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For more info and figures contant me celeres2@gmail.com

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The use of several wild foods,  including  some  caloric  staples, diminished  rapidly in

the  early stages  of the  Younger  Dryas,  and  the  sequence in which  individual  species

declined  is  consistent  with advancing  desiccation.   The  decline in wild cereals was

immediately  followed  by a  rapid  rise  in a  weed flora  typical of arid-zone cultivation

involving substantial tillage.  Charred seeds provide  direct  evidence  that  the  villagers  at  Abu

Hureyra cultivated domestic  rye  at  this  time.   There are  also  indications  of other domestic

grains and possibly legumes after 13,000 BP.  These observations of domestication  pre-date

all others for southwest Asia by one thousand years.  According to Hillman (2000a:  420-1),

this series of events suggests  that  cultivation was  precipitated  by the  decline in wild  cereals

and that environmental change was the trigger.

Population in the  village  grew to perhaps 100  –  300  people  at  its maximum during

this period even though population levels  in southwest Asia as a  whole  were contracting,

with many sites abandoned.    The  poorer  climate probably  decreased fertility and  increased

mortality  for  the  existing inhabitants  of Abu  Hureyra,  so population  growth suggests  that

people were migrating  from other sites in the  region.   The  lack  of evidence  for  violence  or

fortifications at Abu Hureyra also suggests that any such migration was relatively peaceful.

Abu Hureyra was also exceptional for its continuous  occupation  during  this  period.

The Younger Dryas resulted in a return  to a  nomadic  way  of life  across  most of southwest

Asia (Bar-Yosef, 2002a,  2002b).   Both regional  contraction  in population  and  increased

nomadism for the region as a whole are  consistent with  the  decline in health  accompanying

climate deterioration (Smith, 1991).  Abu  Hureyra was  an outlier  in this  regard  as well.

Analysis  of skeletal remains  indicates  that  nutrition  levels  remained  constant  during  the

Younger Dryas (Molleson, 2000).

Around 12,000 BP,  the  approximate end  of the  Younger  Dryas  at  Abu  Hureyra,

population in the village declined, indicating an out-migration to  previously  arid  locations.

Charred remains  dated to this  period  include evidence  of free-threshing  wheats and  bread

wheat as well  as domestic  einkorn,  barley, lentils,  field weeds, and  gazelle bones.    Abu

Hureyra 2 is dated from roughly 11,400 BP.  The villagers were farmers  who  also  collected

some wild plants and hunted  game,  but  eventually became wholly  dependent on their crops

and  domesticated  animals.   Population  increased rapidly to levels  more than  twenty  times

the population of Abu Hureyra 1 and  surpassed in size  almost  all other contemporary  sites

in southwest Asia.  All told, the  life  span of the  village  exceeded  four  thousand  years of

continuous occupation.

A number of geographical factors help explain the relatively large size  and  longevity

of Abu Hureyra.    It  was  particularly  well  situated with  regard  to surface water; it  had  easy

access to a wide range of foods due to its location at a juncture  of two  environmental  zones;

it was close  to the  gazelle  migration route;  and  it  had  extensive  open land  with  easily  tilled

soils and adequate rainfall for dry farming.  This combination was very rare in the region.

Abu Hureyra is the only site in southwest Asia at which it  is  possible  to observe the

entire  transition from foraging  to agriculture.  Other sites such as Mureybet, Tell  Aswad,

and Jericho provide data that, while consistent with the general  story from Abu  Hureyra,  are

less  informative and  less  certain. Conditions  at  these  other  sites were also  unusually

favorable.  Tell Aswad was located on a  lakeshore surrounded  by marshes, and  Jericho had

a permanent spring.  Other early agricultural sites were on  river flood  plains  or alluvial fans

(Smith, 1998).  Thus far, the presence of domesticated seeds  during  the  Younger Dryas  has

only been documented for Abu Hureyra, but analysis of wild seed assemblages at  Mureybet

 (dating from 12,500  BP)  “suggests that  the  morphologically wild-type  einkorns,  ryes, and

barley were already under predomestication cultivation” (Hillman, 2000b: 378).   Elsewhere,

domestication is first observed later in the warmer and wetter Neolithic period.

