Evening star., 1923-04-12
HISTORY SHOWS FOOD
IS BASIS OF CIVILIZATION
Origin Of Agriculture and Domestic
Animals Traced to Four
REGIONS.

Regions.
Herbert J. Spinden. in the Worlds work.
| All In all man has had only about
1 seven thousand years of intensive 60.
eial life made possible by securing
control over the problem of food. MOI
until Neolithio time was it possible
lor MIN to live in large communities
even under the most Favorable condi-
tions or wild nature.
| Two principal places of origin OF
idsrlculture and domestic animals can
! be distinguished in the old world and
TWO more In the new world, as well as
q NUMBER OF secondary centers estab-
| ilsned IN much later times. OF the
| Two focl in each hemisphere the old
| est In each case corresponds to an
arid tropical or subtropical ENVIRON
| basic civilizations rising ort of as
fed as:
| L The Civilization of Wheat, with
It's center in the Nile valley and in
Mesopotamfa and its first principal
eastward extension over the arid
plains of Turkestan and the Tarim
oasin into northern India and the
pialns OF China In the food complex
or TINS civilization we find wheat. bar
Iey' lentis, peas, etc, with cattle,
sheep and goats coming into use as
sources OF meat. milk and butter.
2. The Civilization of Maize, with
us original center on the rather arid
highlands OF Central America In this
complex we find q strong vegetarian
diet, with maize, beans and souashes
occupying first place. Domesticated
animals were few and relatively un-
important in the dietary: turkeys may
be mentioned. The two arid type civ
lIizations were entirely independent.
That of the old world may be dated
tehtatlVeiy as beginning about 5000
r. T., while the new world civiliza-
slon may be somewhat younger. in
spite OF the fact that the American
plants In general are more highly
domesticated than those of Asia q, e.
carried farther from the wild types
ana given a wider climatic range).
8. The Civilization OF Rice. ThS
locus OF this civilization was the
humid area Of southern China, Indos
nesia, and Bengal in India In addi-
ton to rice, other important plants
cocoanuts. Pigs and chickens aisa
appear to have been domesticated here.
4. The Civilization Of Manioc. The
corresponding civilization Of the wet
tropics In America, brilliantly repre-
sented by the Mayas, was In consider
able part supported by maize, beans,
squashes, etc. modified to meet humid
conditions, but number of wet land
pants were domesticated, including
caeao. sweet potatoes and the manioc
root, which furnishes tapioca and
cassava- The best lowIand culture of
South America exists on the island Of
Marajo. in the mouth Of the Amazon,
and this appears to have been the
original home of several dom mesticated
plants. including manioc. Both in
the old and new worlds the humid
type civilizations did not get under
way till about the time OF Christ, with
the first indications of culture FIVE
hundred or perhaps a thousand years
earlier.
In temperate Europe the food plants
and domesticated animals are nearly
all derived from those Of the first arid
culture. Rye and oats may have been
domesticated in Europe from indigo
neous plants. The modification of
tropical plants to the temperate zone
really means that these plants must
be grown during the course of a
frostless summer and the winter tenn
peratures hardly enter the problem.
In humid Africa most OF the food
plants appear to be Of rather recent
introduction. mostly from southern
Asia. All this points to the fact that
food is the basis Of civilization; given
fool and leisure, arts OF all kinds come
easily.