In this chapter you will:

• Learn about the broad outlines of human history;

• See how the size of the human population has grown during that history;

• And how the per capita use of energy has grown during that history;

• Learn about the major historical changes in the way humans feed themselves;

• See how the human species now dominates ecosystems.

Humans are an animal species with a remarkable capacity for culture. In this chapter we take a brief look at a broad view of our cultural evolution. We are particularly interested in the ways that we have used our environment to satisfy our needs and desires, and in the demands that we have made upon that environment.

HUMAN EVOLUTION

The details of the process by which the species that is modern humanity – homo sapiens sapiens – evolved biologically are matters of some dispute, and the accepted account changes over time as new research techniques are used and new evidence is discovered. However, it is the broad outline that we are concerned with, and this does, in general terms and with some lack of precision as to dates, seem reasonably clear.

Our species shares 98.4 per cent of its genetic endowment with chimpanzees: genetically we are closer to chimpanzees than they are to apes. The evolutionary divergence of humans and chimpanzees took place between 6 million and 8 million years ago. By 5 million years ago there were creatures walking around in the African savanna in much the same way as modern humans do.