4.   The Formal Model

This section defines short and long run  equilibria  for  a  model involving  technology,

climate, and population.  The analysis can be generalized in various ways, but  we confine

attention to simple functional forms in order to highlight the main causal mechanisms.

Technology.  Consider  a  production  site  with two  sources of food:  wild (obtained

by foraging) and cultivated (obtained by agriculture).  These foods are  perfect  substitutes  in

consumption. 

Foraging has  decreasing  returns because variable labor  is  applied to the  fixed  harvestable  resources
provided by nature (the input of seeds from nature  is  normalized  at  unity).    Agriculture  has constant returns because it involves seed inputs that can be scaled up as desired. 

Early in an agricultural transition suitable land is abundant and can  be ignored.    These  assumptions are

standard in the economic literature on agricultural origins (Weisbrod, 2004a).

The adult  population  allocates  labor  to maximize total  output,  taking  account of

the fact that agriculture requires a flow of seeds as an input

As will be explained below, we take a time period to be the  length  of one  human  generation

rather than an annual cycle.  From this perspective it makes  sense  to regard  seed inputs  and

food outputs as contemporaneous flows, and  thus  (2)  does not  incorporate  time  subscripts.

In the neutral case weather has a  multiplicative effect  on food per  capita  but  does not  affect

the allocation of labor  or the  population  threshold  required  for  an agricultural  transition.

Neutrality is assumed in sections 4 and 5; biased effects will be discussed in section 7.

We consider a large geographic area with  a  continuum  of production  sites whose total mass is unity.  In  our  population  model one  time  period  is  a  human  generation (15-25 years), so weather refers  to the  average environmental  conditions prevailing at  a  site over such an interval.  Annual and seasonal variations are ignored.  

It  does not  matter  for  our  analysis  whether quality is  a  permanent feature of a  site  (e.g. resulting from a lakeshore  location),  or a  random  variable that  can  change over  time  (e.g. weather in the strict sense).  It is only important that under a given  climate regime, the  fraction  of good sites  p remains constant over time for the region as a whole . 

 The model can  easily  be extended  to allow  many site  qualities,  but  only the  best  sites play  a substantive role in the analysis (these are the places where population density is greatest and

therefore where agriculture occurs first).

Population.  We use an overlapping generations framework where all adults have  the

utility  function  U[c,R(e)], with c  denoting  food consumption by the  adult,  e  denoting  food

consumption  by children,  and  R(e) the  number of children  who survive to adulthood.

Utility is maximized subject to c +  e  =  y.   The  number of surviving  children  per  adult as a

function of available food is r(y)  ≡ R[e(y)], which is increasing  if  R  is  increasing  and  e  is  a

normal good.  Leisure is ignored for the moment but will be discussed in section 7.

The  open access  assumption  is  a  convenient  way  to generate  a  positive short  run

relationship between  weather quality and  population  density across  sites,  as we explain

below, but a similar relationship can arise under  more complex  property  rights  systems  that

impede full utility equalization.  For example, foragers can often move  to better  locations  by

exploiting kinship networks, creating a tendency for  population  to concentrate  at  good sites

(Kelly, 1995).  Our  qualitative results  survive as long as this  tendency  exists.    As noted  in

section 3, circumstantial evidence suggests that migration increased the size  of Abu  Hureyra

during the Younger Dryas, indicating that some mobility was possible.  Similarly, Bar-Yosef

(2002a:  116) suggests  that  as marginal  areas became drier in this  period, kinship-based

relocation caused population to rise in the fertile belt of the Levant.

5. The Effects of Climate Change

This section applies the model to the case of southwest Asia discussed in section 3.

Initial Warming.

