Environmental History of Humanity

Qn 1    Agricultural Revolution saw humanity moving onto a settled life as human labor was replaced by machines, fertilizers which did most of the work. The industrial revolution brought about the use of new energy sources, e.g., electricity and new methods of transport and telecommunication. Colombian exchange brought about the exchange of plants and animals thus replacing traditional staple foods with new foods. The emergence of civilization brought about the use of writing and therefore developed architecture.

Qn 2(a)     The rise of social classes; development of better weapons made of iron, cities rose from competing chiefdom to unified territories, the emergence of architecture which changed the lifestyle of the people and saw the emergence of astronomy and enabled correct predictions due to calendars.

Qn 2 (b)     Environmental pollution brought about by crowded cities leading to spread of diseases and huge industries that dumped chemical waste in both water and land, Environmental degradation as industries coming up meant that there was more deforestation, global warming; extraction of greenhouse gases melt glaciers.

Qn 3     The strength of this statement is that there were habitat alterations as more space for expansion was needed, pollution was also felt deeply, The weakness of the statement is that it contradicts itself that the natural environment has to be used more to raise civilization.

Key factors were economical as they needed to exploit other countries resources, to spread religion; they believed they were a superior race, politically they had to rule many countries as a show of power. The above reasons, therefore, prove that imperialism was more of a result of civilization and revolution other than an inevitable process.

REFERENCES

1.                   Doyle, William (1992), The Old European Order 1660-1800, Oxford                                   University Press.

2.                  Haberman, Arthur (1984),  The Making of the Modern Age, Gage                                       Publishing.