How agriculture changed the world. About 9,000 years ago, agriculture was born, and the first villages appeared in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent. People discovered wild wheat and barley, flour and bread. They domesticated animals. A more productive economy took root, and the global population exploded. Little by little, hierarchies began to take shape in the villages.
Modern man is born. More people began to occupy less space and villages became cities. Despite devastating epidemics, humankind not only persisted but continued to invent and innovate. The horse was domesticated; the wheel revolutionized transportation; commerce spread; and the first wars were fought. A new tool of power was developed, that of writing. Over a few millennia, humankind had reinvented its way of life. Modern man was born.
