HORTICULTURAL

Most of us living in the modernized world don’t spend much of our energy thinking about where our
food comes from. When you go to the grocery store, you pick up packaged meat and some veggies
from the shelf, then I go on my merry way. Seldom do we find ourselves pondering where the meat
came from or who planted the vegetables. The ease of getting food is just normal to us. However,
across our globe, this is definitely not always the case. Many societies still find themselves living
directly off the land, working daily to produce their own food. Some of these societies practice
horticulture, the topic of today’s discussion

To begin, horticulture is often defined as a means of food production in which vegetation is

cultivated using very rudimentary tools and without permanently cultivated fields. Stated a bit
simpler, it’s a type of food production where food is grown using very simple tools. For example,
most horticultural societies use nothing more than sticks and hoes. Things like plows, mechanized
tractors, or even carts pulled by animals usually aren’t part of a horticulturalist’s bag of tools.

- A horticultural society is a social system based on horticulture, a mode of production in which

digging sticks are used to cultivate small gardens”.
- Came into existence about 4000BC today in sub- Saharan Africa.

DEFINITION
Horticulture is a branch of plant agriculture dealing with generally fruits, vegetables, and
ornamental plants. The word is derived from the Latin hortus meaning “garden”, and colere “to
cultivate” (Herklots, 2019). According to Janick (1972), horticulture is the branch of agriculture
concerned with intensively cultured plants directly used by man for food, for medicinal purposes, or
for esthetic gratification. Horticultural societies are differentiated from hunting and gathering societies
using domesticated plants as the major basis for livelihood. It is also defined as the production of food
in which vegetation is cultivated using basic tools such as sticks, hoes, or tractor animals that can also
pull carts. Unlike the other farmers who plant the same crop and in the same field every year,
horticulturalists move their crops place to place this is due to the reason of inevitable depletion of
nutrients. Horticulturalists do not even irrigate their fields nor do they fertilize them.

Simplifying the rest of the definition, horticultural societies do not permanently plant or care for a
field. Unlike farmers, who plant the same crop in the same field every year, horticulturalists move
their plantings from place to place. Also unlike other farmers, horticulturalists do not irrigate their
fields, nor do they fertilize them.
WHEN WAS IT FOUND?

Horticultural societies developed around 7000 BCE in the Middle East and gradually spread west
through Europe and Africa and east through Asia.

When speaking of horticultural societies, anthropologists usually like to break them down into two
categories: those who practice shifting cultivation (also sometimes called extensive cultivation) and
those who are dependent on long-growing tree crops, which we’ll get to a bit later.

A great example of this type of shifting cultivation is the Yanomami of the Amazon. As reported by
famous anthropologists Carol and Melvin Ember, the Yanomami usually farm a piece of land for a
few years, filling it with things like plantains and sweet potatoes. They then move on to another spot
and allow nature to sort of rejuvenate their left-behind fields.

A great example of this type of society is the Samoans, the indigenous people of the South Pacific.
Again, according to the work of the Embers, the horticulturalists of Samoa plant things like banana
and coconut trees, both of which will produce fruit for years. Quite amazingly, one coconut plant can
give fruit for a hundred years with not much more than some occasional pruning and weeding.

- Groups does not travel a lot unlike other societies

- Food production increased, populations grew

- Crafts are introduced

EDUCATION

- Education was informal

RELIGION

- Religion was animism that animals and other living elements in the world have effect on
events in society but as time passes horticultural societies began to evolve

POLITICS

- Politics in horticultural societies is often centered on the redistribution of food and resources
within the community

- Relatively More Complex Division Of Labor This society assures better food supply of
surplus. Existence of surplus leads to specialization of roles. Advanced horticultural societies
 sometimes consisting of as many as 5000 people support specialists producing and trading
with a variety of Horticultural Societies

- Emergence Of Political Institutions The surplus production allows some wealthy individuals
to become more powerful than others. This leads to the emergence of political institutions in
the form of chieftainships. Warfare is more common. Horticultural societies are also the first
known societies to support the institution of slavery.

