When Did the Neolithic Revolution Happen?

The Neolithic Revolution was arguably the most transformative event in human history. In the Fertile Crescent (modern Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran), people began domesticating wheat, barley, lentils, sheep, goats, and cattle around 10,000-8,000 BCE. Agriculture arose independently in at least 11 regions: China (rice and millet, ~8,000 BCE), Mesoamerica (maize, squash, beans, ~7,000 BCE), the Andes (potatoes, quinoa, ~8,000 BCE), sub-Saharan Africa (sorghum, millet, ~5,000 BCE), and others. The shift to farming enabled food surpluses, population growth, permanent settlements, social stratification, specialised labour, writing (to track stores), and eventually cities and civilisation. But it also brought disadvantages: infectious diseases from close contact with animals, reduced dietary diversity, dental problems from grain-heavy diets, increased inequality, and warfare over territory. Jared Diamond famously called it "the worst mistake in the history of the human race" due to its mixed health consequences, though its civilisational effects were irreversible.