A Look at The Importance of Agriculture in The Community

Diamond considers the introduction of agriculture to be the worst mistake in the history of the human race. The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was a bad idea because it led to sexual inequality and class-division, agriculture-based societies risked starvation, and it led to poor nutrition. The introduction of agriculture was 10,000 years ago and it led to the domestication of plants and animals. While humans prospered well in the Paleolithic Era through hunting and gathering, agriculture in the Neolithic Era caused a sudden change in the roles of men & women in society.

The agricultural revolution changed the roles of men & women in society because there was sexual inequality and class division. Diamond mentions that “women in agricultural societies were sometimes made beasts of burden” (Diamond 4). Many women struggled to carry crops while men either carried light objects or walked empty-handed. This shows how men & women had different roles then before, because in a hunting & gathering society, men would typically go hunting while women would do the gathering. Another point that Diamonds presents is that, “farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions” (Diamond 4). Hunting and Gathering societies relied on traveling frequently to hunt animals or collect wild plants, but they didn’t rely on stored food. On the other hand, agricultural societies had social class divisions and there was a wide gap between the powers of kings and farmers. Many farmers worked hard to produce food and support the society, but kings could easily seize food from others, based on what Diamond mentions. While hunting & gathering societies thrived well in small groups where they could divide roles and feed the people, kings in agriculture-based settlements were dominant and had power over others which is unfair. In addition, Reilly mentions how, “There was relatively little variation in wealth of power, because everyone did much the same work, hunting and gathering, and all worked together” (Reilly 3). Another important point is that, “Male-provider/female-domestic division of labor first arose in agricultural societies” (Stockard & Johnson 104). These ideas support the fact that there weren’t class divisions in hunting & gathering, and men & women had similar roles unlike agricultural settlements.

Agriculture-based societies risked starvation if a crop failed and this could affect the entire society. Diamond says, “because of dependence on a limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop failed” (Diamond 3). Since many farmers usually depended on a number of important crops, environmental conditions could easily affect the entire society. Climate could affect the crops if there was too much rain, or a drought could easily start a famine. Hunters and Gatherers on the other hand weren’t dependent on a single crop because they could easily hunt animals or choose from a large selection of wild plants to eat. An example of hunters and gatherers who relied on wild plants are the Bushmen and they said, “Why should we plant, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?” (Richard Lee 93). Another downfall of agriculture is that the soil can change and in one case, “After a few years, however, weeds invaded the field, and the soil lost its original fertility” (Bentley & Zeigler 21). Environmental conditions such as if the soil loses its fertility can also lead to a crop failing, which threatens the entire population that depends on it.

Agriculture-based societies led to the spread of diseases because people lived very closely together. Diamond states, “agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies, many of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led to the spread of infectious diseases” (Diamond 3). This shows one of the many cons about agriculture, which is that diseases can be easily spread. Animals can spread diseases to farmers which are in close contact, and since people live very close together and trade often, this causes diseases to be transferred quickly, and it can lead to the downfall of a society. Diamond also gives examples of diseases and their effects when he says, “Tuberculosis and diarrheal disease had to await the rise of farming, measles and bubonic plague the appearance of large cities” (Diamond 3). Based on this information, diseases could also affect large cities and affect the health of many people.

While the transition of agriculture may have been due to growing populations, it wasn’t nearly as productive or successful as hunting & gathering. There was sexual inequality between men and women in society, since women had to carry heavier loads than men. Class divisions, meant kings had more dominance and better lives than farmers, while there was very little variation between wealth/power during the Paleolithic Era. An agricultural society could easily be plagued by diseases, which are spread quickly through close contact. Many folks lived and traded in crowded places so diseases could easily jeopardize large cities and the lives of many people. Even though agriculture was introduced 10,000 years ago, there is no evidence that people thrived more peacefully than in the Paleolithic Era.