Mini test 3 - 2

02 History

listen to a discussion in a history class.

M: This week, we studied the beginnings of agricultural societies in two different parts of the world: the Nile River Valley and Mesoamerica.

Now, the reason I wanted to go over that was to provide you all with a foundation for understanding agriculture as we know it today, but when I was reading your reaction papers, it seemed that most of you have confused a lot of the information we went over.

For today, let’s get everything cleared up by talking about some of the ways that these two cultures differed in their early approaches to agriculture. Can anyone start?

W: OK, give the geographic differences between the two, there were some obvious differences in the way that they grew crops.

M: What do you mean exactly? Can you give the class an example, maybe?

W: Well, I mean, I guess both cultures had to deal with pretty rough terrain. I mean, the Egyptians were out in the middle of the desert, but they had the Nile River as a source of water.

So they came up with a system of using the Nile to their advantage by controlling the water.

Didn’t one of the Egyptian kings actually build a dam or something for irrigation purposes?

M: That would be King Menes. And you might remember that later, floodwater from the Nile was channeled twelve miles into Lake Moeris so it could be used later. So how did the Mesoamericans handle irrigation?

W: Well, they were also growing on inhospitable terrain, and unlike Egyptians, they didn’t really have a huge river like the Nile to fulfill their water needs. But didn’t they build reservoirs or something?

M: I think you might be getting confused here. The Mesoamericans are known more for their extensive canals that would run into areas that didn’t get much rain. They also carved terraces out of hills in order to keep the irrigation water from washing all the fertile soil away.

What other technique did the Mesoamericans used to improve land and water use?

W: They also build islands in the middle of lakes so they could take advantage of the water source.

M: That’s right. OK, let’s move on. Now, in terms of food production, how did these two cultures differ?

W: Well, for one, the crops were completely different. In Egypt, they grew milet, barley, and wheat, but staff didn’t even exist. Down there, they grew corn, avocadoes, and, of course, cacao.

M: I’m glad you brought that up… in case you all forgot, cacao is the plant that we use to make chocolate now. In fact, a lot of the crops from Mesoamerica are really popular food items now and couldn’t be found in Europe before exploration, such as the tomato.

W: Sorry, I hope this isn’t too off-topic, but I was just wondering if it took a long time for the Mesoamericans to cultivate those food items. I guess it just seems like they’re all such an important part of the culture that it must have been around for a long time.

M: You’re actually not that off-topic because that’s another way that these two agricultural societies were different. To answer your question, it took a relatively long time for the Mesoamericans to begin to cultivate food.

The Egyptians started cultivating their staple crops as early as 5000 BCE. Meanwhile, according to archaeological evidence, the Mesoamericans didn’t really get started until 3500 BCE.

Additionally, food cultivation and Mesoamerica was closely tied to the domestication of corn. In Egypt, they started cultivating food as soon as domesticated animals from the Middle East were introduced.

W: Wow, that’s like, a 1,500 year difference. Why did it take so long?

M: It’s probably a combination of many different factors, but most archaeologists agree that the infertile and dry lands throughout Mesoamerica probably had something to do with it.

W: That makes sense. Because if you think about it, that meant that the Mesoamericans had to come up with the infrastructure and technology just to be able to use the land.

I guess it would take a couple of hundred years to figure out how to do that.

6) How is the discussion organized?

7) Why does the professor discuss tomatoes?

8) What can be inferred about corn and Mesoamerica.

9) What does the professor imply about the influence of domesticated animals on agriculture?

10) Based on information from the discussion, indicate whether the statements below describe Egyptian culture or Mesoamerican culture. Place a checkmark in the correct box.