Why did humans decide to settle down in very harsh environments like Siberia or the Saharan Desert, why not live in places more moderate and more accepting to life and civilization?
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Generally the first real civilizations happened in good climate, and especially near some of the world’s largest rivers. One example being the Indus valley civilization.
But before that people were hunter gatherers, a hunter gatherer society doesnt allow for many individuals in one place while also following the prey animals.
This meant that early humans moved around a lot over several generations. And because there was no written language memories of old places faded into tales. Northerners had no idea that thousands of years ago they came from the south.
Another thing to remember is also that climate is not static, it changes a lot and human interference speed it up considerably. Deforestation for example was a common cause for a society’s collapse.
Another reason was human competition, the best locations were the ones first taken so the less fortunate ones had to move to less hospitable places.
And lastly once civilizations existed things such as trade, wars and wealth became important and settlements and entire civilizations were built on those terms instead of the old ones.
Settlements were built in the deserts to provide help for trade caravans. Settlements were built in inhospitable places because they were rich with minerals. Settlements were built merely to claim territory in your name.
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