For the approximately 5.99 million years prior to this, humankind evolved slowly living a hunter-gatherer existence. While human history stretches over 6 million years, it was only 11,000 years ago that we started farming. However, our ancestors lived in traditional societies, and the history of humankind is much longer than the history of civilization. Diamond interacted with New Guineas traditional society over a long period of time, during which he experienced a lifestyle completely different from that in his home country (the United States).

His interest in this question led to the publication of The World Until Yesterday in 2012. Diamond then asked, 'What can we learn from traditional societies ?' Further compounding the problem was the governments policy of strict national isolation, a policy that prevented the import of wood from outside the country. Meanwhile, Japan confronted deforestation in the early Edo Period (1603-1868).ĭue to a rapid increase in population, wood was in high demand for construction and fuel, and trees were recklessly cut down. Weakening of soil due to deforestation was one reason for the empires inability to control flooding.īecause people in the Khmer Empire could not respond to these issues, the Khmer Empire declined and finally failed. Water reservoirs were built to create channels in a complicated flood control system, but the unpredictability of floods and droughts made it impossible to maintain the system.

This lake floods the surrounding areas during the rainy season to produce an ideal environment for rice farming, and the rich ecosystem in the area leads to an abundance of fish.Īlthough the area has an abundance of water, the amount of rainfall varies significantly by season and year due to monsoons, and this makes flood control impossible. Located in the center of the empire was Lake Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. For example, the Khmer Empire, well known for its Angkor Monuments, was the most powerful empire in Southeast Asia.

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