10 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
10 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
Archaeology records a series of civilizations that rose and fell as they depleted their bioregional resources base.
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Lower-density simple agrarian and hunter-gatherer cultures took over the territory of collapsed civilizations and allowed the resources of forests, soils and water to regenerate. That, in turn, gave rise to new cycles of growth in cultural complexity.
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In the European Renaissance, the medieval systems that evolved from the remnants of the Roman Empire were reinfused with knowledge and culture from the Islamic and Asian civilizations and grew into completing nation-states. A combination of the demands of internal growth and warfare between nations almost exhausted the carrying capacity of Europe. As this ecological crisis deepened in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, European exploration in search of new resources carried "the diseases of crowding" around the world. In the Americas, up to 90 percent of many populations died, leaving vast resources to plunder. Starting with the plundering of precious metals and seeds of valuable crop plants such as corn and potatoes. European nations soon moved on to building empires powered by slavery that allowed them to exploit and colonize the new lands well stocked with timber, animals, and fertile soils, all rejuvenating in the wake of the collapse of indigenous populations.
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European population, culture (especially capitalism), and technology then grew strong enough to tap vast stocks of novel energy that were useless to previous simpler soiceties.
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As industrialization spread, oil quickly surpassed coal as the most valuable energy source, and accelerated the jump in human population.
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