crazyhadron t1_jd8je2m wrote
Reply to comment by ArOnodrim in TIL China and India have been the population centers of the world for at least 6,000 years by aaleom
Wheat and rice is a recent development in India (and most of the world, for that matter).
Millets were the staple crop in most of India up till the mid 20th century.
Wheat and rice are just too risky to grow in most places without modern technology.
Europe didn't necessarily loose all of the fertility of its lands with the collapse of the roman empire, yet it suddenly became a lot less prosperous.
A civilization's success depends on many factors, and fertile lands are just one of them. You need some pretty sophisticated bureaucracy to run it all.
pinkcheems t1_jdavxhg wrote
>Wheat and rice is a recent development in India
No, it's not a recent development. Archeologists found 4 variety of wheats from mehrangarh site (7000 BCE–5500 BCE) of indus valley civilization. Which indicates that wheat is not a recent development. Same for rice it was cultivated 4000 years ago in indus valley civilization Source
bigfatfurrytexan t1_jdb22hq wrote
Yes, it was cultivated. But it wasn't widely dispersed because of the risk. It was a luxury item, and millet was the staple.
pinkcheems t1_jdb2py4 wrote
I don't think there was a concept of luxury 7000years ago. If you are situated near river you can grow how much rice you want there is no land limitation.
bigfatfurrytexan t1_jdb2yry wrote
Hmm...I'd need to see evidence that goods weren't traded at that time. I don't believe that's true.
pinkcheems t1_jdb3b8x wrote
How trading is related to luxury?
bigfatfurrytexan t1_jdb3m9a wrote
Luxury is defined by availability. A few people growing rice for themselves on a riverbank doesn't create rice from it's archaic form. Availability is defined by existence, then a trade route to acquire other goods.
This is the human way, especially in India.
pinkcheems t1_jdb5qdb wrote
Indus valley civilization worked on a community level not on the individual level. Everything they had was distributed equally. For example there was no division of houses between rich, poor, king, soldiers. All the houses in IVC were equipped with same facilities. Your initial point of argument was that rice and wheat developed very recently but when I provided you sources then you changed your argument and started spewing random bullshit like it was luxury. Man atleast stick to your point.
bigfatfurrytexan t1_jdc6x7z wrote
They didn't develop recently, and that wasn't the initial point. The initial point, and the one I asserted, was that it wasn't a widespread staple crop. Because it wasn't Millet was. Rice only recently became a global staple crop.
crazyhadron t1_jdb383i wrote
lol no unless you plant the rice in the fucking river, you have to have mechanisms to pump that water out into the fields. And precisely control the level of water as well.
Also, white rice is a very recent cultivar. Black and red rice used to be the norm, and they tasted like crap.
[deleted] t1_jdb3c1t wrote
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fear_the_god t1_jdb7583 wrote
If he's talking in the sense of food, that can be justified upto a point, like people may not get anything they desire on there finger tips, but considering the post, for being populated for so long, it gives us little idea about the environment around, and considering Indian culture, still more than 50% population is vegitarian, no meat or even right now those who do, are in no comparison with other people. So, there diet may have consisted most farm products. And when you go back to Indus valley Civilization, it's said to be the one of the most advance civilization of that time, and it's locations is around some of most fertile lands in the world. I can't speak for China about there culture and discoveries, but Just to say that, they have little yield compared to now, still they had less population to feed and more fertile land and literally way better earth for it.
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