There’s this book I have at home called ‘Nature.’ It is actually a very good book, with good text, pictures and clarity, and as a whole it sends a message that nature is us, we are nature. There’s this small extract from the book, near the beginning, called The First Biologists. It gives us a bit of detail of the past and transition to the present.

The First Biologists

Our knowledge of living things has built up from the earliest people who lived on the Earth, almost two million years ago. These people survived by hunting animals and gathering fruits, nuts and roots. They used a vital scientific process to do this – they made observations. From their observations they learnt which plant foods were safe to eat and which were poisonous. By observing animals they discovered how animals behaved – where they liked to go eat or drink water. From these observations the hunters could plan where to go to make their attacks, and not waste time and energy looking for their prey all over the surrounding countryside.

About ten thousand years ago people began growing plants for food instead of just searching for them in the countryside. This required other skills beside observation. Investigations had to be made on the growth of the plants, such as how close together plants should be grown and whether the plants should be grown in sunlight or in the shade. Failure to discover these facts would mean a failed crop and hunger.

Over the next few thousand years a wide range of plants were grown for food in many different places on the planet. Potatoes were grown in Peru, rice in India and China, wheat in Turkey, sugar cane in New Guinea, bananas, coconuts and yams in Indonesia, maize, beans, peppers and squash in Mexico, and millet in Africa.

In the current world, agriculture has taken a huge role in society, and hopefully will stay that way for another two to three thousand years. After all, man has to evolve, am I wrong?