7.+The+invention+of+the+Plough

==The invention of the plough was a turning point in agricultural history. It was invented around 2000 B.C in Mesopotamia by the Idus Valley Civilzation. As it was introduced, the way that farming was practiced, was transformed. For farmers throughout the world, the plough has assisted in the production of food and sustained agricultural economic growth, which has affected the rest of the world as if we didn’t have a high production rate then we would probably fail to supply for the whole globe especially as the world’s population increases. ==

==The first plough consisted of a stick attached to a wooden frame and was pulled by an ox so that the frame was dragged along the ground in a line to create a single furrow at a time in which seeds can be planted. The purpose of the plough is to turn over the soil, which brings new nutrients to the top, burying weeds and then allows the soil to hold the moisture. This plough was hardly appropriate for other famers in the Mediterranean because of the heavy and tough soil in the north, so they improved it by adding a coulter and so it continued to change over centuries ranging from country to country. As the change of the plough many historians believe that this lead to an increase in yield, proving that it improved cultivation throughout the world. ==

The plough has developed over centuries as it has become more practical and time effective for farmers,
==especially before other means of farming were developed; the plough enabled a long tiresome process to become efficient and more reliable. Since we have such a high demand in produce today, there is a need for more instead of just one paddock there is the need for several paddocks to plough which are twice the size today compared to ancient times, so the plough helps speed up the process. As technology advanced so did the plough as it became industrialised so that instead of being pulled by an animal it was pulled by a tractor rather than been pulled by a horse etc so it had more bigger and faster as there was more space to sew rather than just a few paddocks. == ==According to historian Fernand Braudel women were previously boss of the fields and gardens in Mesopotamia, until the invention of the plough as it required a lot of strength which the women weren’t used to as they had previously used hoes so it gave men an advantage of farming over women. Alberto Alesina and Nathan Nunn of Harvard University and Paola Giuliano of the University of California, Los Angeles, believe that the ancient agricultural techniques have very long-lasting effects. This means that if the plough had not been invented that the way the world has been formed from then until now would’ve been extremely different as the way women are stereo-typed would’ve been completely different and that women could be more in charged than men are now. ==