(Image from www.landscapesofengland.co.uk)
The Neolithic Revolution marks the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The term Neolithic era means "the new stone age", epitomizing the shifts of practices made by the world's inhabitants at the time. This agricultural revolution took place over many centuries as humans learned how to cultivate crops and domesticate animals.
The earliest evidence of agricultural activity dates back to after 9000 BCE, when people of Southwest Asia (today's Iraq, Syria, and Turkey) cultivated wheat and barley while domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. Between 9000 and 7000 BCE, Africans inhabiting the southeast end of the Sahara Desert (today's Sudan) domesticated cattle, sheep, goats while cultivating sorghum. From 8000 BCE to 6000 BCE, people of Sub-Saharan West Africa (near today's Nigeria) also began to cultivate yams, okra, and black-eyed peas. In East Asia, residents near the Yangtze River Valley began to cultivate rice as early as 6500 BCE, while their neighbors in the Yellow River Valley raised crops of millet and soybeans starting 5500 BCE. Although these facts seem to be well outlined chronologically, each region began their agricultural journey independently.
Once established, agriculture spread rapidly. Early techniques like slash-and-burn cultivation involved the frequent movement of farmers. A community would slash the bark on a stand of trees in a forest to prepare the land for cultivation. Then, the patch would be burned, resulting in a weed-free area of rich and fertile soil. Once the soil lost its fertility, the farmers were prompted to move to another patch of land, slowly establishing agriculture wherever the moved in the east and west hemispheres.
One of the most important things related with agriculture is population explosion; having a reliable food source (as opposed to having to move around for food) was a relatively new factor in the Neolithic era.
The existence of specialized labor is another major point; three major craft industries arose: pottery, metallurgy, and textile production.
Many changes made during this revolution are still seen today. For example, the discrepancy between genders became far more numerous. Previously, both men and women served jobs of travel and finding food. Now that people could settle down, women started to tend children more, and take care of household affairs (which also was relatively new in this era). Men continued to do farm work like crop cultivation and animal domestication. This is the point at which patriarchal societies began to form.
The Neolithic Revolution created a paradigm shift for the whole world as it allowed way for the world's first civilizations.
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