For southwest Asia it is  implausible  that  the  initial  warming  improved  the  best  sites

disproportionately.  The  critical role  of climate change was  to enhance  water availability

through increased precipitation.  The greater precipitation would not have provided a large

marginal  benefit at  those  sites endowed  with permanent  water sources  (rivers, lakeshores,

marshes,  or springs),  but  it  would  have been significant  at  less  desirable  locations.   Thus

weather, in our broad sense, improved  proportionately more at  bad  sites than  at  good ones.

This is consistent with the observed migration of people into previously arid landscapes. 

Figure 5  shows  how  an abrupt  warming  at  the  end  of the  Ice  Age  that  compressed

the distribution of weather outcomes would also have compressed  the  short run  distribution

of population across sites.  Despite better  conditions throughout  the  region, agriculture  did  not  arise because  the  maximum local density  declined as a result of population dispersal.

The scenario of the preceding paragraphs cannot rule out a shift to agriculture  in the

long run  on purely  theoretical  grounds.   

Now consider an abrupt climate  deterioration (in  the  southwest Asian case, the Younger Dryas).  This lowers  the  weather quality  at  good sites, the  weather quality at  bad  sites, the  fraction  of sites that  are  good,  or a  combination of the  three.    The y(N) function therefore shifts down in Figure 4, moving the  system from C  to D.   Because conditions did  not  fully revert  to Ice  Age  levels,  the  new  y(N) curve  is  placed  between  the curves for initial warming and the Ice Age. 

This scenario,  which reverses  the  effect  of the  initial  warming  described above  by

increasing the heterogeneity of site qualities, is consistent  with  the  fact  that  many sites were

abandoned during the Younger Dryas, and also with the fact  that  the  sites in continuing  use

(such as Abu Hureyra) were those that depended less on rainfall.  As noted  in section 3,  the

population of  Abu  Hureyra actually grew in this  phase,  probably  due  to in-migration from

increasingly arid  locations  elsewhere.   This local effect,  which runs  counter to the  regional

population decline induced by the Younger Dryas, is likewise consistent with our theory.

  In the case of Abu Hureyra, we observe a relatively brief period of population decline around the  end  of the  Younger Dryas (about 12,000 BP), with renewed population growth accompanying the increased  dominance of agriculture in Abu Hureyra 2 (dated about 11,400 BP).

6. Other Transitions and Non-Transitions

Even if it is granted that our theory captures some central features of the transition in

southwest Asia, one might wonder whether it can be applied to  other pristine transitions  and

whether it can account for the absence of agriculture  in seemingly favorable  contexts.    This

section briefly surveys selected  cases of each type.   The  available  data  are  inconclusive but

we are not aware of evidence that directly conflicts with the framework in section 5.

North China.  Most authorities  now  agree that  there were two  largely independent

centers of pristine agriculture  in China,  one  in the  north in the  Huanghe  River valley  and  a

second in the south in the Yangzi River valley  (all  data  on China  are  from Lu,  1999,  except

where stated).   In the  plain north of the  Huanghe, evidence  for  domesticated  millet comes

from the  Cishan assemblage,  dated to roughly  8000-7700  BP.    South  of the  Huanghe, the

Peiligang culture gives evidence of  millet cultivation during  8500-7500  BP.    In general, the

data for this region are incomplete  and  genuinely transitional  sites have not  been identified.

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Social work – because they want to help that hobo relative of theirs

Law -because they want to be a professional argue-person

Mathematics – because gambling becomes a lot more profitable

Urban and regional planning – because the government job deal sounds great and the thought of playing Sim City in real life is pretty awesome

Physics – because they think dungeons and dragons got boring

Chemistry – because they think making things go boom is fun

General – because they don’t know what to take

Rakhi Sharma

Institute for Development of Technology for Rural Advancement, Mathura INDIA

With reference to the Rural Advancement and Upliftment in India, the most valuable degree course at bachelor level is graduation in agriculture i.e. B.Sc.(Ag.). This course is not so popular among self financing universities in the country.

Q-1: What is B.Sc.(Ag.) Degree Programme?

