The First Agricultural Revolution

• Where did plant domestication begin?

South and Southeast Asiaearly domestication of root crops, up to 14,000 years ago.

Southwest Asia (the Fertile Crescent)early domestication of seed crops, about 10,000 years ago.

Plant Domestication

• Sauer suggested Southeast and South Asia may have been the scene where 14,000 years ago the first domestication of tropical plants occurred.

• He believed that root crops (crops reproduced by cultivating either the roots or cutting from the plants, such as tubers like manioc or cassava, yams, and sweet potatoes) were first domesticated there.

• A similar development later occurred in northwestern South America

Seed Agriculture• Agricultural seed selection has led to efficient yields

of enough food to feed the world’s population, but heavy use of pesticides reduced genetic diversity. The planned cultivation of seed crops (plants that are reproduced by cultivating seeds) is a more complex process that involves seed selection, sowing, watering, and well-timed harvesting.

• The majority of geographers agree that the first incidents of seed agriculture took place in the Fertile Crescent region of Southwest Asia.