Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources
Chapter 2, First Farmers: The Revolutions of Agriculture, 10,000 B.C.E -3,000 B.C.E., Study
Guide, (Original: pp. 35-53; With Sources: pp. 49-83)
The Agricultural Revolution in World History
1. What were the revolutionary transformations brought about by the Neolithic or Agricultural
Revolution?
2. What was the importance of “intensification” in the Neolithic Age?
Comparing Agricultural Beginnings
3. What accounts for the emergence of agriculture after countless millennia of human life
without it?
4. What were the indications that the transition to a fully agricultural and domesticated new way
of life took place quickly in the Fertile Crescent region?
5. Why did animal domestication precede the domestication of plants in Africa? (present day
Sudan)
6. While sorghum was the first grain to be tamed in Eastern Africa, what plants were important
crops in West Africa?
7. Why did the peoples of America lack sources of protein, manure, and power to pull carts?
The Globalization of Agriculture
8. In what ways did agriculture spread?
9. Describe the development of agricultural societies in the southern half of he African continent
beginning around 3,000 B.C.E.
10. Where was agriculture sometimes resisted? Why?
11. What was the impact on the environment from farmers and herders?
Social Variations in the Age of Agriculture
12. Describe the 3 different kinds of societies that emerged out of the Agricultural Revolution.
(Who were they? How were they organized? pp. 48-52)
13. After reading about Catalhuyuk in Turkey, why do you think the people designed their city
the way they did?
Visit these websites for more background information:
http://www.focusmm.com/civcty/cathyk04.htm
http://www.smm.org/catal/introduction/ This website is interactive. 
Big Picture Questions
1. The Agricultural Revolution marked a decisive turning point in human history. What
evidence might you offer to support this claim, and how might you argue against it?
2.
How did early agricultural societies differ from those of the Paleolithic era? How does
the example of settled gathering and hunting peoples such as the Chumash complicate this
comparison?
3.
Was the Agricultural Revolution inevitable? Why did it occur so late in the story of
humankind?
4.
“The Agricultural Revolution provides evidence for ‘progress’ in human affairs.” How
would you evaluate this statement?
Primary and Visual Sources
Document
Germania
(69-71)
Guiding Questions
1. What can we learn from Tacitus’s account about the economy, politics, society
and culture of the Germanic peoples of the first century C.E?
2. Which statements of Tacitus might you regard as reliable and which are more
suspect? Why?
Facing Mount
Kenya
(72-73)
1. How does Kenyatta describe the division of labor and marriage practices in
Gikuyu families? Does his description suggest gender equality or patriarchy?
Apologetic
History of the
Indies
(74-75)
1. To what extent does Las Casa’s Christian perspective color his account of Taino
religious practices?
2. What was the relationship between Taino political authorities and the “priests” or
behiques?
Visual Sources
Source
Catalhuyuk
(77)
Reflecting Questions
1. Compare the map with the photograph on page
64 of the uncovered remains of Catalhuyuk. What
similar features do you see?
An African Pastoral Community
(80)
1. On the left, women and children are attending a
line of calves roped together. What might this
suggest to historians seeking to understand this
society?
A Sculpture from the Nok Culture
(82)
1. What might you infer about the status of the
person represented in this sculpture?
Compare the documents
1. What insights about early agrarian life might we
derive from these images? In what ways do they
reflect the technological or economic changes of
the Agricultural Revolution?