B.Sc.(Ag.) is a graduate degree programme in the discipline of Agriculture. The course is a four year degree programme.

Q-2: Why should B.Sc.(Ag.) be run by Self financing Universities?

Self financing Universities are well known to India. These universities are established by law. The Universities are imparting education in various disciplines to serve the society and the nation with a magnificent and prominent rank in the mind of the students and their guardians.

Self financing Universities are playing leading role in the nation, therefore they should come forward in imparting education in the field of Agriculture and rural advancement.

B.Sc.(Ag.) is an ever demanding course in India. Indian economy is agriculture based economy. During 2008, almost all the sectors especially service sectors were the victim of recession, but agriculture always showed its potential to sustain.

Since last few years, the contribution of agriculture in gross domestic production (GDP) is reduced and is a need to enhance it. Unlike some of the other educational courses, this course is not expected to be saturated in coming future.

B.Sc.(Ag.) is a fully professional course. In India, agriculture education has a vital scope. Further, lots of multinationals are coming in this field and requiring agricultural graduates and highly educated professionals.

B.Sc.(Ag.) is being run by State agriculture universities, Central Agricultural Universities with the limitation of seat availability. In state universities, the course is run by a very little number of colleges.

Most of the Open Universities are not running this course.

Little opportunity to the students wishing to study B.Sc.(Ag.) course is  available in the nation and is not sufficient to nourish a huge number of desiring candidates.

Q-3: Who is eligible to seek admission in B.Sc.(Ag.)?

The candidate passed his 10+2 examination either in Agriculture or Science streams (Bio group or Maths group both) are eligible to seek admission in B.Sc.(Ag.).

Q-4: Whether the course is running in semester or annual system?

All the State Agriculture Universities and Central Agriculture Universities are running this course in semester system. Recently, most of the State Universities of U.P. introduced this system in B.Sc.(Ag.) degree programme.

Q-5: What are the course outlines of B.Sc.(Ag.) degree programme?

The outlines of B.Sc.(Ag.) degree programme include imparting theory and practical knowledge to the students. The course programme as introduced by State Universities of U.P., a student needs to study 154 credit hours (89 theory and 65 laboratory) during the programme.

Q-6: What is about faculty required for teaching B.Sc.(Ag.)?

Faculty as per following will be required to run B.Sc.(Ag.):

1) Dean. 2) Lecturers.

The duties of the DEAN Agriculture will include academic management to run the Course. He must be (1) Ph.D. in any discipline of Agriculture. (2) B.Sc.(Ag.) along-with post-graduation in any discipline of Agriculture with good academic record. (3) Minimum 10 year experience of teaching/ research/ extension or equivalent.

The duties of the Lecturers are teaching and holding other related academic activities (examination, research and extension) to run this degree course. He must be (1) Ph.D. or NET/SLET in respective discipline. (2) B.Sc.(Ag.) along-with post-graduation in respective discipline with at least 55% marks or equivalent with good academic record.

However, norms are varied state to state in the country, but on the basis of implementation, total number of faculty required will be depending on the size of intake of the students for the degree programme. For an intake of 200 students, (Total 200 x 4 = 800) minimum requirement of faculty is one Dean/Director and 22 lecturers

Q-7: What is about other facilities required to run this course?

However, norms are varied state to state in the country, but on the basis of implementation, other minimum requirements will include 8 equipped lecture theatres, 11 laboratories, 15 acre farm, staff cabins, office, Dean’s office, Departmental Library and non teaching staff etc.

Q-8: Where may agricultural graduates and post-graduates be placed?

Students who have accomplished their education in the graduate level course in agriculture can get many job opportunities. India has a huge requirement and little availability of agricultural graduates and post-graduates. There are several indigenous and multinational companies in this field. Some fields requiring Agriculture Graduates are: Agricultural Advisories, Agriculture Banking and Insurance, Agricultural Chemicals, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Machinery, Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural Publication, Agricultural Research, Agricultural Survey, Agricultural Teaching, Animal Breeding Farms, Animal Feed Industries, Dairy Industries, Field Officers, Food Processing Industries, Food Storage, Meteorological Services, Organized Agriculture Farms, Organized Dairy Farms, Organized Gardens, Organized Nurseries, Seed Companies and Self Employment.

