Human beings have a strong relationship with their enviroment. Bu this relationship is not the same everywhere on the earth due to diversity in physical landscape and climate.
Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.
The most accepted time for the first use of fire is approximately 200,000 years ago (Science). However, researchers from the University Rennes in Paris have found evidence of an “ancient fireplace” from approximately 465 years ago. If this is confirmed, this would be an incredible find (Science).
What is known is that humans used fire for a variety of purposes, such as agriculture and hunting. Humans learned that if a forest was cleared of undergrowth, it was easier to hunt for animals in the forest. In the Australia of 50,000 years ago, there were large animals – termed the megafauna – that the indigenous people hunted for food. Soon after humans arrived on the continent, however, the megafauna disappeared. There are several possible reasons for the extinction. One particularly dramatic one is that humans’ extreme use of fire, perhaps uncontrolled, caused the climate to become more arid, and making it impossible for some megafauna to survive. Possibly, the plants that were their sustenance were destroyed. Some animals – such as a large, emu-like bird – were hunted to extinction. (NPR) The climate of most of Australia is still arid