Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

The transition to agriculture began around 9500–8500 bc in the hill country of south-eastern Turkey, western Iran, and the Levant. It began slowly and in a restricted geographical area. Wheat and goats were domesticated by approximately 9000 bc; peas and lentils around 8000 bc; olive trees by 5000 bc; horses by 4000 bc; and grapevines in 3500 bc. Some animals and plants, such as camels and cashew nuts, were domesticated even later, but by 3500 bc the main wave of domestication was over. Even today, with all our advanced technologies, more than 90 per cent of the calories that feed humanity come from the handful of plants that our ancestors domesticated between 9500 and 3500 bc – wheat, rice, maize (called ‘corn’ in the US), potatoes, millet and barley. No noteworthy plant or animal has been domesticated in the last 2,000 years.