Q-9: Which is the best time to start B.Sc.(Ag.) Degree Programme in Self financing Universities?

The next session.

From an outsider’s point of view, the introduction of Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector would have been seen as good news and a means to expand the sector. In India, even today, retail is carried out by small provision stores that dot every corner in every city, every town and every village. They are commonly known as “Kirana stores”.

Which is not to say that India never saw big firms entering the retail sector. Local Indian companies such as Spencers, BigBazaar and Fabmall started off the retail sector and it has been growing ever since. These firms have established quite a lot of branches and have plans to expand.

In that light, the government finally decided that it was time to allow foreign firms to take part in the Indian market by allowing foreign companies 51% ownership. Of course, the bill does not just give a free hand to foreign companies. There are certain provisions that act as safeguards. Firstly, the bill mandates that 30% of the products sold by foreign firms should come from small scale and cottage industries in India and these firms also need to spend on “Back-end infrastructure” like product development, warehousing, storage, production techniques, roads and other such areas.

The new bill would benefit farmers immensely. As of now, the farmers sell their produce through various middlemen and the middlemen extract really high shares and drives the prices of their produce up. As a result, the produce is expensive and the farmer gets only a mere fraction of the real value of the produce. Big retail stores approach farmers directly and buy their produce thereby eliminating the various middlemen and reducing prices, driving profits up and giving the farmers a fair share of their hard work.

Besides, it is common knowledge that when you increase the size of the food chain the prices of food will go down.

This looks pretty good on paper and theoretically it will help bring inflation down but there are practical difficulties here. First of all, farmers are not well networked. Their trust with the middlemen will stay for a long time to come. Partly this could be attributed to the fact that many farmers are not literate and this has been the way they have been selling their produce for the past so many years. This will change if there are extensive campaigns on radio and television informing the farmers about the benefits of this bill as far as they are concerned. The lack of such a network between farmers make it a little hard for big retail outlets to go and approach the farmers directly. Besides here, the biggest benefactors will be big farmers. Small farmers won’t be able to compete with the scale of the big farmers.

Fixing such a problem will take years and there perhaps cannot be practical solutions to the problem of small farmers vs. big farmers.

Again, the retail sector in India is not well developed. The range in products is not large enough, there is still the lack of variety within products. There aren’t enough producers for a product. The gap is closing though. The market is expanding and more variety is coming. But it is still going to take time for the market to adjust to the expansion of the retail sector. The problem here is that most retail firms abroad have their own products and their own manufacturing facilities whose products are slightly cheaper than the other brands. If these firms choose to import these products, India might face problems especially when you notice that India already has a unfavourable balance of trade with imports exceeding exports.

But the point here is that critics of the FDI bill are unnecessarily making a big hue and cry over nothing.

They must understand that once you pass the FDI bill firms like Wallmart, Carrefour or even Harrods for that matter aren’t going to come running to India. They also have to consider a cost-benefit analysis before they can come to any conclusions. And with the current market the speculation is that they will start slowly and wait to adjust to the market and understand it before making any serious investments in India.

It is going to be a very slow process of their integration in the Indian market. History has proved so. This was the same story in Indonesia, Brazil and even China. While China introduced such a reform long back over three decades ago, the integration is happening only now.

It is going to be a similar story for India and in order to expand the retail sector and boost the economy, you need to start soon.

