It required global warming to usher in the era of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, but why wasn't agriculture done in the warmer regions of the world (like India or SE Asia or southern Africa)?

by oblique_strategies_

It required global warming to usher in the era of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, but why wasn't agriculture done in the warmer regions of the world (like India or SE Asia or southern Africa)? Why was it that Levantine, Anatolian, and Zagros Mountain Farmers did farming when the weather warmed up, but not the hunters and gatherers of warmer places - like South Asia?

CommodoreCoCo

Hey there,

Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.

If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!