Agua

The way we have related to water has determined our social evolution. The first civilizations of sedentary farmers on the fertile banks of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers marked the starting point of this journey across millennia and across continents. The transition to irrigation, propitiated by changes in sea level, gave rise to a demographic explosion and structural changes that would be felt throughout the centuries. In Greece, for example, communal ownership of wells laid the foundation for democracy; in Rome, the hydraulic system gave rise to systems of taxation; and the modern world as we know it was born with the creation of a legal framework for the development of water infrastructure. Giulio Boccaletti, an international expert in the management of natural resources and sustainability, offers us an epic story that combines social and environmental history throughout the centuries and shows us how water and its management have shaped to human civilization.