Copyright © 2012 Ashwath Komath

Rakhi Sharma and Dr Awadhesh Kishore*

Institute for Development of Technology for Rural Advancement, Mathura INDIA

*Sarvoday Mahavidyalaya, Chaumuhan-281406, Mathura INDIA

It is urged to the Government of India to leave the other issues, which are not more important, set aside and make the policies in such a way on priority basis so that the producers of food can nourish them along-with their families. It is true that the government of India is trying to underplay the cases of farmer deaths and intellectual supporters of the farmers. But it must be taken seriously that committing suicide is not a simple game to play on a cricket ground but the Annadata (producer of grains) is living in serious stress and when the stress is increased further to shape itself overstress the Annadata finds no way other than to commit suicide.

It is the actuality to agree that the farmer is not responsible for his attempt to suicide but the whole machinery of government, ministry of Agriculture and rural welfare departments are equally accountable of each and every incidence of committing suicide by the farmer. The farmers, the soul of India, are committing suicide, in these circumstances, what the role of ministry of Agriculture in India is and what it is doing so. If it has yet to remain sit or sleep or to play a match in the cricket ground, what the need to establish or continue this ministry or the departments. It is better to lock all those offices.

Official reports initially deprived of the farmer suicides but as more and more information in sequence is coming into light the government of India is now compelled to accept the facts that farmers in India were under considerable stress. An official report itself is now agreed that more than 17,500 farmers an year killed themselves between 2002 and 2006, according to experts who have analyzed government statistics and is increasing to the early 1990s. Most of the suicides occurred in states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab. The situation is severe enough to force at least the government of Maharashtra to set up a dedicated office to deal with farmers distress.

The data farers’ suicides are alarming that India is inviting sever calamities itself in the shape of food crisis. There is a space to have many debates since the issue is not a simple but is so emotive.

On a total basis the suicides of the farmers in India are increasing year wise year which is reached as high as 18221 in 2004 from 13622 in 1997. Since 1997 to till date we are losing a farmer within 30-40 minutes or in other words we are losing almost 2 farmers in an hour every time.

India needs politics that works in a correct direction that think about the key men or the soul of India i.e. the farmers. It should plan and implement the policies for betterment of the farmers so that the attempts of farm suicides can be decreased. An immediate action in matter is required to be taken otherwise India needs a result oriented politics not just to promising.

The time has come to analyze the reason of each and every suicide. Most of the suicides are reported due to crop failures, pressure of loan, malnutrition, paucity of funds even to take meals twice a day. Who will be disagreed that the system, been adapted in India to formulate the policies for the farmers, is nothing than that of a piece of silliness. The team that has never seen the farms is fabricating the policies for the farms and the farmers in an air conditioned pack room.

If the government of India is serious in the matter, it has to plan the policies keeping the farms and the farmers of the nation in the centre. You have to make the policies on the ground. You should make all the arrangements so the possibilities of crop failures are minimized. You have to provide agriculture loan to the farmers on easy terms and under a system that the free from the corruption. First priority is due to the farmers. In 2008, there were serious financial collapse worldwide, but India was standing stationary because of our agriculture based economy. Nobody has a right to ruin our identity.

Two million years ago our ancestors lived on the African savannas. A small, frail species it is doubtful he hunted, having a stable diet of seeds and berries, and a little meat scavenged from the remains of food killed by larger carnivores. This lifestyle required cunning, and it was most likely this trait that led to our ascendancy.
His hands were becoming increasingly dexterous and, walking erect, he used stone, bone and wood to dig, cut and pulverise. Interestingly, no weapons have been found from this period – only tools, fashioned by chipping one stone with another, leading to the chipped hand-axe a million years ago as his migrations began.

HUNTER/GATHERER
In these harsh climates he would shelter in caves, yet sites at Terra Amata in France and Kostenki in Russia show temporary shelters made of Brushwood or mammoth bones. The Chou-k’ou-tien cave in northern China shows definite use of fire from about 500,000BC. Evidence of weapons for hunting appears about 200,000BC, yet by 35,000BC modern man in Europe was using engineered tools and weapons such as knives, spearheads and harpoons of bone, fishhooks and even musical instruments such as flutes. Spiritual life was also present, evidenced by cave art and rudimentary statuary.

