The Ancient Environment
Mesopotamian goat in thicket 2100 BC
But in West Asia and in Africa things have changed a good deal. Most of the change is due to the way people have abused the landscape and killed off certain plants or animals, or moved water around. You may be surprised to find out that this is not just something which has happened lately (though it is still happening today). Even four thousand years ago people were already doing many things which hurt the environment. And the environment also changes on its own, for reasons which have nothing to do with people.
Find out more about the ancient environment in
West Asia
India
China
Africa (with Egypt)
The Mediterranean
Northern Europe
Islamic Empire
The Middle Ages
For more information on the ancient environment, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Human Impact on Ancient Environments, by Charles L. Redman (1999). Redman argues that people have been destroying the environment since the time of the Sumerians.
Pan's Travail: Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, by J. Donald Hughes (1996). A similar argument.
Floods, Famines, and Emperors, by Brian Fagan (2000). Fagan argues the reverse: the enviroment has been destroying people. He thinks El Nino is responsible for a lot of political change all over the world. Other people are more skeptical, but he's probably right about some of it at least.
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization, by Brian Fagan (2003). More of the same kind of thing, blaming a lot of problems on the long global warming trend that has been going on since about 8000 BC. Be careful - it's poorly edited and there are some errors.
