Life of Early Peoples Agricultural Environments 1 Activity

Life of Early Peoples Agricultural Environments 1

Activity 3: Agricultural Environments 2

Agricultural Environments I can locate and describe places having the characteristics for good agricultural activities 3

Agricultural Environments Early Agricultural Settlements need: • Available water for irrigation or adequate precipitation • Suitable growing season • Soft soil, easy to work with simple tools 4

Agricultural Environments Early Agricultural Settlements need: • Available water for irrigation or adequate precipitation Usually a nearby river or possible flood plain. Rivers can flood in a rainy season when water reaches the low, flat land near sea level. 5

Agricultural Environments Early Agricultural Settlements need: • Available water for irrigation or adequate precipitation • Suitable growing season If a river floodplain is too far from the equator, farming is impossible because the river and the soil stay frozen too long. If a river floodplain is too close to the equator, farming can be hard because weeds and diseases are common in places that stay hot. 6

Agricultural Environments Early Agricultural Settlements need: • Available water for irrigation or adequate precipitation • Suitable growing season • Soft soil, easy to work with simple tools A river civilization can develop where the weather is good for growing food and a flooding river makes the soil soft and easy to plow. 7

Agricultural Environments Early Agricultural Settlements need: • Available water for irrigation or adequate precipitation • Suitable growing season • Soft soil, easy to work with simple tools We can look at maps to determine the best locations for early agricultural settlements. 8

Agricultural Environments The land around the Yenisei River (F) is too cold to farm. What other river (s) might have soil that would stay frozen for too long? Circle C next to these 9

Agricultural Environments Farming is hard around the Amazon River (C) because weeds and diseases are common in places that are hot all the time. What other river(s) might be in areas that are too hot? Circle H next to these rivers 10

Agricultural Environments Before people invented furnaces and air conditioners, weather conditions were usually best between the 25 and 40 degree latitude lines. Where do you think river civilizations were possible? Circle P next to these rivers 11

Agricultural Environments In the next activity, we will find the areas where evidence of early farming has been found. 12

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