The Evolution of Civilization

The soft, fertile soils there across vast stretches of the european interior lent themselves to being cultivated once people had adopted the technology of farming. But that, in a counter intuitive way, worked against the establishment of what we would regard as civilization. Because people were able to remain isolated from one another, without the necessity to come together and collaborate on big ideas. However, because the landscape was so challenging, people had to work together in large numbers, and that fostered civilization. The hardship of a tricky, testing landscape actually fostered the first civilizations.