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Table of Contents
Points of Divergence : Agriculture
Human beings need to consume food and water on a regular basis, and gathering a sufficient food supply has been a great concern (but also a kickstarter of innovation) for virtually every society since the dawn of history. Among the greatest technological and societal revolutions of all time was the gradual invention of true agriculture, with fully domesticated plants and animals. It brought an end to the mostly nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle of human prehistory and gave birth to the earliest of known, settled civilizations.
Over the millennia, agriculture has further diversified and many crops that were once native to only one region of Earth have often become cosmopolitan and widespread thanks to the steady rise of global trade and geographic exploration. As an old saying goes, “An army marches on its stomach” - and therefore, even something as seemingly mundane as agriculture can massively affect the development of human civilization, even moreso than the usual idea of wars, battles, cunning diplomacy or ideological upheavals.
PODs concerning different developments of agriculture
What's your favorite prehistoric POD ?
Challenge: Agriculture appearing 10 000 years earlier than in OTL
Other possible locations for the development of agriculture ?
WI agricultural revolution takes place everywhere it feasibly can?
For Want of A Yam - Discussion on Australian native plants that could have potentially become the basis of a native Australian agriculture (and later leads to the rise of agricultural civilizations on the continent). Started by Jared, this became the basis for his highly ambitious and increasingly famous project, Lands of Red and Gold.
More aborigines/natives in Australia
WI: The Younger Dryas didn't happen ?
Discussion about historical diseases in Africa and their impact on indigenous agriculture
Challenge: The first civilization is in Australia
Early civilization around the Amu Darya and Syr Darya ?
Bronze Age alluvial civilization in Amu Darya and Syr Darya
WI: Heavy Plow developed in Classical Antiquity
The Heavy Plough in the Roman Empire ? (1)
The Heavy Plough in the Roman Empire ? (2)
Challenge: Agriculture spreads beyond American Southwest
Could the Mississippi-Missouri river system have become a cradle of civilization ?
Why didn't civilization develop along the Mississippi ?
Mexican Mound-builders, Mississippian Ziggurats (POD discussion that became part of the basis of Mississippi Rice timeline)
WI: No Mississippian Culture implosion
WI a more fertile Arabian peninsula ?
Cuisine and foods of a Japanese/Korean/Chinese colonized west coast of North America ?
The Long Little Ice Age: WI no Medieval Warm Period ?
Agriculture and domestication among advancements in the Pacific Northwest cultures
Challenge: Noodles as a staple food in India
Ramifications of a sudden decline of the sugar cane industry after the 1740s
WI the North American drought of 1856-1865 had been averted ?
Wine production in a world where the Central Powers won World War One
Challenge: Make rabbits a popular food animal
Plausibility check: Vertical farming - the future or merely fiction ?
Know of any PODs or POD discussions ? Feel free to add them.
PODs concerning ATL domesticated or domesticable crops
- For Want of A Yam - Discussion on Australian native plants that could have potentially become the basis of a native Australian agriculture (and later leads to the rise of agricultural civilizations on the continent). Started by Jared, this became the basis for his highly ambitious and increasingly famous project, Lands of Red and Gold.
- Know of any PODs or POD discussions ? Feel free to add them.
PODs concerning ATL domesticated or domesticable animals
a.) In general
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b.) By continent
Africa
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Asia
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The Americas
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Australia
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c.) Alternate livestock
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d.) Alternate horse and camelid domestications and developments
- DBWI: Horse cavalry - Though a more humourous POD discussion, it is interesting to ponder how different would humanity be if horses and mules were not domesticable for riding.
- DBWI: Horses - Another thread in a vein similar to the above one, with horses never being domesticated by humans.
- Know of any PODs or POD discussions ? Feel free to add them.
e.) Alternate cavalry animals and beasts of burden
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f.) Domestication of reptiles and predators
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See Also
Points of Divergence : Alternate Biology
Points of Divergence : Biological Sciences
Points of Divergence : Culinary Habits
Points of Divergence : Clothing and Fashion
Points of Divergence : Economy and Trade
Points of Divergence : Scientific Discoveries and Inventions
Points of Divergence : Natural Disasters
Resources about agriculture and its historical development