 2 Humans and the environment: tension and co-evolution
- 3 Women, family, gender, and sexuality
- 4 Society: hierarchy and solidarity
- 5 Educational institutions
- 6 Warfare
- Part II Eurasian commonalities
- Part III Growing interactions
- Part IV Expanding religious systems
- Part V State formations
- Index
- References
Summary
According to Fernand Braudel, the entire civilized world divides into three realms: one governed by wheat, one by rice, and one by corn (maize). It is only in the Middle Millennium that the origins take on sharper contours for the historian, contours that shed greater light on the dynamic of the relationship between humans and nature. This chapter explores the great irrigation systems, nomadic realms, and combination of rainfed agriculture and animal husbandry that became characteristic for broad regions of Europe. The chapter explains three chief approaches to a master story of human-nature interaction that stretches across the millennia: the anthropological approach, the religious-philosophical approach, and the climatological approach. It also describes the scenarios for the environmental history of the Middle Millennium, namely collapse, crisis, resilience, and sustainability, and cyclical elements in the history of the relationship between humans and the environment.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge World History , pp. 43 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
References
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