For hundreds of thousands of years, humans lived nomadically in small bands and foraged for food. These communities migrated from Africa and eventually populated the entire world. Foraging communities were mostly egalitarian without private wealth to create hierarchies. They lived in small kinship groups and migrated for resources.

Then, everything changed around 8000 BCE, when for the first time, humans began to practice agriculture. This was arguably the most important shift in human history as communities settled, created writing and legal systems, and developed complex hierarchies. However, there is a valid debate among historians about whether or not the Neolithic Revolution was good for human society.