assugnment

Name: ______________________________

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HIST 9108 – OUT OF EDEN: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY

Assignment #2 – March 12, 2010

10% of total grade

Answer all of the following questions. You are not required to write a formal essay for each one, but please ensure that your meaning and interpretation (and writing!) are clear. All questions are of equal value.

Questions

1. We have looked at FOUR major thresholds that have been crossed by humanity over the past 10,000 years or so: (a) the agricultural revolution, c. 8000-2000 BC; (b) the emergence of civilization, c. 3500 BC; (c) the Columbian Exchange, c. 1500 AD; and (d) the Industrial Revolution, c. 1750-1900.

In your opinion, rank these thresholds in order of their importance (i.e. from 1 to 4) in terms of how they altered humanity’s relationship with the environment, giving brief reasons for your choice.

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2. We have looked at the rise and fall of a number of historic civilizations, including Sumer, China, Egypt, India, Rome, Greece and Europe.

(a) Giving examples, state FOUR key ways in which, in your opinion, such civilizations distinguished themselves either from earlier nomadic (i.e. non-sedentary) groups of humans and/or contemporary so-called “barbarians.”

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(b) I have suggested THREE key qualities that are common to all civilizations: coercion, complexity and conquest. In reviewing the interaction of various civilizations and their environments, suggest THREE other fundamental aspects that characterize the rise and development of civilization in environmental terms, saying why.

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3. In Ecology and Ancient Civilizations (1975), J. Donald Hughes writes that, “The rise of civilizations depended upon the increasing ability of people to use and control their natural environment, and the downfall of these same civilizations was due to their failure to maintain a harmonious balance with nature. They suffered a true ecological disaster: not simply a change in climate – for people have weathered climatic changes before and prospered – but a disaster of their own making.”

In your opinion, what are the strengths and/or weaknesses of this statement?

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4. In Ecological Imperialism (1986), Alfred Crosby notes that, “European emigrants and their descendants are all over the place, which requires explanation.”

Between the Columbian Exchange (1500-1750) and the Industrial Revolution (1750-1900), what key factors or developments ensured that Europeans came to dominate the newly integrated global environment? In your opinion, was this an inevitable process or result?

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