Identify and explain ONE historically specific example of intensified human land use in the period 1450– 1750 C.E. that would support the author’s argument. Identify and explain ONE historically specific example from the period before 1450 C.E. in which humans interacted with the environment in ways similar to those described in the passage. Identify and explain ONE late-twentieth-century development that likely explains historians’ interest in the subject of the passage.

Monoculture

Explanation:

Rising human numbers have increased pressure on the land; selective agriculture or monoculture (the use of one or two favored crops) has reduced biodiversity.

In the 17th century the Dutch practised monoculture (spices) in the Indonesian colony for the benefit of the Dutch Republic and a little later the British in India cultivated opium in large quantities for the Chinese market.

During the classic Maya empire (roughly from 200 to 800 C.E.) the main crops were just corn (sacred in all Mesoamerica) and beans.

There is an interesting monocultural parallel with certain crops (marihuana, avocado) produced in Mexico nowadays, there is one difference though:

Corn, beans and gourds were necessary for surviving; spices, opium and marihuana were not.

» A. Hamilton

Explanation:

Alexander Hamilton believed that self-interest was the “most powerful incentive of human actions.” Self-interest drove humans to accumulate property, and that effort created commerce and industry.