OTHER Characteristics
 Domestication Of Plants Horticulturists specialize in the domestication of plants such as
wheat, rice etc.

 More advanced horticultural societies have metal tools and weapons and not ploughs.  Slash
And Burn Technology The subsistence strategy of the horticulturists is “slash and burn”
technology .

 This people clear areas of land, burn the trees and plants they have cut down, raise crops for 2
or 3 years until the soil is exhausted and then repeat the process. Horticultural Societies

 Horticulturalists Are Better Settled Than Pastoralists Unlike the pastoralists, horticulturalists,
are relatively better settled.

 They develop settlements that have larger populations and migrate in search of better
conditions

 Creation Of Relatively Elaborate Cultural Artifacts These people live in comparatively

permanent settlements, they can create more elaborate cultural artifacts. For example, houses,
thrones, or large stone sculptures 

 Some Rare Practices Horticulture societies have some rare practices such as cannibalism,
headhunting and human sacrifice. Cannibalism is eating enemies’ skin as an act of ritual
revenge. Headhunting is taken as evidence of courage and skill of warrior. Human sacrifice
coincides with a change in the nature of Horticultural Societies

Horticultural societies were documented by anthropologists all over the world, using various types of
tools and technologies, in many different climatic and ecological conditions. Because of these
variables, there was also variety in the social and political structures of these societies in history, and
in those that exist today.

Horticultural societies can have a matrilineal or patrilineal social organization. In either, ties focused
on kinship are common, though larger horticultural societies will have more complex forms of social
organization. Throughout history, many were matrilineal because the social ties and structure were
organized around the feminized work of crop cultivation. (Conversely, hunter-gatherer societies were
typically patrilineal because their social ties and structure were organized around the masculinized
work of hunting.) Because women are at the center of work and survival in horticultural societies, they
are highly valuable to men. For this reason, polygyny—when a husband has multiple wives—is
common.
Meanwhile, it is common in horticultural societies that men take on political or militaristic roles.
Politics in horticultural societies is often centered on the redistribution of food and resources within
the community.

EVOLUTION

The kind of agriculture practiced by horticultural societies is considered a pre-industrial subsistence

method. In most places around the world, as technology was developed and where animals were
available for plowing, agrarian societies developed.

However, this is not exclusively true. Horticultural societies exist to this day and can be found
primarily in wet, tropical climates in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa.

EXAMPLES
● Matrilineal - the social ties and structure were organized around the feminized work of crop
cultivation.
● Patrilineal - their social ties and structure were organized around the masculinized work of
hunting.
● Political or Militaristic roles - politics in horticultural societies is often centered on the
redistribution of food and resources within the community.
● Polygyny - when a husband has multiple wives is common.
● Another brief example of a horticulture society is the Chimbu tribe. According to Ripley’s
(2017), the Chibu tribe is known to live in a very remote mountain region of Papua New
Guinea, making this as another reason why there is only little information about the said tribe.
However, applying the horticultural sense, the Chimbu tribe is established through the
patrilineal line. The Chimbu men live in communal houses and away from the women and
children. With this, the women and children live closer to their own gardens so they are closer
to their crops and have a good eye on them.
References

Crossman A. (July 16, 2019). Understanding Horticultural Societies. ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/horticultural-society-definition-3026347

Herklots, G. (October 24, 2019). Horticulture. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/science/horticulture

Janick, J. (1972). Horticultural Science. 2nd ed. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company.
586 p.

Understanding Horticulture. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.senecahs.org/pages/uploaded_files/Introduction%20to%20Horticulture.pdf?
fbclid=IwAR1w1oVFl591jELkU1xjQYXvvxBFEh_A8j-kSy5tS4zZef1W0xBH48YBOuM

TYPES OF SOCIETY