Up to l0,000BC, when the last ice age ended, man was nomadic, following the herds for food. Females gathered and males scrounged and hunted. But as the Agricultural Revolution began, man slowly left his hunter/gatherer existence. As the glaciers retreated they left behind good farming stock and arable land. This was arguably helped by the hunting to extinction of the great herds, forcing them to change their habits.

BIRTH OF AGRICULTURE
By 8,000BC static village communities appear, enabled by the harnessing of wild plant species such as wheat, rice and maize to sustained, organised growth in fields. Combined with the domestication of cattle, sheep and pigs, the farmer came into being, producing wool, milk and meat, further advancing by adapting livestock to beasts of burden. Spiritual life seems to have become endemic to this process, deities representing natural elements such as wind, and taking on seasonal aspects. The movement of the sun-god told them when to plant and harvest, mingling with early science to build wood and then stone henges.

This gave power to priesthood through knowledge, and as transportation improved, villages grouped together forming large scale communities with a dual leadership of priest and chief.

URBANISATION
In the Fertile Crescent of the eastern Mediterranean additional problems had to be faced. Farming began in the foothills, but with few trees, stone building began. This required a greater engineering and administrative skill, with more advanced villages appearing about 7000BC, creating the first known towns.

Two of these were Jericho in the Jordan Valley and Catal Huyuk in Turkey. Jericho housed 2,000 people by 7000BC. It had a circular stone tower in its centre with a stone wall and ditch for defence.
Stone bowls and clay ovens were used, and several shrines have been found. Catal Huyuk was larger. With tighter packed houses, it had less defences and homes were entered through the roof. Jewellery, mirrors, frescos and woven materials have been found here in abundance, suggesting it was the centre of a long distance trading network.

THE BIRTH OF TRADE
The lifeblood of such towns was the closeness of running water – rivers – for agriculture. But the size of the supply limited growth. Hence, by 5000BC Catal Huyuk was abandoned, people moving down from the foothills to the plains, especially between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present Iraq. Known as Mesopotamia, seasonal floods led to great mythologies and immense engineering skills, combining irrigation for the fields with ways of diverting flood waters.

Although securing water for agriculture, these advanced communities lacked essential raw materials, so trading on a large scale began with smaller communities. This increased their wealth, and urbanisation began proper.
By 4000BC copper ore was mined in places like Timna in Israel, leading to metallurgy, producing ornaments, tools and weaponry of superior quality. This was the prime factor of advancement, soon entering the Bronze Age with the mixing of copper and tin, and, by 1500BC, the Iron Age.

COMPLEXITY
Trade and increasing social complexity required better forms of communication. Hence, by 3000BC writing was well established. Memory was no longer enough for recording trade or myth.

Scratches and knots were used as recording methods as early as 6000BC, but now hieroglyphics appeared. This led to cuneiform, a series of geometric shapes forming representative language on clay tablets, scribed by split reeds. Used by the Sumerians by 2500BC, structure was formed with an early alphabet. By 600BC the ancient Greeks had turned this into an alphabet we can understand today.
As these advances were on-going, the veil of pre-history was slowly being drawn back, and in its wake came an explosion of human experience. In the next post I will narrate this story – that of the Pre-Classical world, with its religions, politics, and inevitable war.

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Ireland in the early 20th century was a poor country. The levels of poverty in many isolated rural areas were extraordinary by western standards. In 1930, the total population was just under three million. The great majority of the people were living in the countryside, or in country towns and villages. Dublin, the capital city, had a maximum population of about half a million people.

In 1930, the majority of Ireland’s population occupied small agricultural settlements. Over a period of about 40 years, from the end of the First World War, there was a general movement towards an increase in farm size. By the mid 1950s, over forty percent of farms were in the range of 30 to 100 acres.

As mechanization began to reach rural Ireland, such activities as home butter-churning and cooking over the hearth gradually died out. As tractors and combine harvesters replaced horse-drawn and steam-powered farm machinery, the Rural Electrification Scheme brought electricity to rural homes. The exteriors of rural houses also began to alter. Thatch, whitewash and the half-door gave way to tiles/slate roofs, plastered walls and centrally heated bungalows.

