Changes

Plant domestication, which led to agriculture, arguably has had among the deepest or most profound impacts on modern societies relative to all other human innovations. Not only did it lead to greater availability of food, allowing societies to grow in population, but it enabled a large labor force to be freed to pursue other specialties. Additionally, technologies related to agriculture, even today, continue to have profound consequences on all societies, for better and worse. Finally, with domestication, the plant's environment has also profoundly changed.

==Initial Impact on Societies==

Plant domestication was initially thought to have first appeared in the Fertile Crescent, with later societies in the Nile, Yellow River, and Indus valleys also adopting domesticated plants. However, now it has become evident that various societies have independently discovered how to domesticate given plants for food production. These plant staples have included wheat, barley, rice, lintels, beans, millet, corn/maize, and others (Figure 1).<ref>For more on the background to plant domestication, see: Spielvogel, J. J. (2015). <i>Western civilization</i> (Ninth edition). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, pg. 6.</ref>

==Intensification of Agriculture==

After the initial innovation of plant domestication in many parts of the globe between 12,000-5,000 years ago, the next major wave of development occurred in how plant domestication enabled large cities to develop. Initially, plant domestication and agriculture allowed towns and villages to flourish. However, with increased accumulation of agricultural resources by fewer individuals, cities encouraged greater labor migration to them so that people could work in the new economies that had agriculture at their core. This is evident in the place that first had cities, southern Mesopotamia, but also appears to be the case in the Indus and the New Word. In these cases, social inequality in wealth distribution was closely associated with the rise of cities. However, that wealth was based on unequal ownership of agricultural holding. In effect, domestication helped to create our modern economic institutions that also created more wealth inequality across societies.<ref>For more on the origins of urbanism and how it was shaped by plant domestication, see: Bridge, G., & Watson, S. (Eds.). (2000). <i>A companion to the city.</i> Oxford, UK ; Malden, Mass: Blackwell.</ref>

==References==