Labs / History
The First Farmers
Around 9,500 BC people in the Fertile Crescent began growing crops and herding animals. Watch that new way of life spread across the map as a slow wave, and see how fast it travels when each generation raises a few more children and moves a little farther. Click any town to read the year farming reached it.
Year —Frontier —Town click a town
What to try
- The real frontier crept forward at roughly one kilometre a year. Which combinations of growth rate and dispersal distance land near that speed?
- Turn off seas & mountains. Why does the wave suddenly reach Spain and Britain far too early compared with the real dates?
- Click a town in Britain, then one in Greece. Why is there a gap of thousands of years between when farming arrived at each?
- If people had children faster but never moved far, would farming still spread quickly — or does the wave need both?
- Move the origin to the Aegean. Does starting closer to Europe change where farming arrives last?