Already Harris (1968) and others had pointed out what a severe handicap the
lack of domesticated animals as suppliers of meat, milk, organic fertiliser and
energy was for Africa, America and Australia, with respect to the rest of the
continents. This handicap resulted from biogeographical and bioclimatic barriers,
plagues and availability of aloctonous fauna. They also pointed out the fact
that European agriculture depended on rains, impossible to control centrally; then
favoured feudalism. Wittf¨ogel (1957) outlined the role of the combination of
big rivers and arid climates in the rise of the first great hydraulic civilisations:
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. Then, irrigation favoured centralised
and theocratic regimes: the Asian Despotism. None of these regimes passed to
capitalism. Thus, this difference would favour in mild climates the appearance and
development of capitalism through feudalism.