the weather has always been a concern of men, for whom it determines living conditions. He also asks many questions. What was the impact of the climate in the history of the world and the history of civilizations, on a large temporal scale? Can the location of the first historical civilizations be explained by particular climatic factors? The vigor of fertile crescentthen the Mediterranean, then Europe, was it climatically inevitable?
The climate played a crucial role in the transition from prehistory to history. Random processes or underlying determinism explaining the observed diversity?
Climate focus and civilizations
There are relationships between theemergence of a civilization and the climatic conditions. The climatic differences observed between civilizations have a common denominator: stress climate which tends to develop a culture of innovation. In particular, the specter of famines which invites us to domesticate nature to increase the abundance of food. Man has succeeded in freeing himself by various means from the constraints of his environment, but this has a cost.
This file presents a comparison of the climatic map of the globe with the distribution of the first civilizations. The study highlights an essential common denominator: the existence of strong climatic stress, which would tend to encourage material innovations and facilitate the transition from Prehistory to History.
This dossier is based on excerpts from the book Civilizations put to the test by the climate of Vincent Boqueho (April 2012, Dunod).