but Egypt depended on the yearly floods of the Nile River to replenish soil moisture and fertility. The inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East also depended on annual floods to provide irrigation water. Drainage was necessary to prevent the erosion of land from the hillsides through which the rivers flowed. The farmers who lived in the area near the Huang He developed a system of irrigation and drainage to control the damage caused to their fields in the flood plain of the meandering river. With the close of the Neolithic period and the introduction of metals, the age of innovation in agriculture was mostly over (What Life Was Like) . The historical period was highlighted by agricultural improvements. A few high points must serve to draft the development of worldwide agriculture in this era, roughly defined as 2500 BC to 500 AD. Rome started as a rural agricultural society of independent farmers. In 1000 BC, after the city of Rome was established, however, agriculture started a development that reached a peak in the Christian era. Large possessions that supplied grain to the cities of the empire were owned by absentee landowners and cultivated by slaves labor under the supervision of employed overseers. As slaves, usually were captives, decreased in number, tenants replaced them. The late Roman villa of the Christian era approached the medieval in organization.By the 16th century, population was increased in Europe, and agricultural production was again expanding. The nature of agriculture there and in other regions was to change considerably in succeeding centuries. Several reasons can be identified for this trend. Europe was cut off from Asia and the Middle East by an extension of Turkish power. New economic theories were put into practice, directly affecting agriculture (Early Civilization). Continued wars between England and France, within each of these countries...
