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[[File:Fertile_Crescent.png|thumbnail|left|275px|Fertile Crescent where Agriculture Developed]]
The rise history of agriculture is a complex topic but from what we do know the earliest region to witness the domestication of plants and animals was in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near EastEastt, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, western Iran, southern Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel . This rise is a complex topic that fundamentally altered the course of humanity. Without agriculture, cities and towns would never have developed. (Figure 1). <ref>For a discussion on the regions that witnessed the rise of agriculture see: Wengrow, D. 2010. ''What Makes Civilization?: The Ancient Near East and the Future of the West''. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>
The rise of agriculture is so significant that the earliest cereal crops and animals domesticate still form the basis of agriculture in many countries today. This includes the domestication of sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, dogs, donkeys, onager, wheat, barley, oats, and others. Many of these varieties of plants and animals were domesticated between 12,000-9000 years ago. Our entire way on life depends on plants and animals that were domesticated thousands of years ago.<ref>For a discussion on domestication characteristics see: Zeder, Melinda A., ed. 2006. ''Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms''. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press.</ref>
====Genetic Factors====
====Geographical and Climatic Factors====
[[File:Texel_-_Bakkenweg_-_View_NE_on_field_of_Barley_-_Gerst_(1).jpg|left|275px|thumbnail|Field of Barley]]
We see domestication and agriculture occurring so early in the Near East because of two main reasons. One is the geography, where the Near East contains many wild progenitors of domesticates. <ref>See: Zeder, M. A. 2008. “Domestication and Early Agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, Diffusion, and Impact.” ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105'' (33): 11597–604. dos:10.1073/pnas.0801317105.</ref> The region along the Zagros and Taurus mountains, valleys, and lowlands is home to wild varieties of wheat, lentils, oats, barley, sheep, dogs, goats, pigs, and cows. On the other hand, many other regions do not contain such a rich variety of plants and animals that are genetically susceptible to domestication.
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian History]] [[Category:Bronze Age History]] [[Category:History of Agriculture]] [[Category:Economic History]]
Updated January 411, 2018
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