(For what it's worth, this is an essay that I submitted aeons ago for a Geography course. I might tweak it later.)
Britain has been occupied by man since Paleolithic times. Earliest British agriculture began around 4500 BC. A series of immigrations and invasions affected the populace, the social structure, and the English language. The shifting social structure influenced the utilization of land. The population had expanded to the brink of agricultural crisis by 1500 AD. Spurred by need and greed, agricultural innovation burgeoned after the sixteenth century.
Sections:
Stone Age to Iron Age:
Stone Age.
Bronze Age (around 3000 B.C. to 600 B.C.).
Iron Age (600 B.C. to the first century A.D.).
Climatic trends figure.
Romans and Vikings:
Roman Britain (43 B.C. to 442 A.D.).
Some impacts of man on the environment by 500 AD.
Anglo-Saxon and Norse Invasions (fifth to ninth centuries AD).
Normans bring Feudalism:
The Norman Invasion (1066 AD).
The Domesday Book.
The Manorial economy.
Villages and agriculture
Beyond Early Modern: After 1500 AD.
The Domesday Book.
The Manorial economy.
Villages and agriculture
Beyond Early Modern: After 1500 AD.
Farming Systems and Landholding.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.
Landholding, tenures, and estates.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
British agricultural changes, 1500-1750.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.
Footnotes.
Endnotes.
Land Use in Britain – Bibliography.
Early occupation:
Figure 1: An approximate correlation of climatic and technological trends
back to Land Use in Britain – Stone Age to Iron Age : Stone Age.
Playlist Wild Food.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.
Land Use in Britain (full version) – The
Agricultural Revolution.
Land utilization in Britain: Agricultural Revolution in the five hundred years following 1500 AD.Landholding, tenures, and estates.
Enclosure and Engrossing.
Markets.
Regional agriculture and prevalent obstacles to food production.
The rhythm and grind of agriculture.
British agricultural changes, 1500-1750.
The ingredients of agricultural revolution.
Footnotes.
Endnotes.
Land Use in Britain – Bibliography.
Early occupation:
Figure 1: An approximate correlation of climatic and technological trends
Date
|
Climatic trends & pollen zones (PZ)
|
Agricultural developments & vegetation trends.
|
43 AD
|
Rapid cooling
Sub-Atlantic
Warmer
PZ VIII
Marked cyclical deterioration
Sub-Boreal
Cooling
PZ VIIb
Very warm and humid with high rainfall
Atlantic
PZ VIIa
Increasing wetness
Boreal
PZ VI
Pronounced dryness
PZ V
Very rapid warming
PZ IV
|
Ash,
beech, birch, and hornbeam increasing.
Roman invasion of England.
Rapid population growth. Agricultural surplus and full landscape
utilization. Iron tools.
Increasing use of valleys and of wetlands. Retreat from the highlands.
Peat
increasing and maximum upland farming.
Forest clearance.
Husbandry. Permanent, allotted
fields. Manure utilized. Bronze
tools.
Stonehenge.
Increasing environmental impacts and expanded land
utilization.
“Elm
decline” Extensive
cultivation and grazing.
Neolithic
agricultural tools.
First communal monuments.
“Vegetational
optimum”
Immigrants introduce domesticated animals and cereal
cultivation.
Increased exploitation of favorable habitats.
Mixed
oak forest and alder.
Relationship between hunters and herds
developing. Mesolithic tools.
Fire creates gaps in forest cover.
Mixed
oak forest, hazel and pine.
Domestication of dog.
Birch
and pine.
Upper
Paleolithic tools.
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0
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1000 BC
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2000 BC
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3000 BC
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4000 BC
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5000 BC
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6000 BC
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7000 BC
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8000 BC
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Playlist Wild Food.
