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Collapsed Societies
| 11,000 BC |
Sumerians |
Began agriculture |
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Middle East |
Inappropriate irrigation methods resulted in accumulations of salt |
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Euphrates River Floodplain |
Swapped from farming wheat to barley (a more salt tolerant plant) |
| 10,000 BC |
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Abandoned through over-farming |
| 3,000 BC |
Mayans |
Beginning of agriculture in irregular rainfall area |
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Copan Valley |
Trees cut down and used to make decorative plaster for houses |
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Deforestation and erosion |
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Sediment built up in rivers |
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Population halved from 27,000 to 15,000 in 1150 AD directly related |
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to environmental degradation |
| 1250 AD |
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Population crashed and area was abandoned |
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| 600 AD |
Anasazi |
Began to cut down trees |
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Chaco Canyon |
Introduced agricultural crops |
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South West USA |
Began farming drier hill slopes as population grew |
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Deforestation and over-farming increased with continued over population |
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Major droughts occurred in 1040, 1090 and 1117 AD |
| 1150 AD |
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Starvation and civil war occurred leading to collapse of society |
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| 800 AD |
Polynesians |
Began settlement |
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Easter Island |
Chopped down trees to build giant statues |
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Large scale deforestation |
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Population grew to an estimated 10,000 people |
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Extinction of land and sea birds, fish and all species of trees |
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Population declined from 30,000 to 2,000 by 1560s as they |
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had no food to eat |
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Resorted to cannibalism |
| 1600 AD |
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Collapse of society |
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| 984 AD |
Vikings |
Established Norwegian pastoral economy |
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Norse Greenland |
based on sheep, goats and cattle for producing dairy products |
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Also hunted caribou and seal causing a decrease in numbers of species |
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Trade important for development of society |
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Significant ecological damage due to deforestation |
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Little Ice Age in late 1300's early 1400's, impacted by climate change |
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Military problems with neighbours the Inuit, |
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significant numbers of Vikings killed in raids by Inuit's |
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Trade with Europe affected because of increasing sea-ice |
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Inappropriate cultural values, valued cows too highly |
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not appropriate to the Greenland environment |
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| 1440 AD |
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Refused to learn from the Inuits, didn’t adopt technology that |
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would have helped them survive such as tools to kill whales and fish |
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Resulted in Viking society collapsing while the Inuits survived |
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| 1880 |
Somalia |
Agriculture and grazing became important industries |
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Low rainfall and droughts common |
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Deforestation and overgrazing resulted desertification and soil erosion |
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Salinisation occurred through inefficient irrigation |
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15 year Civil war started in 1991 |
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Environmental degradation accelerated as a result |
| Ongoing |
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Illegal hunting and fishing |
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High levels of water pollution |
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Extinction of wildlife as a result of ecological destruction |
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Have been used as the dumping site for hazardous toxic waste |
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materials from developed countries |
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| 1576 |
Bangladesh |
Area first conquered by Akbar, the great Mughal emperor |
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Area of periodic Monsoonal flooding |
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Deforestation occurred as a result of clearing land for agriculture |
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Farming of rice, jute, tea, sugarcane, tobacco, and wheat |
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Formerly part of Bengal, became East Pakistan in 1947 |
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Independence in 1971, after civil war with West Pakistan |
| Ongoing |
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Over hunting and fishing |
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Large scale deforestation and habitat loss |
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Sea level rise is causing a reduction in arable land area as well as |
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increased salt water intrusions, significant impacts on mangroves |
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Natural arsenic poisoning of ground water |
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Poverty and over population placing pressure on environment |
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http://www.banadir.com/a.htm
http://www.lcgbangladesh.org/Environment/reports/The%20impact%20of%20Environment%20on%20the%20stability%20of%20Bangladesh%20society.pdf
http://www.answers.com/topic/bangladesh