Suggestions had been made, following the First World War, for harnessing Ireland’s abundant water supply for the generation of electricity. In 1925 construction had commenced on the main power station at Ardnacrusha, near Limerick. This was completed late in 1929. In 1927 the Electricity Supply Board was established. In the early years, electricity was provided mainly to the towns and villages, by 1943 about 95% of urban populations had a supply. However, only about 50% of the population as a whole was connected to the network

Within rural Ireland there was a pattern of late marriages and a very high birth-rate within marriage. The rate of emigration, especially for single women, remained high during the 1930s and 1940s, with England the main destination. There was also a movement into urban centers from rural areas. By the 1940s it appears that a general discontent with their conditions was becoming evident among the rural population.

In 1926 the School Attendance Act made school attendance compulsory on all school days for children between the ages of six and fourteen. The primary school programme consisted of attendance for five or six hours, five days a week for a minimum of 190 days a year. The subjects studied included, Irish, English, Arithmetic, History, Geography and Music. Girls also received instruction in needlework. In the late 1920s, the Department of Education had introduced the Primary School Certificate examination. This examination was voluntary until 1943 when, despite strong opposition, it became compulsory for all children who had reached sixth class. Only a small percentage of children proceeded into post-primary education. As late as 1957 only 10,000 students sat the Leaving Certificate, which marked the end of a pupil’s secondary education.

On the family farm, the woman of the house was usually responsible for the care of the small livestock, the poultry, pigs and calves. She would also attend to the vegetable garden and to the growing of fruit. Usually there was no running water or electricity, sanitation was poor and there were few modern conveniences. Few women worked outside of the home and they usually lost their jobs on marriage.

Although the 1960s brought prosperity, there was a growing rural depopulation as people moved to the larger towns and cities. Ireland’s entry to the EEC (EU) in 1973 significantly boosted farm income. The knock-on effect was that cars, televisions and other goods became more accessible and widespread. The EEC (EU) also did much to improve infrastructure (roads, etc.) in rural Ireland. Better infrastructure has brought industries to rural areas.

Between 1973 and 2008 Irish farmers have received nearly €44 billion from the Common Agricultural Policy. Last year alone, Ireland received €1.8 billion directly.

Physical Geography:

As we all know, physical geography is basically the study of the surface of the earth that includes plains, mountains, rivers and oceans.  The knowledge of this particular aspect of geography allows people to intelligently plan on suitable places where they can live, build factories, as well as farm and grow different crops to the maximum advantage.  It sis divided in several branches, namely, geomorphology that deals with: l) land formation, volcanic action and erosion, 2) mathematical  measurements of the earth, dealing with  the earth’s imaginary lines, namely meridians and parallels, the former being the circles going through the North and South Poles, and the latter being the circles that are parallel to the equator.  Based on these lines, we can measure longitude and latitude. On the basis of such measurements, we can locate spots on the globe.

There is also other branches of physical geography, namely oceanography, the study of seas, tides and currents; meteorology, the study of weather; hydrography, the study of bodies of water; and climatology, the study of climate.

Economic Geography:

This aspect of geography covers the importance of lifestyle that includes industry, agriculture, exploration of minerals, the growing of crops, distribution of raw materials, planning of cities and towns, as well as needs relating to transportation and trade. These, in turn, have allowed the supplementation of further studies, such as building roads through mountains, bridges over water, as well as farming in lands that are hilly, including the ability to build dikes and dams, as well as the necessity of irrigation.

Political Geography:

This branch of geography concerns the man-made divisions of the earth that include their boundaries and governments, separating countries and cultures. There is presently a new kind of political geography, known as geopolitics on the basis of which, the application of a particular method is used to ascertain the trend of politics globally.

Each of the above geographies cannot be isolated from one another, and as time goes by, depend on one another in areas of international and national importance.